PROBLEMS OF TEACHING SENIOR ENGLISH IN AN

INTERCULTURAL, SECONDARY BOARDING SCHOOL FOR

ESKIMO AND INDIAN STUDENTS

-» ' -She i *'• rt'f ' •.( * . -,,..,1

2 HhM. »• - „.v

Eleanor Provance • »

\

A thesis

submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in the Division of Education

Fresno State College

August, 1963

1 Ks sue-L I L I .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE PROBLEM . 1 V; ' twNKst ab M-iWm * i i * . t-

I n t r o d u c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 • • • •"• A-' ('' 4W-1 ' ^ »• V' ''" I*•'$ • <• .• •.! *• •' 1»

Statement of the Problem ................. 4

Significance * b

Delimitations . • . . 5 Skfciugr*-- i!AJ|a«i e« ».-tCLteflfal Cb Definitions . .............. 5

Method of the Study .................... 5

II. NATIVE LANGUAGES OF MT, EDGECUMBE STUDENTS 7

Eskimo Language ........... 12

Other Language Groups? Aleut, Tlingit, Athapascan ..... 18

III. SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT ................ 20

S o c i o g r a m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6

IV. READING 35

California Achievement Tests Read ing ...... bO

Essential High School Content Battery Test ........ 1

V. GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION ................... bb

California Achievement Tests Mech anics of English .... b6

Essential High School Content Battery Test ........ b?

VI, SPEECH 50

VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 55

Conclusions >5

Recommendations ..... ..... 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 6°

APPENDIX, . 62

CHAPTER X

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

In February 19*+7, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, a secondary boarding

school for Indigenous Alaskans, began classes. The physical plant had

been transferred in August of the same year from the United States Navy,

which had used the facilities during World War II as a naval base, to

the Department of Interior by Public Law V?8, approved by an act of

the United States Congress on July 1, 19 .

Mt. Edgecumbe school enrolls approximately seven hundred students

and employs approximately ninety staff members, twenty of whom are

academic teachers and twelve are vocational teachers or instructors.

The school is operated under the direct jurisdiction of the United

•" 'r.

States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, referred

to as B.I.A. with area headquarters in Juneau, Alaska. The school is

accredited by the Northwest Association of Secondary Schools, which

fact gives students an opportunity for college-preparatory courses.

The purposes of the school according to the 1963 Handbook are three­

fold:

"to give the Alaskan Native Student an opportunity to gain skills so that he may further his economic needs, to acquire a socialization that will enable him to become a participating citizen, and to provide experiences that will enable him to find his place in society."!

Hit. Edgecumbe School, Edgecumbe 1963 Handbook (Mt. Edgecumbe: Mt. Edgecumbe School, 1963)* Multilith, p. 5*

2

To accomplish these purposes, the B.I.A. has established the following

aims:

(1) to provide a vocational education necessary for earning a living; (2) to develop self-supporting, self-respecting citizens and leaders through student participation in school activities and government; (3) to provide opportunity for wise and enjoyable use of leisure time; (k) to establish good health habits and the desire for wholesome living; (5) to encourage religious instruction and guidance in the church of one's choice; (6) to develop an appreciation of the value, use, and conservation of our natural resources; and (7) to aid students in acquiring skills in such subjects as reading, writing, and arithmetic, which are necessary in everyday life and higher education.

Admission to the school requires that a student be at least one-fourth

descent of one of the Alaskan indigenous cultures, must have completed

the eighth grade, and, most important of all, must have no high school

in the community.

The students at Mt. Edgecombe come from over one hundred isolated

villages throughout Alaska, extending from the Ketchikan area in the

southeast to Barrow at the farthest tip of Alaska. These students

represent three different non-white cultures. More than half of the

student body is of the Eskimo culture. Cther cultures are the Aleuts •t | in -1 ' •• , " <••*•••• #

and Indians. Indian tribes represented are Tllngits, Tsimpsians,

Athapascans, and Haidas. Map 1 (see Appendix A) shows the approximate

location of each group. : • »• x..: • ' ' ;is : • »."US'

It is not the purpose of this paper to attempt a summary of the

anthropological or historical data regarding the cultures of Alaska.

However, for general clarity some facte see® necessary.

1

2lbid.

3

One anthropological theory holds that a broad land connection

between Asia and America daring the Glacial period opened a route over

which many Asiatic mammals came into America between 15*000 and 20*000

years ago. This same land bridge across the Bering Strait is supposed

by sose to be the entry of the early American Indians who are said to

have continued inland both east and south and to have eventually covered

both North and South America.

It is presumed that the Eskimos came from Siberia much later.

They appeared to have clung to the shores moving along the Arctic coast

to the north and south as far as the Aleutian Islands where they were

separated so far from other Eskimos that a separate branch of Aleuts

3 developed.

Indians in Alaska were separated from the Eskimos by early

anthropologists. One factor used in separating the Eskimo from his

neighbor the Indian was the Eskimo's own term "Innuit" meaning "man"

or "people." Another factor considered was a common basic language.

4 The latter factor was also used to separate the Eskimo from the Aleut.

Eskimos today are living mostly along the Arctic Ocean* the Bering Sea, •

on Kodiak Island , on Nunivak Island, and along the Yukon and Kuskoquim

Rivers. The Athapascan Indians generally live near the rivers of central

Alaska. The Tlingit Indians live in the Juneau-Sitka area and nearby

^Henry B. Collins, Austin H. Clark, and Egbert H. Walker, The Aleutian Islands? Thsir People and Natural History (City of Washington? Smithsonian Institute, 19^5), P» 20.

Nl. Dewey Anderson, Alaska Natives (Stanford University, California? Stanford University Press, 1935), p. 28.

k

islands. The Tsimpsian Indians live on the mainland just across the

Canadian border south of Sitka. The Haida Indians live further south

in the Ketchikan area.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study was to analyze the difficulties which

Mt. Edgecumbe students encountered in mastering English language subject

matter, to explore possible reasons for such difficulties, and to

propose methods for improving the teaching of English to bi-lingual

students.

Significance

In a recent survey of the number of Alaskan Native students who

dropped out of high school and the number who have graduated, the

authors list a total of 991 graduates and 1078 dropouts. These authors

contend that the degree of communication between teacher and pupil

appears closely related to the achievement of pupils, their motivation

for education, and their general attitudes toward education.^ In the

concluding remarks of their book these same authors recommend that

special instructional techniques be utilized which deal specifically

6 with teaching English to bi-lingual or non-English speaking people.

Delimitations

All original data, with the exception of the sociogram, was the

^Charles K. Ray, Joan Ryan, Seymour Parker, Alaska Native Secondary School Dropouts (College Alaska: University of Alaska, 1962), pp. 266- - 9.

6Ibid., p. 357.

5

result of research conducted among approximately eighty students who

were enrolled in the 1962-63 senior English classes at Mt. Edgecumbe

High School. These classes were under the supervision of the author.

The sociogram includes responses from one-hundred-fifteen members of

the senior class who met with the author for special drama instruction

during the home room period during the 1962-63 school year.

Definitions

Intercultural signifies the separation of persons by different

languages, backgrounds, social customs, and economic levels.

The terms indigenous Alaskan and Alaskan Native are used to

designate Alaskans who are one-fourth or more of one of the Alaskan

native groups.

Pairs, a term used in reading a sociogram, means that two persons

each choose the other.

Stars, a sociometry term, means that an individual receives a

large number of choices.

Isolates, in sociometry, means a person who receives no choices.

Method of the Study

Multiple methods were employed to gather data. The literature

was surveyed, students were given a questionnaire, and a sociogram was

charted. Teacher records and observations were also used and additional

questionnaires were given. Further data was obtained from the perusal

and tabulation of results from two different standardized tests,

namely; The California Achievement Test and the High School Battery

Content Test. The experiences and observations of the author while

6

living and teaching in an isolated Eskimo community, King Island, during

the school year 1958-59 furnished a background in interpreting findings. nm.fl o? *?. : xssfak

tfc* Mt Of IlifXM »:« I* i*

titi -Sp&Kpa %? ,&# %« %li «<sp

•-* 4t>;i ft rnir* :<9 'tn .Uit'jdi, (*** Aypfftftlx

D %# raW&te suw tfeows is, tMti |* 9fh* <11% otfa«r

* ite. iA«»s #,*s Wi-g i# %f

dfMgb M'-»lxr4gv4ll3>; Uws £«g»t ,®rv*# t*> Sattw. «ip4>.

