preserving heritage languages

Copyrights © 2008 Sehlaoui

Preserving Heritage Languages: Beyond the NSLI

Prof. Dr. Abdelilah Salim SehlaouiCollege of Liberal Arts and Sciences Lecture

SeriesEmporia State University

November 6th, 2008


Cultural and Linguistic Diversity One of the most striking features of our

world is its astonishing diversity. This diversity is reflected not only in the

rich varieties of plants and animal species and ecosystems in nature, but also in the varieties of human cultures and languages.

There are many studies that have documented this intricate connection between these two types of diversity.


Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

At the 31st Session of the UNESCO General Conference (October 2001), the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity was adopted and recognized a relationship between biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity.


What is culture?


The Nature of Culture: A critical View

In addition to the traditional and prevailing definition of

culture in various fields, the term culture is defined here

within its socio-economic and political context and as part of such context. It is viewed as a dynamic process within a given

social context in which individuals are in a constant

strugglefor representation and the need to have an

authenticvoice (e.g. Sehlaoui, 1999 and 2001; Giroux, 1992; Quantz, 1992).


How Many Cultures and Languages are there in the world?

6917 The Encyclopedia of World Cultures has entries

on over 1500 different culture-groups. However, given the interconnectedness of language and culture and the fact that every one of us is culturally unique, that number can come close to the number of people we have in this world.


Linguistic Diversity in Danger

According to Raymond (2005), the number of languages listed for the United State of America is 238. Among those, 162 are living languages, 3 are second language without mother-tongue speakers, and 73 are extinct. Unfortunately, the number of extinct languages is still growing.


Terminology Heritage Language Speaker: The term "heritage speaker"

refers to a person who comes from a home where a language other than English is spoken, who speaks or understands the home language, and who is more or less bilingual in English and the home language.

Mother Tongue is typically thought of as the language one learns first and knows best, as this UNESCO definition suggests: “[A] person’s mother tongue…is...’the language which a person has acquired in early years and which normally has become his/her natural instrument of thought and communication.” Mother tongue denotes a deep, abiding, even cord-like connection between language and identity.

Extinct Language: When the last speaker is dead. No records are left. It’s gone! [-competence, -performance]. They are placed outside the continuum as we will see in the next slide.

Sleeping Language: [+competence, -performance]. They are on the verge of becoming extinct.


Language Endangerment Continuum

Less Endangered More Endangered Widely spoken Languages Languages Sleeping Languages Associated with That are not Languages Associated with marginal Groups Intergenerationally Powerful Groups Challenged

Extin

ct L

angu

ages

Source: Leonard 2008


The Process of Language Loss By adolescence, most immigrant children

speak their heritage language haltingly. Most of them lose or never develop the ability to read and write in it or to speak it formally.

Causes of Native Language endangerment. This is a loss to the whole nation. An example from a minority language

speaker.


Causes of Language Endangerment

Language endangerment may be caused primarily by external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural, or educational subjugation. It may also be caused by internal forces, such as a community’s negative attitude towards its own language or by a general decline of group identity. Internal pressures always derive from external factors. Together, they halt the intergenerational transmission of linguistic and cultural traditions.


Why can’t they just speak English ONLY and give us a break?


Sustaining Linguistic Diversity Heritage Language Preservation is a

multigenerational effort. It comes from the speech community first. The loss of intergenerational language

transmission is the most significant factor in language endangerment.

Language loss begins with language shift. Heritage languages typically used to die out

within three generations. Now it seems to be lost during second generation (Fillmore, 2000).


What can parents do? Parents and immediate family members appear

to have the most important role in passing a language from one generation to another.

Set rules at home (e.g. use native language only for communication purposes). Don’t give up. Be patient!!!

Sacrifice time to read and talk to your child in the native tongue.

Communicate positive attitudes towards the language and its culture.

Etc…


What can the community do? Community plays a significant role as well. Look for volunteers to teach the language

to children. Locate resources for community members

to use. Contact government agencies and

organizations for help and resources. Teach speakers of other languages your

native tongue. Etc…


HL Loss Affects Family Relationships

Based on experience and research, [e.g. Janet S. Oh at UCLA, 2008], HL Loss affects family relationships in the following ways:


The link between family relationships & HL use

FamilyRelationships

HeritageLanguage

Use


The link between family relationships & HL loss

FamilyRelationships

HeritageLanguage

Use


Do you shift/choose to use English in order to better communicate with other members of your community?

Question 12

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Yes No Unspecified

Answer

Perc

enta

ge

Percentage


When you talk to your children or young people in your community, do they reply to you in English?

Yes___No__

Question 9

76%

7%

17%

Yes

No

Unspecified


Heritage Language Instruction and Academic Achievement A series of longitudinal studies found a

positive correlation of heritage language instruction and higher academic achievement in English for ELLs. They identified enrichment and maintenance bilingual models as the most effective. This research informs us again and again that bilingual children outperform their monolingual peers academically (see for example: Cummins, 1989; Platero, 2001; Holm & Holm, 1995; Thomas & Collier, 2002).


