Teaching Of Indigenous Languages Research Articles

LEARNING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA: OVERVIEW, PROBLEMS AND THE WAY FORWARD

<p>Indigenous languages face extinction in the near future despite the important role they play in communication, cultural preservation, and identity of indigenous people. The threat is the direct consequence of colonialism and colonial practices and is currently exacerbated by globalization. Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples guarantees rights to these peoples to revitalize, use, develop, and transmit to future generations their languages, oral traditions, writing systems, and literatures. Further, it provides that states shall take effective measures to protect this right, including through interpretation in political, legal, and administrative proceedings. Consequently, Kenya’s language-in-education policy dating from the colonial period has been supportive of the teaching of indigenous languages in schools. For example, in the more recent curriculum reforms of 2017, Kenya set out to offer indigenous languages both as a medium of instruction and as a subject right from pre-primary to lower secondary levels of education as spelled out in the Basic Education Curriculum Framework. However, weak enforcement of the language policy coupled with a myriad of implementation challenges have been major drawbacks to the success of indigenous language instruction in schools. Hence the discussions about the importance of the use of indigenous languages in schools are still hotly debated. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to present an overview of and problems of learning indigenous languages in public primary schools in Kenya. Finally, relevant suggestions have been put forward to overcome the problems.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0073/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Exploring Parents' Perspectives on Indigenous Language Teaching in the CBC Curriculum: A Case Study of Schools in Kiambu County, Kenya

Exploring Parents' Perspectives on Indigenous Language Teaching in the CBC Curriculum: A Case Study of Schools in Kiambu County, Kenya

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Teaching indigenous languages in Chile: perceptions of Traditional Educators

ABSTRACT Intercultural Bilingual Education has been public policy in Chile for more than 20 years. One of its key components is the emergence of the Traditional Educator, an indigenous person with the linguistic and cultural competencies necessary for teaching an indigenous language in a school context. Hence, this research is directed towards examining the perceptions of Traditional Educators regarding the teaching of indigenous languages. The contents of relevant documents and interviews with Traditional Educators from three groups of indigenous peoples (Mapuche, Aymara and Lican Antay) who participated in the study were analyzed using a qualitative methodology. Using the Critical Language Policies approach, the results were organized into three categories: (a) perceptions of Traditional Educators regarding the Intercultural Bilingual Education Program, (b) the relationship of Traditional Educators with other participants in the school system, and (c) teaching strategies declared by Traditional Educators for teaching in the Indigenous Language Class (Sector Lengua Indígena). We concluded that the work of Traditional Educators within schools is isolated and lacks the support of local communities and the Intercultural Bilingual Education Program.

Revitalization of indigenous languages and cultures: critical review of preschool bilingual educational policies in Chile (2007–2016)

ABSTRACT Public education policies governing language revitalization and the teaching of indigenous languages have been in place for more than 20 years in Chile. In this journey, there has been considerable progress nationwide in the education of a generation of children in an intercultural socio-educational environment. However, there still exist challenges for ongoing progress towards specific goals, such as bilingualism in children. Bilingual education policies in Chile have focused mainly on 6–13-year-old children, relegating preschool education (0–6 years), one of the most relevant educational levels in the socio-linguistic revival process, to a secondary role. In this context, we examine top-down official policy documents regarding intercultural education in early childhood, developed between 2007 and 2016. Attempting to identify some of the main foci of the language policies that may influence the implementation in preschools, we present an intertextual and critical language policy analysis of these documents used in intercultural and bilingual preschools. In doing so, we compare the consistencies and locate the implicit inconsistencies in the policy positions on bilingual education in preschools. We conclude the article by outlining suggestions for languages policies and teacher education in Chile, and the possible implications for other countries.

