In this theme issue, we explore new directions in research on Indigenous youth and bilingualism s... more In this theme issue, we explore new directions in research on Indigenous youth and bilingualism stemming from situated ethnographic work in communities undergoing rapid language shift. Our context is North America, where shift to the dominant/colonizing language has, in many cases, occurred within only five to ten years. We position this research as explicitly praxis-oriented, allying it with Indigenous efforts to maintain and revitalize ancestral mother tongues. The statistics regarding the endangered status of the world’s languages are well known, with predictions of the demise of 50 to 90 percent of all languages by the century’s end, most of which would be Indigenous mother tongues (UNESCO, 2003). What is much less well understood is the nature of youth language practices “on the ground” in situations of rapid language shift. This knowledge – or its lack – has important implications for projects designed to interrupt the shift. This theme issue takes a close, nuanced look at Ind...
Using data from a longitudinal study, this article traces how in- and out-of-school processes pla... more Using data from a longitudinal study, this article traces how in- and out-of-school processes placed youth at the center of a community language tip into English in Piniq, a Yup’ik village in Alaska. Situating and examining young men’s seal-hunting stories, the article then highlights how youth in the first group to speak mostly English mediated life contingencies, uneven linguistic resources, and apprenticeship experiences as they learned a broader knowledge system embedded in the life of their community. During an early phase of language tip, youth evidenced and forged bilingual connections to community and place in everyday storytelling with peers. Yet youth were also experiencing linguistic insecurities and losing forms that marked a linguistic orientation to land. Further, adult responses to youth language changes fed vicious cycles of reduced resources for and increasing doubts about bilingualism in intergenerational miscommunication. Implications for educators in rapidly chan...
Abstract: This volume contains 31 narratives traditionally told by Kipnuk (Alaska) elders, printe... more Abstract: This volume contains 31 narratives traditionally told by Kipnuk (Alaska) elders, printed in both the Moravian and modern writing systems, without English translation. The elders relate rules of ethical behavior, prohibitions and commandments, and warnings ...
... Menken, K. 2008. English language learners left behind: Standardized testing as language poli... more ... Menken, K. 2008. English language learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy , Clevedon, , UK: Multilingual Matters. View all references). ... Duran, R. 2008. Assessing Englishlanguage learners' achievement. Review of Research in Education , 32: 292327. ...
Richard Ruiz has inspired generations of scholars in language planning and multilingual education... more Richard Ruiz has inspired generations of scholars in language planning and multilingual education with his unique orientations to language as a problem, a right and a resource. This volume attests to the far-reaching impact of his thinking and teaching, bringing together a selection of his published and unpublished writings on language planning orientations, bilingual and language minority education, language threat and endangerment, voice and empowerment, and even language fun, accompanied by contributions from colleagues and former students reflecting and expanding on Ruiz’ ground-breaking work. This book will be of great interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in language planning and multilingual education, Indigenous and minority education, as well as to junior and senior researchers in those fields.
Levinson/A Companion to the Anthropology of Education, 2011
... While a highly racialized discourse of achievement prompts private “cultural” explanations of... more ... While a highly racialized discourse of achievement prompts private “cultural” explanations of academic success or failure (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Pollock, 2008a), a sense that “culture” is irrelevant to ... 486 NORMA GONZÁLEZ, LEISY WYMAN, AND BRENDAN H. O'CONNOR ...
In this theme issue, we explore new directions in research on Indigenous youth and bilingualism s... more In this theme issue, we explore new directions in research on Indigenous youth and bilingualism stemming from situated ethnographic work in communities undergoing rapid language shift. Our context is North America, where shift to the dominant/colonizing language has, in many cases, occurred within only five to ten years. We position this research as explicitly praxis-oriented, allying it with Indigenous efforts to maintain and revitalize ancestral mother tongues. The statistics regarding the endangered status of the world’s languages are well known, with predictions of the demise of 50 to 90 percent of all languages by the century’s end, most of which would be Indigenous mother tongues (UNESCO, 2003). What is much less well understood is the nature of youth language practices “on the ground” in situations of rapid language shift. This knowledge – or its lack – has important implications for projects designed to interrupt the shift. This theme issue takes a close, nuanced look at Ind...
Using data from a longitudinal study, this article traces how in- and out-of-school processes pla... more Using data from a longitudinal study, this article traces how in- and out-of-school processes placed youth at the center of a community language tip into English in Piniq, a Yup’ik village in Alaska. Situating and examining young men’s seal-hunting stories, the article then highlights how youth in the first group to speak mostly English mediated life contingencies, uneven linguistic resources, and apprenticeship experiences as they learned a broader knowledge system embedded in the life of their community. During an early phase of language tip, youth evidenced and forged bilingual connections to community and place in everyday storytelling with peers. Yet youth were also experiencing linguistic insecurities and losing forms that marked a linguistic orientation to land. Further, adult responses to youth language changes fed vicious cycles of reduced resources for and increasing doubts about bilingualism in intergenerational miscommunication. Implications for educators in rapidly chan...
Abstract: This volume contains 31 narratives traditionally told by Kipnuk (Alaska) elders, printe... more Abstract: This volume contains 31 narratives traditionally told by Kipnuk (Alaska) elders, printed in both the Moravian and modern writing systems, without English translation. The elders relate rules of ethical behavior, prohibitions and commandments, and warnings ...
... Menken, K. 2008. English language learners left behind: Standardized testing as language poli... more ... Menken, K. 2008. English language learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy , Clevedon, , UK: Multilingual Matters. View all references). ... Duran, R. 2008. Assessing Englishlanguage learners' achievement. Review of Research in Education , 32: 292327. ...
Richard Ruiz has inspired generations of scholars in language planning and multilingual education... more Richard Ruiz has inspired generations of scholars in language planning and multilingual education with his unique orientations to language as a problem, a right and a resource. This volume attests to the far-reaching impact of his thinking and teaching, bringing together a selection of his published and unpublished writings on language planning orientations, bilingual and language minority education, language threat and endangerment, voice and empowerment, and even language fun, accompanied by contributions from colleagues and former students reflecting and expanding on Ruiz’ ground-breaking work. This book will be of great interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in language planning and multilingual education, Indigenous and minority education, as well as to junior and senior researchers in those fields.
Levinson/A Companion to the Anthropology of Education, 2011
... While a highly racialized discourse of achievement prompts private “cultural” explanations of... more ... While a highly racialized discourse of achievement prompts private “cultural” explanations of academic success or failure (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Pollock, 2008a), a sense that “culture” is irrelevant to ... 486 NORMA GONZÁLEZ, LEISY WYMAN, AND BRENDAN H. O'CONNOR ...
Sociolinguists have made considerable headway in identifying and describing the relationship betw... more Sociolinguists have made considerable headway in identifying and describing the relationship between mobility, linguistic resources, and forms of inequality. Despite such advances, however, we argue that it is as important as ever to continue to rethink what kinds of phenomena are analyzed, the distinctions and categories that might be imposed on the data collected, and the theoretical and methodological approaches used to pursue that inquiry. This special issue investigates how movement across borders (and over time) influences ideologies of language, experiences of language learning, and the linguistic repertoires that emerge in specific local contexts.
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