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Socializing English-Speaking Navajo Children Christine B University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Special Education ETDs Education ETDs 2-1-2016 Socializing English-Speaking Navajo Children Christine B. Vining Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_spcd_etds Recommended Citation Vining, Christine B.. "Socializing English-Speaking Navajo Children." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_spcd_etds/15 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Special Education ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Christine B. Vining Candidate Department of Educational Specialties Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Julia Scherba de Valenzuela, Chairperson Susan Copeland Cathy Qi Tiffany Lee ii SOCIALIZING ENGLISH-SPEAKING NAVAJO CHILDREN TO STORYTELLING by CHRISTINE B. VINING B.S. Education, University of Arizona, 1985 M.S. Speech-Language Pathology, University of Arizona, 1988 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Special Education The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December 2015 iii Dedication I would like to dedicate this research to Navajo families who are the core of our communities. They provide the strength upon which we build our lives. The intergenerational nature of families allows a connection to one another that bonds us forever. I am grateful to the families who opened their lives briefly to give me insight into how young Navajo English-speaking children are socialized in contemporary Navajo society. I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to the young children involved in this study. It is my hope that this study will positively impact their lives as well as the lives of many other Navajo children who are learning to navigate the expectations of their bicultural worlds. I wish to also thank the chapter and community of Tuba City and the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board for allowing me to complete the study. Finally, I wish to thank my own family both nuclear and extended, my ancestors and creator for the gift of life. I thank them for their prayers, songs, and words of wisdom for a good life based on Hózhó. iv Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my dissertation chair, Dr. Julia Scherba de Valenzuela, without whom this research would not have been realized. I thank you for your unwavering support and guidance on this journey. You inspired me to share the stories and perspectives of my community and people, and for that I am grateful. To my dissertation committee members: Dr. Susan Copeland, Dr. Tiffany Lee, and Dr. Cathy Qi, your support and advice meant a lot to me. As faculty, you modeled for me the essence of quality teaching and research, and I will strive to emulate that in my work. To faculty from the Speech-Hearing Sciences Department, Dr. Barbara Rodriguez (Department Chair) and Dr. Carol Westby, I wish to thank you for mentorship. Your support in the initial phase of my journey was invaluable. To faculty members from the Special Education Department, Ruth Luckasson (Department Chair), Dr. Loretta Serna, Dr. Diane Torres-Velasquez, and Dr. Isaura Barrera, and Dr. Ginger Blalock, thank you for your encouragement to begin this journey. To faculty members from the Department of Language, Literacy, & Sociocultural Studies, Dr. Christine Sims, Dr. Vera John-Steiner and Dr. Holbrook Mahn, thank you for your wisdom. Last but not least, I wish to thank my colleagues in the doctoral group for their support and encouragement. v SOCIALIZING ENGLISH-SPEAKING NAVAJO CHILDREN TO STORYTELLING by Christine B. Vining B.S. Education, University of Arizona, 1985 M.S. Speech-Language Pathology, University of Arizona, 1988 PhD Special Education, 2015 Abstract Understanding how young children are socialized to the process and products of storytelling as part of everyday family life is important for language and literacy instruction. A language socialization framework was used to understand storytelling practices on the Navajo Nation. This study examined how three young English-speaking Navajo children, ages 3, 4 and 6, were socialized to tell stories. The broad research question that guided this work was, "How are young English-speaking Navajo children socialized to tell stories?" The following methods were used: (a) observations of primary child participants, (b) interviews with adult family members of primary child participants, and (c) document review. Several major themes emerged including: Societal Changes, Why We Tell Stories, and Aspects of Good Stories. Analysis also revealed associated subthemes. Results of the study addressed routines, contexts, and interactions that support storytelling. As language shifts from Navajo to English, aspects of Navajo culture and culturally influenced discourse patterns remain in primarily English-speaking homes. The implication of this study is that as cultural and linguistic practices change on the Navajo Nation, so do the socialization processes and products of storytelling. vi Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................. 34 Chapter 3 Methods ............................................................................................................ 68 Chapter 4 Results .............................................................................................................. 95 Chapter 5 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 183 References ....................................................................................................................... 229 Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 247 vii List of Tables Table 1. Demographic Description of Participants ...........................................................96 Table 2. Summary of Codes.............................................................................................111 Table 3. Observed Features of Discourse Patterns Influenced by Navajo Culture ..........179 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Educators have focused extensively on accountability, all-English instruction and high stakes testing in English, yet the achievement gap for American Indian children in many reservations schools in New Mexico continues as evidenced by only 24% of the schools making adequate yearly progress in 2005 (New Mexico Public Education Department Student Assessment Bureau, 2005). In this chapter, I discuss problems with overrepresentation of American Indian children in special education, the gap in achievement, and language/academic assessment issues. These problems which contribute to school failure in American Indian education are not new and have been explained by researchers in different ways (Reyhner, 1992). For example, they have argued that the root of poor academic achievement for American Indian students is related to (a) cultural and linguistic differences (Swisher & Deyhle, 1992), (b) cultural and linguistic changes occurring in American Indian communities (House, 2002; Reyhner), and (c) educators reinforcing the ambivalence of American Indian students toward their culture when “assimilationist (Anglo-conformity)” models of education are used (Cummins, 1992). Some educators contend that “cultural loss” and “language shift to the nonstandard dialect of English” have detrimental academic consequences, and that the major cause of school failure is due to “students’ failure to develop literacy and other academic skills in English or the tribal tongue” (Crawford, 2004, p. 269). These educational problems have also been explained as resulting from the discontinuity between home and school discourse patterns as well as level of English proficiency and its impact on the acquisition of language and literacy skills (Philips, 1972; Heath 1983). 2 Educational issues, such as these call for a better understanding of the contemporary sociocultural patterns of children and language socialization practices, particularly from an American Indian perspective. In this chapter, I establish a need to examine the literature on storytelling practices as a means of understanding Navajo language socializing practices and ways in which the cultural discourse rules in storytelling remains even when language use shifts to English. I begin by highlighting educational issues such as the disproportionate representation of American Indians in special education, the inadequacy of assessment procedures that fail to take into consideration students’ sociocultural backgrounds, and the significant achievement gaps for American Indian children in New Mexico. Where applicable, I used the term American Indian to refer to American Indian people of the United States. I used the term Navajo rather than Diné to describe the specific population I targeted for this study. I chose these terms as they are terms typically used by the federal government and academic institutions. I
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