Your search found 1844 results.

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Ideology; Language Planning; Language Maintenance; Interviews; Focus Groups; Romance Languages; Ethnography; Languages; Language Minorities; Classification; Cross Cultural Studies; Immersion Programs; Language Attitudes; Native Speakers; Second Language Learning; Social Class

Abstract:
This special issue devoted to Catalonia--one of the most successful and longstanding language movements in Europe--gives a unique opportunity to understand some of the complex social dynamics engendered as language revival unfolds and to appreciate the value of in-depth interviewing, focus groups, and ethnographic work in making sometimes subtle change-in-progress visible. With 30 plus years of proactive language planning behind it, Catalonia is a living laboratory for exploring the social dynamics and ideological transformations set in motion by language normalization projects. For the nearby Basque language advocates with whom the author works, the strong institutional support language revival has enjoyed along with the extensive immersion schooling program (now under some attack), has been a source of envy not easily reproducible in their own context. Nevertheless there are many parallels between the dynamics described for Catalonia and the Basque Autonomous Community. In her commentary to the papers by Pujolar and Gonzalez, Soler, and Frekko in this issue, the author will note some of the parallels but focus more generally on the lessons these studies hold for scholarship on minority language revitalization projects in general. Lessons that have to do with the value of ethnographic work on language ideology; the importance of class as a factor in language revitalization; the challenges of cross national comparison; and the necessity for refining ways of categorizing speakers. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Family Literacy; Eskimo Aleut Languages; Eskimos; Foreign Countries; Multilingualism; Language Planning; Multiple Literacies; Literacy Education; Family Environment; Family Relationship; Language Usage; Ethnography; Urban Areas; Cultural Maintenance; Language Maintenance; Community Centers

Abstract:
This study investigates the intersection of family language policy with Indigenous multiliteracies and urban Indigeneity. It documents a grassroots Inuit literacy initiative in Ottawa, Canada and considers literacy practices among Inuit at a local Inuit educational centre, where maintaining connections between urban Inuit and their homeland linguistic and cultural practices is a central objective. Using data from a participatory, activity-oriented, ethnographic project at an Inuit family literacy centre, we argue that state-driven language policies have opened up spaces for Indigenous-defined language and literacy learning activities that can shape and be shaped by family language policies. This has permitted some urban groups in Canada to define their own literacy needs in order to develop effective family language policies. Drawing on two Inuit-centred literacy activities, we demonstrate how literacy practices are embedded in intergenerational sharing of Inuit experience, cultural memory, and stories and how these are associated spatially, culturally, and materially with objects and representations. We thus show how Inuit-centred literacy practices can be a driving force for family language policy, linking people to an urban Inuit educational community centre and to their urban and Arctic Inuit families and homelands. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Parent Child Relationship; Foreign Countries; Language Acquisition; Ideology; Multilingualism; Language Planning; Participant Observation; Mexican Americans; American Indians; American Indian Languages; Immigration; Parent Attitudes; Language Attitudes; Language Maintenance; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Intervention; Spanish

Abstract:
San Lucas Quiavini is a community of Zapotec (Otomanguean) speakers in Oaxaca, Mexico. Since the 1970s, the community has seen large-scale migration to Los Angeles, California, where about half the community now resides. Participant observation and interviews conducted over nine years in both locales, with a focus on interactional patterns in the home domain, indicate that parental language ideologies concerning the relationship between language and place of birth, the nature of multilingual acquisition and impact belief--the belief that parents have as to the level of control they can exercise over their children's language choices (De Houwer in "Studies on language acquisition." Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1999), taken together, disfavor the maintenance of the heritage language. In particular, a weak impact belief undermines parents' ability to engage in language interventions in support of San Lucas Quiavini Zapotec. As a result, family-external language intervention factors that promote language shift, such as the school and peer groups, exert great influence. With a substantial number of San Lucas families living in California and their impact on language choices in the home community (Perez Baez in press), family language policy is of great relevance to the survival prospects of San Lucas Quiavini Zapotec not only in diaspora but also in the home community. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Criticism; Mandarin Chinese; Confucianism; Cultural Centers; Language Maintenance; Cultural Maintenance; Cultural Influences; Influences; Economic Factors; Educational Indicators; Foreign Culture; Foreign Policy; Political Power; Human Capital; Ideology; International Relations; International Educational Exchange; Policy Analysis; Educational Sociology

Abstract:
This paper presents a critical analysis of the transnational interplay of cultural, educational and economic forces that culminated with the establishment of a Chinese language and cultural centre in Peru, the Confucius Institute. Confucius Institutes are government-sponsored cultural centres devoted mainly to Chinese language education around the world. They have been referred to as examples of China's soft power and subjected to criticisms. With a substantive theory of power as the departure point, this article analyses the power relations surrounding the case of Confucius Institutes in Latin America. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Science Achievement; Bilingual Education; Second Language Learning; Language Proficiency; English (Second Language); Mathematics Achievement; Native Language; Correlation; Transfer of Training; Self Esteem; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Prediction; Self Concept; Academic Ability; Ethnicity; Hispanic American Students; Family Income; Grade Point Average; Measures (Individuals); Language Maintenance