The Relevance of Folklore in an Indigenous Language Teaching and Learning Situation: The Case Study of Sepedi

The article highlights folklore as an effective and genuine tool for indigenous language teaching and learning in the 21st century. There is a need to use pure, error-free and standardised language for it to be acknowledged and respected. In the campaign to sustain and preserve the revived indigenous languages—in this case, Sepedi—employing folk narratives in a text-based approach in teaching and learning Sepedi can develop in learners the desire to use language that is more refined, literary, figurative, symbolic and deep in meaning. Document study was adopted as the research method in this inquiry. Folk narratives in Moepathutse by Makopo were explored as they are rich in vocabulary and culture and promote indigenous knowledge. The study revealed that: a) Sepedi folk narratives are rich in relevant Sepedi vocabulary, b) employing folk narratives in a text-based approach results in teaching and learning the language in context and c) folk narratives preserve culture. The study recommends that language teachers promote and conserve indigenous languages through the use of folklore in a text-based approach. This is because folklore enhances relevant vocabulary. Furthermore, folklore supports languages to be learned in context – it is therefore, in the use of folk narratives that ethos, values, traditions, and cultures are preserved in communities. The study therefore, concludes that folklore is a relevant tool through which indigenous languages can be instilled and preserved by language users.

Task-Based Teaching of Indigenous Languages: Investment and Methodological Principles in Macuiltianguis Zapotec and Salish Qlispe Revitalization

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a pedagogical approach that involves identifying real-world tasks that learners need to be able to do in the target language and then developing classroom-appropriate, context-specific versions of these tasks. In this paper, we use Long’s methodological principles for TBLT to evaluate a task-based approach within two Indigenous language-teaching contexts: the Macuiltianguis Zapotec classroom in Oaxaca, Mexico, and a workshop for teachers of Salish Qlipse in the state of Montana. Throughout the article, we give special consideration to issues of investment in the target language, expanding on Norton’s definition of language learner investment to argue that teacher and community investment in the language and language revitalization process are critical to the successful implementation of TBLT in Indigenous contexts.

Contextos, metodologías y duplas pedagógicas en el Programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe en Chile: una evaluación crítica del estado del debate

Twenty years after the implementation of The Intercultural Bilingual Education Program (IBEP) in Chile, the country still does not have a systematic body of research to address the challenges involved in teaching indigenous languages in schools. In this critical essay, I review a number of sociolinguistic studies about the situation of indigenous languages in Chile, along with studies about the IBEP. I present a critical review of three aspects that are relevant to the teaching of indigenous languages in the IBEP: (a) the contexts in which these programs are implemented, (b) indigenous language teaching methodologies, and (c) teacher and indigenous teacher aids partnerships. I discuss the gaps and inconsistencies in the academic debate, which illustrate the lack of attention to the bilingual component of the program, as well as the absence of dialogue among scholars interested in this type of policy. I argue that the lack of attention to these three aspects has limited understanding of the challenges and opportunities the IBEP presents for the teaching of indigenous languages in schools. I conclude by suggesting possible lines of research.

Evaluación del enfoque intercultural bilingüe en educación primaria indígena: Estudio de caso en la región indígena Los Altos, Chiapas

The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the EIB (Bilingual Intercultural approach, by its acronym in Spanish) in an elementary indigenous school located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. This school is characterized by the cultural and linguistic diversity represented by the integration of teachers, students and parents of tseltal and tsotsil origin. We use the evaluation model CIPP (context, input, process and product) and complemented it with school ethnography, using semi-structured interviews (director and supervisor), participant observation (classroom sessions), focus group interviews to teachers and parents and a sociolinguistic questionnaire to students. The theoretical framework retrieves the core theoretical elements of the EIB, by reviewing and analysing bilingual education, bilingual bicultural education (biculturalism), pedagogical interculturalism and the intercultural bilingual approach. The main findings of this study show that, in practice, intercultural bilingual indigenous education has not transcended the bilingual dimension (the indigenous language teaching). Interculturalism is not yet clearly integrated in the speech nor in the educational practice of the studied school. The EIB implementation is still limited and responds to sociocultural, linguistic, political, educational and teacher training conditions that characterize the local educational context and are not favorable to enhance the effective implementation of the EIB in the primary school.

