Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:59:57.042Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sámi language teachers’ professional identities explained through narratives about language acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2019

Madoka Hammine ,
Pigga Keskitalo  and
Erika Katjaana Sarivaara
Madoka Hammine*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Lapin Yliopisto, PL 122, 96101 Rovaniemi96101, Finland
Pigga Keskitalo
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Kautokeino, Norway
Erika Katjaana Sarivaara
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Lapin Yliopisto, PL 122, 96101 Rovaniemi96101, Finland
*
Author for correspondence: Madoka Hammine, E-mail: mhammine@ulapland.fi
Get access

Abstract

Conducted in northern Finland, this study examines Sámi language teachers’ professional identities through their narratives of language acquisition. We focus on how teachers’ professional identities are shaped by their language acquisition process. The results are based on the narratives of nine North, Inari and Skolt Sámi language teachers. Two aspects of teachers’ narratives were significantly linked to their identities as Sámi language teachers: (1) their backgrounds (indigenous/non-indigenous) and (2) their language acquisition experiences (acquired Sámi language in childhood/adulthood). Indigenous teachers appeared to express their professional identities strongly despite their challenging acquisition experiences and were inclined to work towards the future of Sámi languages. In addition, non-indigenous teachers were willing to further the development of Sámi languages although they are not indigenous, which perhaps contributes towards the future of Sámi languages. Teachers narrated complex thoughts about language acquisition and their professional identity and helped develop indigenous language education in their respective indigenous communities. We recommend that teachers’ in pre-service and service education should prepare and support indigenous language teachers by sharing knowledge about multilingual education practices and coping skills, particularly to help the latter manage varied tasks and heterogeneous contexts. Thus, this research study shows that both teachers’ language acquisition experiences and their current work situations shape their professional identity.

Keywords

Indigenous language teacherslanguage acquisitionnarrativesprofessional identitySámi language
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , August 2020 , pp. 89 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Äärelä, R (2016) Dat ii leat dušše dat giella. Saamenkielisen kielikylvyn toteutus kielipesissä [It is not just the language. Sámi language immersion practices in language nests] (PhD dissertation). Rovaniemi: University of Lapland, Faculty of Education.Google Scholar
Aikio-Puoskari, U (2014) Saamelaisopetus peruskoulusäädöksissä—palapelin rakentamista kansallisen koulutuspolitiikan marginaalissa [Sámi teaching in primary act—The construction of the puzzle in the margin of national education]. In Keskitalo, P, Lehtola, VP and Paksuniemi, M (eds), Saamelaisten kansan- opetuksen ja koulunkäynnin historia Suomessa [Folk Education and School History of Sámi People in Finland]. Turku: Siirtolaisuusinstituutti, pp. 214–240.Google Scholar
Bamberg (2000) Critical personalism. Language and development. Theory and Psychology 10, 749–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, A (2002) Traditional knowledge, indigenous culture and intellectual property rights. In Den nasjonale forskningsetiske komité for samfunnsvitenskap og humaniora (NESH) [The National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities] (ed.), Samisk forskning og forskningsetikk. Publiksjon nr. 2. [Sami Research and Research Ethics. Publication No. 2.]. Oslo: Forskningsetiske komiteer, pp. 56–87.Google Scholar
Bishop, J (2012) She's always been the smart one. I've always been the dumb one: identities in the mathematics classroom. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 43, 34–74.10.5951/jresematheduc.43.1.0034CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P (1991) Language as Symbolic Power. (G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Trans.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Braine, G (ed.) (1999 a) Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
Braine, G (1999 b) Introduction. In Braine, G (ed.), Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. xiii–xx.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1985) Narrative and paradigmatic modes of thought. In Elliot, W (ed.), Learning and Teaching the Ways of Knowing, 84th Yearbook of the NSSE. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 97–115.Google Scholar
Buda, JK (1991) Language choice. Otsuma Review 24, 1–10. Available at http://www.f.waseda.jp/buda/texts/language.html.Google Scholar
Bull, T (2002) Kunnskapspolitikk, forskningsetikk og det samiske samfunnet. In Den nasjonale forskningsetiske komité for samfunnsvitenskap og humaniora (NESH) [The National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities] (ed.), Samisk forskning og forskningsetikk. Publiksjon nr. 2. [Sami research and research ethics. Publication No. 2]. Oslo: Forskningsetiske komiteer, pp. 6–21.Google Scholar