Abstract:
The effectiveness of various strategies for educating the growing U.S. population of English language learners (ELLs) has attracted a great deal of controversy. Bilingual education theory posits that retention and continued development of native language (L1) skills facilitate academic achievement through two mediating mechanisms. First, L1 proficiency promotes second language (L2) acquisition, which is required to succeed academically. Second, competence in the heritage language positively influences academic achievement by maintaining self-esteem. Both of these meditational chains were tested in a multivariate latent growth model of longitudinal data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88/2000). L1 proficiency was specified to predict distal math and science outcomes through its association with both L2 literacy and self-esteem. In turn, academic self-concept was hypothesized to mediate the self-esteem-academic achievement relation. Home and school characteristics were included as covariates. The full model exhibited excellent fit only in the Hispanic portion of the ELL sample. Consistent with the broader literature, ethnicity appears to serve as an important moderator of the way native language proficiency relates to self-perception, L2 acquisition, and math and science achievement. (Contains 5 tables, 3 figures and 1 footnote.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Mexican Americans; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Language Skill Attrition; Language Maintenance; Predictor Variables; Older Adults; Language Usage; Health; Correlation; Spanish; Statistical Analysis

Abstract:
In this study, we investigate individual-level language shift in a population of Mexican origin Latinos/as aged 65 and up. By using data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, we investigate their English language use as the dependent variable in a hierarchical linear model. The microlevel independent continuous variable is their level of contact with "Anglos"; the macrolevel continuous independent variable is the percentage of Mexicans in tract of residence. After accounting for their generational status, other microlevel social and health covariates, and tract-level attributes, we found a direct relationship between contact with Anglos and a "shift" toward more English language use, where as co-ethnic concentration increases, the influence of contact with Anglos decreases. We frame this article with a discussion on language shifting, and explain how co-ethnic concentration may provide the resources for engaging in a language resistance. (Contains 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Semitic Languages; Jews; Day Schools; Ethnography; Ideology; Foreign Countries; Junior High School Students; Language Usage; Travel; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Heritage Education; Language Maintenance; Private Schools; Classroom Communication

Abstract:
While Hebrew education maintains a dominant position in Jewish educational contexts, little research has looked at what the practice of Hebrew language education looks like on a daily basis. Drawing from an 18-month ethnography of junior high school students attending a private non-Orthodox all day school, this article critically examines the ways in which Hebrew was thought about and used in the classroom and during a two-week school-sponsored trip to Israel. Specifically, the article examines the multiple meanings that students and faculty infused into their use of Hebrew through their ideologies, words, and actions. It shows that the students and teachers drew upon Hebrew language ideologies in their daily practices, invariably appropriating them in complex and unexpected ways. This article concludes with a discussion on the relationship between heritage language learning and communal efforts to ensure continuity. (Contains 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Tribes; Language Maintenance; Language Skill Attrition; Native Language; American Indian Studies; American Indian Languages; Language Minorities

Abstract:
Among Oklahoma's 2,636-member Wichita tribe, octogenarian Doris McLemore is the sole person who fluently speaks the native language. And Terri Parton, president of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, says that makes her both a treasure and an imperiled, cultural linchpin. Developing a coterie of community-based American Indians who are restoring, recording and inputting tribal languages into a publicly accessible online database is a broad aim of the project focusing on Oklahoma, which has 39 officially recognized tribes. In addition to Wichita, the participants include the Alabama, Apache, Shawnee and Natchez Indians. Linguists and historians partly link the language loss to compulsory efforts to keep American Indians from communicating in their tribal tongues. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Articulation (Education); Cultural Differences; Bilingual Education; Oral History; Foreign Countries; Social Distance; Global Approach; Educational Change; Culturally Relevant Education; Standards; Teaching Methods; Public Education; Cultural Context; Foreign Policy; Cultural Maintenance; Self Concept; Labor Force Development; Language Skills; Eskimo Aleut Languages; Language Maintenance

Abstract:
In 2002, Greenlandic reform leaders launched a comprehensive, nation-wide reform to create culturally compatible education. Greenland's reform work spans the entire educational system and includes preschool through higher education. To assist their efforts, reform leaders adopted the Standards for Effective Pedagogy developed at the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE). The standards are principles of effective teaching and learning that have been researched in many other indigenous communities. This study investigated the early stages of Greenland's reform work of the public school to understand why reform leaders adopted the CREDE standards, and what constraints, if any, the standards posed in the Greenlandic context. The findings suggest the reform was initiated to further decolonize Greenland as a former colony of Denmark. The standards were adopted to assist in this process by increasing Greenlandic students' linguistic abilities, strengthening native culture and identity, and improving Greenland's labor market. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Public Health; Language Maintenance; Patients; Language Variation; Heritage Education; Spanish; Teaching Methods; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Native Language Instruction; Community Programs; College Students; Majors (Students); Biology; Nursing Education; Health Education; Internship Programs; Health Services; Poverty; Questionnaires; Student Attitudes; Medical Services; Native Speakers

Abstract:
Critical approaches to Spanish heritage language (SHL) pedagogy have called for more meaningful engagement with heritage language communities (Leeman, 2005). In a recent survey, furthermore, SHL students expressed a desire for more community-based activities in SHL curricula (Beaudrie, Ducar, & Relano-Pastor, 2009). This paper reports on the outcomes of a community-based SHL program for medical purposes. SHL college students majoring in biology, nursing and other health-related programs participated in a semester-long mini-internship in a community health center serving indigent patients in Hidalgo County, Texas. Faculty and clinic staff collaborated to create an integrated experience for the students. The experience was assessed through a reflection questionnaire completed by the students. An analysis of the assessment data suggests that students emerged from the experience with a heightened commitment to Spanish language maintenance, an expanded bilingual range, and an understanding and respect for language variation in Spanish. (Contains 1 table and 2 notes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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