Spaces for learning: policy and practice for indigenous languages in a remote context

abstractBilingual and Indigenous language and culture programmes have run in remote Australian schools with significant and continuing local support. Developments such as the new national Indigenous languages curriculum offer a further opportunity to broaden and sustain Indigenous language teaching and learning activities in these schools. However, over the last two decades, increasing government attention to poor outcomes on national standardised literacy and numeracy assessments has markedly restricted the scope for Indigenous languages. This paper draws on a model of ideological and implementational spaces to discuss competing discourses in top-down and bottom-up policy. Data from an ethnographic study on education stakeholders in remote locations in Australia's Northern Territory revealed incongruities between local discourses that emphasise bi- and multilingualism, local identity and knowledge and community language maintenance and institutional discourses, which foreground a uniform model of education, with English literacy the dominant measure of educational success. The study also revealed that principals, teachers, and community members in some schools work together to develop vibrant, though often fragile, programmes. In addition to this, community members outside school systems are increasingly finding and taking up the spaces that allow innovative Indigenous language and cultural teaching and learning.

When support for language revitilization is not enough: the end of indigenous language classes at Warm Springs Elementary School

This paper examines the termination of indigenous language classes at a small public elementary school in the United States, from the perspective of both nonindigenous school teachers whose classrooms were used to conduct the classes and the parents whose children participated in the classes. Interviews with both groups reveal general support for language teaching, but opposing views about the inclusion of such classes in the public school setting. I argue that their differing perspectives do not reflect negative attitudes on the part of the teachers about the language itself, but rather that teachers experience both national and local factors that do not favor indigenous language teaching. These factors include differences in expectations about student behavior and language class results, as well as federal and statewide pressure to produce improvement in student performance in English reading and math. This research demonstrates that general support for indigenous language teaching is not sufficient for the successful incorporation of classes into schools. A number of issues pertaining to national and local educational goals must also be considered.

The challenge of mother tongue education in Kenya

The importance of mother tongue in the cognitive, linguistic, personal and educational development of children cannot be overemphasised. It is out of this recognition that the UNESCO declared 2006 the Year of African Languages. In spite of this, the language policy in Kenya continues to be tilted in favour of English and to some extent Kiswahili, at the expense of mother tongues. The question posed in this paper is: When will the mother tongues in Kenya take their rightful position in the education system? This paper aims at analysing the language policy in Kenya. Of particular concern is the significance of mother tongue in the school system, the wider community and the nation. The paper addresses some of the persistent problems and challenges that hinder the teaching of indigenous languages in Kenya. It also suggests possible strategies that can be used to revitalize mother tongue education in the Kenya and elsewhere. Mother tongue is defined by UNESCO (1953:46) as “the language which a person acquires in early years and which normally becomes their natural instrument of thought and communication”. In Kenya, the Kenya Institute of Education (2002:117) defines mother tongue as “the first language a child is expected to or the language of the schools' catchment area”. Any attempt to define what constitutes mother tongue education has elicited controversy in academic circles. This paper will not focus on this debate but will adopt the one proposed by UNESCO as a working definition. According to UNESCO (1968:698) mother tongue education is “Education which uses its medium of instruction a person's mother tongue, that is, the language a person has acquired in early years and which normally has become his/her natural instrument of thought and communication.” Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 4 () 2007: pp.101-119

La enseñanza de las lenguas indígenas en Costa Rica

En Costa Rica se reconocen seis lenguas indígenas que actualmente muestran un gran debilitamiento por la llamada: “nación unificada” bajo una sola lengua y una sola cultura.
 Ante esta situación, Costa Rica ha ratificado convenios internacionales para la conservación y difusión de las lenguas y las culturas autóctonas y la educación del niño indígena.
 El Programa de Enseñanza de las Lenguas Indígenas en nuestro país busca dar un espacio para la transmisión y recuperación de sus elementos culturales a pesar de los obstáculos administrativos, legales, mentales y culturales que permitan asumir la diversidad cultural.