An analysis of language provisions in the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement

The Nunavut Act and Nunavut Land Claims Agreement were negotiated in response to a plethora of needs and desires, as expressed by the Government of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Nunavut Tungavik Inc., an organization representing the Inuit living in the Nunavut region. An analysis of the articles in these two documents illuminates both what these needs and desires were at the time of negotiation and what the three parties deemed to be mutually appropriate and acceptable legislation in response to these needs. One relatively minor index of such concerns is the provisions for the use of the Inuit language, Inuktitut. In this paper, we examine the clauses in the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that deal specifically with language use in varying contexts. This systematic analysis of the language provisions reveals that although language is a minor element, it is nonetheless treated explicitly and compellingly in the two founding documents of the Nunavut Territory. The analysis further demonstrates that the application of the provisions is unambiguous and, if done conscientiously, will lead to certain intended, as well as other, perhaps unintended, results

Inuktitut and Inuit youth: Language attitudes as a basis for language planning

The objective of this thesis is to identify language perceptions and attitudes among Inuit youth (18-25 years old) in three Baffin Island communities: Iqaluit, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet. The premise of the study is that the Inuktitut language will only thrive if young Inuit are committed to using and maintaining their ancestral language. Semi-directed interviews (37) and closed questionnaires (130) elicit information on dayto- day language choice, perceptions of language use, problems or concerns in daily language use, symbolic and practical value of Inuktitut, English and French, and opinions about the promotion of Inuktitut in Nunavut. These language perceptions and attitudes expressed by young Inuit illuminate reasons for the current level of use of Inuktitut and help prioritize areas for future language planning. Findings suggest that although Inuktitut remains relatively strong, Inuit youth are aware of and sensitive to the loss of Inuktitut, particularly in Iqaluit. Inuktitut is valued by Inuit youth because it is the mother tongue; the language of Inuit tradition, culture and identity; a “fun” language; a language that is being lost; a useful language for getting a job; and an effective tool for participating and integrating in the community. At the same time, English is valued because it is a “cool” language, the language of the new millennium that allows Inuit youth to travel, get an education, get jobs, and participate in their local communities and beyond. Inuit youth are strongly motivated to maintain both Inuktitut and English. They need both languages in order to pursue their aspirations of making the best of both worlds in which they are currently negotiating their place.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Linguistic

Children’s acquisition of literacy in syllabic scripts

This paper, emerging from questions from teachers, parents, and educational policy makers in Canadian Inuit communities, summarizes the results of a literature review of English-language sources addressing children’s acquisition of literacy in syllabic scripts. Specifically, how first language literacy development in Inuktitut syllabics (Qaniujaaqpait) and English or French roman orthography (Qaliujaaqpait) differ (Harper, 2005), together with how learning two different scripts impacts biliteracy acquisition in Inuit children, including those with learning exceptionalities. Unsurprisingly, there are few salient English-language empirical studies, albeit Gleitman and Rozin (1973) demonstrated English-speaking children’s ease in acquiring a 23-symbol English-based syllabary, proposing that syllabaries are a more concrete and effective starting point for early literacy. Limited research concerning Cherokee suggests that syllabics are not objectively harder to learn for mother tongue speakers, but that language loss, alongside ideologies privileging alphabetic writing, may compel preferential use of alphabetic systems for teaching Cherokee literacy (e.g. Peter & Hirata-Edds, 2009). First language literacy acquisition in syllabics is more broadly studied in Asian languages, whereby linguistic awareness (phonemes, syllables, lexemes) was the strongest predictor of learners’ success (cf. Nag & Snowling, 2012). The research suggests that greater understanding of processes and practices supporting children’s acquisition of literacy and biliteracy in syllabics is needed. Still, efforts to strengthen Inuktut oral language proficiency and use, and to enhance overall exposure to and opportunities to read a variety of Inuktut texts, will likely have a greater positive impact on children’s acquisition of Inuktut literacy than efforts to change the script being used. This research was completed with funding from the University of Winnipeg Research Office - Covid Discretionary Grant.University of Winnipeg Research Offic

Opening Spaces for Indigenous Teaching and Learning through Community- Based Teacher Education

Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge research funding by ArcticNet Centre for Research Excellence, and Dr. Sandy McAuley, as Primary Investigator on the broader ArcticNet project. We also acknowledge the students, faculty, and staff who shared stories, and allowed their stories to be further sharedPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Children’s Acquisition of Literacy in Syllabic Scripts: Annotated Bibliography

The Children’s Acquisition of Literacy in Syllabic Scripts project synthesizes existing knowledge about children’s acquisition of literacy in syllabic scripts, biliteracy in syllabic and alphabetic scripts, and the impact of learning exceptionalities on the acquisition of literacy in syllabic scripts. Although English-language sources on the topic are few, what research there is available suggests that whether children first learn an alphabetic or syllabic script before starting to learn the other type of script is not the most important factor in terms of their ultimate literacy and/or biliteracy. Instead, what is more significant is that children are exposed to a rich linguistic input in both of their languages, together with being provided with a supportive teaching environment, alongside clear and explicit teaching instruction. Search parameters comprised combinations of the following words/terms: acquisition, acquisition of literacy, alphabetic languages, alphabetic scripts, Arctic Quebec, Baffin, biliteracy, Cherokee, Cree, dysgraphia, dyslexia, education, Indigenous, Inuit, Inuktitut, Inuttitut, Inuttut, Keewatin, kivalliq, learning, learning exceptionalities, literacy, Nunavik, Nunavut, orthography, reading, reading deficits, reading development, reading difficulties, reading problems, school, script, syllabic, syllabic languages, syllabic scripts, writing, writing system. The resources in the annotated bibilography represent the a range of approaches to understanding children's literacy acquisition in a syllabic scripts.University of Winnipeg Research Offic

Case studies to enhance online student evaluation: Central Queensland University – The big red button

Student feedback is imperative to the improvement of courses and teaching. As stated by Harvey, “to make an effective contribution to internal improvement processes, views of students need to be integrated into a regular and continuous cycle of analysis, reporting, action and feedback”(2003, p. 4). Thus students are critical stakeholders in course evaluations, and can act as a mechanism to providing meaningful feedback about their experience, leading to improvements in learning and teaching

Case studies to enhance online student evaluation: University of Western Australia – A journey towards greater engagement through closing-the-loop

Feedback from students has shown time and again to be useful indicators of what is happening in the teaching and learning environments. Such feedback from students, pivot around the actions that are taken. This implementation of actions expresses to students that their voice is being heard in higher education institutions. To achive such utility of feedback provided by student, it is essential to ‘close the loop’ and constitutes; the collection of qualitative and quantitative feedback from all cohorts of students; triangulating the data from various sources to identify areas of good practice and areasneeding improvement; communicating the results and actions of the feedback with students and staff; implementing improvements in consultation with stakeholders; and monitoring the impact of actions in future student survey results. Such a framework would constitute effective quality assurances of the student feedback systems in higher education institutions