Indigenous Language Reclamation: The Learners Perspective

ABSTRACT This study explored the link between learning an Indigenous language and the meanings second language learners attach to their language recovery experiences. The study delves into the factors that motivate, enhance and serve as barriers to individual language revitalization efforts. With the goal of reasserting an Indigenous world view, the traditional teachings of the Ojibwe medicine wheel were combined with the lessons of the seven Grandfathers to provide a methodological basis for conducting ethical research with and for the benefit of First Nations people. Within the context of our relationships with self, community, spirit and environment, the pairing of Indigenous theory with the practical community experiences of Indigenous second language learners, demonstrates how Indigenous systems of thought and ontology lend themselves well to the critical understanding necessary to enhance the recovery our own endangered languages. These research findings indicate that there is a definite link between ancestral language reclamation and increased levels of self-esteem, a sense of grounded cultural identity and resilience, an overall sense of healing and the social responsibility that comes with receiving the gift of language. The barriers associated with learning an ancestral language intersect on multiple and often simultaneous levels making it difficult for the language learners to discover their origin.This research found that it was important for language learners to identify that they often carry a collective sense of shame associated with an internalized attachment to the modality of Indigeneity. Once the origin of this shame was acknowledged – as resulting from settler/assimilation logics, it was often possible for people to move forward in their language recovery journeys, while at the same time considering more broadly the structural barriers that make individual learning so difficult.

Evaluation of the Implementation of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) Methodology in the Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education Course Taught in the Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program at the University of Alicante

Although it is known that the Spanish current Educative System promotes using the Communicate Approach to teach foreign languages in schools, other recently designed approaches are also used to help students improve their skills when communicating in a foreign language. One of these approaches is Content and Language Integrated Learning, also known as CLIL, which is used to teach content courses using the English language as the language of instruction. This approach improves the students’ skills in English as the same time as they learn content from other areas. The goal of this thesis is to present a research project carried out at the University of Alicante during the academic year 2011-2012. With this research we obtained results that provide quantitative and qualitative data which explains how the use of the CLIL methodology affects the English level of students in the “Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education” course in Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program as students acquire the contents of the course.

Análise fonológica da língua Deni (Arawá)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evaluating a web-based clinical decision support system for language disorders screening in a nursery school

Background: Early and effective identification of developmental disorders during childhood remains a critical task for the international community. The second highest prevalence of common developmental disorders in children are language delays, which are frequently the first symptoms of a possible disorder. Objective: This paper evaluates a Web-based Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) whose aim is to enhance the screening of language disorders at a nursery school. The common lack of early diagnosis of language disorders led us to deploy an easy-to-use CDSS in order to evaluate its accuracy in early detection of language pathologies. This CDSS can be used by pediatricians to support the screening of language disorders in primary care. Methods: This paper details the evaluation results of the ?Gades? CDSS at a nursery school with 146 children, 12 educators, and 1 language therapist. The methodology embraces two consecutive phases. The first stage involves the observation of each child?s language abilities, carried out by the educators, to facilitate the evaluation of language acquisition level performed by a language therapist. Next, the same language therapist evaluates the reliability of the observed results. Results: The Gades CDSS was integrated to provide the language therapist with the required clinical information. The validation process showed a global 83.6% (122/146) success rate in language evaluation and a 7% (7/94) rate of non-accepted system decisions within the range of children from 0 to 3 years old. The system helped language therapists to identify new children with potential disorders who required further evaluation. This process will revalidate the CDSS output and allow the enhancement of early detection of language disorders in children. The system does need minor refinement, since the therapists disagreed with some questions from the CDSS knowledge base (KB) and suggested adding a few questions about speech production and pragmatic abilities. The refinement of the KB will address these issues and include the requested improvements, with the support of the experts who took part in the original KB development. Conclusions: This research demonstrated the benefit of a Web-based CDSS to monitor children?s neurodevelopment via the early detection of language delays at a nursery school. Current next steps focus on the design of a model that includes pseudo auto-learning capacity, supervised by experts.

