CENTER FOR MULTILINGUAL, MULTICULTURAL RESEARCH

NATIVE AMERICAN RESOURCES






Sites and articles listed here are not necessarily endorsed by the CMMR; they are listed for informational purposes only. An additional section on Native American Language Resources is provided. Full text articles and resources are also provided. If you would like to suggest a site to be added to this listing please visit our "Submit a Site" page.




CODE TALKER -- Carl Gorman -- one of the Navajo Code Talkers of World War Two -- recently died of cancer, at the age of 90. The Code Talkers played an instrumental role in the U.S. efforts in the Pacific theatre of World War Two...hear about what they did in this remembrance of Gorman's role with the Code Talkers. Please be patient, may take a few moments to load. (Requires free "RealAudio" software.)

To download the RealAudio Player consult RealAudio's home page. For the free Player go to the download page.


LINKS TO NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCES



NATIVE AMERICAN

FULL TEXT ARTICLES AND RESOURCES



by Mary Hermes. Located within the recent scholarship in Indian Education, this brief annotated bibliography concentrates on the subject broadly referred to as "culture and curriculum." If culture is understood as the collective values, practices, and will of a people, then cultural practices in Indian education can only be understood as acts of self-determination.

by Jon Reyhner. This article looks from a historical perspective at what impact the implementation of the American Indian Languages Act might have on Indian education.

by K. Swisher. This study is an exploratory effort to determine current thinking about learning styles from the perspective of those groups closely associated with American Indian students, i.e., teachers and administrators of the schools attended by American Indian students. The study assumes that there is a pervasive, but not clearly defined, understanding by practitioners of learning styles relating to American Indian people. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of teacher knowledge about learning styles and to determine the extent to which this knowledge is applied in classrooms attended by American Indian students.

by Roger Bordeaux. This Digest examines the use of standardized, nationally normed testing in assessing the progress of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. It describes studies that have shown the inadequacies of these assessment methods as well as theories that attempted to explain the poor test results of the AI/AN population. The Digest then describes alternatives to standardized testing, particularly performance based assessment, recommended by Native and non-Native educators and researchers.

by Robin Butterfield. This Digest focuses on findings of the U.S. Department of Education's Indian Nations At Risk (INAR) Task Force (1991) and the White House Conference on Indian Education (1992) related to Native students who attend public schools. Task Force and Conference findings- produced in early 1991 and 1992, respectively--suggest systemic reforms that would (a) foster intercultural harmony in schools, (b) improve teacher preparation, (c) develop instructional curricula and strategies that support diverse cultural needs and learning styles, (d) include AI/AN parents in the educational process, and (e) adopt a new paradigm for evaluation of AI/AN student progress and success.

by William Demmert. This Digest connects personal experience to that of other Native peoples and to the findings of two national studies. The Digest concludes with a summary of steps that must be taken at the local and federal levels, as recommended in the studies.

This Digest provides brief descriptions of key federal legislation and initiatives calling for school reform. Each description is followed by a series of questions that can help American Indian and Alaska Native communities closely examine local school reform plans.

by Deirdre A. Almeida. This Digest describes current inadequacies in teaching about Native Americans, even when teachers are making an effort to portray American Indians and Alaska Natives respectfully, and suggests ways to avoid common pitfalls. The Digest provides guidelines for detecting anti Indian bias in the curriculum and offers a brief list of Native American controlled publications and resources.

by E. Franklin & J. Thompson. This article describes the collected written and visual works of one Dakota child, Monica, and three themes: relationships, cultural commitment, and romance visible in her works. Through a descriptive study of her works, Monica's teachers were able to understand her particular meaning-making efforts, the way in which various genres (e.g., personal narratives, realistic and romance fictional narratives, cards and letters, written and visual responses to books) supported her exploration and expression of meaning, and the struggles and tensions inherent in her creative process.

by Richard St. Germaine. American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students regularly face obstacles that can impede their progress in school. Educational theorists and researchers have provided various explanations for this high failure rate, each with its own set of prescriptions. Recently, much attention has focused on cultural discontinuity. This Digest suggests that addressing cultural obstacles is an important but incomplete approach to increasing AI/AN students' success.