Burgess, C (2012) The role of agency in determining and enacting the professional identities of early career aboriginal teachers. Joint AARE APERA International Conference. Sydney. Available at http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544490.pdf.Google Scholar
Burgess, C (2016) Conceptualizing a pedagogical cultural identity through the narrative construction of early career aboriginal teachers’ professional identities. Teaching and Teacher Education 58, 109–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, B, Jardine, A and Tjoutuku, A (2015) Language Biographies for Multilingual Learning. Praesa Occasional Papers No. 24. Cape Town: Praesa Occasional Papers.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, AS (1999) Interrogating the native speaker fallacy: non-linguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In Braine, G (ed.), Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. 77–92.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H and Felser, C (2006) Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics 27, 3–42.10.1017/S0142716406060024CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A, Hernández, M, Costa-Faidella, J and Sebastián-Gallés, N (2009) On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: now you see it, now you don't. Cognition 113, 135–149.10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, A (2004) The native speaker in applied linguistics. In Davies, A and Elder, C (eds), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, pp. 431–450.10.1002/9780470757000.ch17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, B and Harré, R (1990) Positioning: the discursive production of selves. Journal of the Theory of Social Behavior 20, 43–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drugge, A-L (2016) How can we do it right? Ethical uncertainty in Swedish Sami research. Journal of Academic Ethics 1–17. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10805-016-9265-7.Google Scholar
Gordon, T, Holland, J, Lahelma, E and Tolonen, T (2005) Gazing with intent: ethnographic practice in classrooms. Qualitative Research 5, 113–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guttorm, HE, Keskitalo, P and Bergier, A (2016) Sharing reflections on the Sámi University College as a language (re)vitalization center. In Olko, J and Wicherkiewicz, T (eds), Integral Strategies for Language Revitalization. Warsaw: Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw, pp. 607–622.Google Scholar
Harrell, MC and Bradley, A (2009) Data Collection Methods. Semi-Structured Interviews and Focus Groups. USA: National Defense Research Institute. Available at http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR718.pdf.Google Scholar
Hart, V, Whatman, S, McLaughlin, J and Sharma-Brymer, V (2012) Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical relationships and experiences of embedding indigenous Australian knowledge in teaching practicum. A Journal of Comparative and International Education 42, 703–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, M (1995) Language choice, social institutions and symbolic domination. Language in Society 24, 372–405.10.1017/S0047404500018807CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermanto, PN, Moreno, S and Bialystok, E (2012) Linguistic and metalinguistic outcomes of intense immersion education: how bilingual? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 15, 131–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hindle, A (2015) How to write about your study limitations without limiting your impact? Edanz. Available at https://www.edanzediting.com/blogs/how-write-about-your-study-limitations-without-limiting-your-impact.Google Scholar
Hinton, L (2002) Commentary: internal and external advocacy. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 12, 150–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinton, L (2013) Bringing our Languages Home: Language Revitalization for Families. Berkeley, CA: Heyday.Google Scholar
Hornberger, N (ed.) (2008) Can Schools Save Indigenous Languages? Policy and Practices on Four Continent. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornberger, N (2014) Until I became a professional, I was not consciously indigenous: one intercultural bilingual educator's trajectory in indigenous language revitalization. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13, 283–299.10.1080/15348458.2014.939028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huss, L (2008) Revitalization through indigenous education: a forlorn hope? In Hornberger, N (ed.), Can Schools Save Indigenous Languages? Policy and Practice on Four Continents. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 125–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huuki, T and Juutilainen, S (2016) Mapping historical, material and affective entanglements in a Sámi woman's discriminatory experiences in and beyond Finnish boarding school. Education in the North 23, 3–23.Google Scholar
