Handbook of Language

1
Handbook of Language Ethnic Identity, ch. 13

• Second-Language Learning
• Bernard Spolsky

2
Second-language learning and ethnicity

• How have those asserting ethnicity (revival
  movements) become involved in language teaching?
• How have revival movements influenced
  second-language learning?

3
Role of Language in Revival

• Central role
• Social, political, economic, cultural pressures
  may have drawn group members away from
  traditional language
• Ethnic movement needs to make up for language
  loss
• Some similarities to 19th c movements to revive
  standardize national vernaculars

4
Role of Linguistics in Language Revival

• Theoretical linguistics has often done little to
  stem language death, sometimes actually
  contributed to it
• Ethnically inspired language teaching and
  sociolinguistic research may have a greater
  positive impact

5
3 cases of SL learning and teaching in ethnic
revival

• Zionist program at end of 19th c to revitalize
  Hebrew
• 20th c Irish program in Ireland
• Recent revival of Maori in New Zealand

6
Problems for Revival of Hebrew

• Hebrew not spoken for 1500 years
• Young children had to be taught to speak a
  written literary language
• Teachers had to work without precedent, and
  didnt initially speak Hebrew themselves

7
So how did they revive Hebrew?

• Started school one year earlier
• Used Hebrew as language of instruction in
  classroom (immersion)
• Ideological commitment on part of teachers and
  parents
• Begun in 1890, twenty years later miracle was
  accomplished
• Hebrew well established by 1920

8
Irish in Ireland

• Most people spoke only English
• Many different teaching approaches
• Irish taught as a subject only to most students,
  with compulsory examinations
• Irish failed to transfer to everyday use
• Lack of public support and association of Irish
  with poverty

9
Maori in New Zealand

• Early 19th c missionaries supported the language
  and literacy
• Late 19th c pressure to use English
• Early 20th c shift to English
• Late 20th c Maori becomes endangered
• 1980s Maori created successful preschool
  language nests, and later bilingual and
  immersion programs in schools

10
Conclusions from 3 cases

• Best results achieved when programs start very
  early and are bilingual or immersion programs and
  have popular support

11
Language revival movements face two tasks

• Vernacularization revitalization restore lost
  normal intergenerational transmission,
  reestablish language as home language/mother
  tongue
• Modernization standardization transform a
  spoken vernacular into a standard language that
  can be used for higher functions

12
How to teach the language?

• Traditional focus on writing, grammar, vocabulary
  increases knowledge, but not use (Irish)
• Direct method immersion approaches are more
  successful
• Support from wider community is essential
  support from schools is a plus too

13
Additive or replacive?

• Additive language teaching increases students
  overall repertoire
• Replacive teaching has the goal of supplanting
  (and suppressing) the lesser language
• Much second-language teaching for minorities has
  been replacive

14
The canon goals

• Ethnic revival movements have expanded the canon
  of languages taught in schools
• Emphasis also shifted from written to spoken
  proficiency this had effect on teaching methods,
  has also inspired inclusion of cultural awareness
  in curriculum
• Drop in foreign languages in US blamed on
  conservatism of traditional literature-related
  programs and lack of outreach to ethnic
  communities