Community Language Revitalization
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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Community Language Revitalization by SALLY GODDARD A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE DIVISON OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CALGARY, ALBERTA MARCH, 2008 © Sally Goddard 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38056-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38056-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Community Language Revitalization draws upon personal experience as well as interviews with community members about their First Nation language experiences with a language immersion program currently being created in their community. This study utilizes a case study approach and examines these experiences from a three generational point of view. One key finding was that community members were more interested in being able to speak the language than they were in learning to read and write in Cree. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to recognize the contributions made by the members of the Wicekaskosiw Sakahikan First Nation with whom I have had the privilege to work. I have learned a great deal about the way life should be lived and death should be celebrated. I would also like to thank Tim, Victoria, and Kate for their advice and support while I have been writing this. A final thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Rahat Naqvi who has helped shape this thesis to be what it is. 4 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my oldest daughter, Captain Nichola Goddard, who died on May 17, 2006 in Afghanistan. 5 Table of Contents Approval Page 2 Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Dedication 5 Table of contents 6 List of Tables 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Context 11 The community 11 Services 12 Economic development 12 Educational opportunities 12 Competing orthographies 13 Background to the project 14 The problem 16 Definitions 19 Issues related to the study 20 Limitations 20 Delimitations 21 Assumptions 21 Chapter summary 21 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework 22 Related literature 28 Language in the community 29 Language in the school 33 International research 35 Second language acquisition 38 Chapter summary 40 Chapter 3: Methodology 42 Introduction 42 Selection of participants 42 Data collection 43 Questions asked 43 Analysis 44 Data analysis 45 Theme 1: Intergenerational transmission of language 45 Theme 2: Why knowing Cree is important 48 Theme 3: The responsibility for language learning 49 Theme 4: The orthography issue 50 Chapter summary 51 6 Chapter 4: Discussion 52 The role of English 53 Language needs to grow and develop 56 Reluctance to learn and participate 60 The curriculum guide 62 Why learn to read and write in Cree 64 Chapter summary 70 Chapter 5: Lessons learned 71 1. Planning 71 2. Intergenerational transmission of language 72 3. Reading and Writing 76 4. The role of educational institutions 77 5. The establishment of a Language Authority in the community 78 6. Teacher training 80 Fishman's model: The missing link 80 Further research 82 Conclusion 83 Subsidiary questions 84 References 87 APPENDIX A: YEAR OUTLINE 93 APPENDIX B: CREE SYLLABIC FONT 97 APPENDIX C: ASSESSING LANGUAGE 99 APPENDIX D: CERTIFICATION OF INSTITUTIONAL ETHICS REVIEW 104 APPENDIX E: LETTER OF INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS 107 APPENDIX F: CONSENT FORM 109 7 List of Tables Table 1 Writing system of the Plains Cree 14 Table 2 Language characteristics of people at Wicekaskosiw Sakahikan ... 16 Table 3 Three models of language revitalization 22 Table 4 The three M' s of indigenous language education 32 Table 5 A summary of Hale's (200 la) findings 33 Table 6 A summary of Crawford's beliefs 37 Table 7 Language ability of participants 44 Table 8 Master and Apprentice 74 8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction "Why is our language important? If we lose our language then there is nothing that separates us from the rest [of Canada] except the colour of our skin." Mary, parent For almost four years, I have worked with a group of Cree educators on a project meant to revitalize their language in the community. Over time, I became concerned that the project was not meeting the needs and wants of the community members. Through multigenerational interviews as well as in depth knowledge of the project, I have been able to document and examine the community response to this language revitalization project. I first started teaching on a reserve in northern Saskatchewan in 1984. The language of the community was Dene. The language of the playground was Dene. The students spoke Dene in the classroom when speaking to each other. Teachers used English as a Second Language teaching strategies in the classroom and continually exhorted the students to speak in English. Television was limited to blurry CBC North and whatever Beta videos were available at the Northern store. During our second year, the chief bought a huge satellite dish for the community. We soon discovered that because of the way the dish was set up, we all watched what the chief wanted to watch. I thought that the advent of regular television would help the students' English but it initially appeared that it made no difference as people watched television without sound. Over twenty years have passed since then and much has changed. The survival of indigenous languages in Canada has been the subject of much debate (e.g., Burnaby 2002; Friesen & Friesen, 2005; Ignace, 1998). It has been estimated 9 that there are 50 or more individual languages belonging to 11 Aboriginal language families. Currently, only a minority of the Aboriginal population in Canada is able to speak or understand an Aboriginal language. The 2001 census reports that of the 976,300 people who called themselves Aboriginal, 235,000 (24%) said they could conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language. In the 1996 census, 29% said they could converse (Norris, 2006). If the numbers of people who can converse in their Aboriginal language continue to decline at this rate, by 2020 less than four percent of Aboriginal people will speak their Aboriginal language. There is a real possibility of language loss for many First Nations people. So what will happen if the language is no longer used on the reserve? Language and identity are closely linked. Cree is currently used for celebrations, festivals, and funerals. If the language disappears, then as Ann says, "We'd lose the cultural part of our lives, like the ceremonies, because they can only be understood in Cree" (interview, June 19, 2007). A First Nation colleague asked me once how I stopped my children marrying their cousins. I replied that it was not an issue because their cousins lived in other provinces and countries. She then asked how I knew all the cousins. I said that we all kept in touch and we knew when another child was born. She told me that in her culture, that information was held by the language of the community. The language defined who was related to whom, and who could marry. One of her fears was that if the language died, that information would disappear. An elder said, "Yes, Cree's got so much meaning. One word's got so much meaning. It describes everything, the whole of what you're going to say." However, Friesen and Friesen (2005) believe that if language is 10 lost, the culture is not lost. It just changes. People on the reserve want the language to survive and the community traditions and culture to remain what they have always been. Cree is one of the strongest First Nations' languages, particularly the Plains Cree or Y dialect spoken across much of western Canada. However, many Cree communities are concerned about language loss. A number of community based initiatives have been established in schools to teach the aboriginal language of the community to the children across Canada. These range from full immersion programs to instructional programs that last for 30 minutes a day. The research study reported here examines one such initiative.