-sfc-iciwi. fey 304 '%:;»>. IN ftingifc, Saglisfe*

4 » i mkm 'agr ^ppraati-

, *» sore than

MMi si $mm •m mm

tem-ffi* tmem or sf|teifs____ f ts

meMJlfc *9

«ad SA£*»

*•* tungit 1 4t

&A l .}• 01

SpsUJ* and A^Njsa^wus

Ml** f| 100

GHAFTER XX

NATIVE LANGUAGES OF MT. EDG2CUMBE STUDENTS

•

As one basis for understanding the difficulties which arise in

the teaching of English to indigenous Alaskans, it is necessary to

survey the languages spoken by the student in the home. Data was

compiled from a questionnaire presented to the students, (see Appendix

B) The results are shown in Table X. The only single language, other

than English, mentioned as being spoken is Eskimo which of the

students speak. Bi-lingually, the largest group is Eskimo and English,

spoken by 30$ of the group. Bi-lingually, the English, Tlingit, English.

Aleut, and English-Athapascan combinations are each spoken by approxi­

mately M of the group. English alone is spoken by 63 , or more than

T A \ ' . half, of the students.

.

TABLE I

LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY STUDENT AT HOME

LANGUAGE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PERCENTAGE

English 1*9 63

English and Eskimo 22 30

Eskimo 3 oi*

English and Tlingit 1 01

English and Aleut 1 01

English and Athapascan 1 1 01

TOTAL 77 100

8

In attempt to measure the fluency and ease of the use of

English* the students were asked, "At what grade in school do you feel

that you spoke English rather easily?" Table II shows a compilation

of the results. Seventy-seven students submitted replies. Answers

range from "before school" to "grade eight." The largest number, 39^» *• «.• wwwfe.- 1 <LJ*

stated "before school." Only 1% replied "grade eight." Grade one was

named by 18# of the students. Both grades two and three named lOfo.

,«.»• ..ay-aawaB fawamKtKinfe. mv-ri, r&m&mexmmaraMHMiMMlMflfMllNMeW'1'1* Grade four was named by 3%, but in grade five the percentage rose to

m-nK. Zt speak®;. &%. Percentages level off at grade six, dropping to 2$. No student

* • « awt mam m named grade seven, and grade eight, as previously stated, was named

'i utrlmft **** by only 1%, It is to be noted that there is a variable of 7% who

either could not remember or were not certain so made no reply.

TABLE II

SCHOOL GRADE AT WHICH ENGLISH WAS EASILY SPOKEN

t 01

GRADE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PERCENTAGE

Before school „ 30 •. 39

First 14 18

Second 8 10 Fear tribal' www aw»ti««s4 *.« beta® bf th«

Third 8 10 .fathers, B*a»ljrt Aleet, e,ad, Athaj*a»«ar*. M® fa tta* Fourth 3 04 «p.*ak» just fiiujfit j itaMN® fafclww spwakiag Titmift am Fifth 6 08 M-liftgwd HBat Sftglistt sfl®©« S* 41# of "be #»ta«BNi Sixth 2 03

Sb$2&sfc aaii «<*»• ether Hfet biVUngv*! »j».*ek Eighth 1 01

. • $v' • is S*ki*o aaft %gll ah w* I* apa k®* by 2$#* «c«i4 UayMt Couldn't remember 3 03

TOTAL 77 100

9

In order to obtain information concerning the language spoken

in the home the questions, "What language or language does your father

speak?'* and "What language or languages does your mother speak?" were

asked. For results of replies see Tables III and IV.

<*i- Kc ,!•>.T'j*se j'atftert who gjpeak m'lf TABLE III

\ - • • *- ' a %• c'-j A' \ • :• f "**» LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY FATHER IN HOME

• -"1 * .Sff ' »•? t ,

LANGUAGE NUMBER OF SPEAKERS PERCENTAGE

English and Eskimo 20 26

Eskimo 18 24.5

English 1? 22.5

English and Aleut

Aleut

8 10 English and Aleut

Aleut 1 01

English and Tlingit 3 04

Athapascan 1 01

English and Athapascan 1 01

No reply 8 10

TOTAL 77 100

Four tribal languages were mentioned as being spoken by the

fathers, namelyj Eskimo, Aleut, Tlingit, and Athapascan. No father

speaks just Tlingit} rather, those fathers speaking Tlingit are

bi-lingual and speak English also. In total, 41$ of the fathers

speak English and some other language. The largest bi-lingual speech

group is Eskimo and English which is spoken by 26$. The second largest

10

bi-lingual speech group is Aleut and English which is spoken by 10$.

Tlingit-English is spoken by 4$ of the group and Athapascan-English is

spoken by only 1$. Of those fathers who do not speak English, 24.5$

speak Eskimo. Only 1$ speak in the Aleut language, and the same per

cent speak in the Athapascan. Those fathers who speak only English

comprise 22.5$* There is a variant of 10$ because of the question

being unanswered or because note was made that no father lived in the

home.

TABLE IV

LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY MOTHER IN HOME

LANGUAGE NUMBER OF SPEAKERS PERCENTAGE

English and Eskimo

English

Eskimo

English and Aleut

English and Tlingit , ,it , ii . j#1-

English and Athapascan

Athapascan

Aleut

No reply

TOTAL

- IrV ,

• 1$

22

18

16 ; ' &

8

4

3 . A 1

1

i 77

29.7

24.8

20

10

05

02.5

01

01

05

100 •<C f

'• It : M f.C ' t , fit#- I •3 Si v.: k

11

The language spoken in the home by the mother relates quite

closely with that spoken by the father. The same four tribal languages

are spoken. There is a variant of only 5$ in which no reply was given or

mention was made that no mother resided in the home. A slightly larger

number of mothers than fathers speak both Eskimo and English, almost

30$. The same per cent of mothers as fathers speak Aleut and English.

However, 3»5$ speak Athapascan and English as opposed to 1$ of the

fathers. Of the mothers who do not speak English, the largest speech

group is again Eskimo. One fifth, or 20$ of the mothers speak Eskimo.

Among the Athapascan and Aleut group, the same 1$ was given. The

percentage of mothers who speak English in the home is slightly higher

than the fathers being 24.8$.

The high rate of per cent of non-English speaking Eskimo parents

might well be attributed to the isolated geographic location of these

people and their inaccessibility to but few speakers of English.

Although the Russian influence in Southeastern Alaska left many

Russian surnames among the indigenous peoples, i. e., Boskofsky, Swetsof,

Oustigoff, and Philemonoffj no trace of the influence of the Russian

language remains in the speech of the present-day Southeastern Alaskan

student.

Because of wide distances involved and poor, if any, mail service

to isolated communities, the difficulty of obtaining accurate data

regarding any degree of fluency in the use of English by those parents

who speak English was insurmountable. Therefore, no information was forkt %- aawfc Ei-*. i ,v''> "" ,7 .re­

compiled as to how well the hi-linguals are able to use the English

language.

12

Eskimo las yaage

Since the largest speech group involved is Sskimo, it appears

imperative to analyze elements of the Eskimo language in order to more

clearly understand English-learning difficulties of the student with am

-skirao linguistic background. According to Hill, the Eskimo language is

remote and the medium of a culture quite apart from Western European

traditional culture and a language without any evidence of relationship.^

Inherent in the Eskimo language sire certain elements which might tend to

make use of English extremely difficult. Birket-Smith notes that Eskimo

words are long and polysyllabic and that the language contains over

two hundred suffixes which can never stand alone but must always be

attached to one of the independent stems. For example, the word ipdio

meaning "house" is expanded to indiorssualiorpog to mean "He builds a

large house," The same author estimates that indio can receive eighty

different suffixes. He further points out that the noun and verb are

attached. In order to say "I hear him," the Eskimo must use tusparpara

which literally translates to "He makes a sound in reference to me."

The Eskimo allows the question of time to remain open and says, "Man

hungry.-J The language has two two g'a, and two I'b. A further

complication noted is that in Alaska there are at least four distinctly

2 different Sskimo dialects. A King Island Eskimo told the author that

Eskimos from various Alaskan communities cannot understand one another.

