Overview
Background
My role in the School of Languages and Cultures is Lecturer in Endangered Languages, focussed on the development of an Indigenous Languages Revitalisation program. Since 2021 I have worked closely with Indigenous Industry Fellows Des Crump and Robert McLellan and an Indigenous Steering Committee to consult and design the program. I am also an active researcher, with several projects in Central Australia.
My approach to teaching and research is collaborative, community-guided and applied. This informed by my on-going self-reflexivity as a non-Indigenous woman and my experience living and working on unceded Kaurna, Arrernte, Warumungu, Warlpiri, Pintupi-Luritja country and, since moving to the University of Queensland in 2019, Jagera and Turrbal country.
My academic research life began in 2004, after a decade as an educator and community linguist. I worked with Warumungu linguist B Morrison Nakkamarra on the ARC funded Aboriginal Child Language Acquisition Project and after the completion of my PhD research at the University of Melbourne in 2008, I returned to industry as regional linguist with the Northern Territory Department of Education.
Since 2014 I have held research positions at Charles Darwin University on the Red Dirt Education project, the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Languages at the Australian National University. In this project I worked with Warumungu linguists and families to return and repurpose a set of archived recordings for language and cultural revitalisation through arts-based practice, an outcome of which was the 2019 co-curated exhibition 'Ankkinyi Mangurr, Ankkinyi Apparr' at the 2019 Tarnanthi Fesitval of Contemporary Art.
I have a published Warumungu learner's dictionary, language teacher resource books, 15 articles, 10 book chapters and a co-edited volume, along with numerous commissioned reports and reviews in education and languages policy. I currently hold an ARC Discovery grant for the project 'The Illustrated Literature of Papunya and Strelley, 1979-1998) in collaboration with University of Western Australia.
Availability
- Dr Samantha Disbray is:
- Available for supervision
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne
Research interests
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Languages education
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Bilingual education
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Indigenous languages reclamation, revitalisation and maintenance
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Discourse studies
Research impacts
My work has made diverse impacts, locally, nationally and internationally. In the field of languages in education, my publications have informed policy and implementation in the Northern Territory Department of Education. I have been contracted to design curriculum and deliver professional learning. I have consulted for the Warlpiri Education and Training Trust to guide program development and implementation (see links). A collaboration with the Indigenous peak body First Languages Australia to document successful elements of language programs prompted and informs the National Strategy for Languages currently in development (see links). Most recently, I was contracted to research good practice models for Indigenous languages education by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (forthcoming).
Combining language work and arts-based practice, I have worked innovatively to support community language and culture revitalisation and broader public education. The Ankkinyi Apparr, Ankkinyi Mangurr (Our language, our designs) exhibition, with Warumungu co-curators Rosemary Plummer Narrurlu, Sandra Morrison Nangala and Ronald Morrison Jungarrayi, grew from an archival repatriation project. The co-curators and I worked with visual artists and community members to develop a body of work, including video material (see links), which showed in the 2019 Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Indigenous Arts in Adelaide to 16,000 visitors and at Nyinkka Nyunyu Culture Centre in Tennant Creek in 2020-2021.
Through my work with the Papunya Bilingual Steering Committee, remarkable and nationally significant historical materials created during the Northern Territory Bilingual Program have been digitised and made available through the National Library of Australia (see links). My collaborators and I are commissioned to collect oral histories for the National Oral History and Folklore Collection.
Works
Search Professor Samantha Disbray’s works on UQ eSpace
2023
Book Chapter
University-school partnerships
Hashimoto, Kayoko and Disbray, Samantha (2023). University-school partnerships. Language policy. (pp. 3-17) edited by Zia Tajeddin and Carol Griffiths. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-38754-8_1
2023
Book Chapter
Indigenous children’s language practices in Australia
Wigglesworth, Gillian and Disbray, Samantha (2023). Indigenous children’s language practices in Australia. The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages. (pp. 720-727) edited by Claire Bowern. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198824978.003.0062
2022
Book
Mangurr-jangu Mirlamirlajinjikki - Teaching and learning with pictures
Harrison, Angela and Disbray, Samantha (2022). Mangurr-jangu Mirlamirlajinjikki - Teaching and learning with pictures. Wallsend, NSW Australia: First Languages Australia.
2022
Other Outputs
Learning (in) Indigenous languages: Common ground, diverse pathways
Angelo, Denise, Disbray, Samantha, Singer, Ruth, O'Shannessy, Carmel, Simpson, Jane, Smith, Hilary, Meek, Barbra and Wigglesworth, Gillian (2022). Learning (in) Indigenous languages: Common ground, diverse pathways. OECD Education Working Papers. OECDiLibrary, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. doi: 10.1787/e80ad1d4-en
2022
Other Outputs
Arlkeny map-akert / Australian Indigenous Languages Image Bank ‘AILIB’
Disbray, Samantha, Kral, Inge and Green, Jennifer (2022). Arlkeny map-akert / Australian Indigenous Languages Image Bank ‘AILIB’. Sydney; Melbourne; Canberra, Australia: PARADISEC.
