AN intensive native language program for adults: The instructors' perspective

McGill Journal of Education, Fall 2002 by Merle Richards, David Maracle

ABSTRACT. For Aboriginal people, the understanding and practice of traditions are closely connected with language learning, as the ways of thinking and viewing the world are encoded in Native languages. However, because few fluent speakers remain as language teachers, new ways of learning are needed to restore the languages to use. The article describes the perceptions of the instructors about the structure of an adult language program and changes that have been made as a result of the findings from the first cohorts. Strategies for language development are discussed, along with recommendations and cautions for future adult language programs.

UN PROGRAMME INTENSIF DE LANGUE AUTOCHTONE POUR LES ADULTES LE POINT DE VUE DES ENSEIGNANTS

RESUME. Pour les peuples autochtones, la comprehension et la pratique des traditions sont etroitement liees a l'apprentissage d'une langue, car les modes de reflexion et de perception du monde sont codes dans les langues autochtones. Toutefois, etant donne qu'il reste peut de locuteurs pour enseigner les langues, il faut trouver de nouveaux modes d'apprentissage pour retablir les langues a employer. Cet article decrit les perceptions des charges de cours sur la structure d'un programme de langue destine aux adultes et sur les changements operes h Tissue des resultats des premieres cohortes. Les auteurs analysent les strategies d'acquisition du langage, et formulent des recommandations et des mises en garde au sujet des futurs programmes d'apprentissage des langues pour les adultes.

TSI NIKARIWAYEN. Tsi ase shononnihatye' tsi nihotVnikonhrayenta's tsi nihotirihoten's, otya'ke ne Rotihrohkwayen ronnehre' ahonateryintarake' ne tsi nikarihbten' tsi niyoht tsi ikare ne Owenna'onwe. Akwah ronaterihwayenni tsi ken' nishati'ah Rontatis ne Onkwehonwehneha tsi shekon enhatikweni' ne ahshakorihonnyen', ne'e aoriwa tsi nikentyohkwa'ah, nine ratiweyentehta's ne Owenna, wahonnityohkonni' ne Kanyen'keha ahshakotirihonnyen' tho nayawen' ne aonsahatiwennaketsko' are ne tsi nihotiwennoten'. Ahsen niyohserake yotohetston tahnon tohkara niyoteratstbnne' tsi wa'thatiteni' tsi niyoht tsi ratirihonnyennis.

Ken'en kahyatonnyon ne'e enwathrori' tsi nahbten wahonttoke' nene shakotirihonnyennis tahnon tsi naho'tenhshon wa'thatitenyonko' tsi nahe nene thonatyerenhtonne' Ronterihwayenhstha, tahnon oni tsi nahbten enhshakoti'nikbnron' nene ronnehre ahshakotirihonnyen' ne Owenna'onwe.

Only a few elders remain who are lifelong speakers of Mohawk, one of the Iroquois languages. This article describes a remarkably successful adult language program, one which was designed to provide an environment where Mohawk learners would attain fluency while further developing conversational skills through interaction with fluent speakers from the local community. This program is especially significant in that its developers, who are also the main instructors, have themselves become fluent speakers as adults. Being highly reflective and aware of their own learning processes, they have used their personal experience of language development as the basis for instructional practice. The strategies they relied upon as learners (Richards, 2000) have been incorporated into the adult program.

O'Malley and Chamot (1990) have shown that good language learners develop strategies that suit them even when those strategies are unlike methods used in the classroom. In the present case, the learner/instructors have gone farther, and have used their own experience and the strategies that worked for them, as the basis for curriculum and instructional development.

BACKGROUND

The adult Mohawk language program began in September 1999, at Six Nations, an Iroquois community in southern Ontario. Its purpose was to provide adult learners with the opportunity to learn to speak the Mohawk language with sufficient fluency to participate in traditional cultural activities in Mohawk. Increasingly, educators recognize that adult learners contribute greatly to their own success in second language acquisition (e.g., Naiman, Frohlich, Stem, & Todesco, 1978). The program designers therefore hoped to establish a strong foundation in oral language use and writing that would enable learners to continue their language development both by practicing with one another and by interacting with fluent speakers in the community. Although the number of speakers whose first language is Mohawk is dwindling, there are still a number who are glad to support language learners. Moreover, the community is now making an effort to record fluent speakers' voices so that there will continue to be speech samples of Mohawk as spoken in the different communities.

By the end of the first year's class (Cohort I), the learners' success confirmed the value of the methods developed for the program (Maracle & Richards, 2000). However, the instructors were not fully satisfied, and hence instituted several changes for the following two years (Cohorts II and III). This article discusses their experiences with the second and third cohorts, who benefited from the changes made after the first year. As noted later in the sections "Changes" and "Conclusion," differences in academic background are related to learning in this program and it is not suitable for those without previous language courses.