Designing Indigenous Language Revitalization

Abstract

Endangered Indigenous languages have received little attention within the American educational research community. However, within Native American communities, language revitalization is pushing education beyond former iterations of culturally relevant curriculum and has the potential to radically alter how we understand culture and language in education. Situated within this gap, Mary Hermes, Megan Bang, and Ananda Marin consider the role of education for Indigenous languages and frame specific questions of Ojibwe revitalization as a part of the wider understanding of the context of community, language, and Indigenous knowledge production. Through a retrospective analysis of an interactive multimedia materials project, the authors present ways in which design research, retooled to fit the need of communities, may inform language revitalization efforts and assist with the evolution of community-based research design. Broadly aimed at educators, the praxis described in this article draws on community collaboration, knowledge production, and the evolution of a design within Indigenous language revitalization.In this article we use the case study of an Indigenous language material development project and other surrounding moments of Indigenous knowledge creation to purposefully consider and learn from Indigenous language revitalization efforts in a specific community. Using retrospective analysis (diSessa & Cobb, 2004), we explore questions of design as they pertain to the evolution of a community-based design process for language revitalization. Our analysis is situated within the context of design-based research, an iterative methodology that seeks both to generate and advance fundamental knowledge and theoreti-Designing Indigenous Language Revitalization hermes, bang, and marin Designing Indigenous Language Revitalization hermes, bang, and marin

Learning Sciences for Computing Education

“…Theories developed through DBR must do real work in the world, facilitating sharing with practitioners and other designers while improving educational outcomes for participants. As Hermes, Bang, and Marin (2012) articulate in thinking through an Ojibwe language revitalization project, "DBR...has the affordance of engaging educational researchers in developing immediate solutions for critical, timely, and practical problems in education" (p. 384).…”

“…Further, in spite of its focus on situating learning in context, DBR has been relatively silent about the role that culture and sociohistorical context play in schooling and design more generally. Ironically, "the lessons involved in DBR often uncover the sociohistoric foundations in which learning, education, and language are deeply entrenched" (Hermes et al, 2012). In other words, while DBR has not historically focused on issues of culture and power, these sociohistoric issues are uncovered as a result of DBR.…”

Language as a Facilitator of Cultural Connection

“…Communities in the Southwest United States have maintained a great deal of their first-language speakers but continue to support efforts to preserve language proficiency among the younger generations. Language revitalization efforts are receiving growing attention within Ojibwe communities, as well, as language immersion primary education programs, adult language nests, and local public policy declaring Ojibwe as the official language of tribes emerge (Gunderson 2010; Hermes, Bang, and Marin 2012; Fahrlander 2015). Community members and linguists alike share in the urgency and importance of revitalizing languages and preserving local dialects, especially because time with elders—overwhelmingly the first-language speakers—is uncertain.…”

Indigenous Bilingual and Revitalization-Immersion Education in Canada and the USA

“…A fourth language reclamation/revitalization focus is the creative use of educational technologies. Hermes et al (2012) report on design research with Ojibwe communities in which improvised movies based on elders' storytelling and naturally occurring speech during summer language camps provided new pedagogic resources for use inside and outside of school. "Repurposing" technology for language revitalization "opened spaces for the integration of Indigenous epistemologies and axiologies in learning materials" (2012, pp.…”