! - . , i,. }, n i •, ! 1 " 1 1 1 ' 1

Archibald A, Hill, Introduction to Linguistic Structures« (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1'<>-T, p. Ll8,

\aj Birket-Smith, The Eskimos (London: Methuen and Company Revised Edition, 1959), p. 19^.

13

He added that the King Islanders cannot understand the Barrow Eskimos.

However, both are northern Eskimos.

Thalbitzer, in 1911, listed four types of Eskimo base words}

namely, (1) words with full typical inflections, i.e., nouns and

verbs} (2) words with deflective inflection, i.e., the numerals; (3)

words with a typical inflection, i.e., demonstratives and interrogafives;

and (*0 words without an inflection, i.e., interjections and particles.'

Three kinds of Eskimo sentence types are listed, A single noun such as

nuna meaning "land" is the most simple sentence. A nominal sentence

consisting of more than one noun (probably just two) and uninflected

for case as in nuna-gput-gagga-li-auag literally "land, ours, mountain,

provided with intensive" is translated into English as "Our land is very

mountainous." This kind of sentence is comparable to the English

sentence which has noun, verb to be, and adjective. The third type of

Eskimo sentence is a verbal sentence such as qimmi—p-agnaq-taku-b-a-a

k and is translated "The dog sees the woman."

The Eskimo suffix is of paramount importance as nearly one-sixth

of the "words" in Eskimo are suffixes. Words expressed in English by

adjectives and adverbs are suffixes in Eskimo. Eskimo suffixes are

extremely difficult to recognize in compound words because at the

beginning and ending of the suffix, phonetic assimilation by the

.

'william Thalbitzer, "Eskimo," Handbook of American Indian Languages (ed.) Franz Boas, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin ^0, (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1911), P« 1007.

it Hill, eg. cit., p. 37.

3A

preceding and following sounds occurs. A factor not to be ignored is

that many Itoglish adjectivial and adverbial notions have no existing

suffixes in Eskimo. A suffix is not used in Eskimo to denote color|

therefore, color must be communicated by an independent word. For an

Eskimo to express, "I have a red kayak," he must say, "Red kayak have I.

Nouns in the Eskimo language cover the range of English nouns,

adjectives, and pronouns combined. The Eskimo noun has three numbers:

singular, which has no suffix; dual, meaning two; and plural, meaning

more than two, The latter two numbers have distinct suffixes. Nouns

have a set of twelve forms for personal reference. Seven modifying

case suffixes are added, usually in the last position.^ Noun irregu­

larities in the Eskimo language correspond somewhat to noun irregular­

ities An English, The Eskimo language includes nouns with only dual

forms, such as the claw of a crayfish, the thumb and the forefinger. In

comparison, English has a few nouns with only plural forms, i.e.,

scissors. Other Eskimo nouns are inflected always as collective plurals

Such words include stomach, paddle, and bird. Three classes of plural

inflections are listed. The first class is a plural ending t or it, i.e

pima-panat meaning "knife." The second class of noun plurals inflect

with a shift of stress, i.e., si'hak-'sikkat meaning "foot." A third

class of nouns shows inflection irregularly on irregularly amplified

stems without any shift in stress, i.e., aaq-atsit meaning "sleeve."

In the case of nouns, one form is made by the adding of £ or uj> to the

Shalbitzer, op. cit., pp. 1053-5**«

Sill, eg. cit., pp. **26-27.

15

same stem as the one from which the plural is formed, i.e., nana is

7 "land," and nunap is "of the land." In other case uses, the Eskimos

show the allative (to) by adding m with ut as iglu-m-ut translated

"to house," The prosecutive uses k and kut as iglu-k-kut "through or

over house." The plurals of all these cases are shown by changing

the m to n as iglu-n-ut "to houses." Eskimo does not have determiners

such as the a and the in English. The possessive case admits of

seventy-two possible forms which are highly regular. Singular possession

is usually shown by adding n to i as iglu-a-ni "in his house." The

, g plural is iglu-an-ni "in their houses."

The Eskimo language has over nine-hundred verb forms, but their

construction is simpler than noun construction. Verbs are always

constructed by an irregular morpheme called the verb sign and one or

two pronominal suffixes. Seven modes are categorized for the Eskimo

verb. The single suffix, called simple verb, means a person connected

with action but does not specify if the person is actor or goal. The

double suffix, called complex verb indicates the actor first and the

goal second. The Indicative Mode simple verb such as kapi-bu-na

signifies either "I stab" or "I stabbed." The Interrogative Mods

uses b for the verb sign after vowels and £ after consonants.

Kapi-b-a can mean either "Does he stab?" or "Is he stabbed?"

The Optative and Imperative Mode uses j| in second person and la in v..:,, «'S» '

other persons, i.e., kapi-ia-ria "I wish I might stab" or "be stabbed."

, . . • • f i -

\halbitzer, ££. cit., pp. 1009-16.

8Hill, 0£. cit., p. 429.

16

The three preceding nodes are independent. The Eskimo language also

makes provision for four dependent verb modes; the Con tempers tive

Past, the Subjunctive, the First Participial, and the Second Participial.

Conteaporative Past is used for the idea "When I was stabbed." The

Subjunctive Mode is, of course, translated "if I stab (myself)" or

"am stabbed." The First Participial is always simple, not directed

to a goal, and is translated "I being stabbed." The Second Participial

9 is always directed toward a goal, i.e., "He stabbing me." The verb

in Eskimo has four classes of conjugations dependent upon the final

sound and the stress of the bases.1®

Various constructions other than noun and verb are used in the

Eskimo language. An interrogative pronoun is used, i.e., kina "who,"

suna "what," kia "of whom," and am "of what." Interjections are used.

A* e xpresses amazement. Ta ate is "look here," and na-a-a expresses

sudden pain. Particles are used to express elements of time, i.e.,

it tag "a long time ago," jppassog "yesterday," alluae "today," and

aquario "tomorrow." The number words in Eskimo closely follow the

fingers and toes of man and are divided into groups of fives and called

first-five, second-five, etc. Beyond twenty, the only Eskimo word is

cipluka meaning "exceeds."11

^Hill, 0£. cit., pp. 431-35.

10Thalbitzer, op. cit., p. 1031.

11Ibid.. pp. 1049-52.

17

Hill observes several characteristics as semantic contents of the

Eskimo language. The plural is substituted for the expected dual in

nouns which come in pairs, i.e., eyes and hand. An ambiguity in English

such as in the sentence, "He stabbed him when he (the atabber) saw him1*

is a possible, lucid expression in Eskimo by the use of a fourth person

verb form. This fourth person is also used to show that a third person

actor in a preceding construction is again referred to, a construction

similar to the use of a relative pronoun in English. The order of words

within a sentence is of no significance in Eskimo; however, the order

of the personal suffix in verbs distinguishes between the actor and the

goal. The final position suffix generally indicates that the noun to

which the suffix is attached is in a modifying relation to a verb or to

12 another noun and can be translated to English prepositional phrases.

The Eskimo language makes provisions for downgrading and linkage.

Phrasal downgrading generally is accomplished by morphemes which mark

the word as part of a larger construction of a phrasal type. In a

sentence with a complex verb, the noun takes a modifying position. The .5 .t. *

four dependent verbal modes allow another means of downgrading. Linking

of two sentences is accomplished by the use of the fourth person and by

syntactic suffixes in which two nouns and two verbs are essentially

parallel grammatically.1^

The Eskimo vocabulary is quite often considered very meager,

especially n comparison to English vocabulary with its vast numbers

12Hill, 0£. cit.» pp. 435-36.

15Ibid., p. 438.

18

of synonyms, However, in English the one word for snow is too inclusive U

for an Eskimo. He uses a different word for snow in every operationally

different situation, i.e., "falling snow," "snow on the ground," "snow

1^ packed hard like ice," "slushy snow," and "wind-driven snow."

Sapir points out that the Eskimo language makes absolutely no use

15 of prefixed elements.

Other Groups; Aleut, Tlingit. Athapascan

Since these language groups are each spoken bi-lingually by only

1% of the students, and even among the parents, the largest per cent,

that of the Aleuts, is spoken by only 10% of the fathers, it seems

unnecessary to make a detailed study of the language characteristics.

