Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program

The Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program is a strategy used in language revitalization, in which committed language learners (apprentices) work with fluent speakers (mentors) to "create their own oral language-immersive context through daily activities, cultural practices, and community involvement". Originally introduced in the 1992, the method is increasingly popular across North America[1] and around the world.[2]

The program was developed by Leanne Hinton, working with the Native California Network and its subsidiary committee, the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. The program was developed in collaboration with the speakers of six Indigenous California languages: Karuk, Hupa, Yurok, Wintu, Yowlumne, and Mojave.[3] The MALLP ran for the first time in the summer of 1993, and has grown each year since its inception.[3] By 1996, only three years after it began, the program funded 26 teams, covering the original six languages, as well as Patwin, Paiute, and Kiliwa.[3]

Onowa McIvor and Peter Jacobs from the University of Victoria, in particular, conducted a study of Mentor-Apprentice learners in BC and determined that this program is particularly effective for teaching adults.[4][5]

  1. ^ McIvor, Onowa; Jacobs, Peter; Jenni, Barbara (2023-12-18), Dagostino, Carmen; Mithun, Marianne; Rice, Kere (eds.), "32 Reviving languages: Outcomes of a Mentor-Apprentice style learning study", The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America, vol. 2, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 717–740, doi:10.1515/9783110712742-032, ISBN 978-3-11-071274-2, retrieved 2024-03-28
  2. ^ Pine, Aidan; Turin, Mark (29 March 2017). "Language Revitalization". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.8. ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5.
  3. ^ a b c "Survival of Endangered Languages: The California Master-Apprentice Program". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (123). 1997-01-01. doi:10.1515/ijsl.1997.123.177. ISSN 1613-3668.
  4. ^ "MAPs for Indigenous language learning - University of Victoria". UVic.ca. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  5. ^ "Adults shamed for speaking Indigenous languages hold key to revival". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-12-22.