Navajo Language in the Navajo Nation
by Carolyn Joy Wiles

"Have you spoken Navajo to your child today?" and "Dine Bizaad Shilnili," which translates "Treasure Dine Language," are bumper stickers that abound on vehicles in the Navajo Nation. These are the thoughts of the largest Native American group and the largest indigenous language group in the United States, and they are engaged in active pursuit of remaining or becoming bilingual. The Navajo Nation, which covers much of northern Arizona and New Mexico and part of southern Utah, has a land base of twenty-five thousand square miles which is roughly equivalent to West Virginia. Their efforts to maintain their traditional culture and language are significant because culture is held in language. The rapid loss of languages parallels a significant loss of culture. The Navajo language is being taught, and educational programs which use Navajo are in constant revision. This study examines the Navajo and their language and their efforts to retain their language and culture.
Starting in 1879 a network of boarding schools was established by the Bureau for Indian Affairs (BIA) for the stated purpose of assimilating Native American children into the United States culture (Schmid, 2001). These BIA schools were maintained until the 1960s. Many of the practices of the BIA schools were harsh, because with an English only policy, there were stringent punishments for speaking Navajo. These punishments included extra chores, whipping, and mouths washed out with soap.

During the same period of time there were numerous missionary schools which sought to convert the Navajo children to Christianity (McCarty, 2002). These institutions were not harsh in their treatment of the students. The Navajo children were likely more at ease with this environment because these schools taught Navajo literacy skills. The Navajo literacy was taught primarily through the New Testament which prepared the way for the missionaries to evangelize the children.

In 1984, the Navajo Nation Education Policies mandated that all the Navajo Nation's schools make Navajo language and culture instruction part of the curriculum at all grade levels (Batchelder, 2000). This directive from the Navajo Nation came in the midst of great concern that fewer and fewer Navajo had understanding and access to their culture and language. Navajo have been slower than some Native American groups to embrace English because they have traditionally been more isolated. As recently as the 1930s almost three-fourths of Navajo spoke no English (Schmid, 2001). In 1999 the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education reported 160,000 speakers of Navaho in a nation of approximately 275,000 (Batchelder, 2000). The tie between culture and language is intrinsic. Therefore, decline in the use of Navajo is cause for grave concern to the Navajo people. The Navajo recognize that language is the way culture is expressed and handed on to the next generation.

Since the 1984 policy mandated the teaching of language and culture, there has been an on-going discussion within the Navajo nation concerning the direct teaching of culture. Among those who adhere to Navajo traditions, there is a consensus that religion and the primary ideas of living in beauty and harmony are only appropriately handed on by family and community. They did not find it suitable for Navajo culture to be taught in a school (Batchelder, 2000). At the other end of the spectrum are those who agree that religion and ceremonies do not belong at school. This portion of the Nation believes that schools could aid in teaching respect for elders, respect for traditions, the proper way to greet others, and how to hold a proper conversation. Yet another group firmly believes that schools are agencies focused on eliminating Indian culture. These Navajo believe that parents, elders, and community members have the responsibility for teaching culture and language (Batchelder, 2000).

The Navajo Nation is actively involved in bilingual education as it seeks to follow the 1984 mandate to teach Navajo language and culture at all grades. Successful bilingual programs provide school environments that promote respect for students and their families. In these effective programs, the participants' languages and cultures are valued and incorporated into the curriculum. Another characteristic of these programs is that families are considered partners in the education of students (Brisk, 2000).

Rough Rock School grew out of the federal War on Poverty programs. It was the first school to teach Navajo culture and language (McCarty, 2002). Following generations of BIA and missionary schools, it was the first American Indian community controlled school. Rough Rock represented a turning point in indigenous education. "Never again could educators justify why they were not attempting to have community-based curriculum in indigenous schools" (McCarty, 2002). "A place for Navajo to be Navajo" became the title that the Rough Rock School wore (McCarty, 2002). In today's world it might have been called the school's mission statement. When the school began in 1966, Navajo had been a written language for one hundred years, but there were few teaching materials. This need prompted the establishment of the first Navajo educational publishing center.

Initially Rough Rock received many students who only spoke Navajo. As a result, in the early days, both English and Navajo instruction were used in a bilingual model which is no longer used. This need for English and Navajo proficiency still exists, and so bilingual education persists. Currently the Rough Rock School uses a K-6, two-way bilingual program which has the goals of developing the students' oral and written Navajo and English proficiency (McCarty, 1996). To ensure that students receive sufficient high quality exposure to Navajo, specific classrooms and teachers have been designated solely for Navajo content instruction. Each day students switch classrooms and teachers for extended blocks of time during which they hear, see, speak, read, and write in Navajo (McCarty, 1996). This school continues to utilize community elders to teach traditional storytelling, livestock managements, drama, and other arts. As the oldest Navajo bilingual program, they continue to modify their instruction as they experience changes in their student population.

Tuba City, Arizona, is in the Navajo Nation and adjacent to the Hopi tribal lands. In 1992 the Tuba City School instituted a two-way Navajo-English bilingual program. This program was established in response to both the 1984 mandate by the Navajo Nation requiring the teaching of Navajo language and culture and the 1989 mandate by Arizona State Board of Education requiring all students to be able to speak and understand both English plus a second language by the end of eighth grade (McLean & Reyhner, 1996).

