How wide the Great Divide: language endangerment awareness and the school curricula

1. How wide the Great Divide: language endangerment awareness and the school curricula Radosław Wójtowicz Adam Mickiewicz University rwojtowi@amu.edu.pl 3L 2012 Junior Researchers Conference, Lyon 11.7.2012

2. The structure of the presentation • about INNET Project • Curriculum Report and results of the interviews – Awareness Report • real needs vs. existing materials • summary and suggestions

3. INNET Project • the consortium: UCO, HASRIL, MPIPL, AMU • 7th Framework Programme of the EU • 2011-2014 • 5 workpackages • Summer School: Technological approaches to the documentation of lesser-used languages, September 2013, Poznań

4. Objectives • not mere preservation of the data, but making archives available for researchers and the general public • engaging in an interaction with secondary school teachers and pupils so as to attract new generations of students to the study and management of linguistic diversity

5. www.innet-project.eu

6. Assessing awareness • examining school curricula • interviews with educational officials • semi-structured interviews with pupils and teachers of 8 secondary schools across Poland

7. Curriculum Report • school curricula currently in a state of transition • language endangerment not an issue whatsoever, although there are 7 school subjects where lessons on language endangerment could be conducted in relation to topics that are included in syllabi for the subjects

8. Inteviews with educational officials • Ministry of Education sets priority topics for inspections; summer semester 2011/2012: the abidance of rules concerning teaching of languages, culture and history of ethnic minorities • Regional Educational Superintendents: not searching for problems, but responding to problems/needs signaled by pupils, teachers and parents and searching for solutions to them; except for pupils in Pomerania who wanted extra-curricular education on Kashubian, no such needs reported • rather than on the languages, more attention should be focused on the culture and history of minorities • awareness considerably higher in regions where minority languages are spoken, although not in all cases

9. ‘folk linguistics’ of language endangerment • a language can become endangered due to e.g. bad (=cold) climate; a possible solution to the problem is relocating the speakers to safer/better locations; • if a language is too difficult or too old-fashioned to be used by a new generation, it can easily become endangered. • „Although it is essential to ensure minority language rights, natural processes are difficult to go against.”

10. Pupils’ feedback • include maps and statistical data (especially liked by boys) • more information on several languages rather than superficial knowledge from very many languages • the idea of a computer game not so much liked • karaoke in endangered languages 

11. Teachers’ feedback topics that could be nicely combined with the issue of language endangerment: • the cultural diversity of the world (Geography) • the ethnic composition of Poland – past and today (History) • identity and national identity, civil and political rights (Social Studies) • global culture vs. regional culture (Cultural Studies) • different varieties of English (English)

12. Teachers’ feedback what type of teaching material? • English: listening exercises • Geography: personal-like stories of language communities • Social Studies: a myth or a legend in an endangered language with a translation into Polish what additional material? • History and Social Studies: extracts from statistical yearbooks • Cultural Studies: songs, pictures etc.

13. Awareness Report: conclusions • basic demographics and significant cultural content to be included • spoken language exists before a written language and that a language is not confined in its (standarized) written form; • small does not always mean endangered; • challenge the assumption that endangered languages are only used by old women or tribesmen; show young people school pupils could identify with

14. endangeredlanguages.nl • two lessons: 1. about language in general, 2. two communities, their language, culture, geography etc.

15. The Linguists • http://www.pbs.org/thelinguists/For-Educators/ • an interactive map showing locations • minimum text, maximum interactive material • A Teacher’s Guide to Endangered Languages: 10 themes dealing with different aspects of language endangerment; proposals for discussions, tasks, homework • video extras

16. Kristin Denham: Teaching Kids about Language Change, Language Endangerment and Language Death • http://faculty.wwu.edu/denham/docs/Teaching_Kids_about.pdf • language change explained comparing English of Beowulf, Shakespeare texts and Modern English

17. Kirk Hazen: Teaching About Dialects (cal.org) • http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digest_pdfs/0104-hazen.pdf • an article in fact dealing with dialects of English, but useful because of the practical advice for teachers • having pupils discuss stigmatized forms • assessing the level of ‘language intolerance’ and linguistic prejudices by having students discuss some popular beliefs about language

18. Other • Linguistic Society of America: What is an endangered language? http://lsadc.org/info/ling-faqs-endanger.cfm - basic questions as subheadings with examples supporting the answer wherever possible • First Voiceshttp://www.firstvoices.com/scripts/WebObjects.exe/FirstVoices.woa/wa/file? – games and audio puzzles on sounds from indigenous languages of Canada

19. School information package • teaching materials • an interactive map available on-line • Book of Knowledge • ancillary package for teachers

20. Book of Knowledge • 10 chapters • links, photos • examples of structures primarily from endangered languages • constant emphasis on the linguistic diversity of the world • emphasis on the fact that each human language, be it Aranda or English, is a complex system

21. Problems • too difficult? too academic? • too much focused on the linguistic side? • pupils’ feedback vs. emphasizing the linguistic diversity of the world • how to design the package for teachers? • are the teachers going to use the material? • beaurocracy

22. References • Crystal, David (2003): Crossing the great divide: language endangerment and public awareness. Keynote speech to the International Expert Meeting on Endangered Languages, UNESCO, Paris, 10 March 2003. • Crystal, David (2011): Language diversity, endangerment, and public awareness. British Academy Review18, 12-20. • Odé, Cecilia (2008): Teaching Materials on Language Endangerment An Interactive E-learning Module on the Internet, In: Tjeerd de Graaf et al. (eds.) - Endangered Languages and Language Learning: Proceedings of the Conference FEL XII, 24-27 September 2008, Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, 147-150. Leeuwarden: Foundation for Endangered Languages

23. www.innet-project.eu • innet@amu.edu.pl • InNET Project