US Department of Education Language Resource Centers The US State Department The Department of Defense

(the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Programs)

Multilingual Education Policies and Efforts in the USA


Department of education Programs

The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), Visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html for more information.

Advancing America Through Foreign Language Partnerships Visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/index.html?src=oc for more information.

Language Teacher Corps, Visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/index.html?src=oc

E-Learning Language Clearinghouse, Visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/index.html?src=oc

Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, Visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/index.html?src=oc


Language Resource centers (LRCs)

Furthermore, since 1990, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded Title VI grants to institutions of higher education in order to establish LRCs. The common goal of the LRCs is to promote the learning and teaching of foreign languages in the United States. Led by nationally and internationally recognized language professionals, the LRCs create language-learning materials, offer professional development workshops, and conduct research on foreign language learning. While some of the LRCs concentrate on specific language areas, other LRCs direct their attention to foreign languages in general (NFLRC, 2007). For more information on each center, visit: http://nflrc.msu.edu/


The State Department Programs National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), of which $26.7 million will support

programs managed by the Department of State. The programs that this department offers are:

U.S. Fulbright Student Program: Visit: http://us.fulbrightonline.org or www.iie.org Intensive Summer Language Institutes: Visit: http://www.caorc.org/language Gilman Scholarships: Visit: www.iie.org//programs/gilman Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants: Visit:

http://www.exchanges.state.gov Teacher Exchange: Visit: http://www.exchanges.state.gov Youth Exchanges:

(1) Summer Language Institutes: Will provide U.S. high school students the opportunity to study Arabic or Chinese language abroad. In 2007, the program will expand to include Turkish, Hindi, and Russian languages.

(2) Academic Semester or Year Abroad: Will provide U.S. high school students taking formal critical need language classes the opportunity to spend an academic semester or year studying the language abroad.

(3) School Partnerships: Will provide U.S. schools linkages to foreign counterparts in critical need language countries (Russia, China, Turkey, India, and the Arab world) for interactive language programs and exchanges of groups of students and teachers.

Visit: http://exchanges.state.gov/education/citizens/students


The Department of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence

(DNI) Programs

The Center for Applied Linguistics’ project is just one example of such efforts. The project is known as the English for Heritage Language Speakers 2005-2010 project which aims at helping heritage speakers of critical languages develop their English proficiency to high levels, with a particular focus on language skills specific to the federal workplace.


Organizations Promoting Linguistic Diversity

Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages The American Philological Society (APS) Modern Language Association of America (MLA) National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

(ACTFL) Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) The National Association for Foreign Student Affairs (NAFSA) The National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE) The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) The American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) The International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) The National Foreign Language Center (NFLC)


However,…it should be noted that unless some more comprehensive efforts are made and unless societal attitudes change, heritage languages are lost over time both in the individuals who speak them and in their speech communities, and they typically die out within two to three generations (Wiley, 1996). Hence comes the need for a more comprehensive strategic language planning policy and unified efforts (governmental, social, and individual) that can help protect the linguistic assets of this country (Sehlaoui, 2008a).


Concluding Remarks L’Acquisition par chock et l’acquisition

par imagination. Language carries valuable information

about the society and culture of its speakers. If the language disappears, important cultural knowledge, which usually tends to be environmentally appropriate, may also disappear which eventually leads to imbalances in the diverse ecosystems in our planet.


References Giroux, H. (1992). Critical literacy and student experience: Donald Graves' approach to literacy. In P.

Shannon (Ed.). Becoming political: Readings and writings in the politics of education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Quantz, R. A. (1992). On critical ethnography (with some postmodern considerations). In M. D. LeCompte, W. L. Millroy, and J. Preissle (Eds.). The handbook of qualitative research in education. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S. (2008a) Language Learning in the United States of America. Language, Culture, and Curriculum Journal, Vol. 21:3, 2008.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S. (2008b). Language Learning, Heritage, and Literacy in the USA: The Case of Arabic. Language, Culture, and Curriculum Journal, Vol. 21:3, 2008.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah. S. (2001a) Facing the Challenge of Teaching and Learning EFL Reading: Beyond the Language of Critique. Reading in a Foreign Language 13 (2) p615-29 Spr 2001. 2001

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S. (2001b) Developing Cross-Cultural Communicative Competence in Pre-Service ESL/EFL Teachers: A Critical Perspective. Language, Culture and Curriculum 14 (1) p42-57 2001.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S. (2001c). Developing Cross-cultural Communicative Competence via Computer-Assisted Language Learning: The Case of Preservice ESL/EFL Teachers, The Association of Learning Technology Journal, Vol 9 (3) 2001.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S. (1999). Developing cross-cultural communicative competence in ESL/EFL preservice teachers: A critical perspective. (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1999). Dissertation Abstarcts International, DAI-A 60/06, p. 2042, Publication # 99348338.

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah S and Nwoye, J. (Eds.) (2001). Multicultural Education: Diverse Perspectives. Victoria: Canada. Trafford.

Thomas, W.P., & Collier, V.P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students' long-term academic achievement. Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, University of California-Santa Cruz.


Thank you!Shukran!Gracias!Merci!

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