This volume offers an approach to language and literacy instruction that brings together theoretical concepts of multiliteracies and second language acquisition. This approach is illustrated through examples of innovative teacher-generated action research conducted in Indigenous and English, dual language and immersion classrooms, all situated in the context of language and cultural maintenance and revitalization. These examples of praxis help to bridge the gap between theory and practice in Indigenous language and literacy teaching.
The volume draws on critical theories of praxis and the concept of multiliteracies and multimodalities, with specific attention to the design cycle as a way to conceptualize and engage in praxis through research and pedagogy. The authors trace teacher trajectories relating to (language) teaching and their positionalities in language revitalization and maintenance efforts by using a participatory teacher action research approach. The final chapterbrings together Indigenous and western onto-epistemological and methodological perspectives in a conversation among two western and an Indigenous scholar, who have been working together with the teacher-researchers whose stories are presented in this volume.
This volume is of interest to scholars, graduate students, educational practitioners and educational leaders interested in multiliteracies, multimodalities, teacher action research, and Indigenous pedagogies.
Sabine Siekmann is a Professor of Linguistics and Foreign Languages at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. An interdisciplinary applied linguist specializing in language pedagogy, she conducts largely collaborative research in the areas of bilingualism, Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization, second language teaching, computer-assisted language learning, and critical intercultural education. Siekmann's research is informed by cultural historical activity theory, teacher action research, and other critical approaches to language pedagogy and theory. She has directed a series of large-scale federally funded grant projects supporting Alaska Native (language) education through graduate education and materials development. Her previous publications include the co-edited volumes: Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning: Theoretical, Methodological, and Pedagogical Perspective (with Johannes Eckerth) and Communities of Practice: An Alaska Native Model for Language Teaching and Learning (with Patrick Marlow) as well as journal articles and book chapters.
Dr. Joan Parker Webster is a retired Associate Professor of Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Specializing in multiliteracies, critical pedagogy, and cross-cultural education, she has worked with Alaska Native storytellers and educators on documenting traditional oral stories, as well as producing heritage language storybooks and bilingual materials for children. Currently she is affliated faculty in the UAF College of Rural and Community Development, primarily working within the Indigenous Studies PhD program. She also works as an educational research consultant, primarily as an evaluator for federally funded grant programs. Parker Webster has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on critical ethnography, teacher action research, multiliteracies, multimodal analysis, and critical intercultural education. She continues to work with teacher action research collaboratives in STEAM education and to conduct critical ethnographic research with Alaska Native communities and schools.
