More than 250 Aboriginal languages were once spoken across Australia. Today, only a small number are still actively learned as first languages, and most remain underrepresented in formal education. Now, according to a report by Phys.org, a research team from Curtin University has developed a new classroom model that could change that.
The study was published in the journal Language, Culture and Curriculum. Researchers spent a year inside an Aboriginal playgroup building a teaching approach they call translingual yarning pedagogy, or TYP. The method combines yarning, a traditional Aboriginal practice of storytelling and shared learning, with translanguaging, which encourages students to use everything they know to communicate, including English, Aboriginal languages, and nonverbal tools like gesture, song, and play.
Preschool-aged children learning Noongar took part in yarning circles, songs, and storytelling activities during the study. The approach let children move naturally between languages while connecting with Aboriginal cultural knowledge. Researchers found the flexible, culturally grounded method helped children participate more actively and with greater confidence.
Lead author Professor Sender Dovchin from Curtin's School of Education described what the researchers observed in practice.
"Rather than separating languages or focusing on 'correct' forms, we saw children freely using English, Noongar and gesture together to make meaning," Dovchin said.
"This created a space where children were not just learning words, but connecting language with culture, identity and everyday experience."
The study also challenges how Aboriginal languages are treated within Australian school systems. Those languages are frequently excluded from mainstream Languages Other Than English programs, which tend to favor global languages like Mandarin, French, or Spanish. The research argues that this exclusion narrows what students and communities can gain from formal education.
Tamara Tucker, a Noongar language educator and founder of Yalkarang Consulting, co-authored the study. She described what is at stake when language learning is separated from culture.
"When children learn language through culture like story, song, movement and connection to country, it becomes something they feel, not just something they memorize," Tucker said.
"This kind of learning builds pride, confidence and a stronger connection to identity, which is essential if we want to keep our languages strong for future generations."
Dovchin said the findings point toward a broader shift that education systems could make, one that treats Aboriginal languages as a genuine part of Australia's linguistic landscape rather than an afterthought.
"This approach shows what is possible when classrooms value students' full cultural and linguistic backgrounds," she said.
The researchers hope TYP can serve as a model not just for Noongar but for other Aboriginal language communities across Australia where younger generations are at risk of losing access to their languages entirely.