Some very general findings, however, are to be noted. The Aleut

language, according to one author, is more closely related linguistically

to the Eskimo than it is to the Athapascan which is in nearer proximity

but has much more dissimilarity.15 Krause's characteristics of the

Tlingit language include the fact that most Tllngit words start with a k

sound but are spelled with other letters, i.e., the tribal name "Tlingit"

is pronounced "klinkit," Singular and plural nouns are the same. Both

adjectives and prepositions follow the noun. When a Tlingit translates

^Benjamin Lee Whorff, "You Can't Snow an Eskimo," Saturday Review, Vol. Mf (February 1961), p. J»6.

15Edward Sapir, Language (New York: Hare our t Brace and Company,

1921), pp. 67-68.

l53irket-Smlth, loc. cit.

19

to English, there is a tendency to replace the r with 1, i.e., ail right

17 is all light and ready is leady. One reason for this substitution

may be the fact pointed out by another author that the Tlingit language

18 has four 1 sounds. A study is now in progress under Professor Michael

Krauss at the University of Alaska on Athapascan dialects. Professor

Krauss has been recording voices of different Athapascan communities. He

Viaa discovered that seven dialects are spoken by an average of three

hundred persons and that one dialect is still being used by one isolated

19 community of only sixty-five persons. When Krauss* findings are

printed and made available for linguistic studies, detailed elements of

the Athaspascan language should be available.

' t •

... ( jd» ah a

i s 4,1' "' • V"

4 -i

in niinffit Indians (Seattle: University of Aurel Kra?Q^^"^oriiinsrpublication Jena: 1885), PP* 232-36.

Washington press, 195&) (origin

l8Birket-Soith, 22' p* 68*

19 »«Anyone for Byak," Senior Scholastic (November 29,

1961), p.T5T

CHAPTSS III

SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

*^ • * ** •^ *• • *• #frafeMi

Contingent upon the understanding of the drastic social change

and adjustment encountered by the majority of the students of Mt.

Edgecumbe High School in coming to this school is a knowledge concerning

the types of schools, homes, and communities from which these students

come. Types of homes range from a modern home similar to the home of

middle-class Americans (which is in a very small minority) to home

conditions of the direst poverty, the equal of which cannot be found

in the worst urban slum areas of American cities. These homes consist

of a single room of about sixteen feet by sixteen feet in which as

many as ten to fifteen people live. Most Eskimo homes are said to be

quite similar to the ones observed by the author on King Island. These

one-room houses were dark and smelly. The furnishings generally con­

sisted of a minimum of absolute essentials. Dishes and cooking utensils

were usually stored in a snail open shelved cupboard about three feet

high and two feet wide. Bed rolls were placed against the wall during

the day and unrolled at night on the floor which was often covered with

linoleum. Most homes had a gasoline lantern in the ceiling which

furnished light and heat. Cooking was done on a two-burner gasoline

camp stove. Some homes had a portable one-burner oven for baking bread.

Those families who did not own an oven borrowed from a relative or

neighbor. A few homes had the ancient Eskimo open-stove for heat. This

stove was constructed by cutting a five gallon gasoline container in

21

half, filling it with seal oil, and lighting it to bum in an 0Pei1

flame. Most families owned a hand-operated portable sewing machine

which the women operated by sitting on the floor. King Island Eskimos

do all their work and eat their meals sitting on the floor somewhat

like Orientals. Most homes had a battery operated radio, only

storage facility for clothing was nails placed around the room. Various

garments were piled on them. The only water available after freeze-up

in early November until the thaw in late June comes from melted snow.

Needless to say, there is no sewage disposal. Human waste as well as

garbage is thrown outside the dcor.

In some of the larger Eskimo communities such as Barrow and

Kotzebue which the author visited in July 1961, some Eskimo families

, , , J _ „ irt t .... have two to four room houses and use beds, tables, and chairs. This

is particularly noticeable in the homes of the younger Eskimos who have

I returned to their home villages to establish homes after having lived

at Mt. Edgecumbe School.

The author visited a typical Athapascan summer fish camp in Central

Alaska, Minto Area, and found the people living in teats similar to a

••roughing it" camp home, found anywhere in the United States. Both

Coastal Eskimos and Coastal Indians and Eskimos and Indians who live

near large rivers migrated to summer tent-villages during the fishing

months.

Many of the Aleut and Tllngit families live in homes similar to

homes of other people in the United States, the type of home and its

« n furnishings depending upon the economic level of the family.

22

The Eskimo social-caltural mores and customs, as well as his

philosophy of life, differ in several respects from other Alaskan groups.

Birkit-Smith found the Esk imos gregarious and easily affected toy the

feelings of those around him, i.e., when one person laughs, those present

are immediately infected.1 The Eskimo is further described as having a

pronounced lack of self control and absence of responsibility.2 In

Eskimo society there is no rank or class. Each comrniinity had one or two

strong men who became leaders in tribal feuds. The possession of

personal property was for use only. If not in use, anyone felt free to

use anything. Trapping and hunting grounds were the property of all,

and, therefore, belonged to no one person or family. The eoneept of

theft was unknown to the ancient Eskimo, The early Eskimo society was

"in balanced quiet with no social tensions."3 Perhaps most prevalent in

Eskimo philosophy is the feeling of littleness and powerlessness in li.

man's struggle to avoid evil and adversity. The author has observed

the fatalistic viewpoint of the Eskimo in the attitude of "what will be,

will be" and a manifestation of stoicism about tragic events.

In a recent survey of attitudes and beliefs among Alaskan

adolescents, Anthropologist Seymour mentioned cultural factors which he

believed were of value to the school. One Eskimo socio—cultural behavior

is termed "egalitarianism" meaning a reluctance to appear to know more I

than others in the group. Underlying this strongly held idea is the

belief that any person who is exceptional makes others in the group feel

^-BirketrSraith, og. cit., p. 53. P» 57 *

3Ibid., pp. 1^-52. p* l63*

23

"low" or "bad." Children are, consequently, taught to share with their

peers and not to outdistance them."' A closely related manifestation

of the same belief can be attributed to the failure of Eskimo students

to be motivated by rewards, usually successful with other school stu­

dents, Teacher praise or special prizes given to Eskimo students for

outstanding work in the classroom is usually a source of embarrassment

to the student rather than the expected heightened motivation for study.^

Another unique characteristic observed among Ekimos is the extremely

high value they place on respect for individual right®. This concept

manifests itself particularity in a permissive parent attitude toward a

child's behavior.^ The child is allowed to make his own dsoisions

regarding all aspects of his life from early infancy. The author

observed this child—rearing pattern on King Island. Children ate,

slept, played, or went to school when they desired, with little guidance,

and no pressures or insistence from parents. One Eskimo mother remarked

to the author, "Every year I promise myself to make Stella wake up and

go to school, but I always forget." The status of women in the Eskimo

culture is very low according to the author's observation. King Island

practices excluded the women from the men's club house except for

feasts and dances. At church services the audience was completely

segregated according to sex, the men always sitting on one side and the

women sitting on the other. Anthropologists, however, are in disagreement

5Ray, et al, op. clt., p. 115.

6Ibid., p. 122.

^Ibid., p. 125.

24

as to how low the status of women was In early Eskimo society. Rudenko

believed that the point made that the status of women was depressed was

erroneous and pointed out that in ancient times their status was

particularly high. He believed it to be significant that female

deities prevailed over male deities. In the old Eskimo beliefs, the

8 three principle Eskimo spirits were women who were hostile to men.

The Tlingit Indians of southeastern Alaska have an entirely

different socio-cultural pattern from the Eskimos. According to Parker,

an outstanding aspect of social organization is the class system. In

the traditional Tlingit society existed a "nobility," "commoners,"

"slaves" and "outcasts." An individual's position was governed

genealogically, and moving upward was possible only through marriage.

In the modern Tlingit community there are still strong class feelings.

The present classes consist of the upper, which encompasses wealthier

boat captains and business men, the middle class who are mostly fisher­

men, and the lower class who are people that depend upon relief funds

for subsistence.^ Krause in his study of the Tlingits noted a highly

developed sense of personal property ownership which is in contrast

to the Eskimo society. The Tlingit owned his hunting grounds, and no

one, even his nearest relatives, used them without hie permission.*0

Regarding the parent-child relationship in the Tlingit society, Krause

Q S. I. Kudenko (trans. Paul Tolstoy), The Ancient Culture of the

Bering Sea and the Eskimo Problem (Toronto. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1961), p. 167. ~

o Ray, et al, op. cit., pp. 214-16.

