For decades, the O'odham language has been in decline. But like many tribal nations, the Tohono O'odham are working to reclaim their language. Located on the campus of Tohono O'odham Community College (TOCC), the center was founded in 2020 and is for all O'odham, including those from other O'odham speaking nations. Creating opportunities where the…

In the face of colonial efforts to extinguish Indigenous language and culture, Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk people) have been working to revitalize Kanien'keha (the Mohawk language) since the 1970s. However, Kanien'keha continues to experience greater speaker loss than gain. Through a comprehensive vitality assessment, this dissertation examines the…

This article explores relationality and relational accountability in Indigenous education, contextualizing these processes within a current US-wide study of Indigenous-language immersion (ILI) schooling. With the goals of promoting language and culture revitalization alongside education equity, self-determination, and community well-being, ILI…

This book responds to the expansion of dual language immersion (DLI) programs into secondary contexts, examining the effectiveness of these programs and highlighting areas for improvement in the curriculum. Focusing on Mandarin Chinese DLI in Utah secondary schools, it presents the views of teachers, parents and students on the newly implemented…

This paper provides an empirical study of word formation and lexical expansion in a set of Algonquian languages, considering 153 terms for each language. These terms range from words that predate European colonialism to more recent forms coined by English L1 speakers. We propose a classification of the methods of lexical innovation, which involves…

Dual language (DL) programs propose to be vehicles of social justice and transformation by valuing an additional language other than the dominant one in a society and thereby contesting language hierarchies and the subordination of those who speak/use a non-dominant language (Flores, Flores, Educational Policy 30:13-38, 2016; Menken and García,…

This qualitative study explored the dynamic aspects of American Indian language integration in education along with language revitalization efforts. Due to the special government to government relationship between the Tribes and the federal government, formal Native American education began with forced assimilation and language loss was linked to…

This article examines Indigenous-language immersion (ILI) schooling, an innovative approach in which most or all instruction occurs in the Indigenous language, with a strong culture-based curriculum. With the goals of promoting language revitalization, academic/holistic wellbeing, and cultural identity and continuance, ILI is a form of sustainable…

This paper gives an overview of ongoing revitalisation efforts for Kanien'keha / Mohawk, one of the endangered Indigenous languages in Canada. For the Mohawk people, their language represents a significant part of the culture, identity and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The endangerment of Kanien'keha and other Indigenous…

This article compares the immersion-education systems in Brittany and Wales. The number of Welsh speakers is growing thanks to its well-developed immersion-education system. Brittany has a much less well-developed system and the number of Breton speakers is falling dramatically. Urgent action is needed if Breton is to survive. Using an approach…

This article focuses on the reported experiences of three focal students who participated in a Spanish/English dual language program in their southern California school district throughout their elementary and middle school years. All three students identify as Mexican-origin and speak Spanish, English, and the Indigenous language of Zapoteco and…

Immersion programs have long been considered the gold standard for school-based language revitalization, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to the quantity and quality of the input that they provide to young language learners. Drawing on new data from three such programs (Kaqchikel, Western Subanon, and Maori), each with its own…

Although human beings communicate mainly through talking and listening, schools tend to spend little classroom instruction time helping ELLs develop their English oral language skills, writes Wayne E. Wright. In reviewing the research on ELLs' oral language development, Wright concludes that bilingual programs give ELLs the best opportunities to…

Indigenous methodologies for guiding, advising, and educating children have been in place since time immemorial. Those well-honed approaches to education were built to support whole and healthy individual development while also establishing a lifelong awareness and reverence for community, connection, kinship, and reciprocity. In Western cultures,…

There has been a long history of early Irish language learning in Ireland as a result of Government policy to promote greater use of Irish. All children learn Irish in school from age 4-18 years. The majority learn Irish as a subject, typically for 30-40 minutes per day, and the levels of competence achieved are mostly disappointing. Approximately…