BSW · Becoming Indigenous language speakers and writers in higher education

Becoming Indigenous language speakers and writers in higher education

Historically, schooling was used as a tool for the colonization of Indigenous peoples, while now it also plays a role in the revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures. Education was used by colonizers to impose their language and culture on Indigenous communities, often disregarding local ways of knowing. However, in recent decades, Indigenous communities worldwide have been working to reclaim their languages and ways of knowing, often through the educational system. One important aspect of these efforts are Indigenous teacher education programs. These programs are working to create Indigenous language speakers, writers, and future teachers who are to be key agents for the maintenance and revitalization of threatened Indigenous languages. For example, both Peru and Norway have established teacher training programs for Indigenous language educators. Despite their gains, these programs also face challenges. Research in sociolinguistics has shown that minority language education efforts often prioritize standard varieties of languages over regional ones, programs often privilege first-language speakers and not language learners, and classroom teaching practices can sometimes discourage students' language mixing and home language practices. Indigenous teacher education sites are important for understanding the complex processes and meanings of becoming a minoritized language speaker and writer. These sites are where official language policies and on-the-ground practices intersect, sometimes in conflicting ways. And because despite the difficulties, Indigenous teacher education programs offer hope for the revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultures. This project aimed to understand how Quechua and Aimara women who did not grow up speaking these languages during their home socialization experience becoming speakers and writers of their Indigenous languages in a teacher education program of a Peruvian university. The project had the following objectives: 1. Apply the new speaker framework on a non-European context and compare to findings from European contexts 2. Refine the new speaker framework based on perspectives from decolonial theory and Indigenous ways of knowing and methodologies 3. Develop and make use of multimodal language research methods informed by Indigenous research methodologies to inform new speaker and multilingualism research 4. Identify, communicate and disseminate research findings and recommendations for Indigenous language education policy and practice across academic and non-academic audiences in Europe and Peru

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз