TY - JOUR
T1 - “A Viable Path for Education”—Indigenous-Language Immersion and Sustainable Self-Determination
AU - McCarty, Teresa L.
AU - Noguera, Joaquín
AU - Lee, Tiffany S.
AU - Nicholas, Sheilah E.
N1 - Funding Information: We express sincere gratitude to the Spencer Foundation for its generous financial award, which made possible the Indigenous-Language Immersion and Native American Student Achievement Study. To our partner sites and the many teachers, parents, Elders, school leaders, staff, and youth who gave their time and opened their ILI classrooms and stories to us, we say a heartfelt thank you. We hope the words here honor your commitment to ILI as a “viable path for education,” and that this publication provides support for your ongoing language work. Funding Information: Support for the research discussed here was provided by the Spencer Foundation of Chicago, Illinois. We express sincere gratitude to the Spencer Foundation for its generous financial award, which made possible the Indigenous-Language Immersion and Native American Student Achievement Study. To our partner sites and the many teachers, parents, Elders, school leaders, staff, and youth who gave their time and opened their ILI classrooms and stories to us, we say a heartfelt thank you. We hope the words here honor your commitment to ILI as a ?viable path for education,? and that this publication provides support for your ongoing language work. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - 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 self-determination. We ground our analysis in a growing body of ILI scholarship and preliminary findings from our research in a mixed-method, multisite, US-wide study of ILI schooling. The study asks: What can ILI teach us to improve education practice for Native American learners? How can such a study inform research, theory, practice, and policy for Indigenous and other minoritized learners? We begin with a brief history of ILI movements in the US and then discuss ILI’s de/anticolonial aims, highlighting connections to sustainable self-determination. We illustrate these processes with examples of pedagogical, communal, and nation-building goals and practices evident in our national study. We conclude with the broader implications of ILI as a “viable path for education” for sustainable enactments of Indigenous self-determination.
AB - 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 self-determination. We ground our analysis in a growing body of ILI scholarship and preliminary findings from our research in a mixed-method, multisite, US-wide study of ILI schooling. The study asks: What can ILI teach us to improve education practice for Native American learners? How can such a study inform research, theory, practice, and policy for Indigenous and other minoritized learners? We begin with a brief history of ILI movements in the US and then discuss ILI’s de/anticolonial aims, highlighting connections to sustainable self-determination. We illustrate these processes with examples of pedagogical, communal, and nation-building goals and practices evident in our national study. We conclude with the broader implications of ILI as a “viable path for education” for sustainable enactments of Indigenous self-determination.
KW - Indigenous education
KW - Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation
KW - Indigenous self-determination
KW - language immersion
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U2 - 10.1080/15348458.2021.1957681
DO - 10.1080/15348458.2021.1957681
M3 - Article
SN - 1534-8458
VL - 20
SP - 340
EP - 354
JO - Journal of Language, Identity and Education
JF - Journal of Language, Identity and Education
IS - 5
ER -