Curriculum Design and Evaluation for Endangered Languages

Organisers

Mari Jones (Department of French/ Peterhouse, University of Cambridge) mcj11@cam.ac.uk

Damien Mooney (Department of French, University of Bristol) damien.mooney@bristol.ac.uk

Call for Papers

The school is often identified as an important context for the revitalization of endangered languages. Curriculum design and evaluation are therefore key factors in ensuring that such educational initiatives are successful. However, the precise sociocultural and political situation of endangered languages often preclude the simple replication of a curriculum developed for a language of wider communication for use within the endangered language classroom. This conferences invites papers that reflect on these issues: How should conventions designed for dominant languages be modified in the endangered language context? To what extent should curriculum design and evaluation be situated within the social and cultural practices of the endangered language speech community? How should the short- and long-term goals of curriculum design and evaluation be assessed in the context of endangered languages? Who is best placed to design and to evaluate the curriculum for endangered languages – the linguist or the community? Are the goals of an endangered language curriculum simply to obtain fluency or should they be broader in scope? How should the approaches used in the design and evaluation of an endangered language curriculum take account of contextual factors? What problems arise for curriculum design and evaluation in multidialectal and/or multinational contexts? What pedagogical materials are necessary for the successful implementation and evaluation of and endangered language curriculum?

Abstracts: (200 words maximum) to be submitted via email to the organisers by April 4th 2016

Paper format: 20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions

For more information, and to register, visit the conference webpage.