Conceptual Decolonization of Space: Worldview and Language in Anishinaabe Akiing

This dissertation examines the role of worldview and language in the cultural framework of American Indian people. In it I develop a theory of worldview which can be defined as an interrelated set of logics that orients a culture to space (land), time, the rest of life, and provides a prescription for understanding that life. Considering the strong links between language and worldview, it is methodologically necessary to focus on a particular language and culture to decolonize concepts of and relationships to land. In particular, this dissertation focuses on an Anishinaabe worldview as consisting of four components, which are; (1) an intimate relationship to a localized space; (2) a cyclical understanding of time; (3) living in a web of relatedness with all life, and (4) understanding the world around us in terms of balance. The methodological approach draws from Anishinaabemowin, the traditional Anishinaabe language, as a starting place for negotiating a linguistic-conceptual analysis of these logics to decolonize the understandings of land, time, relatedness and balance. This dissertation helps to demonstrate that the religious language as codified in the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution as religious freedom is unable to carry the meaning of the fundamental relationships to land that are embedded in Anishinaabemowin and culture. I compare the above Anishinaabe worldview to that of the eurowestern culture in America, which is; (1) the domination of space; (2) a linear progression of time; (3) a hierarchical organization of life; and (4) understanding the world as a Manichean battle of good versus evil. This dissertation seeks to decolonize American Indian translational methodologies and undermine the assumptions of eurowestern cultural universality.

Virtual learning communities beyond the classroom: perceptions of tertiary Chinese language and non-language learners

As class contact times are reduced as a result of fiscal restraints in the modern tertiary sector, language instructors are placed in the position of having to find new ways to provide experience and continuity in language learning. Extending 'learning communities'—sites of learner knowledge exchange, exposure to diverse learning styles and strategies, and mutual support—beyond the classroom is one solution to maintaining successful linguistic competencies amongst learners. This, however, can conflict with the diverse extra-curricular commitments faced by tertiary students. The flexibility of web-based learning platforms provides one means of overcoming these obstacles. This study investigates learner perceptions of the use of the WebCT platform's computer medicated communication (CMC) tools as a means of extending the community of learning in tertiary Chinese language and non-language courses. Learner responses to Likert and open-ended questionnaires show that flexibility and reduction of negative affect are seen as significant benefits to 'virtual' interaction and communication, although responses are notably stronger in the non-language compared with the language cohort. While both learner cohorts acknowledge positive learning outcomes, CMC is not seen to consistently further interpersonal rapport beyond that established in the classroom. Maintaining a balance between web-based and classroom learning emerges as a concern, especially amongst language learners. [Author abstract, ed]

Decolonizing Pedagogies: Interrupting the Settler Colonial Narrative of Landownership in Ontario Social Science and History Curriculum

Drawing upon Ontario Social Science and History curriculum documents and textbook imagery and language, this paper examines how narratives of settler landownership strategically present Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples within the Canadian grand narrative. The curriculum and text material educators and learners are guided by ignore ongoing colonial violence towards Indigenous peoples and perpetuate the ideology of inevitable ‘peaceful’ interrelationships in national contexts. Learners develop identities in relation to land and how land is acquired. They come to understand themselves as part of a just nation in the particular sequence of Canadian Social Science and History teaching and learning. To go beyond simply adding content about Indigenous peoples in the classroom, educators and learners must adapt a decolonial approach to instead learn from Indigenous perspectives. Such a methodology would require the opening of a “third space” where the transmission of western curricular knowledge is interrupted. Educators and learners must create a space for problematizing the source itself and deconstruct the national grand narrative using inquiry, questioning and reflection, rather than repetition and regurgitation. This analysis reveals that particular placements of Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians in curriculum and classroom text material must be challenged by educators and learners to disrupt colonial narratives and to seek ongoing reconciliatory opportunities in and beyond the school walls.

