View Content #20901

by Lindsay Marean, InterCom Editor

Our InterCom topic this month is interpersonal communication. The proficiency-based approach supported by the NCSSFL-ACTFL Global Can-Do Benchmarks breaks language proficiency into three modes: presentational (speaking and writing), interpretive (listening and reading), and interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is of special interest because it is often students’ primary goal. In my own work with endangered North American indigenous languages, I often hear people say, “I just want to have a normal conversation about everyday things.” However, “everyday things” in “normal conversation” turn out to be difficult when working with a language that hasn’t been spoken widely for several generations. In some cases language communities must make use of archival materials: recordings of their ancestors speaking and linguists’ field notes. Such materials are usually presentational speaking: traditional stories and anecdotes told by one person to a tape recorder or researcher’s pen and notebook. Even when a community has access to first-language speakers, if a language is no longer transmitted from adults to children then speakers may struggle to talk about e-cigarettes, crowdfunding, and jeggings.  Also, as new forms of interaction emerge, such as texting and email (see last week’s Topic of the Week article by Julie Sykes), speakers and learners may be uncomfortable navigating new media without established target-language norms.

Here are some ideas for expanding and improving proficiency in interpersonal communication in endangered languages that may be of use in other contexts as well, such as teaching heritage learners or when the teacher’s own proficiency is limited:

• Create opportunities for speakers and learners to interact in the target language. Consider immersion weekends or camps, immersion sets in master-apprentice pairs as pioneered by the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, speakers’ tents at community gatherings, and dedicated time for conversation in classes and teacher training programs.
• UNESCO’s Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages considers “response to new domains and media” to be one of nine factors in assessing language vitality. Encourage community language activists to text and email each other in the target language. Many language communities have pages on social media where only the target language is used. Some elders embrace email and Facebook because of their potential for communication in spite of diaspora or hearing loss . As a learner, I appreciate the extra time I have with asynchronous communication; I can look words up and check my verb inflections before I hit “send.”
• Growing a language’s lexicon is often controversial within a community. Some language activists promote borrowing words for new things from the dominant language. In the words of Potawatomi elder and speaker Jim Thunder, Sr., “There is no need for us to make up words to fit the English language, since everyone already knows the English terms for those words.” Others embrace the process of creating new words; for example, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and NASA collaborated to create an Earth and Sky curriculum that includes words for “Mars rover” and “Saturn." Both approaches are natural processes in healthy languages. In this week’s Activity of the Week I describe how we used a game to grow our vocabulary as a scaffolding activity for a larger project.
• Culture-bearers are fantastic resources for learning interpersonal norms, even if they don’t speak the heritage language themselves. For example, “What is your name?” may not be used in your heritage language because it is more normal to ask someone you know who a stranger is instead of asking the stranger directly.

To summarize, the best way to build proficiency in interpersonal communication is to fully embrace it in all domains and media.  Enjoy using your language!