Instructional Strategies for Supporting Oral Language Development in a Navajo Immersion Classroom: A Case Study.

Abstract

This descriptive case study identifies instructional strategies for supporting oral language development in a Grade 1 Indigenous (Navajo) immersion classroom. While immersion education is seen as one way to help reverse language shift, immersion students sometimes exhibit lower-than-expected speaking abilities (Cummins, 2014, Tedick & Lyster, 2020). To contribute to understating what instructional strategies may affect language development in Indigenous immersion contexts, this study uses classroom observation, video and audio recordings, field notes, pictures and interviews to examine pedagogical strategies used by a teacher. Findings reveal that an Indigenous (Navajo) teacher uses strategies common to world language and immersion education, as well as strategies related to distinctly Indigenous ways of being, to support oral language development. The study addresses implications for Indigenous immersion education, teacher education, and future research, and calls for more attention to strategies that promote oral language development in ways that align with Indigenous concepts of language.