FORMAÇÕES DISCURSIVAS E PROCESSOS IDENTIFICATÓRIOS NA AQUISIÇÃO DE LÍNGUAS

This paper discusses theoretical results of the research project Linguistic Identity and Identification: A Study of Functions of Second Language in Enunciating Subject Constitution. Non-cognitive factors that have a crucial incidence in the degree of success and ways of accomplishment of second language acquisition process are focused. A transdisciplinary perspective is adopted, mobilising categories from Discourse Analysis and Psychoanalysis. The most relevant ones are: discursive formation, intradiscourse, interdiscourse, forgetting n° 1, forgetting n° 2 (Pêcheux, 1982), identity, identification (Freud, 1966; Lacan, 1977; Nasio, 1995). Revuz s views (1991) are discussed. Her main claim is that during the process of learning a foreign language, the foundations of psychical structure, and consequently first language, are required. After examining how nomination and predication processes work in first and second languages, components of identity and identification processes are focused on, in an attempt to show how second language acquisition strategies depend on them. It is stated that methodological affairs of language teaching, learner s explicit motivation and the like are subordinated to the comprehension of deeper non-cognitive factors that determine the accomplishment of the second language acquisition process. It is also pointed out that those factors are to be approached, questioning the bipolar biological-social conception of subjectivity in the study of language acquisition and use and including in the analysis symbolic and significant dimensions of the discourse constitution process.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of a Quality of Life questionnaire: The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation questionnaire

Background:The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) instrument is a disease-specific questionnaire for assessing the outcome of an intervention in nasal obstruction in trials. This instrument is only available in the English language and cross-culturally valid questionnaires are very important for all research, including nasal obstruction. The aim of the current study was to reproduce the cross-cultural adaptation process for the NOSE questionnaire in the Portuguese language (NOSE-p). Methodology: Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the instrument were divided into two stages. Stage I involved four bilingual professionals, an expert committee and the author of the original instrument. In Stage 2, the NOSE-p was tested on 33 patients undergoing septoplasty for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity. discriminant validity, criterion validity, and response sensitivity. Results: The cross-cultural adaptation process was completed and the NOSE-p was demonstrated to be a valid instrument with satisfactory construct validity. It showed an adequate internal consistency reliability and adequate test-retest reliability. It could discriminate between patients with and without nasal obstruction and it has a high response sensitivity to change. Conclusions: The cross-cultural adaptation and validation process demonstrated to be valid and the NOSE-p proved to be applicable in Brazil.

Efeito de um programa de autorregulação na promoção da autonomia de um aluno com Perturbação do Espetro do Autismo no 1º ano do 1º ciclo do ensino básico

Objetivo: Este estudo avaliou os efeitos da implementação de um programa de autorregulação no aumento da autonomia de um aluno com Perturbação do Espetro do Autismo, em contexto de sala de aula, no segmento letivo de Português. Método: A metodologia adotada foi quantitativa e experimental, num desenho de investigação de sujeito único, dividido em três fases de investigação: linha de base, início do programa de intervenção e um mês depois. Os registos dos vídeos, e a construção e implementação do programa de intervenção em conjunto com a professora, tiveram como base os princípios e procedimentos da Análise Comportamental Aplica. Resultados / Discussão: Após a implementação do programa de intervenção observou-se um acentuado aumento do envolvimento do aluno e das suas respostas às instruções académicas da professora, essencialmente ao nível das instruções de grupo que, na linha de base, apresentavam valores baixos. A eficácia da intervenção reforça a importância de se capacitar professores na aplicação de técnicas comportamentais dado que, neste estudo e à semelhança de outros, a professora aprendeu rapidamente a implementar práticas que facilmente se ajustam à sala de aula, levando à melhoria sistemática do comportamento do aluno com PEA numa sala de aula inclusiva.

L"ús del portafolis europeu de les llengües en versió electrònica (ePEL+14) en l"aprenentatge formal i no formal de la llengua i cultura catalanes

Aquest article presenta el Portafolis Europeu de les Llengües en versió electrònica (ePEL+14) validat pel Consell d'Europa l"any 2010. En primer lloc, s"introdueix en que consisteix un portafolis educatiu, com s"ha passat al portafolis electrònic per l"ensenyament de llengües. En segon lloc, es descriu aquest nou portafolis electrònic europeu adreçat a l"aprenentatge de llengües i cultures, que pot ser utilitzat com a suport de l"ensenyament de llengües, com a instrument transversal per fomentar l"autonomia de l"aprenent de llengües cap a l"adquisició progressiva dels nivells del Marc Comú Europeu de Referència per a les Llengües (MCER) o com a eina d"auto-aprenentatge de les competències lingüístiques assolides per part de l"aprenent de llengües autònom. En darrer lloc, s"extreuen algunes conclusions preliminars de l"experiència d"incorporar l"ePEL+14 en els Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC) de llengua catalana de la Xarxa Vives d"Universitats.

