Aims

A key message emerging from Coolaboola is that no dialect or language form is better or worse than any other - rather, that certain forms of language are more appropriate than others in particular situations (or as Swift wrote in 1720, "proper words in proper places"). Pupils should be able to be articulate and fluent in their use of Standard English in formal situations, but it is equally important that they have a command of the standard language and dialect forms of their own region.

Teaching pupils about dialect awareness has wider implications as it encourages an appreciation of the heterogeneity of modern society and the place of the pupils within it.