The 'Yes, I Can!' Aboriginal adult literacy campaign in remote EAL/D communities

The 'Yes, I Can!' literacy campaign was based on a Cuban mass adult literacy model, and to the authors' knowledge it is the first and only community-controlled literacy program delivering English-language literacy classes to Indigenous adults in Australia. It was first implemented in 2012 in Wilcannia, a remote community in far west New South Wales (NSW). Since then, the campaign has expanded to an additional nine communities across NSW. The primary aim of this project is to demonstrate the benefits of using a community-controlled approach, the 'Yes I Can!' campaign, to improve literacy in Aboriginal adults and to improve health and socio-economic outcomes in remote communities in the Northern Territory (NT).

Early results drawing on attendance, participation and skills assessment data replicate those reported in previous impact studies on the campaign in NSW communities. That is, participants in the two linguistically and culturally distinct NT communities are showing improvements in three main domains: personal (confidence, self-esteem, physical appearance, personal hygiene), social (communication, respect, teamwork and friendships) and cognitive (improvements in reading, writing, speaking, thinking and concentration). However, it is also clear that people's relationship to English and it's perceived value and actual useage is complicated by the particular language ecologies of these communities.

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