Beginning in 1992-93 first graders entered the program with one half day immersed in a Navajo language classroom and one half day immersed in an English language classroom. In 1993-94 both first and second graders continued this pattern with half of each day devoted to Navajo language immersion and half devoted to English immersion. In 1994-95 the third grade program, which has a mixture of one fifth Navajo language instruction and four-fifths English language instruction, was added. The third grade pattern continues in successive grades with the emphasis on language development in both languages (McLean & Reyhner, 1996).

The two-way immersion program is endangered due to the dwindling percentage of Navajo speakers entering kindergarten each year (McLean, 1996). As a result of this shifting language balance, most students in the Tuba City Schools are part of the Navajo as a Second Language program. While this program is less extensive in terms of Navajo language development, insufficient numbers of Navajo speaking students make it impossible to serve all students through the two-way bilingual program (McLean, 1996). The Navajo Nation is required to utilize the Arizona Student Assessments, which is the state testing program, on a yearly basis. The scores of students in both the Navajo as a Second Language program and the two-way Navajo-English bilingual program on these state tests reflect growth in English academics, and the rate is better than the rate of growth when they were taught in English only (McLean & Reyhner, 1996). Also, Tuba City High School is one of the few Arizona high schools with a Native American Studies requirement for graduation. This course requirement shows that the focus on bicultural and bilingual education extends throughout the K-12 educational program.

Chinle, a town of 7,230, is located near the geographic center of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. Ninety-nine percent of the four thousand students in the Chinle Unified School District's seven schools are Navajo. Sixty-two percent of the district's total population is Limited English Proficient (LEP) (Goodluck, Lockard, Yazzie, 2000). The Chinle Primary School's student population has a lower percentage of LEP students. In 1997 to face these challenges, Chinle Primary School began a dual language program with two classrooms at each level. Each classroom is staffed by a bilingual teacher and bilingual paraprofessional who work with fifty percent Navajo dominant LEP students and fifty percent English proficient students.

The teachers in this district are developing mathematics materials using Navajo and English, so that they convey content area material from a perspective of shared cultural values and norms (Goodluck, Lockard, Yazzie, 2000). These educators are writing problems and activities that reflect the students' world. One way they do this is to integrate into these instructional units Navajo measures for volume, distance, or time in coordination with the objectives of the Arizona State Standards for Mathematics. (Goodluck, Lockard, Yazzie, 2000) The community of Chinle provides a summer dual language camp in support of reversing language shift which has "limited human potential in the Chinle community" (Goodluck, Lockard, Yazzie, 2000).

Fort Defiance schools are located in the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation. These schools utilized a transitional approach for teaching language until 1988 when the schools' population shifted to approximately two-thirds dominant in English (Nave, 1996). At this time the Fort Defiance schools began their Navajo immersion program. This program involves total use of Navajo language in kindergarten for academic and social communication. The teachers communicate in Navajo as the students are learning the language by hearing and using it. When the students move to first grade, the students are introduced to English for reading readiness and math. In addition, an ESL teacher works with the class for one hour daily. The second and third grade classes are instructed for one half day in Navajo and one half day in English. This program instructs students in reading English in second grade which allows them to apply their Navajo reading skills (Nave, 1996). After third grade, the Fort Defiance Schools follow the pattern of the Tuba City schools with one fifth of the day in Navajo instruction and four-fifths of the day in English instruction. This district has similar challenges to other Navajo Nation schools as its first language Navajo speakers shrink in number.

Clearly the students in all of these Navajo Nation schools are benefiting from the programs which pursue bilingual education. These students are continuing to register superior academic growth over their monolingual contemporaries (Schmid, 2001). The Navajo Nation's mandate to provide cultural and language instruction is to a large extent a family and community issue (McLean, 1996). This is illustrated by the Basque in Spain who are successfully saving their language with the communities as the primary center of activity. The Navajo Nation is finding that, as it relies on the schools to preserve and promote cultural and linguistic history, multiple models of language instruction are needed (Batchelder, 2002).

Many voices in this cultural and language arena believe that to preserve a language and a culture a society will begin with the home and family, then build with community involvement, and continue to extend in ever widening circles (Batchelder, 2002). For the Navajo Nation this will mean that embedding schools in this process may be a critical for success. As ESL educators, we are the agents of instruction in language. The Navajo Nation's pursuit of bilingual abilities for their people indicates that it is incumbent on ESL educators and schools to realize that we are an important link in the chain of carrying culture and language into the future, but we are not the primary link. We are to be agents of support for language instruction and advocates for cultural preservation. Our roles and our methods will continue to experience change as our world deals with language relocations, deaths, and revivals.

References Cited

Batchelder, Ann (2000). Teaching Dine Language and Culture in Navajo Schools: Voices
From the Community. In Jon Reyhner, Joseph Martin, Louise Lockard, and W.
Sakiestewa Gilbert (Eds.), Learn in Beauty: Indigenous Education for a New
Century. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University. htpp://www2.nau.edu/`jar/LIB/LIB3.html