by James Crawford. The threat to linguistic resources is now recognized as a worldwide crisis. As many as half of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken on earth are spoken only by adults who no longer teach them to the next generation. An additional 40 percent may soon be threatened because the number of children learning them is declining measurably. In other words, 90 percent of existing languages today are likely to die or become seriously embattled within the next century. In formulating a response to this crisis, there are three questions that need to be explored: (1) What causes language decline and extinction? (2) Can the process be reversed? And (3) why should we concern ourselves with this problem? This articlel looks in detail at the situation of Native American languages in the United States.

by Roland G. Tharp and Lois A.Yamauchi. Instructional conversation (IC) is a dialog between teacher and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven together with new material to build higher understanding. IC contrasts with the "recitation script" of traditional western schooling, which is highly routinized and dominated by the teacher. IC varies in form in different cultures, as do other discourse forms. Analysis of the research on the formal and informal learning of American Indians lends insight into possible ways in which instructional conversations in classrooms with these children can be modified to promote learning. Effective instructional conversations for Native Americans are influenced by four basic psychocultural factors identified by Tharp (1989): a) sociolinguistics; b) motivation; c) cognition; and d) social organization. These factors are implicated in activity settings that are more likely to produce effective ICs in Native American classrooms. "Ideal" activity settings--those most likely to produce and maintain ICs for Native American students are proposed and illustrated in this article.

edited by Jon Reyhner. Effective Language Education Practices and Native Language Survival is the proceedings of the Ninth Annual International Native American Language Issues (NALI) Institute co-sponsored by the NALI Board of Executors and the Montana Association for Bilingual Education and held in Billings, Montana, June 8 & 9, 1989.

by Ronald Tharp and Lois Yamauchi. Research indicates that the instructional conversation (IC) can be an effective method for raising the low academic achievement levels of various groups of Native American students. The IC is a dialog between teacher and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven together with new material to build higher understanding. A description of factors and their role in implementing ICs among Native American populations is discussed.

By Joshua Fishman. This paper is adapted from the speech given by Dr. Fishman at the Second Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium on May 4, 1995.

by John M. Dodd, J. Ron Nelson, William Spint. Because of the diversity among American Indian peoples, numerous tests and extensive research are required to develop tests for the many American Indian tribal groups. Since selling tests in sufficient numbers to make a profit is the goal for publishers, it is reasonable to assume that there will not be suitable psychometric tests available for all American Indian groups in the near future. When the dubious benefit for having such tests available is considered, perhaps their development should be discouraged. However, prevention of inappropriate testing is essential. One way to accomplish this is through culturally sensitive prereferral intervention.

by Marjane Ambler. Efforts to fundamentally change American Indian education have been few. Many universities and colleges include cultural content, calling it Native American Studies, ethnic studies, or comparative cultures. However, Native American Studies courses at most colleges and universities must be generic since they attract students from many tribes. This article highlights many of the obstacles faced by these students and provides suggested models for overcoming barriers.

Gina Cantoni, Editor. A Center for Excellence in Education Monograph at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff that looks at the stabilizing of indigenous languages. This is a special issue of Northern Arizona University's Center for Excellence in Education monograph series, Perspectives. A blueprint to revitalize American Indian and Alaska Native languages.

by Jon Reyhner. Teaching Indigenous Languages contains a selection of papers presented at the Fourth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium "Sharing Effective Language Renewal Practices" held at Northern Arizona University (NAU) on May 1, 2, and 3, 1997. This conference brought together nearly three hundred indigenous language experts, teachers, and community activists to share information on how indigenous languages can best be taught at home and at school.

by Jon Reyhner. Contains over 40 full text papers on preserving, promoting, and teaching indigenous languages plus some 50 full text columns on American Indian/Alaska Native education from the newsletter of the National Association for Bilingual Education. Well worth the visit.

By Joshua Fishman. Attitudes toward language-loss depend on your perspective. When a language is lost, you might look at that from the perspective of the individual. Many individuals suppressed their language and paid the price for it in one way or another. You can also speak from the point of view of the culture lost. The culture has lost its language. What is lost when the culture is so dislocated that it loses the language which is traditionally associated with it? That is a serious issue for Native Americans. We can ask it from the national point of view. What is lost by the country when the country loses its languages? This article focuses on language loss from only one of these perspectives, the perspective of the culture. Because losing your language is, technically, an issue in the relationship between language and culture. What is the relationship between language and culture?

by Linda C. Medearis. A descriptive review of a two-year research project with the children and families of the Oklahoma Seminole Nation Head Start.


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