Teaching in a Hawaiian context: Educator perspectives on the Hawaiian language immersion program

Bilingual Research Journal, Fall 2000 by Yamauchi, Lois A, Ceppi, Andrea K, Lau-Smith, Jo-Anne

Abstract

Papahana Kaiapuni is the nation's only K-12 program taught entirely in the Hawaiian language. This indigenous language immersion program was established as an attempt to revive Hawaiian after a century-long ban on the language was lifted. The current study examines the perceptions of Kaiapuni educators regarding the ways in which participation in the program transforms teachers' identities as educators and as Hawaiians. Thirty seven Kaiapuni teachers and four principals participated in individual interviews and focus group discussions about their roles and experiences in the program. Many teachers regard Kaiapuni as more than a "Hawaiian" version of the English program. Teachers strive to integrate the Hawaiian culture into the curriculum and view the program as a model of school reform for Native Hawaiians. For many teachers, participation in the program has also influenced the way they think of themselves as members of the Hawaiian community.

In 1998, the National Foreign Language Center and the Center for Applied Linguistics launched the Heritage Language Initiative. This was an effort to respond to the growing concern among those in the second language research and educational communities that the United States is losing a valuable resource of a multilingual population (Marcos, 1999). Although the United States continues to maintain a steady influx of immigration into the country, and multilingual expertise is important to the nation's international and local affairs, there has not been a consistent effort to preserve the languages of immigrants (Brecht & Ingold, 1999; Marcos, 1999). In addition, there has been a decrease in the number of indigenous language speakers in this country. Krauss (1996) estimated that the majority of the 300 indigenous languages spoken in the United States and Canada are threatened with extinction. This is a grave cultural threat. Along with losing a language, other aspects of a community disappear when a language is lost, including specific cultural knowledge and values (Reyhner & Tennant, 1995; Reyhner, 1996; St. Clair, 1982).

Educational and other policies have tended to promote the learning of English to the detriment of heritage language maintenance. Most grandchildren of immigrants to the United States speak English as their first language and often do not have an expressive use of their family's heritage language (Brecht & Ingold, 1999). Schools are not meeting the widespread need for second language maintenance and learning. The vision of the Heritage Language Initiative is to build "an education system more responsive to heritage communities and national language needs and capable of producing a broad cadre of citizens able to function professionally in both English and another language" (Brecht & Ingold, 1999, p. 3).

This paper discusses a program in Hawaii that is consistent with the Heritage Language Initiative. We focus on Papahana Kaiapuni (Kaiapuni), the Hawaiian language immersion program. Kaiapuni is the nation's only K-12 public educational program conducted in the Hawaiian language. Kaiapuni students do not receive formal instruction in the English language until grade 5, when English is taught for one hour each day. The Kaiapuni program was established in 1987 as an attempt to revitalize the Hawaiian language after it was banned in Hawaii for nearly a century. Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, the U.S. government promoted a formal policy that replaced the Hawaiian language with English for all governmental activities including public education (Shiitz, 1994). Use of the Hawaiian language decreased dramatically, as many Hawaiian speakers promoted the learning of English for their children, rather than Hawaiian (Yamauchi, Ceppi, & Lau-Smith, 1999).

Prior to the implementation of the Kaiapuni program, it was estimated that there were only 2,000 Hawaiian speakers, of whom only 30 were under age 18 (Dunford, 1991; Heckathorn, 1987). In the 1999-2000 school year, over 1,800 students and 100 teachers participated in the program on five of the eight Hawaiian islands. Kaiapuni is considered by many as one of the major ways in which Hawaiians are taking control of the education and future of their people (Benham & Heck, 1998). It is also an example of how the K-12 public schools can be more responsive to the revitalization and maintenance of a heritage language. Although the majority of Kaiapuni students and teachers are second language learners of Hawaiian, most also come from families for whom Hawaiian was their first language three to five generations ago. Our paper examines the perceptions of Hawaiian language immersion educators regarding the ways in which participation in this unique public school program has transformed teachers' identities as educators and as members of the Hawaiian community.

Theoretical Perspective

This study is part of a larger investigation of the sociocultural context of the Kaiapuni program. The larger project incorporates three planes of sociocultural analysis articulated by Rogoff (1995). At the community plane is an analysis of the historical and current events related to the institution and development of the program. At the interpersonal plane is a study of the interactions between those involved in the program (students, teachers, administrators, family members), the communication between them, the assistance that is provided, and the conflicts that arise. At the personal plane is an analysis of the transformation of individuals as they participate in cultural activities. According to Rogoff (1995), both the individual and the activity change as a result of this participation. This paper focuses on the personal plane, with an analysis of the transformation of educators' identities as teachers and community members that has occurred through their participation in the Kaiapuni program.