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

Public Interest Statement

This article introduces a unique language proficiency scale, called ANA ‘ŌLELO, specifically designed to measure Hawaiian language proficiency and aid in the revitalization and normalization of the Hawaiian language, part of the Austronesian language family, evolving from a Polynesian language brought to the islands two millennia ago. This scale was developed by Hawaiian language expert Dr. Kahakalau, based on 30 years of Hawaiian language instruction and research. ANA ‘ŌLELO is designed to assist Hawaiian language learners and teachers to measure specific aspects of Hawaiian language proficiency, and increase the number of people able to communicate in Hawaiian, after over 120 years of systemic eradication, as a result of US occupation of Hawai’i, caused the near loss of the language. This article also recommends the development of unique language proficiency scales, as a practice for other endangered native languages.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kū Kahakalau

Kū Kahakalau is a native Hawaiian educator, researcher, song-writer, and expert in Hawaiian language, history and culture and founder of Ku-A-Kanaka Indigenous Institute for Language and Culture. Kahakalau, her husband Nālei and their daughters ‘I‘inimaikalani and Pōlanimakamae, reside in Kukuihaele, a small rural village directly above historic Waipi‘o Valley, on the Island of Hawai‘i. The first person in the world to earn a PhD in Indigenous Education, Kahakalau is best known in educational circles as the designer of Pedagogy of Aloha, an innovative, values- and place-based, culturally-driven, academically rigorous way of education designed to prepare young Hawaiians for twenty-first century cultural steward-and global citizenship.