2021
Journal Article
Reframing and hospicing mobility in higher education: challenges and possibilities
Diaz, Adriana Raquel, Cordella, Marisa, Disbray, Samantha, Hanna, Barbara E. and Mikhaylova, Anna (2021). Reframing and hospicing mobility in higher education: challenges and possibilities. Intercultural Communication Education, 4 (1), 106-121. doi: 10.29140/ice.v4.n1.449
2020
Journal Article
Talking north: the journey of Australia's first Asian language
Disbray, Samantha (2020). Talking north: the journey of Australia's first Asian language. Asian Studies Review, 44 (3), 563-565. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2020.1775064
2020
Journal Article
Which MATter matters in PATtern borrowing? The direction of case syncretisms
Meakins, Felicity, Disbray, Samantha and Simpson, Jane (2020). Which MATter matters in PATtern borrowing? The direction of case syncretisms. Morphology, 30 (4), 373-393. doi: 10.1007/s11525-020-09357-3
2020
Journal Article
Languages ideologies and practice from the land and the classroom
Disbray, Samantha, Plummer, Rosemary and Martin, Barbara (2020). Languages ideologies and practice from the land and the classroom. Modern Language Journal, 104 (2), 519-525. doi: 10.1111/modl.12658
2020
Journal Article
Talking together: how language documentation and teaching practice support oral language development in bilingual education programs
Disbray, Samantha, O’Shannessy, Carmel, MacDonald, Gretel and Martin, Barbara (2020). Talking together: how language documentation and teaching practice support oral language development in bilingual education programs. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25 (4), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/13670050.2020.1767535
2019
Other Outputs
Ankkinyi Apparr, Ankkinyi Mangurr – Our Language, Our Designs
Morrison Nangali, Sandra, Plummer Narrurlu, Rosemary, Morrison Jungarray, Ronald and Disbray, Samantha (2019). Ankkinyi Apparr, Ankkinyi Mangurr – Our Language, Our Designs. Adelaide, SA, Australia: Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Indigenous Arts.
2019
Journal Article
Realising the Australian curriculum framework for Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages
Disbray, Samantha (2019). Realising the Australian curriculum framework for Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages. Babel, 54 (1&2), 21-25.
2019
Journal Article
Setting the scene: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages learning and teaching
Simpson, Jane Helen, Disbray, Samantha and O'Shannessy, Carmel (2019). Setting the scene: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages learning and teaching. Babel, 54 (1&2), 7-10.
2019
Book Chapter
Indigenous children’s language practices in Australia
Disbray, Samantha and Wigglesworth, Gillian (2019). Indigenous children’s language practices in Australia. The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities. (pp. 357-381) edited by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun and Bernadette O’Rourke. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-54066-9_14
2018
Journal Article
Mapping boarding school opportunities for Aboriginal students from the Central Land Council Region of Northern Territory
Osborne, Samuel, Rigney, Lester-Irabinna, Benveniste, Tessa, Guenther, John and Disbray, Samantha (2018). Mapping boarding school opportunities for Aboriginal students from the Central Land Council Region of Northern Territory. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 48 (2), 162-178. doi: 10.1017/jie.2018.1
2018
Other Outputs
Global Lessons: Indigenous languages and multilingualism in school programs. First Languages Australia
Disbray, Samantha, Barker, Carolyn, Raghunathan, A. and Baisden, Faith (2018). Global Lessons: Indigenous languages and multilingualism in school programs. First Languages Australia. First Language Australia Resources Wallsend, NSW Australia: First Languages Australia.
2018
Book Chapter
Curriculum as knowledge system: the Warlpiri theme cycle
Disbray, Samantha and Martin, Barbara (2018). Curriculum as knowledge system: the Warlpiri theme cycle. Language practices of indigenous children and youth: the transition from home to school. (pp. 23-48) edited by Gillian Wigglesworth, Jane Simpson and Jill Vaughan. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-60120-9_2
2017
Book Chapter
‘Red dirt’ schools and pathways into higher education
Guenther, John, Disbray, Samantha, Benveniste, Tessa and Osborne, Sam (2017). ‘Red dirt’ schools and pathways into higher education. Indigenous pathways, transitions and participation in higher education: from policy to practice. (pp. 251-270) edited by Jack Frawley, Steve Larkin and James A. Smith. Singapore: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-4062-7_15
2017
Book Chapter
Consolidation, power through leadership and pedagogy, and the rise of accountability, 1980–1998
Disbray, Samantha and Devlin, Brian (2017). Consolidation, power through leadership and pedagogy, and the rise of accountability, 1980–1998. History of bilingual education in the northern territory: people, programs and policies. (pp. 101-112) edited by Brian Clive Devlin, Samantha Disbray and Nancy Regine Friedman Devlin. Singapore: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0_9
2017
Book
History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory
Brian Clive Devlin, Samantha Disbray and Nancy Regine Friedman Devlin eds. (2017). History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory. Language Policy, Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Samantha Disbray is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN EARLY LITERACY POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Adriana Diaz, Associate Professor Marnee Shay
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Doctor Philosophy
Language rights and minority language publishing in Australia.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Paul Harpur, Associate Professor Pradip Thomas
Media
Enquiries
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