Abstract

This article presents the early stages of the community-led development of the Kowanyama State School’s Kok Kaper/Kokoberra language program (Far North Queensland, Australia). By sharing the progress achieved to date as a case study, we contribute to the growing body of literature that documents and informs the process of developing Indigenous language programs in Australian schools. The paper shares background information about the complex linguistic context of Kowanyama, the theoretical frameworks the language program’s development aligns with and its implementational framing. The methodological approaches guiding its development are also discussed, alongside current approaches to teaching methods, assessment and content development. Examples of learning units and resources are explored. Some key challenges and trialled responses are also discussed, including the use of multilingual text, audio and exploration of artificial intelligence-generated illustrations for creating culturally relevant and engaging language learning resources.

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/content/journals/10.1075/aral.25048.ren

2026-07-16

2026-07-19