Diné language assessment piloted in New Mexico

WINDOW ROCK, Feb. 21, 2008

On March 14, Navajo language educators will convene in Window Rock to discuss the results of a pilot program to assess how well students are learning the Navajo language.

The Office of Diné Culture, Language and Community, in association the New Mexico Public Education Department, is testing the pilot language assessment at seven elementary schools on or near the Navajo Reservation.

The idea is to determine what Navajo language teachers and school programs need to focus on to better educate their students in the language, said Delores Noble, project head.

The assessment is entirely oral and includes conversation/storytelling, handling verbs, and commands.

Teachers administer the test one-on-one with students, and the pilot effort is focusing just on third-graders who are taking Navajo language classes.

Pictures are used to test the students' ability to describe a scene in Navajo, or point to what a teacher has just described in Navajo. Students are also asked to use Navajo handling verbs to ask for and handle objects lying on a table.

Because the assessment is still in development, the March 14 meeting will be an opportunity for teachers to voice their opinions on what to keep and what to add or omit. They will also discuss the results of their testing so far.

The public is invited to the meeting as well, said Eddie Tso, manager of the culture and language office.

After testing, the students are organized into three categories: those who either don't answer or give partial answers; those who can understand what is being said and follow commands, but have trouble describing a picture; and those with a good all-around grasp of their native language.

The testing began in November. Participating schools include Navajo Elementary, Kirtland Elementary, Bluff View Elementary in Farmington, Milan Elementary, Central Elementary in Bloomfield, and Lowell and La Mesa in Albuquerque.

So far results show that the vast majority of students tested fall into the first category, said Catherine Begay, Navajo language teacher at Navajo Pine High School.

Begay has tested one third-grade class at Navajo Elementary School in Navajo, N.M., and planned to test the remaining two third-grade classes today.

Her first tests show that 75-80 percent of the students are novice Navajo speakers, similar to the findings at the other schools tested, she said.

"We know that many students do not speak or understand Navajo," Noble said. "But there is a great desire from the students - they want to know, to learn Navajo.

"We feel it is our responsibility to perpetuate the language as fluent speakers," she said. "I know students go away feeling better about themselves, even if they just learned one word."

State help varies

The New Mexico Education Department has been very helpful, Noble said.

"In New Mexico there are many Native American and indigenous people who are advocating for and supporting us," she said.

The testing is funded under the New Mexico Indian Education Act. Noble said the Navajo Nation would own the assessment test when it is finalized, and could then use it in other states.

Arizona, in contrast, has been less than supportive, with state legislators pointing to the voter-passed "English Only" Proposition 203 as a basis for denying funding or other support to Navajo language programs, Noble said.

Nancy Martine-Alonzo, assistant secretary of Indian Education in New Mexico, is the state liaison on the assessment pilot. Martine-Alonzo, who is Navajo, reiterated the need for a standard in schools for teaching Navajo language.

"We don't have a standard where we can say, 'This is what you teach in first grade, second grade, third grade,'" she said. "With Navajo it has always been very generic and open, always beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

"As Navajo educators, leaders, and linguists we have never distinguished what a child starting school in kindergarten should know in Navajo, or what kind of vocabulary. We've never come up with something formalized like that."

Martine-Alonzo, who is originally from Ramah Chapter, also noted the approach taken by Zuni schools in teaching the Zuni language.

The Zuni school district serves mostly children from low-income families, similar to Navajo schools. The school population is almost entirely Native American, as is true for schools on and around the Navajo Reservation.

But unlike many Navajo schools, the vast majority of teachers and administrators are Zunis who are state-certified.

From kindergarten through high school, every class is taught in the Zuni language at least 45 minutes a day. Zuni also has a pre- and post-grade completion assessment of Zuni language comprehension, which keeps each grade level on track.

Also important, many teachers at Zuni teach both a core subject and the Zuni language, meaning they teach English, math or science as well as the Zuni language portion of the day.

This gives the students great role models, Martine-Alonzo said. "(The students) see that they can be bilingual and speak both languages."

Navajo outcome

Martine-Alonzo sees Navajo language instruction shifting in focus.

"Before, we talked about using the native language to help Navajo children bridge the language divide, and become more proficient for English," she said. "Now we're promoting teaching Navajo to learn Navajo - the maintenance of the language.

"We're teaching Navajo for a Navajo outcome, not an English outcome," she explained.

The assessment is just the start of a larger Navajo language movement, Noble said.

"It's going to inspire more effort to learn Navajo, it's for teachers to see what to focus on, what the school needs to focus on," she said. "It's assessing the need of the community. This is like a holistic approach - it doesn't just pertain to students."

Pilot testing will continue throughout the school year, followed by a final evaluation and formulation of a standardized assessment. Then it will be in the hands of the Department of Diné Education and participating schools.