III - IMMERSION FOR LANGUAGE REVIVAL

Summary

Immersion, as we noted in Chapter 1, may be the best and, indeed, the last and only means by which a language with few native speakers can be saved from extinction. The odds in favor of success under these circumstances must be poor, but the levels of commitment, and in the more fortunate cases, the resources being brought to bear, are not to be underestimated.

An early total immersion program aiming at the revival of the Hawaiian language and culture in the state of Hawai'i in the United States is described in Part III by Helen B. Slaughter. Hawaiian had not been used as a medium of instruction in almost a hundred years since it was banned by law in 1896 following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. Slaughter's study of language revival reflects the aspirations of Hawaiians who have reemerged as a social and political force since the 1970s, when a state constitutional amendment and related legislation established Hawaiian, along with English, as official languages of the state of Hawai'i.

Hawaiian language immersion in the public schools began in 1987. The problems it has faced include a lack of educated native, or first, language speakers to serve as translators; a need for teachers with sufficient training and language proficiency; a need for the ongoing creation of a modern technical/academic vocabulary in Hawaiian; a need for curriculum materials; and the lack of agreed-upon competency and proficiency standards for students' and teachers' use of the spoken and written language.