Joona, T (2012) ILO Convention No. 169 in a Nordic Context with Comparative Analysis: an Interdisciplinary Approach. Rovaniemi: Lapland University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, B, Kidd, E and Wigglesworth, G (2015) Indigenous children's language: acquisition, preservation and evolution of language in minority contexts. First Language 35, 279–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keskitalo, P (2010) Saamelaiskoulun kulttuurisensitiivisyyttä etsimässä kasvatusantropologian keinoin [Cultural sensitivity in the Sámi School through educational anthropology]. Dieđut (PhD dissertation). Sámi allaskuvla, Guovdageaidnu.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, P, Määttä, K and Uusiautti, S (2013 a) Saamelaispedagogiikan aika [Time for Sámi pedagogy]. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 78, 99–104.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, P, Määttä, K and Uusiautti, S (2013 b) Sámi Education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keskitalo, P, Nyyssönen, J, Paksuniemi, M, Turunen, T, Linkola, I-A and McIntosh, L (2016) Saamelaisten ja Australian alkuperäiskansojen kouluhistorian erityispiirteet. [The educational history of Sámi people and aborigins in Australia]. Ennen ja Nyt 3, 1–12.Google Scholar
Kubota, R (2001) Discursive construction of the images of U.S. classrooms. TESOL Quarterly 35, 9–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulonen, U, Seurujärvi-Kari, I and Pulkkinen, R (2005) The Saami: A Cultural Encyclopeadia. Helsinki: SKS.Google Scholar
Kumaravadivelu, B (2012) Individual identity, cultural globalization, and teaching English as an international language: the case for an epistemic break. In Alasgoff, L, Mckay, S, Hu, G and Renandya, W (eds), Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kvale, S (2007) Doing Interviews. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasky, S (2005) A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education 21, 899–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehtola, V-P (2015) Sámi histories, colonialism, and Finland. Arctic Anthropology 52, 22–36.Google Scholar
Lilja, N (2012) Kieli saamelaisuutta määrittämässä: Saamelaissyntyisten henkilöiden haastattelupuheessa rakentuvat saamelaisuuden kategoriat. [Language as a definer of Saami identity: the categories of Saaminess in Interviews of People of Saami Ancestry]. Puhe ja kieli [Speech and language] 32, 127–50.Google Scholar
Linkola, I-A (2014) Saamelaisen koulun kielimaisema: Etnografinen tutkimus saamen kielestä toisen asteen oppilaitoksessa. [Sámi school's linguistic landscape: An ethnographic study on Sámi language at an upper-secondary educational institution] Dieđut 2/2014 (PhD dissertation). Sámi allaskuvla, Guovdageaidnu.Google Scholar
Linkola, I-A and Keskitalo, P (2016) Keskustelua saamelaispedagogiikan tutkimuksen etiikasta. [Discussion on research ethics of Sámi pedagogy]. AGON, 2. Available at http://agon.fi/article/keskustelua-saamelaispedagogiikan-tutkimuksen-etiikasta/.Google Scholar
Liu, D (1999) Training non-native TESOL students: challenges for TESOL teacher education in the West. In Braine, G (ed.) Non-Native Educators in English Language Teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, pp. 197–210.Google Scholar
Liu, Y and Xu, Y (2011) Inclusion or exclusion? A narrative inquiry of a language teacher's identity experience in the “new work order” of competing pedagogies. Teaching and Teacher Education 27, 589–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A (1981) After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
McCarty, TL (2003) Revitalising indigenous languages in homogenizing times. Comparative Education 39, 147–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morcom, L and Roy, S (2017) Is early immersion effective for aboriginal language acquisition? A case study from an Anishinaabemowin kindergarten. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 15(1), 1–13.Google Scholar
Moseley, C (ed.) (2010) Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, 3rd Edn. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Available at http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas.Google Scholar
Norton, B (1997) Language, identity, and the ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly 31, 409–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olthuis, M, Kivelä, S and Skutnubb-Kangas, T (2013) Revitalizing Indigenous Languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Outakoski, H and Hornberger, N (2015) Sámi time, space, and place: exploring teachers’ metapragmatic statements on Sámi language use, teaching and revitalization in Sápmi. Confero 3, 9–54.Google Scholar
Palmer, D and Martínez, RA (2013) Teacher agency in bilingual spaces: a fresh look at preparing teachers to educate Latina/o bilingual children. Review of Research in Education 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasanen, A (2015) Kuávsui já peeivičuovâ. ‘Sarastus ja päivänvalo’—Inarinsaamen kielen revitalisaatio. [‘The dawn and the daylight’—Revitalization of Inari Saami language] (PhD dissertation). Helsinki: University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A and Blackledge, A (eds) (2004) Negotiation of Identities in Multilingual Contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennington, MC and Richards, JC (2016) Teacher identity in language teaching: integrating personal, contextual, and professional factors. RELC 47, 5–23. Available at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0033688216631219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A (2001) Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillipson, R (1992) Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pietikäinen, S (2008 a) Broadcasting indigenous voices: Sami minority media production. European Journal of Communication 23, 173–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietikäinen, S (2008 b) Sami in the media: questions of language vitality and cultural hybridisation. