Navajo Language Education: Retrospect and Prospects

Abstract

Holm and Holm have been involved as practitioners and action-researchers in Navajo language education for over 30 years. Here they describe the growth and development of bilingual education on the Navajo Reservation, and resultant outcomes for Navajo students, educators and communities. From the groundbreaking efforts in bilingual education at Rock Point, to recent work in Navajo immersion programs, this article shows not only how learning is mediated by language and culture in the Navajo context, but also the critical conditions needed to sustain genuine two-language education. The article relates these developments to a sociohistorical analysis of Navajo and the status of Navajo today, and finally, considers prospects for the survival of Navajo, in particular as a child-language.