The Effects of Training in Linguistics on Teaching: K-12 Teachers in White Mountain Apache Schools
The purpose here is to report on how the linguistic training for teachers of White Mountain Apache children affected teacher attitudes and also resulted in pedagogical changes. Eighteen teachers participated in a Title III, Northern Arizona University-Whiteriver ESL and Bilingual Education Teacher-Training Program (Carrasco and Gilbert, 2000). Evidence of teachers’ pedagogical and psychological paradigm shift as a result of linguistic knowledge is presented.
Language learning takes on different forms depending on the context for such learning. In mainstream United States educational settings, it is expected that English is the primary language required to convey content. As in the White Mountain Apache Reservation, there are many U.S. communities whose members speak dialects of English that have not been considered appropriate for use in educational settings. This became publicly apparent when the debate over Ebonics took place several years ago. The linguistic situation of Apaches on the Fort Apache Reservation in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona is similar. Few White Mountain Apaches are bilingual in Apache and English. The majority speaks a rule-governed dialect of English, but it differs from what has been called “standard” or textbook English and is not accepted as “legitimate” English. In fact, when children in the Whiteriver United School District were tested using the LAS (Language Assessment Scale), 90% were diagnosed as LEP (Limited in English Proficiency) even though English was the only language for most of these children. Knowledge about this linguistic situation on the Apache community has tremendous pedagogical implications.
The particular dialect of English, “Apache English,” used on the reservation is considered substandard and wrong by many educators on the reservation. They attribute its differences from standard “textbook” English to an inability of the children to distinguish between Apache and English, therefore mixing them up, since they are unable to speak either one. They did not understand that the “other language” their Apache students speak was indeed a dialect of English. Once they realize this, a paradigm shift (Kuhn, 1970) in their approaches to teaching English and other subject matter can occur. This article presents evidence of change in attitudes and approaches to teaching as a result of this linguistic knowledge about Apache English. It is proposed that training in applied linguistics can have a direct impact on teaching.