10 Krause, og cit., p. 115.

25

described child training as extremely harsh and sometimes cruel,""

Parker stated that the present child-rearing practices still emphasize

firm discipline, early independence, and striving for exceptional

12 achievement. Although recognizing and praising the artistic and

technical skill of the Tlingit, Krause also found these people distrust­

ful, selfish, and greedy. He further observed the Tlingit to be con­

stantly on guard to ascertain that hie prerogatives and rights were

recognized.15 According to the same author, the status of the Tlingit

woman was a person with definite rights and with the possibility of

li, rising to the leadership of the clan. Sogers, in a recent study of

the Tlingit region, felt that the average non-indigenous Alaskan was ?hf n • >.ip set own, * esrioiram

overly optimistic about the acceptance of the white man's culture by . *§f:-v • ?*»;• ' • ' >'%• $#•* K fife

the Tlingit, because on the surface the Tlingit appeared to be accepting •« -it,j1am" aooaptaaet •* on# »*•»§

with facility all elements of the imposed culture. However, Sogers

warned, in severe economic and social stress the Tlingit retrogressed

to obsolete old ways, i.e., in 1955-56, "supernatural" visitations and

15 witchhunting broke out in the village of Angoon.

; X • •• * V." * J, £:;$•

School backgrounds of the Mt. Edgecuabe student vary as widely as

do the types of communities from which he comes. At the lowest level is - • !

11Ibid., p. 152. .. t 9 '-in? i ' i

12Hay, ot «1, $2 cit., p. 237.

^Krause, ££. £i£** P*

lf*Ibid., pp. 109-1°•

^George W, Hogers, Ala^a in Transiltion. Jg Southeast ion (Baltimore. The Johns Hopkins Press, i960), pp. 216-17,

26

to be found the isolated village day-school with a teacher responsible

for all grades and all subjects in one room. Larger communities have

typical grammar schools with a teacher responsible for only one grade*

In between these two types is the grammar school with two teachers,

one for primary and the other for upper grades. Some students at Mt.

Edgecumbe have gone to two-year high schools, some of which have one

teacher responsible for many subject areas and all with a very limited

curriculum. » >. ,?

• v - > . . . - • * r - • f \ " S

Sociogram '

For the purpose of ascertaining the degree to which Mt. Edgecumbe

students mingled with an ethnic group not their own, a sociogram was

given in September 1962, It has been the desire of some B.I.A. leaders

to bring about greater understanding and acceptance of one another among

- •, ." • ' & a I : % ft s: m • Alaskan groups by giving them an opportunity to closely associate in

a boarding school situation. Other leaders have felt that ancient r

animosities among the groups were still felt among the younger people,

added to their unhappiness, and, consequently impaired learning at the

maximum level at Mt. Edgecumbe School. For instance, a Tlingit teacher

stated that the Tlingits greatly resented the Aleuts because in the

earlier Tlingit communities, Aleuts were captured and made slaves. In

addition there is historical evidence that the Eskimos never mingled

with their Indian neighbors and that constant warfare between the two

groups was common. In was felt that a sociogram might give some informa-

• • • • •

tion regarding these feelings.

The formalized aspect of Bjerstadt with some variation was used.

Bjerstadt recommended asking the question, "Whom would you like to help

you with school work or work with you on a team?"1^ Some outcomes from

reading a sociogram were listed by Horace Mann-Lincoln Institute as

pairs, being two persons each choosing the other} isolates, not being

chosen by anyone} and stars, the ones having the highest number of

17 choices. The sociogram material obtained at Mt. Edgecumbe evolved

around finding helpers for producing the annual senior play. The total

senior class who were enrolled during a home room period met with the

author three times a week for instruction and training for the various

committees needed. Instructions for listing choices were made verbally?

"Name the person with whom you would most prefer to work on a committee,

"Name the person uho would be your second choice with whom to work on

a committee," and "Name any person with whom you would not wish to work.

Answers were charted as to ethnic groups chosen.

Sociogram data in Table V show to a very large degree students

chose someone of their own ethnic group with whom to work. In the

first choice column from the fifty-eight Eskimos, forty-seven, or

almost 81*. chose other Eskimos. The second largest number chosen by

the Eskimos was the Aleuts who were chosen by seven people, or 12*.

^Ake Bjerstadt, Interpretations of Sociometric Choice Status

(Copenhagen: Lund C. V. K. Glerrup, 1956)7 p.T*.

pp. 7-8•

Three Eskimos, or scarcely 5# chose Tlingits. Only one Eskimo, or

nearly 2# chose an Athapascan. Of the twenty-six students in the

Aleut group, seventeen, or about 65.5# chose other Aleuts. Seven,

or about 26.5# chose Eskimos. Two students, or just under 8# chose t : i 3m • bmttn

Athapascans. No Aleut student chose a Tlingit student. Of the twelve

Athapascan students, three, or 25*5#, chose other Athapascans. Four

students, or 33#* chose Eskimos. The same number chose Aleuts. One

student or 8.15# chose a Haida student. No Athapascan student chose

a Tlingit. From the group of ten Tlingit students, five, or 50#

chose another Tlingit, three, or 30# chose Eskimos, and two, or 20#

chose Athapascans. From a small group of four Haida students, only

one student, or 25# chose another Haida, two or 50# chose Tlingits,

and one, or 25# chose an Athapascan. No Haida chose an Eskimo.

In the second choice column, of the fifty-eight Eskimo students,

forty-three, or just over 75# chose other Eskimos. Eight, or about

14# chose Aleuts, three, or about 5# chose Tlingits, and two, or

about 3# chose Athapascans. Two students, or 3# made no second choice.

From the Aleut students, twelve, or just over 46# chose other Aleuts,

Seven, or about 27# chose Eskimos, and the same number and same per

cent chose Athapascans. Again, no Aleut chose a Tlingit. Of the

twelve Athapascans, five, or 42# chose other Athapascans, four or

33# chose Eskimos, two, or almost 17# chose Aleuts, and one student

or 8# made no second choice. Of the Tlingits, three, or 30# chose

other Tlingits, five, or 50# chose Eskimos, one, or 10# chose an

Athapascan, and the same number and per cent chose Haida. It is to be

29

TABLE V

SOCIOORAM BASED ON CULTURAL CHOICES %smm srtMwi tw

Keyi E-Eekino, AL-Aleut, T-Tlingit, ATH-Athapasean, H-Haida

FIRST SECOND NUMBER OF NEGATIVE STUDENT RACE CHOICE CHOICE CHOICES CHOICES

1 E 30 E 28 E 2 «*

2 E 20 E 40 E -

3 E 34 E 61 AL 1 -

4 E 94 T 15 E 5 -

5 E 36 E 32 E - -

6 E 8 E 28 E 4 1

7 E 58 AL 101 E <•» -

8 E 6 E 79 ATH 2 1

9 E 43 E 40 E 2 2

10 E 58 AL 29 S 1 «m

11 E 45 E 33 E 1 2

12 E 27 E — 1 •»

13 E 102 E 75 AL - -

14 E 21 E 70 AL 2 m

15 E 70 AL 90 T 11 4m

16 E 57 E 22 E -m

17 E 39 S 41 E 2 -

18 E 39 S M E 2 •

19 E 18 E 36 E 3 »

20 E 15 E 70 AL 2 •

21 E 70 AL 14 E 1 •

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

3k

35

36

37

38

39

to

4l

k2

k3

kk

61

TABLE V (continued)

FIRST SECOND NUMBER OF RACE CHOICE CHOICE CHOICES

E 75 AL 37 E 1

E 88 T 24 E 2

E 90 T 27 E 1

E 17 B 75 AL 1

E 39 E 103 s 2

E 12 E * 2

E 32 E 6 S 4

E 41 E 4 S 1

E 46 E 40 E 1

E 15 E 88 T 1

E 1 E 28 E 4

E 34 E 61 AL 4

E 33 E 3 E 3

E 33 S 34 E 2

E 61 AL 19 E 5

S 22 E 47 E 3

E 70 AL 84 ATH

E 26 s 15 E 5

E 15 E 94 T 4

E 52 E 46 E 6

E 51 s 9 E

E 40 s 9 E 1

E 20 S 15 E

TABLS V (continued)

