Keeping Minority Languages Alive: The School's Responsibility.

Gina P. Cantoni

9 citations0/0 files stored

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Multilingual Education and Policy Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education

Abstract

This paper discusses the need for systematic school-wide support of the use of indigenous languages among those who learn them at home and of approrpriate instruction in the same languages for those who do not. The school's role in keeping indigenous languages alive must go beyond native language instruction to encompass dissemination of information, attitudinal change, and sustained action. In the past, school practices and assimilationist policies contributed to the decline of home languages, while some Native families promoted English usage at home to ensure their children's academic success. A negative view of bilingualism persists among many educators and members of the public. Although bilingualism results in various cognitive advantages, these are seldom measured by standardized school tests. In addition to misconceptions about bilingualism, the maintenance of home languages suffers from the lower prestige and status of minority languages compared to English. To counter such negative attitudes, educators must show respect and appreciation for the cultures of their students' parents, avoid criticizing native language usage in school, and avoid transmitting perceptions that English is better than the local language. Educators should also try to learn the students' home language to convey a certain degree of interest and respect. Together, school personnel and community members can create opportunities for local language use in the school and community. Contains 17 references. (SV) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Teaching Indigenous Languages U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (Mice of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) ja4his document haS been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it O Milo, changes have been made to Improve reproduction Quality Points of view or opinionS stated in trim dot ument do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy Keeping Minority Languages Alive: The School's Responsibility Gina P. Cantoni PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 9 citations exist upstream.

References

1991When learning a second language means losing the first 1984Culture and Language as Factors in Learning and Education 2014Bilingualism in Education 1992A Synthesis of Studies Examining Long-Term Language Minority Student Data on Academic Achievement 1990Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens

Cited by

1999Sm'algyax Language Renewal: Prospects and Options.2021Gàidhlig, Gaeilge, Cymraeg and Føroyskt Mál: Minority Languages as Economic Assets?2015Accommodation and resistance in the implementation of a minority language: A survey of headteacher attitudes across primary schools in Cornwall 2000The Benefits of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching for Indigenous Language Educators.

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.