Language and Ethnicity: Multiple Literacies in Context, Language Education in Guatemala

Bilingual Research Journal, Spring 2006 by Helmberger, Janet L

Abstract

This study focuses on the research literature available in the United States on the evolution of language policy and planning issues involved in bilingual education programs in Mayan communities in Guatemala. I begin with general comments regarding language policy and planning for bilingual programs for ethnic groups within the borders of nation/states. These ethnic groups strive to maintain their ethnic, collective identities, which include their first language, in the context of social, cultural, historical, economic, and political dimensions of daily living. I then describe the research I located on such programs in Guatemala, making connections as I saw them across the dimensions indicated above. Specific gaps in the published research available are indicated in the conclusion, as are ways that the research impacts bilingual practitioners and researchers in the United States.

Introduction

Ethnic groups, Paulston (1976) wrote, have a collective heritage with "shared memories of a historical past" (p. 179) with shared cultural, social, and language components. Some ethnic groups have certain basic beliefs that are transformed by ideology. He stated that, "[I]deology serves to bind cognition, values, and behavior for particular groups of people requiring some collective response to altered circumstances" (p. 179). Changes in educational programs can be seen as alternatives, based on changes in the ideology on which these programs are created, executed, and formalized in school settings.

In the work of researchers involved in the study of language policy and planning within the field of education, particularly in second-language acquisition (Ager, 2001; Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997; Seelye & Wasilewski, 1996; Wardhaugh, 1987), there is recognition that language is used to various ends such as to communicate thoughts and to express reactions and ideas with other people for various purposes. Oftentimes, a specific language "is also closely related to expressing a certain nationality or identity" (Wardhaugh, 1987, p. 5). When there is a state-mandated shift in language, there is also an implied requirement to change identity. Wardhaugh wrote, "there may be resistance to adopting a new language because the new identity is unwelcome" (p. 5) for various reasons. These researchers also describe the processes in which the state uses language as a tool to control various groups in its choices in the language(s) used in law, administration, education, and so forth. When the state uses language to control a group that has a strong collective sense of ethnic group identity with equally strong ties to a particular, non-official language, there is a potential for conflict. This potential conflict emerges when the strength of loyalty to the ethnic identity is more steadfast than it is to the nation/states.

Issues of language policy and planning for bilingual education programs have been a personal and professional interest of mine since I began teaching over 20 years ago. Of particular interest and concern are the roles of people formulating the policy and planning and the roles of the people for whom such policy and planning are intended. My interest in these issues as they exist in Mayan communities in Guatemala has emerged out of my classroom experiences, teaching children (both native-born and immigrants) in bilingual programs in the United States, research conducted for my master's and doctoral degrees, and to a long time academic and avocational interest in study of the Mayas and Central America. These professional, academic, and avocational interests and concerns contributed to the development and work of this study. My purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of bilingual education among Mayan communities in Guatemala, looking at the roles of various groups and historical events on the development of literacy programs in indigenous communities. The study will include some of the social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions that have influenced this development.

What Is Literacy?

Several researchers in language and literacy have identified the social nature of literacy, affected by politics, economics, and cultural discourses (Ager, 2001; Freire & Macedo, 1987; Gee, 1987; Luke, 1988; Reyes, 2001; Shannon, 1989, 1998). Language use and literacy (and its development) are not necessarily limited to what happens in classrooms, in which a traditional view of literacy places its pedagogy. As such, I define literacy as the process of reading, writing, and conversing in a meaningful way in social contexts. Literacy includes not only the fundamentals of reading, writing, and conversing, but also the generation of meaning, using our connections to language and culture and our personal experiences as we ask questions of ourselves individually and each other. The purposes of literacy include communication with others and opportunities to understand our own world, both locally and in broader spheres of interest. Strong, critical literacy, through which we ask questions and seek answers, can lead to active, more equal participation in our communities.