FIRST SECOND NUMBER OF NEGATIVE STUDENT RACE CHOICE CHOICE CHOICES CHOICES

45 E 11 E 25 E 1 1

46 E 41 E 30 E 2 •<#'

47 E 81 ATH 33 E 2 «•

48 E 103 E 31 E 1 *#

49 E 1 E 28 E m 2

50 E 102 E 39 E DIE <*»

51 E 14 E 70 AL 1

52 E 19 E 4 E 5 -

53 AL 104 AL 105 ATH *» 1

54 AL 56 AL 106 AL 1 #

55 AL 69 AL 107 AL 2 *

56 AL 54 AL 106 AL 1 *»

57 AL 52 E 55 AL 1

58 AL 10 E 108 AL 2 #

59 AL 64 AL 73 AL <*»

60 AL 61 AL 76 AL 2 -

61 AL 36 E 105 ATH 4 1

62 AL 106 AL 59 AL <•» 2

63 AL 71 AL 39 E 2 4K

64 AL 73 AL 60 AL 3 4*

65 AL 67 AL 86 ATH 1 1

66 AL 60 AL 64 AL m <|E

67 AL 65 AL 109 E 2 10

68 AL 74 AL 105 ATH 4 *

TABU V (continued)

STUDENT RACE FIRST CHOICE

SECOND CHOICE

NUMBER OF CHOICES

NEGATIVE CHOICES

69 AL 55 AL 107 AL 1 -

70 AL 15 S 103 E 8 m

71 AL 63 AL 78 ATH 2 •»

7? AL 78 ATH 7k AL - 2

73 AL 15 E 6k AL 2 1

7k AL 68 AL 82 ATH 3 3

75 AL 52 B 17 s 3 *

76 AL 36 E 105 ATH 1 -

77 ATH 6 S 78 ATH 4t»

78 ATH 71 AL 110 E 3 1

79 ATH 8 B 6 E 1 L

80 ATH 85 ATH 8^ ATH 1 1

81 ATH k7 B 35 E 1

82 ATH 7^ AL — 1 3

83 ATH 100 H 68 AL 1 m

8k ATH 15 E 4 E 3 0

85 ATH 8^ ATH 80 ATH 2 *

86 ATH 105 ATH 10k AL 1 1

87 T 67 AL 37 E «l» 1

88 T 9*+ T ifl E 2 -

89 T 9*f T L E 1 1

90 T 96 T 15 E 2 m

91 T 32 E 93 T m

92 T 36 E 105 ATH 2

53

TABLE V (continued)

STUDENT RAGE FIRST CHOICE

SECOND CHOICE

NUMBER OF NEGATIVE CHOICES CHOICES

93 T 91 T 95 T i i.. f y; tit*

94 T 41 E 4 E 6 1

95 T 94 T 99 H 2 1

96 T 70 AL 90 T 1 I

97 H 89 T 23 E -

98 H 111 H 23 £ * ; 1

99 H 94 T 95 T X'. •.. t Nf HWI

100 H 83 ATH 68 AL 1

101 E — mmm 1 w

r-i

102 E 39 S 26 E 2

103 E 48 E 4 a 2

104 AL 105 ATH 53 AL 2 1

105 ATH 104 AL 85 ATH •- 1 • -7•• ' V ' ; V • ; ••

106 AL — — 3

, 2 m

107 ?

108 AL 70 AL 15 E 1

109 £ 35 S 114 E 1 4

110 E 112 E 63 AL 1

111 ATH 113 AL 112 S u X- R-''(

112 S rn+mt — 3 ""

113 AL — 1

114 £ 41 E 68 E HM %m«Mrn Mti»w

115 £ 112 E 52 s Mi' •• •»

t- R I S 1\1Q S1 A1 R R 0 L L RI

245063

noted that no Tlingit chose an Aleut. Of the four Hafdas, no student

chose another Haida. Three students, or 75# chose Eskimos, and one

student, or 25# chose a Tlingit,

.. fi

In the total sociogram are twenty-six pairs, or 22.5% of the

group. The sociogram shows diversified choices rather than just a

few students receiving a large number of choices. Actually there were

no real "stems," as would be expected according to sociometry theory. aeptvr high school fco;.

The highest number of choices was eleven which were received by an

Eskimo. An Aleut received eight choices, and an Athapascan received

seven choices. Three students each received six choices, two were yi ..gij rftuteats plan t® gr to

Eskimos and the other a Tlingit. Three Eskimo students each received *<" ..•naly.atM':;, trn tv-ruh^I- tfm

five choices. The negative column can hardly be considered repre-'dgecwnfce jeheel M Jwsr &*& res-aired

sentative as many students listed no person with whom they would not

wi8h to work. However, one Aleut was listed negatively by eight vera evt-iuotad >.. • • 'X< a •>.- ,r >

people. One Eskimo student was listed negatively by four people.

Isolates, people who received no choices, were twenty in number, or

17# of the total group. •: r.'i im

From the sociogram data it appeared quite evident that students

did not choose to work with members of another cultural group. In spite

of more than three years of boarding school living with other cultures,

the student chose his own cultural group. The fact that not once did

a Tlingit and an Aleut choose one another seems to substantiate the

theory that these groups still nurture ancient cultural animosities.

FjlTiB(! aU th... cultural diT.rnifioation. 1. on. clanorco. undoubtedly

product tensions and tended to .lni.it. tb. Uaming activity.

CHAPTER XV • ,

' " if sumiwim SEALING

i . ..V • Learning to read English, according to Hughes, constituted a

• ' I 1 • I ' W! • p I IPM . VMM bafWtat Wsetr major goal of both the student and hi® parents in sending an Eskimo

f !? -t child from the village of Gambell to school. Heading outside of

school tended to increase during the elementary school years, reached j <>S' ;a v. -cm **•*• .T*» 'SMMMS

a peak in junior-high school and fell off in senior high school according

2 1 to a recent research project,

• of wt ^ear« read In an effort to encourage more reading, particularly the Engl lab

« ,• . e*. - r? #0,f vJ fiVt ityBimHJ classics normally required of high school students who plan to go to

.. « . 11, |p n . I r Nn % Uy* s •' | college, the author devised a list of approximately two hundred-twenty-

• r.': AgatV. Jhriati#' tt five books available from the Mt. Edgecumbe School library and required

y(!; , tsA MeadMgfd ijjith Hjrrc.'fs by the »ae avtiaftr, that three books be read each grade period by the student in order for

:• -m-.nyt feasfc '««§ the «HMb«r mt him to pass senior English. Books were evaluated according to a point

i i '?v c /ruZLsjsiwfyti'WJMI by KWS system established on criteria determined by the author which ranged

is •• JSC. jffill esw Mr. lyi# was read from five to twenty points. The number of points assigned to a book

was based on the length of the book and the difficulty of reading, ; . .J •. "t ,V . ,• jkf J* X V> •

including both the vocabulary and the sentence constructions. Grades

given for library reading were given on the basis of the number of

points the student accumulated for the grade period. To obtain a *.xf. f ,j>4 • •; . > V.* <8MBl J

crade of A a student was required to earn forty points; thirty points 6 —'

s#isu'14 be Charles Campbell Hughes, to Esgimo Vil^ge in t|e Modern World

(Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, I960), p. 317.

2Hoger Brown, Words and Things (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free

Press, 1958), P« 7&.

36

earned a B, twenty points a C, and ten points a D. This system resulted

in few students choosing the lower point books, especially the five-point

books* Many students chose the most difficult books, the twenty point "• ' •• •• "> ••<#»

ones, even though the vocabulary and general difficulty was beyond their

actual comprehension capabilities*

Table VI, page 37, shows the ten books read the most and how many

students read the book. Actually eleven books are listed as two books

were read by an equal number of students. An interesting and sur­

prising fact brought out in the compilation of which books were read

revealed that few students read mystery books of any type. Mystery

books which are included on the list ares E. C. Bentley' s Trent*a

Last Case which was read by no studentsj Agatha Christie's Remembered

Death read by one student: and Murdered with Mirrors by the same author,

read by two students. The mystery book read by the largest number of

students was Wilkie Collin's The Moonstone, which was read by seven

students. Robert Louis Stevenson's Sr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was read

by three students. Other books included on the list but were read by

no students are: Arthur Conan Boyle's Adventure of Sherlock Holmes,

Doyle's The White Company, Dorothy Sayer's The Nine Tailors and Sayer's

The CwwHhnw of Crime.

