One of the ten national goals for American Indians and Alaska Natives
(AI/AN), which are similar to the National Goals established in 1989 by the Bush administration, involves maintaining Native languages and cultures. This is the goal that appears to have the most urgency for Native American people, for many of their Native languages are at risk of dying out. Though the Native American Languages Act, passed in 1990, makes it the policy of the United States "to preserve, protect, and promote Native American languages," schools seldom teach them to children, and the children, in turn, display less and less interest in learning them. Furthermore, funding for Native languages education has been extremely limited.

As a participant in the Native Education Initiative (NEI), a Regional
Educational Laboratory (REL) networking program established in 1992, SEDL participated in the Native Literacy and Language Roundtable which was convened in May 1994 to discuss Native language issues. The meeting was a collaboration between NEI and the National Center on Adult Literacy and was attended by several Native language speakers. The proceedings included various recommendations for action regarding the teaching or preservation of language and culture. The six recommendations most relevant to SEDL were:

  1. Document successes of culturally appropriate language programs; share across agencies and groups, descriptions and explanations of
successful programs; feed information to higher education.

  2. Provide information and support efforts that promote community Native language use and learning.

  3. Support development of media in Native languages --community- controlled and cultural activities of daily life that include a language reality outside of school.

  4. Assist in providing policymakers with information to foster recognition about the need for certified experts in Native language
and literacy.

  5. Provide collaborative, ongoing interagency technical assistance with language programs (e.g., networks).

  6. Use electronic bulletin boards to counter endangered languages.

Several other recommendations addressed the need for the RELs to
collaborate with tribes, institutions of higher education, schools, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, state education associations, the Office of
Bilingual Education and Minority Affairs, and Job Training Partnership Act programs to promote Native language literacy.

The seven regional educational laboratories that participated in the Native Education Initiative from 1992 until 1995 produced the following two monographs:

   * Culturally Responsive Mathematics and Science Education for Native
     Students
   * Promising Programs in Native Education

Through its work on the second monograph, SEDL staff learned about several efforts to teach Native languages in its five-state region and elsewhere in the U.S. Different approaches included:

   * use of a Native language in a preschool where a certain tribe is
     predominant
   * instruction of a Native language in a public school by a teacher or
     teacher assistant
   * master/apprentice programs that pair an elder with younger adults who want to learn the elder's Native language
   * development of computer software that preserves a Native language in spoken form, using the computer's audio features to record elders speaking

To address the national goal of maintaining indigenous languages, SEDL's Language and Diversity Program launched the Native Language Education Network (NLEN) in January 1996. A task force of nine American Indians from throughout SEDL's region guides the work of the NLEN project. SEDL has identified 50 American Indian languages in its region. Of these, 14 are used vigorously and 18 are still in moderate use. Only 14 are nearly extinct or believed to be extinct. "Only in the Southwest are many Native American languages relatively viable and vital," asserted Michael Krauss, Director of the Alaska Native Language Center in Fairbanks (Cantoni, 1996, p. 18).

Currently, the goals of the NLEN project are to:

  1. Gather information on existing Native language programs in SEDL's five states: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

  2. Disseminate information about educational resources and language
teaching to existing Native language programs.

  3. Encourage and support educators and community members who want to start new Native language education programs.

  4. Raise awareness among educators generally of the continued use of
Native languages and the desire of many American Indians to pass their
languages on, generation after generation.

For more information, call SEDL at (512) 476-6861 and ask to be put in
touch with the Native Language Education Network project.

Other Native Resources on the Internet

   * The American Indian Resources section of Northeaster State
     University's Virtual Reference Desk contains many links to American
     Indian resources on the Web, including art, Cherokees, Creeks,
     education, genealogy, government, and historical images.

   * Bill's Aboriginal Links references a multitude of Native resources
     from around the world.

   * The Bureau of Indian Affairs website is maintianed by the Dept. of the Interior and contains links to American Indian websites, ancestry research, office of Indian education programs, and more.

   * ENAN - The Educational Native American Network maintains a list of
     Native American resources on the Web.

   * NativeNet is designed to promote dialogue and understanding regarding indigenous peoples of all parts of the world. It provides a set of electronic mailing lists and archives and maintains a list of Native
peoples' resources on the Web.

   * The Index of Native American Resources on the Internet is maintained by the University of Massachusettes and contains links related to Native American culture, history, language, and art.

   * The Native American Indian Resources page include elements of Indian culture such as art, maps, stories, and many other Native American resources.

   * National Museum of the American Indian - Smithsonian includes cultural research and collections, links to educational resources, links to
other native american sites, and a wealth of publications, recordings,
and films.

   * The NativeWeb site includes a searchable database of links concerning Native, Aboriginal, and Indigenous internet resources on all seven continents.

   * Tribal College Journal is a quarterly publication read by 16,000
American Indian educators, federal and tribal leaders, students and
others interested in Indian issues.