We invite to a guest lecture with two researchers from the University of Alberta. The topic is how higher education can support Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) training for indigenous languages. Which skills are most relevant for e.g. revival, revitalization, maintenance of an indigenous language?
Darren Flavelle from Documentation Revitalization And Generation Of New Speakers (DRAGONS) Lab and
Jordan Lachler from Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI), University of Alberta
Abstract
The need for the documentation and revitalization of indigenous languages the world over has garnered more attention as we continue the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages. For close to 50 years, various institutes around the world such as AILDI (USA), Batchelor Institute (Australia), CILLDI (Canada), RILCA (Thailand), and ZILPA (Zimbabwe), among others, have been providing training to indigenous communities in the skills necessary to support Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS). These skills are essential for the communities’ capacity to perform this important work on their own, with as little reliance on outsiders as possible.
Up to now, however, there has been no widely adopted set of best practices relating to ILS skills training. To investigate current practices, we conducted a survey of the relevant skills taught at various training institutes. Based on this survey, we offer in this presentation a descriptive framework that identifies the key categories of skills that are widely taught, including linguistic, metalinguistic, documentary, cultural, pedagogical, and language planning skills.
This framework provides the basis for further exploration of key questions in ILS skills training, including, but not limited to:
Do these categories encompass all skills relevant to ILS? What skills may be missing from the training curriculum at these institutes?
Which skills are most relevant for specific contexts (e.g. revival, revitalization, maintenance)?
Within a given category, which specific skills are logically dependent on others, and which are more stand-alone?
How can we optimize the curricular sequencing of skills both within and across categories?
We will address these and related questions based on our own experience in delivering such training in a range of contexts, and demonstrate how they point the way toward the development of a broader theory of ILS skills training that can be of benefit to institutes and communities worldwide.
------
Jordan Lachler
Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
Director, Documentation Revitalization and Generation of New Speakers (DRAGONS) Lab
Director, Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI)
Jordan's work focuses on language documentation and training community members in the skills needed for language revitalization. He has worked with numerous Indigenous communities across North America and in other parts of the world.
Darren Flavelle
Research Fellow, Documentation Revitalization and Generation of New Speakers (DRAGONS) Lab
Community Projects Coordinator, Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI)
Darren earned his BA at the University of Alberta and his MA in Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He works in language documentation and revitalization with a wide range of communities.