Indigenous Australian children's speech and language competence

Footprints in Time: Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) is a national study of approximately 1600 children. Over the past few weeks Sarah Verdon and I have been working with members of the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs: Laura Bennetts-Kneebone, Fiona Skelton, and Jason Brandrup. We have been analysing data from approximately 600 children in waves 1 and 3 of the child cohort (when the children were aged 3-5 and 5-7 years). These children spoke up to eight languages each including: English (wave 1: 91.2%, wave 3: 99.6%), Indigenous languages (wave 1: 24.4%, wave 3: 26.8%), and foreign languages (wave 1: 2.5%, wave 3: 5.4%). The children’s language environments were rich, with many family members and friends telling oral stories, reading books, and listening to the children read. We hope to submit a journal article about Indigenous children’s speech and language competence next year.