Improved opportunities in STEM education must be coupled with supportive approaches and conditions to help students succeed. Studies have shown that students who are fluent in a tribal language have greater academic success than students who are semi-fluent in two languages. The enhanced academic performance of Native students in STEM studies will result in more indigenous STEM professionals entering the workforce, thereby both strengthening and diversifying the study and application of STEM knowledge. The work of this project will increase the body of knowledge around ways to preserve, foster, and restore Native languages, particularly among American Indian people.
Threatened Indigenous Languages: An analysis of tribal perspectives and responses, will investigate why and how indigenous communities (especially those with tribal colleges) promote the survival or revival of their ancestral languages. Although most language survival efforts focus on the specific task of recording and documenting threatened languages, this study will, instead, examine larger social and cultural forces in Native societies that encourage or inhibit community awareness and community-based action. Site visits will examine how various tribal communities perceive the value of indigenous languages, how these communities define language survival goals, and how they develop policies and programs to reach established goals. Finally, it will examine the degree to which current language survival efforts are succeeding and, based on these findings, to identify lessons learned and next steps.
