The Sociocultural
Context of Hawaiian Language Revival and Learning Project 1.6 Final Report
Project Overview
Half of the world's 6,000 languages are at-risk for extinction. Our study of development of the Kaiapuni program in Hawai'i indicated that indigenous language immersion education can be a means of revitalizing and maintaining minority indigenous languages. Begun in 1987, the Kaiapuni program has been successful in increasing the number of children and youth who can speak Hawaiian.
This project investigated the development and implementation of Papahana Kaiapuni, the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program in the State of Hawai'i. Kaiapuni is the world's only public school K-12 program conducted in the Hawaiian language. It is an indigenous language immersion program in which instruction is delivered in an indigenous language. At its inception, the Hawaiian language had been banned from educational use for nearly a century, so there were few Hawaiian books and few native speakers who could serve as program teachers.
Today approximately 2000 students, the majority of whom are of Hawaiian ancestry, participate in the Kaiapuni program. Considering that only 30 youth spoke Hawaiian before the program was initiated in 1987, Kaiapuni has contributed to a 600% increase in the number of young Hawaiian speakers).
This study treats the history of the program's development, and reports the perspectives of the multiple stakeholders that are affected by it – students, teachers, family members, administrators, politicians. The study is unique, and valuable to anyone considering the adventure of language revitalization through education.
