Arguments for literacy in indigenous languages

I am posting a copy of a presentation done at last year's Indian Education conference in Flagstaff. If you have any questions, let me know.

Decolonization, Complete Bilingualism, Academic Achievement, and National Identity

Arguments for Literacy in Indigenous Languages

Presenters

 

Manhattan island—
Dutch, Flemish, Walloons, French, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English, Scottish, Irish, German, Polish, Romani, Portuguese, Italian & Native American language Philadelphia—

Noah Webster argued for a common language and helped to create American English.

“ucation for American Indians

Martin Van Buren, president from 1837-1841, learned English as a second language. Dutch was his first language.

Greenwood LeFlore, principal

The Māori have been grappling with increasing literacy in te reo Māori for about 30 years. Complexities of the language are not being learned through conversational uses only. To further revitalization efforts, literature from the 19

Carmen Silva-Corvalan’s (2014) new work verifies the need for schooling/literacy in a heritage language for a person to have complete bilingualism.

Cummins highlighted the importance of literacy skills for academic achievement in his concepts of BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) and CALP/Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency.

Cushman (2011) discusses the role of the Sequoyan syllabary after the Removal through the Civil War to the end of the Cherokee Republic in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s: “...the Cherokee syllabary has played a crucial role in facilitating Cherokees’ efforts to

Gatekeeper Courses and
Literacy Achievement

   

The Māori have a body of literature and offer Ph.D.’s in te reo Māori.

From 1984 to 1991, Gregory collected essays written in English by bilingual

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

References

Yesterday, I lunched with a friend of mine who has been working on maintaining her indigenous language at least since the 1980's. She started community classes without funding and continued working until there were classes in the local schools, sometimes having to teach those herself. Although she has retired, she does with another community. Despite all her accomplishments, perhaps what she values most is that her grandchildren are now speaking their heritage language with her and other adults in the community. She is thrilled, of course, because there was some delay in the acquisition of that language, but it has finally broken through.