Disappearing Native Languages
The Native community also faces the problem of their languages nearing extinction. Researchers have predicted that all 150 remaining Native American languages will go extinct within 50 to 100 years (Krauss pp.12). However, it is not too late to counteract this prediction. The United States is the “motherland” for these languages, so if they disappear from the United States they are gone forever. When a language disappears, it takes an unsalvageable chunk of the culture along with it. In Native American Language Immersion, Janine Top notes that “Every language loss causes serious damage to individual and group identity, for it destroys a sense of self-worth, limits human potential and complicates efforts to solve …show more content…
Until recently, the general population viewed bilingualism negatively due to misconceptions and misleading studies. For example, in the 1950s, N.T Darcy conducted an experiment, which concluded that being bilingual resulted in lower IQ scores and a “language handicap.” The study was majorly flawed; for example, it did not take into account the socioeconomic status of the participants, and it based a participant’s bilingual status on their parents’ birth countries rather than their language proficiency (Hakuta, K pp320). Unfortunately, as a result, bilingualism became attached with negative connotations around the United States. Many people attributed the Native peoples’ poor performance in school with the fact that they were bilingual (Luning, 9). Due to these studies, the English language began to dominate in the United States.
Anti-bilingualism mind-sets along with anti-immigrant movements, pushed for propositions such as California’s prop 227 and Arizona’s prop 203 which severely restricted bilingual education and encouraged English only education **cite maybe. The state of Native languages today is due to the deliberate restrictions and efforts taken to strip Native Americans of their languages and not any fault of the Native Americans …show more content…
The target language is approached as a medium of instruction rather than as subject matter. Even when the students finally begin learning English, their English class is taught in the Native language. A common misconception about immersion language programs is that the students learn a new language at the expense of English, however, that is a different concept called submersion. In submersion programs, students attend classes in a foreign language with students already fluent in that language, while in immersion programs all the students are new to the language and because of this the curriculum is adjusted accordingly. Immersion programs are a unique yet effective approach to teaching students a heritage
The Native community also faces the problem of their languages nearing extinction. Researchers have predicted that all 150 remaining Native American languages will go extinct within 50 to 100 years (Krauss pp.12). However, it is not too late to counteract this prediction. The United States is the “motherland” for these languages, so if they disappear from the United States they are gone forever. When a language disappears, it takes an unsalvageable chunk of the culture along with it. In Native American Language Immersion, Janine Top notes that “Every language loss causes serious damage to individual and group identity, for it destroys a sense of self-worth, limits human potential and complicates efforts to solve …show more content…
Until recently, the general population viewed bilingualism negatively due to misconceptions and misleading studies. For example, in the 1950s, N.T Darcy conducted an experiment, which concluded that being bilingual resulted in lower IQ scores and a “language handicap.” The study was majorly flawed; for example, it did not take into account the socioeconomic status of the participants, and it based a participant’s bilingual status on their parents’ birth countries rather than their language proficiency (Hakuta, K pp320). Unfortunately, as a result, bilingualism became attached with negative connotations around the United States. Many people attributed the Native peoples’ poor performance in school with the fact that they were bilingual (Luning, 9). Due to these studies, the English language began to dominate in the United States.
Anti-bilingualism mind-sets along with anti-immigrant movements, pushed for propositions such as California’s prop 227 and Arizona’s prop 203 which severely restricted bilingual education and encouraged English only education **cite maybe. The state of Native languages today is due to the deliberate restrictions and efforts taken to strip Native Americans of their languages and not any fault of the Native Americans …show more content…
The target language is approached as a medium of instruction rather than as subject matter. Even when the students finally begin learning English, their English class is taught in the Native language. A common misconception about immersion language programs is that the students learn a new language at the expense of English, however, that is a different concept called submersion. In submersion programs, students attend classes in a foreign language with students already fluent in that language, while in immersion programs all the students are new to the language and because of this the curriculum is adjusted accordingly. Immersion programs are a unique yet effective approach to teaching students a heritage