My Words, My Literacy
Tracking of and Teaching through the On-Field Language Practices of Australian Indigenous Boys
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ABSTRACT
This article addresses the lack of research into boys’ on-field language practices in sport and the potential to integrate this as text into the multiliteracy classroom. We recount the findings of a small-scale pilot project—“Real Language in Real Time”—which applied innovative audiodigital recording technology to the context of Indigenous Australian boys participating in Australian rules football. We review the relevant literature across a range of intersecting areas: boys and literacy in relation to construal of masculinity, Aboriginal boys and sport, Aboriginal literacy more generally, and sociometrics. The next sections describe the research question, project context, the innovative technology used to collect the on-field data in real time, and the principles informing the analysis, with examples from one of the literacy resources developed. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this novel study, with specific reference to the project’s potential construal of a homogenous masculine discourse.
Contributor Notes
David Caldwell is Lecturer in English language and literacy in the School of Education of the University of South Australia. David completed his bachelor of teaching, bachelor of arts (honors), and master of arts in linguistics at Deakin University (Melbourne), and his PhD in linguistics at the University of Sydney. David is particularly interested in the application of systemic functional linguistics to contemporary language contexts. E-mail: david.caldwell@unisa.edu.au
Nayia Cominos is Language and Literacy Coordinator in the Teaching Innovation Unit of the University of South Australia. She has been involved in language teaching, management, and linguistic research for over 20 years in Australia and in Europe. Her research interests include cross-cultural communication, including Asia literacy and global citizenship education, academic literacies, systemic functional linguistics, in particular discourse semantics, medical discourse, language revival, and culturally and linguistically diverse students. E-mail: nayia.cominos@unisa.edu.au
Katie Gloede has worked in education for 12 years with both national and international experience in school settings. Throughout her career she has taught students from Reception to Year 12, acquiring a strong background in both SACE and SACSA curriculums. Katie currently works for UniSA Connect, a University of South Australia outreach unit which has a focus on inspiring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) study and career awareness with secondary school students. E-mail: katie.gloede@unisa.edu.au