Reclaiming Our Languages

Pacific

Reclaiming our languages Annotated BibliographyDownload

“teepaalilaani” © Hannah Buchanan 2025

  • Exploring goals and motivations of Māori heritage language learners

    Te Huia investigates the goals and motivations of Maori language learners in post-secondary education in New Zealand. She indicates that Maori learners are concerned with learning Maori to gain greater access to cultural belonging and understanding, to fulfill their parental and/or leadership responsibilities as Maori people, and to master fluency. She explores language-specific motivation and relational motivation for advanced speakers. She advocates for Indigenous people to learn their heritage languages to increase their own connections to their community and identity.

    Te Huia, A. (2015). Exploring goals and motivations of Māori heritage language learners. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 5(4), 609–635. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.22015.5.4.5

  • An Introductory Cree Nīhiyawēwin Course Guide: Master of Indigenous Language Revitalization

    Burnouf examines her Cree teaching patterns to strengthen a Cree university course. She discusses the characteristics of adult learners in second language acquisition, the use of actions, movements, gestures, assessment, guest speakers, and group activities in classrooms for adults. She offers a comprehensive Cree course guide for the post-secondary environment, including course outcomes and a 13-week plan.

    Burnouf, L. (2018, May). An introductory Cree Nīhiyawēwin course guide. University of Victoria D-Space. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/10014/Burnoff_Laura_MEd_2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

  • From preschool to home: Processes of generalisation in language acquisition from an indigenous language recovery programme

    Tangaere and McNaughton study how children bring Maori home from the Te Kohanga Reo language nest, and what factors at home facilitate the transfer of knowledge. They also investigate how generalization happens between a language nest and the home environment. They learn that Waiata (socialization songs), which are learned at school through routines of demonstration and imitation embedded in group performances, are a major way that knowledge transfer may happen between school and home. They also recognize that language transfer can be supported by already existing activity structures at homes that match school structures. For example if singing is valued at home, then the language skills learned through song at school can be easily transferred to the home environment.

    Tangaere, A. R., & McNaughton, S. (2003). From preschool to home: Processes of generalisation in language acquisition from an Indigenous language recovery programme. International Journal of Early Years Education, 2(1), 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2003.10807104

  • Developing an Indigenous proficiency scale

    Kahakalau presents ANA ‘ŌLELO, a Hawaiian language proficiency scale developed by and for Hawaiians, to share insights and process pathways with other Indigenous communities. She offers a robust discussion of assessment in the Indigenous context, how Indigenous assessments can be developed, and why it is crucial that communities lead their own assessment practices. In sharing the Hawaiian proficiency scale, she also reveals the goals and outcomes of the Hawaiian revitalization strategy in an accessible and imitatable way.

    Kahakalau, K. (2017). Developing an Indigenous proficiency scale. Cogent Education, 4(1), 1377508. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2017.1377508

  • Melding language and image: Kaytetye Indigemoji as a language learning project

    Lea et al. report on creating Kaytetye, an Indigenous emoji app, as a community resource development project, demonstrate how app creation can act as a forum for language teaching/learning, and consider how digital images relate to Indigenous language learning. They strongly support the need for Indigenous people to play an integral role in language learning materials creation and show how collaborative community projects facilitate language learning. They explicitly address the gap that often exists between the development of an online/digital tool and the purpose it serves post-development.

    Lea, B., Turpin, M., & Liddle Perrurle, J. (2024). Melding language and image: Kaytetye Indigemoji as a language learning project. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2024.2320669

  • Language Revitalization and the Classroom: Video Workshops at an Elementary School in Miyakojima

    Fujita-Round studies Miyakoan language revitalization in public elementary schools in Japan. She explores which teaching methods are most effective and how school children feel about learning their ancestral language. She describes an arts-based word activity where students work in groups to create movies. She reinforces the necessity of the classroom as a safe and comfortable space, highlighting that group work and instructor support are more useful than criticism.

    Fujita-Round, S. (2023). Language revitalization and the classroom: Video workshops at an elementary school in Miyakojima. Languages, 8(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010004