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Cultural diversity
106
ACQ
Volume 13, Number 3 2011
ACQ
uiring Knowledge in Speech, Language and Hearing
Cori Williams
This article
has been
peer-
reviewed
Keywords
BILINGUAL
CULTURAL AND
LINGUISTIC
DIVERSITY
issues which arise in the Australian context, as well as
evidence which is relevant within that context.
The Australian context
Australia is one of the most culturally diverse countries in
the world, home to people from some 270 different
ancestral backgrounds, and speakers of more than 400
languages (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2010). The
languages include languages spoken by migrants, and
those spoken by Indigenous Australians. They may be
spoken by relatively small numbers of people, and speakers
of the same language may live in areas separated by
considerable distances. Speakers of Indigenous languages
are concentrated in the remote northern and central regions
of the country (ABS, 2010), in areas of low population
density. Indigenous languages include both traditional
languages and creoles, and children may grow up in
complex language contexts which include more than one
Indigenous language as well as English. It is estimated that
80% of Indigenous Australians speak Aboriginal English, a
non-standard variety which differs from Standard Australian
English in a number of ways (McKay, 1996; Malcolm et al.,
1999). Many speakers of Aboriginal English live in the less
remote areas of the country.
English is the official language of Australia (Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2010), used in public settings
including education and health. The implications for the
provision of speech pathology services to children from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are clear.
The large number of languages spoken within Australian
homes makes it unlikely that a bilingual child will encounter
a speech pathologist who speaks his/her home language.
A recent study investigating speech pathologists’
assessment and intervention practices with multilingual
children (Williams & McLeod, 2011) showed that none of
the 97 speech pathologists who reported working with
bilingual children spoke the first language of that child. Few
(12) of the 198 participants reported speaking a language
other than English proficiently. The distribution of population
within Australia means that speech pathologists who do
have proficiency in a language other than English may not
be employed in areas which are home to speakers of that
language. As a result, few bilingual children will receive
speech pathology services from a speech pathologist
who speaks his/her first language. Therefore, speech
pathologists working with bilingual children need to have
foundation knowledge that is not related to specific
languages, but which provides a basis from which to
approach the issues for individual children/families.
Working with children from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds is a far
from simple matter. This paper presents an
overview of the challenges faced by
Australian speech pathologists who work
within one of the most culturally diverse
countries in the world. The importance of a
general understanding of cultural difference
is highlighted, and a framework for thinking
about culture is identified. Issues and
evidence in the important areas of
assessment and intervention with children
from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds are discussed. Australian
practitioners are encouraged to contribute
practice-based evidence to support clinical
practice and provide a foundation for
research.
T
he provision of speech pathology services to children
from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
presents challenges to speech pathologists around
the world. A review of research looking at bilingual children
and communication disorders (Kohnert & Medina, 2009)
indicates that these challenges have been recognised in
the literature for the past 30 years. In recent years, the
increased interest in these challenges has been reflected
in growth in the published research. In their review of the
literature, Kohnert and Medina found 1–2 papers a year
which met their search criteria in the 1980s and 1990s, and
4–5 papers a year from 2000.
Many of the challenges inherent in working with this
population are common in countries around the world.
Challenges in the assessment process centre on the need
to distinguish language difference (attributable to learning
a second language) from language disorder (attributable to
an underlying language learning problem). Challenges in the
intervention process centre on questions about the most
effective way to support language development in bilingual
children with language learning disorders. Linguistic,
demographic, and geographical factors combine to present
particular challenges to the provision of speech pathology
services to children from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds living in Australia. This paper presents the
Working with children from
culturally and linguistically
diverse backgrounds
Implications for assessment and intervention
Cori Williams