Reclaiming Our Languages

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Reclaiming our languages Annotated BibliographyDownload

“teepaalilaani” © Hannah Buchanan 2025

  • Community-Anchored Assessment of Indigenous Second Language Learning in K-12 Schools

    Tulloch et al. discuss the results of the Nunatsiavut K-12 Inuktitut Evaluation, and specifically explore the necessity of grounding Indigenous language learning and assessment in families and community. They consider Indigenous language assessment options, and highlight the necessity of aligning programming goals with community goals. They note that having explicit, targeted outcomes are a next step for their K-12 program, and that even in public schools, families and communities must be a fixture in language learning.

    Tulloch, S., Moore, S., Lane, J., Townley, S., Dicker, J., Boase, D., & Adams, E. (2022). Community-anchored assessment of Indigenous Second Language learning in K-12 schools. Frontiers in Education, 7, Article no. 733047. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.733047

  • Creating Space and Defining Roles: Elders and Adult Yup’ik Immersion.

    Alexie et al. investigate how incorporating Elders into the Yup’ik Language Proficiency Program facilitates year-round, sustained learning and carves out a space for Yup’ik cultural norms within the university environment. They describe the nuances of working with Elders in a university space including relationship navigating and managing dual agendas of language revitalization and intergenerational cultural knowledge transmission. They consider the myriad of ways that including Elders in language programming can add depth, sustainability, and significance to language acquisition.

    Alexie, O., Alexie, S., & Marlow, P. (2009). Creating space and defining roles: Elders and adult Yup’ik immersion. Journal of American Indian Education, 48(3), 1–18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24398752

  • Learning through an Aboriginal Language: The Impact on Students’ English and Aboriginal Language Skills

    Usborne et al. explore how learning through an Indigenous language impacts student language skills in English and in the Indigenous language, by contrasting a Mi’kmaq immersion program with a Mi’kmaq as a second language program in a Nova Scotian public school. They provide an example of how community-anchored assessment-based longitudinal research can serve the language needs of an Indigenous community and they find that Indigenous immersion language programs can actually correlate to higher language skill development in both the Indigenous language and English.

    Usborne, E., Peck, J., Smith, D.-L., & Taylor, D. M. (2011). Learning through an Aboriginal language: The impact on students’ English and Aboriginal language skills. Canadian Journal of Education, 34(4), 200-215. https://www.jstor.org/stable/canajeducrevucan.34.4.200

  • 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