Saami in education: Translanguaging and Spaces for Saami language use
Authors: Kroik David , Bransfjell Maajja-Krihke 
Published: July 2024

This session consists of two talks: One by David Kroik and the other by Maajja-Krihke Bransfjell. The abstracts are provided below in that order: South Saami language revitalisation, Indigenous efflorescence and Spaces for Saami language useIn this talk, the construction of spaces for Saami language use is explored. In these spaces, learning and use of South Saami is at the centre. This dissertation in language teaching and learning focusses on the South Saami language, an Indigenous language in the parts of Saepmie that overlaps with Norway and Sweden. Against the backdrop of colonisation of the Saami and a long trend of assimilation by means of e.g. schooling, focus lies on contemporary spaces for Saami language use in formal educational contexts.
Spaces for Saami language use are investigated and theorised upon from an insider position by a researcher/practitioner drawing upon a collaborative approach to the production of knowledge. The insider gaze through the lens of the theoretical concept of spaces for Saami language use and Indigenous efflorescence analyses South Saami language teaching, learning and revitalisation as part of a global trend in which Indigenous peoples reclaim, revitalise and restore their continuous use of land, space and language.
The author investigates opportunities for and obstacles to furthering the development of spaces for Saami language use. How Saami practitioners of Indigenous efflorescence, for instance teachers, coordinators, artists and others commit to the language is brought to the fore. By means of their acts of decoloniality, they seek to take responsibility for and challenge the current educational situation.
Spaces for Saami language use emerge as time and conditions ripen for them. Although unexpected to many, given the history of assimilation, to the practitioners of efflorescence involved in the process, this emergence comes not as a surprise but as a hard-earned result of the struggle. Although much work remains, hope is reawakened when conscious hard work and persistent labour bear fruit. «Edtjebe saemiestidh daelie?» [Are we supposed to speak Saami now?]: language spaces, language awareness and the use of language in a south-saami classroomAbstractRecent public reports proclaim that Saami children should be provided with education that facilitate their productive Saami language skills (NOU 2016:18, 2016; Pasanen et al., 2022, s. 13). Despite these reports and research suggesting that language education should be executed using strong language models (Baker Wright, 2017) in order to achieve Saami language proficiency, Saami language education is restricted to a few hours weekly, using weak language models.
With inspiration from the language revitalization project in Svahken Sijte (Todal, 2007) and Árran mánájgárdde in Lule-Saami area (Pasanen et al., 2022), I implemented Norwegian language spaces in a Saami classroom to encourage students to speak Saami in class. I let the bilingual concept translanguaging (Baker Wright, 2017; García et al., 2016) guide my work together with the teacher in the Saami classroom, in which students were able to utilize their whole language repertoire. By means of classroom observations and interviews with the teacher and group interviews with the students, I evaluated the effect of the language spaces.
By utilizing Norwegian language spaces in Saami language education, my analyses show an increased awareness around the use of Saami language in the classroom among teacher and students alike. The language spaces acted as a language frame in the classroom, in which the concretization of the languages contributed to an increased use of Saami language among the students. Based on this research I claim that language spaces can contribute to increased Saami language proficiency within children.
References:
Baker, C. Wright, W. E. (2017). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (6. utg.). Multilingual Matters.
García, O., Ibarra Johnson, S. Seltzer, K. (2016). The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning. Brookes Publishing.
NOU 2016:18. (2016). Hjertespråket: forslag til lovverk, tiltak og ordninger for samiske språk (978-82-583-1293-9). K.-o. moderniseringsdepartementet. Departementenes sikkerhets- og serviceorganisasjon, Informasjonsforvaltning. https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/ad82d773c3094582a2660908b48886d3/no/pdfs/nou201620160018000dddpdfs.pdf
Pasanen, A., Päiviö, Á.-M., Baal, B. A. B. Mikkelsen, I. L. S. (2022). Sterke språkmodeller. Sámediggi.
Todal, J. (2007). Samisk språk i Svahken Sijte: Sørsamisk vitalisering gjennom barnehage og skule. Sámi allaskuvla / Sámi University of Applied Sciences.