Students were requested to name the book on the reading list which

they had most enjoyed reading this year. Selections were so widely

diversified that an attempt to make any kind of compilation would be

impractical. From the eighty students responding, only fourteen

different book titles were repeated. The book mentioned most was

Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, which was named as a favorite by 7.556

37

TABLE VI

BOOKS MOST READ • ''-.--it -It*-;' wore %fw»-1 think

NAME OF BOOK

——.—

AUTHOR NUMBER OF STUDENTS

WHO READ

1. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin i y, m* 33

2. Lorna Doone Richard Blackmore 26

3. David Copperfield Charles Dickens r<'. Ui m 25

4. Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 24

3. Mutiny on the Bounty Charles Nordhoff .?®e$ t 21

6. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 20

7. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte S«t®. * 20

8. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte 17

9. The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith oftes#. L v 15

10. The Mill on the Floss George Eliot 14

11. Jim Davis John Masefield 14

5p», :? - 'A#f8k> -fPS;2: ***•

1 my# e* * ••' "%-••''.-.K cfcw»*iv fey

wr< fey -5.? ^ ***7 '£BM.

... Vi* 7-. IfSESSt*

t:.>*sa*„SS» -.Us SiSlasi^

" fc 18" wf «fal»

.= t. s. E 4«sv *** fee U«l *•&«• book- h* fc*4f-

;*©ok «*e»A "-.oat ie Marfarete

gy 133 of fell# student#.

58

of the students. Three books rank equally for second place, being chosen

by 6.25# of the students, namelyj David Copperfield, Pltcairn's Island,

and Jane Eyre. Only eight other book titles were chosen by more than

one student. Each was chosen by 2.5# of the students. These arei

Lorna Doone, Jim Davis, The Pearl Lagoon, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver

Twist, Mutiny on the Bounty, How Green Was Mjr Valley, and The Last Nine

Days of the Bismark. Also mentioned by the same percentage as being

favorite reading for this year was the play The Barrets of Wlapole

Street.

In addition to the question as to which book read this year was

their favorite one, later students were asked to write a theme on their

favorite book which was read this year. Books chosen to write a theme

on were similar, but not identical, to those books listed on the

questionnaire. Jane Byre was the book chosen most often. Eleven

per cent of the students chose it, the majority being girls. Only one

boy chose it. A Tale of Two Pities was chosen by 7.5#. Two-thirds of

those choosing were girls and one-third were boys. Kidnapped was chosen

by 3.7#, two-thirds girls and one-third boys. Lorna Doone was also

chosen by 3»7#J surprisingly all were boys! Nine other books chosen by

more than one person, being chosen by 2.5# of the group ares David

Copperfield. Mutiny on the Bounty, The Pearl Lagoon, Ivanhoe, The Mill

on the Floss. Of Human Bondage, Great Expectations, The Old Curiosity

Shojo, and Anne Frank—Diary of a Young Girl.

Another question asked the student was to list the book he had

moat enjoyed in his entire life. The book named most is Margaret

Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. It was listed by 11# of the students.

39

Most of Charles Dickens* books were named. The one named most often

was A Tale of Two Cities. It was chosen by 3*7# of the students, Other

books which were chosen by the same percentage of students are:

On the Beach by Nevil Shute, and The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

The only other book mentioned more than once was Mark Twain*e Tom

Sawyer, chosen by 2.5# of the students.

No compilation was made as to the number of books read by each

student. However, every student read the minimum of three books a

grade period or a total of at least twelve books for the school year.

This compared favorably with Brown's statement that the average number

of books read is 1.5 books per month. - • ' ; i : I W M " ''"' i l l * s # f '

There might be some question as to how much the point system

affected the choosing of books. It is quite possible that students

may have chosen "points" instead of books. However, from such a

comprehensive list of titles of more than two hundred books, the fact

that Pride and Prejudice was read by thirty-three of the eighty students

indicated that more than "points" was considered in choosing the books.

Significance should be given to the fact that few mystery books were

chosen from a large selection of that type of reading. This is contrary .

to reading patterns of most students in state side schools. It appears Jfcg' i *v- (4, k ' J /v. $ • • '? • '•/•$ *' AMJFj

likely that the Eskimos* known lack of ability to do abstract thinking "'A

would lesson his enjoyment in attempting to "figure out" the mystery . . . . . • ,

book. It was very surprising to discover that so many of Charles Dickens*

books, with their difficult vocabulary and long sentence, were chosen

4o

by students with below average reading ability.

Although many teachers and educators doubt the reliability of

standardised tests in measuring the achievement of students, particularly

4 bi-lingual students, and Ray labeled them "inappropriate tests,"

these tests do give an accurate basis in regard to student achievement

compared with students of a like grade.

California Achievement Test* Reading

The reading abilities of the Mt. Sdgecumbe senior English students

as measured by the California Achievement Test gives in October 1962

range from a high of 14.9 grade placement to a low of 7.8 grade placement.

The median achievement was 10.8. The upper one-fourth of the group

ranged 12.3 grade placement upward, which at the lowest was slightly

above the norm of 12.1, the grade level at the time the test was given.

This reading test had two divisions1 Comprehension and Vocabulary.

In the Comprehension section, grade placements ranged from 14.8 to 8.4}

the median was 10.9. The lowest score in the upper one-quarter was 12.8.

In the Vocabulary section, scores ranged from 15.4 to 6.1} the median

was 10.5. In the upper one-quarter, the lowest score was 12.5. The

Vocabulary section consisted of four divisions: mathematics, science,

social science, and general. The general section of the Vocabulary

Test consisted of fifteen words. The words used in the "Y" form of

the test (which was the form given seniors) were: declare. spokesman,

node, vivid, morbid, cadence, rebuttal, continuity, hieroglyphic.

Charles K. Ray, Joan Ryan, and Seymour Parker, Alaska Native Secondary School Dropouts (College Alaska; University oT^ySkaTT^) p* xl *

4lV

aomber. palatable, scurrilous, subtle, ludicrous, and atmosphere. Of

these, seven are adjectives which might be assumed to have been learned

through contact with reading in English classes. A disturbing factor

involved in vocabulary building which is extremely difficult for the

bi-lingual student is the enormous number of synonyms present in the

Ehglish language. For instance, a student may be quite aware of the

simple meaning of palatable, "pleasing to the taste" but be unable to

make an association with the word "savory" which is the synonym chosen

by the authors of the California Achievement Test.

X C 'tjj. Essential High School Content Battery Test

ft In April 1963, the Essential High School Content Battery test

was given to Ht. Edgecumbe students. The percentile scores of seventy-v •' "* •- • • •» .* V* V. 4 $

three English IV students who took the test ranged from a high of 9? to

a low of 2 on the English section. Their median percentile was 32. The

upper one-fourth of the class scores ranged from the 52nd percentile ' '' \ - v . ' ° ' : h - , ' V . . k V

upward. The English section of the test included eight divisions with aAtlv-jgigi*;. rm vh»i" rejtsfcely

a total of 249 points. The average number of total points missed was

76. The sections are entitled "Beading for Information," "Vocabulary," >*• • . ihli swsrr*."*16 MM wars, sat

"Business Definitions," "Use of fieferences," "Literature Acquaintance," «r • itvmi, ttjmi a

"Language Usage," "Capitalization and Punctuation," and "Spelling."

°nly those sections relating to reading will be discussed in this chapter.