L’évolution de l’évaluation de la composante linguistique de la compétence à écrire par le ministère de l’Éducation : une étude longitudinale sur les épreuves uniques de 5e secondaire

Cette recherche vise à décrire comment a évolué l’évaluation de la compétence à écrire dans les épreuves uniques d’écriture de 5e secondaire, en portant spécifiquement le regard sur la composante linguistique de cette compétence. Une recherche documentaire a permis de recueillir des épreuves et autres documents les concernant pour une période allant de 1971 à 2012. Bien que notre étude porte en particulier sur les épreuves uniques d’écriture, implantées en 1986, nous avons pu remonter plus loin dans le temps afin de brosser un tableau le plus large possible de l’évaluation certificative de l’écriture en 5e secondaire. Plusieurs aspects sont analysés : le contexte des épreuves, les tâches qu’elles contiennent, les paramètres encadrant leur correction, ainsi que les seuils de réussite relatifs à la langue, les épreuves entières, la compétence à écrire et la matière français, langue d’enseignement. Nous avons également pu observer, à l’échelle provinciale, l’évolution des résultats des élèves aux épreuves uniques d’écriture. À l’aide de divers concepts théoriques reliés à l’évaluation de la compétence écrire et sa composante linguistique, un cadre méthodologique a été développé pour permettre l’analyse des épreuves d’écriture. Celle-ci révèle notamment que la nature des tâches et leurs paramètres sont restés assez constants dans le temps, particulièrement depuis 1986. Le nombre d’erreurs linguistiques permises a augmenté, alors que les résultats des élèves sont restés stables. De plus, le regard historique de cette étude montre comment le ministère de l’Éducation accorde à notre époque une grande importance à l’écriture et à la correction de l’orthographe.

Actitudes hacia la lengua náhuatl : Un estudio sociolingüístico con jóvenes de la Ciudad deMéxico.

Nahuatl is one of the indigenous languages in Mexico that is at risk of falling out of use. The research in the last years have showed that this occurs due to the low amount of Nahuatl speakers and the social stigma and discrimination towards the indigenous peoples, among other factors.The studies of language attitudes are relevant when making attempts to revitalize a language. As Mexico City authorities have considered to implement a revitalization project, we wanted to approach the real situation of Nahuatl in that city. Our purpose was to measure the attitudes of young people towards this language. By using a direct method –a questionnaire- we asked two groups of students if they agreed or disagreed with some items about Nahuatl and its speakers. One group had contact with Nahuatl speakers and but not the other one. We compared the results and they showed that the students who have contact with Nahuatl have more positive attitudes than those who don’t have any contact with it. This study also revealed that the reason why the first group showed positive attitudes was solidarity with the Nahuatl speakers. However, the both groups considered that speaking or learning Nahuatl cannot contribute to raise their status in the Mexican society.

O professor e sua formação linguística: uma interlocução teoria-prática

The work in screen constitutes a study of entitled doutoramento THE teacher and your linguistic formation: a dialogue teoria-prática. In him, the researcher, discoursing on subjects that involve the teaching-learning of the verbal language, it focalizes the importance of the linguistic formation for professionals that act in the years you begin of the Fundamental Education. In that perspective, lens to analyze the interrelações among them you know about the teachers, referring to the language (verbal), mobilized in the process teaching-learning of the production of texts written by the students, enrolled in the years you begin of the fundamental teaching. For so much, it developed a research Colaborativa, of qualitative nature, with four partícipes, being three of them teachers of the empiric field, EETB (pointed school for the " Prova Brasil " (2005) as among the ten Brazilian schools with the worst index of revenue discente in the abilities to read, to write and to interpret) and the other (researcher) educational of UERN. The research made use of several methodological procedures, among which stand out: questionnaire, glimpses, reflexive sessions and cycles of reflexive studies, among others. These specific of the Methodology of the Elaboration Conceptual Ferreiriana, adopted in the process of (re)elaboration, for the partícipes of the language concepts, text, textual gender, spoken language and written language. With relationship to the analytic procedures, those were based in contributions of the theory of the formation of concepts, of the Applied Linguistics and of the archaeology of the elect concepts. The results appear that the process of linguistic formation, established through the research colaborativa and of the methodology of the elaboration conceptual ferreiriana, uniting knowledge of the areas of the Education and of the Language, it was productive and he/she reveals a narrow relationship among the acquired knowledge for the partícipes, the (re)organization of the process teachinglearning of the language and the improvement of the productions written by the students of those educational ones