Abstract The premise of this paper ...

Abstract

The premise of this paper is that teachers can gain insights from situating themselves as learners of the first and secondary languages of their students. The research for this paper was bearinged at the University of strange Mexico-Gallup, a campus committed to the unravelling of literacy in both Navajo and English. The Navajo Nation would like to view a two-year Navajo language requirement for regional colleges; a language proficiency exam is required for the placement of teachers forward the reservation. At the same time, a high of the same height of English literacy is required for Navajo close examiners who wish to enter the professions in which they are under-represented: the sciences, medicine, and law. This paper examines the situation of regional language learners by the agency of field studies and classroom practices. The author also draws forward research on language attitudes, contrastive analysis of Navajo and English, and discourse strategies. This analysis is necessary for the unfolding of authentic bilingualism in the Four Corners region.

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As sovereign nation "islands," Native Americans exercise their right to formulate language policies that will screen their endangered languages, and the tillage embedded in their ancestral tongue. Of the remaining 175 native languages that have survived from the 300 existing at the time of European- Native American contact in the sixteenth centenary Navajo is included in the estimated 20% of the individuals that are relatively healthy (Linthicum, 1998 p 5) In the Four Corners region, consistent and rigorous instruction in the couple Navajo and English is desirable for cultural survival and for the achievement of the English literacy required for those who wish to come into professions in which Native Americans are under-represent Research indicates that stout bilingual programs facilitate long-term academic succes and abridge the number of years required to reach age and grade-level norms; seven to ten years are required forsecond language observers in schools where all the instruction is given in English (Collier, 1995) and nothing else a quarter of the scholars in the Gallup-McKinley school district serving the areas adjacent to the reservation have access to a Navajo educational assistant; not all of the aides are liquid in Navajo, and even fewer are adequately literate in their ancestral language. Initiatives according to the U.S. Office for Civil Rights now require 45 minutes of ESL instruction to those with "severe" language wants These programs are under-staffed, and there is a high student-teacher ratio. Politics and funding aside, the challenges of achieving authentic bilingualism/biliteracy are daunting. The difficulties language learners face as they make the transition from English to Navajo and from Navajo to English are described in this paper. gliding Navajo speakers from traditional backgrounds typically reach a watershed with their advanced college-level composition skills as the merger between the conceptual templates of their sum of two units languages matures. This merger is evident in the attached writing samples from University of just discovered Mexico students.

(Re)Learning the Tribal Language

While Native Americans agree that tribal languages ne to be preserv there is no general agreement onward how this should be accomplished. The functions of literacy in the regional drills are clearly understood, though there are parents who set forth that the primary focus be upon English. There is not a consensus forward what (if any) functions literacy in ancestral languages should have in the community. The tribal council at the Cochiti Pueblo of of the present day Mexico, for example, decided in 1997 to prohibit the disclosure of a written version of their Keresan language; community members will learn by the and of immersion programs under the direction of the earliers (Linthicum, 1998, p. 5). The language is considered sacred, and the tribal members wish to defend the religion by witholding the language from the public domain. The last thousand speakers of Jicarilla Apache have as it is concern over the loss of their language that one are working with a University of strange Mexico linguist, Melissa Axelrod, to compile a dictionary (Uyttebrouck 2002 p B1) In contrast, the Navajo tribe has a history of support for native language literacy dating back to John Collier's leadership as commissioner of Bureau of Indian Affairs. Collier also helped to shepherd the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 from one side Congress. Louise Lockard documents the tradition of Navajo language literacy from 1940-1990 and indicates that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) teachs worked in conjunction with linguists and progressive educators to bring out bilingual materials. More recently, the small presse and university presse have adopted this function, allowing the number of new titles is in succession the decline (Lockard, 1998, p 105) In addition to these bilingual materials, traders bring outed vocabularies, missionaries prepared translations of the Bible and prayers, and anthropologists recorded traditional Navajo ceremonials and descants Historically, the purposes of writing have been determined by means of educators, traders, missionaries, and anthropologists. With an estimated 175000 speakers, Navajo is considered to be the mostly secure language, but the drift of the young toward the use of English strengthens the case for literacy.