LSA 2006

[Mia Kalish]

Hmmmm. I somehow missed this was posted on the list. . . 

 

Here was my response to Claire: 

 

 

Hi, Claire, 

 

Thanks, on both counts. 

 

Revitalization has 3 foci, actually. Jeff Good's is only one; from what I
understood from friends who attended the session, it was about choosing and
employing different field collection technologies. I don't talk about that
sort of thing, other than to recommend digital recorders. 

 

I talk about two other things: 1) deciding what will be collected for STEM
materials support (right now there is very close to 0 across all
collections); and 2) how materials can best be presented to the learner to
facilitate learning. 

 

Words on paper with a teacher repeating them individually once or twice a
week doesn't work. Further, all the rich lexical information is excellent
for learning MORE ABOUT the language, but interruptive for those who are
LEARNING THE language. One needs to make sure not to clutter up the
cognitive paths, and while lots of related information looks good for
accomplishment reports, it is Really, Really Bad for learners who are trying
to develop skills in the language patterns. 

 

Further, other that what Powell write in 1881, there seems to be little
written on the importance or method of gathering STEM information. While
there is overwhelming physical evidence that STEM skills existed and
flourished, there is no reflection of this in elicitations. 

 

And lastly, the process of developing revitalization materials is robust.
There are lots of components that go into it, given that people have
realized that dictionary NOT = revitalization (maybe they haven't). So I
talk a lot about the cognitive learning processes, and how the brain will
use the patterns you give it to develop IT'S OWN understanding of the
language (as opposed to what someone else thinks is important ABOUT the
language). Research coming out of psychology (in which I hold a Master's
degree) is pointing out to people that the brain makes its own decisions
about what it will learn and how. The attention process in many cases has
little to do with direct learning, and more and sometimes only to do with
presenting the buffet of opportunities to the brain so it can make its own
choices (which it will anyway no matter what you do. . . . if the brain
doesn't have enough of the right information for it to Learn, it just blows
you off . . . [people don't realize this. . .]). 

 

So I don't think there is duplication . . . do you? If you do, forward this
along to Jeff and see what he thinks. If he thinks there is potential
duplication, he can write to me. 

 

Thanks,

Mia

 

  _____  

From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Susan Penfield
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 7:51 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] LSA 2006

 

Thanks Claire,
Jeff Good and I spoke initially about somehow overlapping our sessions this
time, but it just wasn't feasible -- However, that is something we might be
able to do down the line ( i.e., a session on techniques AND a session on
fieldwork concerns/revitalization efforts).  We are also discussing what
might be offered at the next LSA Institute (Stanford 2007) and or at
Berkeley (2009)...time to start planning for those events as well! Ideas
would be welcomed I'm sure and there is a flyer (not sure if it is available
online yet) which will call for course proposals for 2007. 

Glad you enjoyed Sunday's session!
Best,
Susan

On 1/10/06, Anggarrgoon <anggarrgoon at gmail.com > wrote:

Hi Mia,
first off, many apologies for not making your session - there was so 
much going on and the handbook was so hard to follow there were several
I meant to go to and missed.

I was at the final session on Sunday and thought it was great, and I
hope that there will be something similar at future LSAs. 
The CELP committee and Jeff Good will be organising another session
(Jeff was talking about making the 'techniques' workshop a regular item,
with a different focus each year, so maybe email him so there's no
duplication of efforts? Let me know if you need his email address.

Claire




-- 
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics 
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20060111/87a3d71d/attachment.htm>