Research process

The project comprised three phases:

1. Design

Computer-assisted corpus analyses were used to analyse publicly-facing school websites to identify and select key school-related terminology. A preliminary glossary was designed by researchers using the high-frequency words produced in the corpus analyses. The initial list of words was vast and included thousands of words.

2. Collaborative evaluation and adaptation

The initial list was refined through a series of collaborative design meetings with participants. These participants were the Education advisory and reference groups as well as members of community groups speaking Arabic, Kurdish Kurmanji, Portuguese and Swahili. These are dominant community languages in the region.

The initial English-language glossary was translated into the four community languages which were then checked by project participants. Definitions in the five languages were developed, checked, and translated.

3. Redesign

The multilingual glossary in the five languages was then designed into an online, web-based format. The web-based glossary has a number of features to promote its accessibility and usability:

  • digital versions of the glossary in the five languages
  • downloadable PDF versions of each language
  • an audio version in Kurdish Kurmanji language
  • a QR code for ease of access.

The weblink of the multilingual glossary will be disseminated to schools, Government Departments, community organisations such as Multicultural Australia for inclusion in websites, newsletters, and other forms of communication.

Aboriginal Elementary school teacher with the class.