Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:17:12.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10B - Task-Based Language Teaching and Indigenous Language Revitalisation

from Part IV - Methodology and Pedagogy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Katherine J. Riestenberg  and
Ari Sherris
Edited by
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian  and
Michael H. Long
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Michael H. Long
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Get access

Summary

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) aims to help learners meet “present and future real-world communicative needs” (Long, 2015: 68). In Indigenous language revitalisation contexts, however, there may not be a real-world need to speak the target language, due to a lack of speakers or the widespread bilingualism associated with particular stages of language loss. Drawing on two distinct but complementary contexts, Macuiltianguis Zapotec after-school lessons (Oaxaca, Mexico) and a workshop for teachers at a Salish Qlispe immersion school (Montana, United States), we show how TBLT might be adapted for language revitalisation through the conscious creation of new spaces for meaningful communication in the target language. The Zapotec and Salish contexts represent different approaches to adapting TBLT for Indigenous language instruction. The Zapotec teachers looked for everyday communicative tasks that learners plausibly could do in Zapotec, focusing on encouraging students to speak Zapotec in situations in which they were already interacting with Zapotec speakers in the community but doing so in Spanish. The Salish teachers, on the other hand, focused on the school itself as a new space for meaningful language use. We describe how task-based methodological principles (Long, 2009, 2015) were useful for planning and teaching in these settings.

Keywords

language revitalisationIndigenous languagesmethodological principlesinteractionZapotecSalish
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching , pp. 359 - 373
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Hermes, M. and King, K. (2019). Task-based language learning for Ojibwe: A case study of two intermediate adult language learners. In McCarty, T., Nicholas, S. E., and Wigglesworth, G., eds. A world of Indigenous languages: Politics, pedagogies and prospects for language reclamation. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Multilingual Matters, pp. 134–52.Google Scholar
Henze, R. and Davis, K. (1999). Introduction to authenticity and identity: Lessons from indigenous language education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 30(1), 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornberger, N. H. (2008), ed. Can schools save indigenous languages? Policy and practice on four continents. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Penfield, S. D. and Tucker, B. V. (2011). From documenting to revitalizing an endangered language: Where do applied linguists fit? Language and Education, 25(4), 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riestenberg, K. J. and Sherris, A. (2018). Task-based teaching of indigenous languages: Investment and methodological principles in Macuiltianguis Zapotec and Salish Qlipse revitalization. Canadian Modern Language Review, 74(3), 434–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, F. (2006). Rethinking Native American language revitalization. The American Indian Quarterly, 30(1), 91–109.Google Scholar

References

Beam de Azcona, R. (2016). Zapotecan languages. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Korne, H. (2016). Imagining convivial multilingualism: Practices, ideologies and strategies in diidxazá/Isthmus Zapotec indigenous language education. PhD dissertation. University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Dorian, N. C. (1994). Purism vs. compromise in language revitalization and language revival. Language in Society, 23, 479–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: Sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 221–46.Google Scholar
Gass, S. M. (1997). Input, interaction and the second language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gass, S. M. (2003). Input and interaction. In Doughty, C. J. and Long, M. H., eds. The handbook of second language acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 224–55.Google Scholar
Gass, S. M. and Mackey, A. (2015). Input, interaction, and output in Second Language Acquisition. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams, eds. Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction. New York: Routledge, pp. 180–206.Google Scholar
Hermes, M. and King, K. (2013). Ojibwe language revitalization, multimedia technology, and family language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 17(1), 125–44.Google Scholar
Hermes, M. and King, K. (2019). Task-Based language learning for Ojibwe: A case study of two intermediate adult language learners. In McCarty, T., Nicholas, S. E., and Wigglesworth, G., eds. A world of Indigenous languages: Politics, pedagogies and prospects for language reclamation. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Multilingual Matters, pp. 134–52.Google Scholar
Kiyosawa, K. G. and Donna, B. (2010). Salish applicatives. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (2009). Methodological principles in language teaching. In Long, M. H. and Doughty, C. J., eds. Handbook of language teaching. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 373–94.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (2016). In defense of tasks and TBLT: Nonissues and real issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 5–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In Ritchie, W. C. and Bhatia, T. K., eds. Handbook of research on language acquisition. Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press, pp. 413–68.Google Scholar
Pica, T. (2005). Classroom learning, teaching, and research: A task-based perspective. Modern Language Journal, 89, 339–352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pica, T., Kang, H., and Sauro, S. (2006). Information gap tasks: Their multiple roles and contributions to interaction research methodology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(2),301–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riestenberg, K. (2020a). Meaningful interaction and affordances for language learning at a Zapotec revitalization program. The Language Learning Journal, 48(3) 316–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riestenberg, K. (2020b). Supporting rich input and meaningful interaction in language teaching for revitalization: Lessons from Macuiltianguis Zapotec. In Silva, W. and Riestenberg, K., eds. Collaborative approaches to the challenges of language documentation and conservation: Proceedings of the 2018 Symposium on American Indian Languages. Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 20. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 73–88.Google Scholar
Riestenberg, K. J. and Grupo Cultural Tagayu’ (2019). Teaching Macuiltianguis Zapotec Collection of Kate Riestenberg and Grupo Cultural Tagayu’. The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America. ailla.utexas.org.Google Scholar
Riestenberg, K. J. and Sherris, A. (2018). Task-based teaching of indigenous languages: Investment and methodological principles in Macuiltianguis Zapotec and Salish Qlipse revitalization. Canadian Modern Language Review, 74(3), 434–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherris, A. (2008). Integrated content and language instruction. Cal Digest. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from: http://www.cal.org/siop/pdfs/digests/integrated-contentand-language-instruction.pdf.Google Scholar
Sherris, A. (2010). Coaching language teachers. Cal Digest. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved from: http://www.cal.org/siop/pdfs/digests/coaching-language-teachers.pdf.Google Scholar
Sherris, A., Pete, T., and Haynes, E. (2015). Literacy and language instruction: Flathead Salish metaphor and a task-based pedagogy for its revitalisation. In Piirainen, E. and Sherris, A., eds. Language endangerment: Disappearing metaphors and shifting conceptualizations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Sherris, A., Pete, T., Thompson, L., and Haynes, E. (2013). Task-based language teaching practices that support Salish revitalisation. In Jones, M. C. and Ogilvie, S., eds. Keeping languages alive: Documentation, pedagogy, and revitalisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 155–66.Google Scholar
Spolsky, B. (1995). Conditions for language revitalisation: A comparison of the cases of Hebrew and Maori. Current Issues in Language and Society, 2(3),177–201.Google Scholar
Thomason, S. G. (2006). Salishan languages. In Brown, K., ed. Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. 2nd ed. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 732–33.Google Scholar
Van den Branden, K. (2006). Task based language education. From theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, R. J. (2014). Language socialization, revitalisation and ideologies in the Salish-Pend d’Oreille community. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Montana, Missoula, MT.Google Scholar
Yano, Y., Long, M. H., and Ross, S. (1994). The effects of simplified and elaborated texts on foreign language reading comprehension. Language Learning, 44(2), 189–219.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×