Strategies for Teaching a Minority

Strategies for Teaching a Minority Language in Process of Revitaliza9on:

The Case of the Palenquero Creole Estilita Cassiani Obeso

Graduate exhibition March 24-26, 2021

Language revival

Many minority communi-es around the world endeavor to promote the use of their ancestral languages due to the high probability of language shi9 or death.

The best way to retain or restore an endangered language is through language learning via formal instruc/on (Fernández-Ulloa 2011; Hinton 2008, 2011; Hinton and Hale 2001; Hinton et al. 2002; Migge et al. 2010; Penfield and Tucker 2011).

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Language revival

Key elements to the success of the revitaliza-on process:

• Ac-ve use of the language • Language exposure• Intergenera-onal transmission • Language resources and teachers• Community involvement • Adequate educa-onal strategies to fulfill the needs of language

revival

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What is the Palenquero Creole?

Spanish-based creole with some lexical items from Kikongo.

Founded by enslaved Africans who escaped between the 16th and 17th

centuries from Loango, Kongo and Anziquekingdoms (Schwegler 2017).

4,000 + inhabitants

San Basilio de Palenque

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San Basilio de Palenque

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Loango Mayombe The Kakamueka town in Kongo

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Language revitalization

• Palenquero was endangered by shi9 to Spanish due to prejudice, but language revitaliza-on is underway

• The language has become a symbol of cultural iden-ty and self-awareness

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Language revitaliza.on at school

Lacking areas:• Defined curriculum and a prescribed framework• Teachers training in how to teach the language • Palenquero classes are limited in materials and resources• Explicit instruc-on of the gramma-cal aspects of the

language• Opportuni-es for students to communicate and nego-ate in

the target language

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Language revitaliza.on at school

Lacking areas:• Defined curriculum and a prescribed framework• Teachers training in how to teach the language • Palenquero classes are limited in materials and resources• Explicit instruction of the grammatical aspects of the

language• Opportunities for students to communicate and negotiate in

the target language

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Goal

To test whether explicit instruction improves the learning of the Palenquero grammatical structures among young learners of Palenquero.

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Best prac*ces for Teaching a Minority Language in Process of Revitaliza*on

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Pilot study

• Creation of communication-oriented activities to explicitly present the use of some Palenquero grammatical items. I took previous findings and developed a teaching strategy (Lewis 1970; Megenney 1986; Schwegler 1992; Schwegler & Green (2007); Smith 2013, 2014; Lipski 2018)

Prenominal plural particle

ma

Preverbal particles

Aspect present past future

zero a tan

Progressive ta

Habitual asé

MethodParticipants:

Five high school students in the Institución Educativa Técnica AgropecuariaBenkos Bioho in Palenque.

Age: 18Period of time: 1 week, 1 hour and a half every day.

Pre-and-post test

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Type of instruction

• ExplanaPon of grammaPcal rules, pracPce individually and in groups, repePPon• CorrecPve feedback (between students)• Dialogue with their parents or community leaders (adult speakers)

Goal: Reinforce par-cipants’ knowledge of Palenquero gramma-cal structures.

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Results

The post-test showed participants better language performance

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Limitations

• The number of tokens by par-cipants varies significantly and there are some individual differences among par-cipants

v Amount of -me and exposure to acquire complex gramma-cal items and the need of more interven-ons with explicit instruc-on of disallowed combina-ons.

Conclusion

• Explicit explana-on of gramma-cal rules, prac-ce, repe--on, and correc-ve feedback were the teaching strategies that help students to beUer understand the gramma-cal structures.

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Main Contribu8on of the project

• Implementation of effective pedagogical techniques and the development of suitable instructive materials for languages in process of revitalization as the case of the Palenquero Creole

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EsPlita Cassiani Obesoemc69@psu.edu

Thanks & Acknowledgements

Dr. John Lipski (adviser)Dr. Rena Torres Cacoullos (co-adviser)