Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Losing Our Language PDF full book. Access full book title Losing Our Language by Sandra Stotsky. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Sandra Stotsky Publisher: ISBN: Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
This book argues that it is the incorporation of a multicultural agenda into basal readers, the primary tool for teaching reading in elementary schools, that has stunted American children's ability to read. The book shows how basal readers have been systematically "dumbed down" in an effort to raise minority students'"self esteem." It contends that while elementary readers of the past featured excerpts from classic stories such as "Arabian Nights" and "Robinson Crusoe," with a complex vocabulary and sentence structure able to challenge the imagination and build reading skills, today's basal readers present students with politically and ethnically correct stories whose language is virtually foreign and unable to engage students. According to the book, drawing words from Swahili, Spanglish, and other "trendy" dialects to teach students with a shrinking English vocabulary is a symptom of this intellectual and cultural disorder. The book showcases interviews with teachers, gives an in-depth analysis of reading texts over the past 30 years, and talks about how pressure groups have affected educational publishers. It points out that literacy--cultural and verbal--gives all students, but particularly those from poor or minority backgrounds, personal independence and achievement and the ability to participate fully in civic life. Each of the 11 chapters includes notes. (NKA)
Author: Sandra Stotsky Publisher: ISBN: Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
This book argues that it is the incorporation of a multicultural agenda into basal readers, the primary tool for teaching reading in elementary schools, that has stunted American children's ability to read. The book shows how basal readers have been systematically "dumbed down" in an effort to raise minority students'"self esteem." It contends that while elementary readers of the past featured excerpts from classic stories such as "Arabian Nights" and "Robinson Crusoe," with a complex vocabulary and sentence structure able to challenge the imagination and build reading skills, today's basal readers present students with politically and ethnically correct stories whose language is virtually foreign and unable to engage students. According to the book, drawing words from Swahili, Spanglish, and other "trendy" dialects to teach students with a shrinking English vocabulary is a symptom of this intellectual and cultural disorder. The book showcases interviews with teachers, gives an in-depth analysis of reading texts over the past 30 years, and talks about how pressure groups have affected educational publishers. It points out that literacy--cultural and verbal--gives all students, but particularly those from poor or minority backgrounds, personal independence and achievement and the ability to participate fully in civic life. Each of the 11 chapters includes notes. (NKA)
Author: Julie Sedivy Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 067498028X Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
From an award-winning writer and linguist, a scientific and personal meditation on the phenomenon of language loss and the possibility of renewal. As a child Julie Sedivy left Czechoslovakia for Canada, and English soon took over her life. By early adulthood she spoke Czech rarely and badly, and when her father died unexpectedly, she lost not only a beloved parent but also her firmest point of connection to her native language. As Sedivy realized, more is at stake here than the loss of language: there is also the loss of identity. Language is an important part of adaptation to a new culture, and immigrants everywhere face pressure to assimilate. Recognizing this tension, Sedivy set out to understand the science of language loss and the potential for renewal. In Memory Speaks, she takes on the psychological and social world of multilingualism, exploring the human brainÕs capacity to learnÑand forgetÑlanguages at various stages of life. But while studies of multilingual experience provide resources for the teaching and preservation of languages, Sedivy finds that the challenges facing multilingual people are largely political. Countering the widespread view that linguistic pluralism splinters loyalties and communities, Sedivy argues that the struggle to remain connected to an ancestral language and culture is a site of common ground, as people from all backgrounds can recognize the crucial role of language in forming a sense of self. Distinctive and timely, Memory Speaks combines a rich body of psychological research with a moving story at once personal and universally resonant. As citizens debate the merits of bilingual education, as the worldÕs less dominant languages are driven to extinction, and as many people confront the pain of language loss, this is badly needed wisdom.
Author: Sandra Stotsky Publisher: ISBN: Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 344
Book Description
A hard-hitting, well-researched expose showing why multiculturalism as the guiding philosophy in the classroom is damaging to all children--and to minority children in particular. Index.
Author: K. David Harrison Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0195372069 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. This text focuses on the question: what is lost when a language dies?
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Indians of North America Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
Stabilizing indigenous languages is the proceedings of two symposia held in November 1994 and May 1995 at Northern Arizona University. These conferences brought together language activists, tribal educators, and experts on linguistics, language renewal, and language teaching to discuss policy changes, educational reforms, and community initiatives to stabilize and revitalize American Indian and Alaska Native languages. Stabilizing indigenous languages includes a survey of the historical, current, and projected status of indigenous languages in the United States as well as extensive information on the roles of families, communities, and schools in promoting their use and maintenance. It includes descriptions of successful native language programs and papers by leaders in the field of indigenous language study, including Joshua Fishman and Michael Krauss.
Author: R. Keeling Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137001763 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
America is being held back by the quality and quantity of learning in college. Many graduates cannot think critically, write effectively, solve problems, understand complex issues, or meet employers' expectations. The only solution - making learning the highest priority in college - demands fundamental change throughout higher education.
Author: K. David Harrison Assistant Professor of Linguistics Swarthmore College Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 0198040172 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. This extinction of languages, and the knowledge therein, has no parallel in human history. K. David Harrison's book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a language dies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? Harrison spans the globe from Siberia, to North America, to the Himalayas and elsewhere, to look at the human knowledge that is slowly being lost as the languages that express it fade from sight. He uses fascinating anecdotes and portraits of some of these languages' last remaining speakers, in order to demonstrate that this knowledge about ourselves and the world is inherently precious and once gone, will be lost forever. This knowledge is not only our cultural heritage (oral histories, poetry, stories, etc.) but very useful knowledge about plants, animals, the seasons, and other aspects of the natural world--not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind. Harrison's book is a testament not only to the pressing issue of language death, but to the remarkable span of human knowledge and ingenuity. It will fascinate linguists, anthropologists, and general readers.
Author: Alain Saulnier Publisher: Dundurn ISBN: 1459733169 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 225
Book Description
Losing Our Voice: Radio-Canada Under Siege tells the inside story. Decades of government interference in the work of our “arms-length” national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, have culminated in the Harper government’s latest damaging budget cuts, leaving the public to wonder — is there anything left to save?
Author: Nicholas Evans Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0631233059 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 312
Book Description
The next century will see more than half of the world’s 6,000 languages become extinct, and most of these will disappear without being adequately recorded. Written by one of the leading figures in language documentation, this fascinating book explores what humanity stands to lose as a result. Explores the unique philosophy, knowledge, and cultural assumptions of languages, and their impact on our collective intellectual heritage Questions why such linguistic diversity exists in the first place, and how can we can best respond to the challenge of recording and documenting these fragile oral traditions while they are still with us Written by one of the leading figures in language documentation, and draws on a wealth of vivid examples from his own field experience Brings conceptual issues vividly to life by weaving in portraits of individual ‘last speakers’ and anecdotes about linguists and their discoveries
Author: Sandra Stotsky
Author: Sandra Stotsky
Author: Julie Sedivy
Author: Sandra Stotsky
Author: K. David Harrison
Author: 
Author: R. Keeling
Author: K. David Harrison Assistant Professor of Linguistics Swarthmore College
Author: Andrew Dalby
Author: Alain Saulnier
Author: Nicholas Evans