"You Should Know the Names of the Winds Where You Live": Relationality in Indigenous-Language Schooling

• In Event: With Language at the Heart: Researcher, School, Community, and Tribal College Collaborations in Indigenous Education

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose. This presentation shares preliminary findings from a mixed-method, national study of Indigenous-language immersion (ILI) schooling, focusing on relationships as an undergirding theme in the construction and enactment of curriculum, instruction, and school-community partnerships. What can we learn from the relational connections forged within these programs to improve education practice for Native American learners? What education practices might be transportable to other school-community settings, particularly for students who, like Native American learners, have not been well served by conventional education programs?

Perspective and Theoretical Framework. The study draws on international research and theory in bilingual/immersion education (May et al., 2004), culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogy (Presenters 1 & 2, 2017; Paris & Alim, 2017), heritage language education (Wiley, 2014), and holistic education (Forbes & Martin, 2004). As Wilson and Kamanā (2011) assert, ILI is designed to promote learners’ cognitive, affective, linguistic, and social-emotional development equally with their ethnic identity, thus contributing to students’ academic development alongside the sustainability and well-being of their cultural communities. Hence, ILI is not a single instructional “intervention,” but is an integrated pedagogical approach with a strong family-community emphasis. With its multiple goals of promoting second (heritage) language learning, academic achievement, and cultural and linguistic revitalization, ILI exemplifies a form of holistic education. What does it mean to “do” this kind of holistic education?

Methodology and Data Sources. The study is designed to enable qualitative and quantitative components to work in sync, incorporating the “4 Rs” of critical Indigenous scholarship: relationships, responsibility, respect, and reciprocity (Brayboy et al., 2012). In this paper we focus on data from case studies at eight ILI sites representing four linguistic-cultural communities and geographic regions. Data include non-participant and participant observation, in-depth interviews with teachers, parents, administrators, and students, and documentary data such as curricula and student work samples.

Findings. Preliminary findings reveal the critical importance of relationships within individual school communities, but also with local land and environmental contexts. For example, the ILI teacher whose words give title to this presentation spoke of the goal of developing students’ relationships to and identification with the local region – in this case, the island winds, their Indigenous names, and the cultural meaning understood through the Indigenous language. Educators and families in the study emphasize their ILI experiences as familial and relational. These relationships are tied to Indigenous homelands and waterways and the animals and plants that inhabit them, making strong biophilic connections and expressing Indigeneity as a way of being—a verb—in relationship to each other and the natural world (Cajete, 2015).

Significance. This study aims to understand how, why, and when ILI is beneficial for diverse Native American learners. Preliminary findings demonstrate the significance of relational connections in language learning. By bringing to light key factors that underpin ILI’s effectiveness in achieving a holistic set of pedagogical goals, this research contributes to research and theory in Indigenous/minoritized schooling, provides practice-embedded knowledge to ameliorate academic disparities, and valorizes the expressed desires of Native communities for cultural and linguistic continuity.

Authors

• Tiffany S. Lee, University of New Mexico

• Teresa L. McCarty, University of California - Los Angeles

• Sheilah E. Nicholas, The University of Arizona

• Michael H. Seltzer, University of California - Los Angeles