Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2020

Abstract

Abstract ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎩ

Language, cultural immersion, and intergenerational land-based education have shown the potential to vastly improve dire health issues that Indigenous people face. What is the most effective way to produce a large number of second language learners who speak at a basic level in order to improve Indigenous health?

Relationship is a vital part of Indigenous cosmology. Rather than promoting the consumption of words as things, acquisition will be more readily integrated into relationship-based thought when also interacting with them in context through story, and cultural activities that are fun, understandable, and engage community. Many successful language immersion models advocate for completely avoiding grammatical analysis, but does this apply to structurally more complex Indigenous languages of the Americas? For transmission of thought to be successful, the teaching of terms must be done in a way that makes different understandings clear, otherwise the terms will become just different words for English concepts.

Keywords

Indigenous language, Cherokee, outdoor education, land based education, language revitalization, canoe movement, Indigenous language immersion, Native language revitalization, mental health, behavioral health, suicide prevention

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Gregory Cajete

Second Committee Member

Christine Sims

Third Committee Member

Melissa Lewis

Fourth Committee Member

Joseph Erb

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