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 3, 22–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietikäinen, S (2014) Spatial interaction in Sámiland: regulative and transitory chronotopes in the dynamic multilingual landscape of an indigenous Sámi village. The International Journal of Bilingualism 18, 478–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietikäinen, S, Huss, L, Laihiala-Kankainen, S, Aikio-Puoskari, U and Lane, P (2010) Regulating multilingualism in the North Calotte: the case of Kven, Meänkieli and Sámi language. Acta Borelia 27, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piller, I (2000) Language choice in bilingual, cross-cultural interpersonal communication. Linguistik Online 5. Available at http://www.linguistik-online.de/1_00/PILLER.HTM.Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, D (1988) Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Potter, WJ (1996) An Analysis of Thinking and Research about Qualitative Methods. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rahko-Ravantti, R (2016) Saamelaisopetus Suomessa. Tutkimus saamelaisopettajien opetustyöstä suomalaiskouluissa. [Sámi education in Finland: Research on Sámi teachers’ work in Finnish schools] (PhD dissertation). Rovaniemi: University of Lapland, Department of Education.Google Scholar
Ratima, M and May, S (2011) A review of indigenous second language acquisition: factors leading to proficiency in te reo Māori (the Māori language). MAI Review 1, 1–21, Available at http://review.mai.ac.nz.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, T (2015) The Finnish school system: a taboo issue in Sámi language revitalization. AGON. Available at http://agon.fi/article/the-finnish-school-system-a-taboo-issue-in-sami-language-revitalization/.Google Scholar
Riessman, CK (1993) Narrative Analysis. Qualitative Research Methods Series, No. 30. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Santoro, N and Reid, J-A (2006) All things to all people: indigenous teachers in the Australian teaching profession. European Journal of Teacher Education 29, 287–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarivaara, E (2012) Statuksettomat saamelaiset. Paikantumisia saamelaisuuden rajoilla. [Non-Status Sámi. Localized Sámi in the margin]. Dieđut (PhD dissertation). Sámi allaskuvla, Guovdageaidnu.Google Scholar
Sarivaara, E, Määttä, K and Uusiautti, S (2013) Who is indigenous? Definitions of indigeneity. European Scientific Journal 1, 369–378.Google Scholar
Seitamo, L (1991) Psychological Development in Arctic Cultures: A Comparative Study of Skolt Saami and Finnish children in the North of Finland within the Frame of Reference of Ecological Psychology (PhD dissertation). University of Oulu, Acta Universitatis Ouluensis. 8.Google Scholar
Selby, J (2007) Working divides between indigenous and non-indigenous: disruptions of identity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 17, 150–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T, Phillipson, R and Rannut, M (1994) Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Slavkov, N (2016) Family language policy and school language choice: pathways to bilingualism and multilingualism in a Canadian context. International Journal of Multilingualism 14, 378–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, LT (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: University of Otago Press.Google Scholar
Spradley, JP (1979) The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Steward, BC (2005) Indigenous Teachers: Narratives of Identity and Change (Master's thesis). Simon Fraser University, Faculty of Education.Google Scholar
Svonni, M (2008) Sámi languages in the Nordic countries and Russia. In Extra, G and Gorter, D (eds), Multilingual Europe: Facts and Policies. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co, pp. 234–251.Google Scholar
Tanhua, S (2014) Kurjat koltat, siirtomaaherrojen uhrit?: Kolttasaamelainen yhteisö lehdistön kuvaamana vuosina 1964–1972. [Miserable Skolts, colonised victims?: Description in press in the year 1964–1972]. Oulu University. Giellagas Institution.Google Scholar
Valkonen, S and Wallenius-Korkalo, S (2016) Practising postcolonial intersectionality: gender, religion and indigeneity in Sámi social work. International Social Work 59, 614–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, L and Moyer, MG (2008) The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, S (2001) What is indigenous research methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education 25, 175–179.Google Scholar
Yamauchi, LA and Ceppi, AK (2006) A review of indigenous language immersion programs and a focus on Hawaii. Equity & Excellence in Education 31, 11–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar