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      Community perceptions of a Cree immersion program at Cumberland House

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      Date
      2001
      Author
      MacKay, Gail Ann
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      This thesis contributes to the literature on language revitalization, a hopeful branch of research that counters the foreboding conclusions of language shift studies. It is based on data collected in May, 1998, at Cumberland House, an Aboriginal community in northeastern Saskatchewan. Fifty-five community members participated in six focus groups organized by the following criteria: administrators, school board trustees, elders, parents, students and teachers. These research participants expressed their vision, expectations, and needs related to an Aboriginal Language Immersion Pilot Program proposed by the Northern Lights School Division. Community members envisioned an education that contributes to their children's Cree and Anglo-Canadian bicultural competence. They expected the Cree immersion program in the provincial school would develop their children's Cree and English bilingual fluency. They needed training, administrative support, materials and ongoing communication between school and community. Factors that instill a sense of optimism about this language revitalization effort, include the role and status of the school, and the strong bonds of kinship and friendship in this community context. The process and content of the research project records the development and product of a research relationship between Aboriginal people. It attests to the value of community involvement in language planning and illustrates the beneficial attributes of community-based participatory action research. Overall, the thesis informs the topic of decolonization at the personal, community, and institutional level.
      Degree
      Master of Education (M.Ed.)
      Department
      Educational Foundations
      Program
      Educational Foundations
      Supervisor
      Battiste, Marie; Ward, Angela
      Committee
      St. Denis, Verna; King, Cecil
      Copyright Date
      2001
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-03122008-092413
      Subject
      decolonization
      colonization
      cognitive and cultural competence
      Aboriginal language immersion program
      language revitalization
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      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
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