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Research Interests: First Nations Languages and Language Education |
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| Description |
The languages of the Aboriginal people of Canada are remarkably diverse. Within and across the languages, complex and subtle ideas can be expressed by an incredibly rich variety of words, sentences, and orations. These languages are essential for the preservation and transmission of culture and identity. As a result of colonization, many of these languages are endangered and are not being widely acquired by children (e.g., Battiste, 1998; Kirkness, 1998; Statistics Canada, 2008, pp. 48-50). Battiste (2000, p. 199) has also explained that the presence of Aboriginal languages in schools raises the status of Aboriginal cultures and contributes to overall student success: “There is clear and convincing evidence that student achievement and performance in school and pride in Aboriginal communities and heritages are directly tied to respect for and support of the students’ Aboriginal languages.” For these reasons, it is imperative to develop educational materials that can be used by the fluent speakers who are and who will be the teachers of these languages. These types of materials include explanations of the relationship between learning and teaching (e.g., Mellow, 1991, 2000), as well as comprehensive descriptions of aboriginal languages (e.g., Valentine, 2001). These materials can then be used to create the books and lessons that are used in classes, as well as to inform the tools used for needs assessment and the evaluation of learning outcomes. Crucially, curriculum development must be informed by a valid understanding of language learning and of the diversity of language. In addition, a non-colonialist approach to the study of language and acquisition requires that hypothetical universals be minimized so that the full diversity of Aboriginal languages and cultures can be understood rather than being obscured by exogenous constructs (Battiste, 1998, p. 23; Battiste, Bell and Findlay 2002, p. 89; Henderson, 2000, p. 59; Pennycook, 1998, p. 17; Young, 1990, esp. pp. 9-10, 119-126). To achieve these goals and follow these guidelines for culturally appropriate research, my work on the acquisition of First Nations languages is informed by the theoretical approach known as emergentism (e.g., Ellis, 1998; Ellis & Larsen-Freeman, 2006; Goldberg, 2006; MacWhinney, 1998; Mellow, 2006, 2008, 2010/in press; O’Grady, 2005; Tomasello, 2003). Linguistic emergentism proposes that language use and acquisition emerge from the interaction of a large number of basic processes that are not specific to language. A basic assumption of emergentism is that a minimal set of universals should be used to explain acquisition. I have published articles regarding the description, acquisition, and teaching of Algonquian languages. I have done some work on the properties of complex words in Cree (Mellow, 1989a, 1990). Long ago, I explored some of the problems of a parameter-setting approach to acquisition, focusing on word order in Algonquian languages (Mellow, 1989b). I have discussed alternative approaches to teaching that could be utilized by First Nations language teachers (Mellow, 1991, 2000), as well as issues related to language education in rural contexts (Mellow, 1992) and to the testing and assessment of polysynthetic languages (Mellow et al., 2009). I have recently begun analyses of the remarkable longitudinal study of the acquisition of Anihshininiimowin (also known as Oji-Cree or Severn Ojibwe) published by Upper and McKay (1987, 1988). Some preliminary results were reported in Hack and Mellow (2007), Hadic Zabala and Mellow (2007), and Mellow and Hack (2007). I have discussed the analysis of the data in relation to one of the most central issues within Aboriginal studies, striving toward a noncolonialist approach (Mellow, 2010a,b). I am currently working to transfer Upper and McKay's printed transcripts into an electronic, searchable database. |
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