Developing an Indigenous proficiency scale

Abstract

With an increased interest in the revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultural practices worldwide, there is also an increased need to develop tools to support Indigenous language learners and instructors. The purpose of this article is to presents such a tool called ANA ‘ŌLELO, designed specifically to assess Hawaiian language proficiency. After US occupation of the islands in 1893, Native Hawaiians experienced a waning of cultural identity, traditional values and practices, and a near loss of the Hawaiian language in daily communication. To contribute to ongoing Hawaiian language revitalization efforts, Dr. Kahakalau developed ANA ‘ŌLELO, a unique scale that measures a learner’s proficiency of the Hawaiian language. This article explores ANA ‘ŌLELO and the benefits it holds for teachers, students, and researchers, through the use of standardized subsets of overall proficiency, conversational ability, and language protocol. The article also suggests that ANA ‘ŌLELO can have substantial beneficial impacts for other endangered Indigenous languages; and argues that native populations can and should develop their own language proficiency scales, unique to the culture and language of the population, and outside of the constraints of colonizing languages’ proficiency values.

Keywords

• indigenous language education
• hawaiian language
• language proficiency
• language assessment
• austronesian languages