The other sections which deal more directly with grammar will be con-r: > Pa*? Is * V'oswe'bslary,*

sidered in Chapter V. In part A "Reading for Information," a possible tmome tr&M twit

score was fifteen correct. The average number missed was six. The ' • :r-.•••:& uv v"-I'v t hst

number of points missed ranged from a low of one to a high of eleven.

a*. | Action E, "Literature Acquaintance" consists of quotations from

kZ

specific pieces of literature and asks that the student identify the

correct book from a list of three choices. When the BM form of the

test is used, (the one given to seniors) it is assumed that the student

has read the following fifteen bookst Treasure Island, Little Women, Rip

Van Winkle, Tom Sawyer, The Call of the Wild, Ivanhoe, Kidnapped, Life

With Father. Qone With the W ind, Jane Eyre, David Copper field. An

Old-Fashioned Girl, Penrod, Monsieur Beaucaire, and the play The Merchant

of Venice. The average number missed was 6.7. Scores ranged from a

low of one missed to a high of eleven missed. Part D "Use of References"

consists of twelve possible correct answers. An average of five was

missed, and scores ranged from a high of none missed to a low of nine

missed. Choosing correct answers depended on a knowledge of the following

references: a concordance, The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature,

The World Almanac, The New International Yearbook, Webster's Unabridged

Dictionary, Hammond's New World Atlas, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations,

The Encyclopedia Britannics, Who's Who in America, Roget's Thesaurus,

and the card catalog, "Business Definitions," although rather remotely

connected with English teaching will be considered because it is a type

of word meaning. From a total of twelve possible correct answers, an

average of seven was missed. Correct answers depend upon a knowledge

of the following terms: rent, dividend, principal, market value, par

value, appraised value, dissolution, liquidation, diversification,

debit, cash discount, and installment buying. Part B, is "Vocabulary,"

and includes fifteen words with the direction to choose from four

definitions a word that means the same or nearly the same. Words

given in the BM form are: jubilant, malice, illiterate, lenient, robust.

43

•ocentuate, culprit, magnitude, sequal. dubious, devastate, pugnacious.

elucidate, cumbersome, and havoc. All correct definitions are relatively

simple with the exception of "unwieldy" as a synonym for cumbersome.

The average number missed was six, which is 40# of the group. Scores

ranged from a low of one missed which was made by eight people to a

high of fourteen missed.

The fact that reading abilities of the Mt. Edgecumbe student vary

so widely, from 14.9 grade placement to 7.8 which is a variant of seven

years, made for extreme difficulty in choosing teaching materials for

the group. The vocabulary ability varied even more, from 15.4 to 6.1,

or over nine years. It appeared that the Mt. Edgecumbe student was far

below the American Caucasian student in general reading skills.

i*|f" •*»»->* •«•?' t Mttaf

. « • own

CHAPTER V

•«> ••• £5 , .vr GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION

' • & •

According to Summer Ivee, writing includes at least three

activities: deciding what to say, choosing words and grammatical

constructions to say it, and representing these in symbols.1 Fries,

in his advice to adults on learning a new language, admonished that

the arrangement and form that constitute grammatical materials of a

language were as necessary to empress meaning as were the words.2

Composition writing in the English IV classes at Mt. Sdgecumbe

began the 1962-63 year with precis writing. Papers were corrected

and a compilation of the most frequent errors committed was made.

The most frequent error was the inability to distinguish between

the language of informal speech and the language of writing. Many

slang terms were used. Other errors made numerous times included verbs

consistently written in present tense when the tense should have been

past. Many run—on sentences were used. Most of them were joined by

and. An outstanding example of this error was one paper in which the

student made an entire paragraph of one long sentence. Punctuation

marks used incorrectly or omitted were the comma and the apostrophe.

The apostrophe was generally omitted to show possession and the comma

1Summer Ives, "Grammer and Style," The English Journal, Vol. Ill,

(May, 1963). P. 364. r previews coH^eaStiet. or

^Charles C. Fries, Inching jSSQjSt _jg i language (Ann Arbor, Hichigam Unirersity of Michigan Prase, 19W

Pa 28 5»

45

was frequently used indiscriminately. For instance, it is common

practice to place commas in front of every and regardless of the

sentence construction. All these errors were pointed out and discussed

with the students. Special exercises were given throughout the year

to emphasize correct usage in these points. Other writing included

original essays (personal and explanatory), poetry, short compositions

on various subjects, and letters. The most formal writing consisted

of two library-research papers. One of the most frequent errors in the

research papers in addition to the errors previously noted was the

incorrect division of a word at the end of a line.

Enrichment of vocabulary was encouraged by two methods. The

first method was initiated by the use of records, The set of records

used grouped words into synonym categories, The word was pronounced

and then used in a sentence. Students were given a list of the words

to refer to during the oral presentation. Afterward they wrote original

sentences using the same words. In addition they were reminded to use

as many as possible in their writing and were given extra credit for

so doing. The second method used was a requirement that each student

keep paper and pen near him while he was reading a library book and

hand in a list of at least ten new words from each book that he was to

add to his writing vocabulary. The same method of giving credit for

using the word in themes was employed. •! en of ;c-<hWJ6i /j. etae fcalitaa

Pure grammar lessons were practically never taught, Efforts

were made to link all exercises with either a previous composition or

with one to be written in the immediate future. Fries believed that

conventional school graomer channeled the thinking away from the

46

descriptive approach to language. He further stated that the native

speakers of English have learned to use and react to the contrasts that

mark the functioning parts of speech in English.^ Such premises made

it obligatory to teach English to a bi-lingual student in the functioning

manner. Bi-lingual students would of a necessity have a void in experi­

encing wide usages of English constructions.

x ; •; I 1 m tfffif# California Achievement Test

•' » h * \ , Hkt The "Mechanics of English" section of the California Achievement

Teat given in October 1962 showed a median grade placement of 11.3 tor t» «» * em J was eetdt on fcb# -mmber

the English IV students. The upper one-fourth of the group ranked

13.2 and above, up to a high of 16.4, or more than a grade above the ,

achievement norm of 12.1 at the time the test was given. The lower • • »'¥• ii , - • %% seed

one-fourth of the class ranged from 10.4 down to a low of 8.9. The test

consisted of capitalization, punctuation, word usage, and spelling.

In the capitalization section, from a possible score of forty • -i - - > • •uti 4* , if! . t f " Mi i ti' , * fs»§ t , ">1,4 vy-tt .< • •• •• -« % • .tww .•» •• .aul*.4 v • •» w| v.v*. . . ,jf 4

correct, an average of four was missed. Errors ranged from a low of •' ... C'.$ a

none missed, the score of nine students, to a high of fifteen missed "'*• • .10 "*>• i i v> ' ••• t T-&3S 4 flt*ifeft|§-«

which was the score of only one student.

The total punctuation section consisted of forty possible correct

answers. Scores ranged from a low of one missed, the score of three

persons, to a high of twenty-six which was missed by one person. The

punctuation test included uses of commas, apostrophes, quotation marks,

^Charles C. Fries, The Structure of English (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1952), P* ?4.

hir*y-fi

*7

and colons. Of the possible comma score of twenty-one correct answers,

the average number missed was three. Two students made a perfect score.

Sixteen students missed only one. The highest number missed was nine

whicV. wf<s the score of three people. Of a possible correct score of

seven in the use of the apostrophe, the average number missed was two.

Nineteen people made a perfect score, and one person missed all of

them. The possible number correct in the use of question marks was eight.

The average missed was three. Fourteen people missed none. The highest

number missed was seven, missed by only one person. Since there were

only four colons used in the test, no compilation was made on the number

of errors made in the use of colons.

The section of the test concerned, with word usage had a possible

score of sixty correct. The average missed was 18.9. Two people missed

a low of three. The highest number missed was thirty-one which is slightly

more than half wrong. Two persons made this score.

The spelling section of the test had a possible score of thirty.

The average number missed was eleven. One person made a perfect score.

The highest number missed was twenty-one or almost three-fourths wrong.

Essential High School Content Battery Test —————. —

The divisions of the English section of the High School Content

B,ttery IeBt given in April 196J which related to composition and

grammar, were: "language ueege," "capitalization and punctuation." and

"spelling."

in th. "language usage" section, an average of 21.7 wao miaaed

from a possible score of sixty. The lowest number missed was twelve,

the highest number missed was thirty-five.

k8

In the combined "capitalization and punctuation" section were

sixty correct answers. The average number missed was thirteen. Scores

ranged from a low of six missed to a high of thirty-nine missed.

The section on spelling also had a score of sixty possible

correct answers. The average missed was eleven. The low score was

none missed, and the highest number missed was thirty-two.

In summarizing the grammar and composition weaknesses of the

Mt. Edgecurabe student as revealed by standardized tests, it was easy to

recognize wide variation from the norm in the California Achievement

Test where results were based on grade levels. It was to be noted that

the median for the group at 11.3 grade level was just .7 below the

grade norm of 12.0. However, the lower one-fourth of the group ranged

from 10.b which wad 1.6 grade below the norm to 8.9 which was 3.1

grade level below the norm. In the Essential High School Battery

Content Test the percentile norms as established by the authors for

twelfth grade English were based on *+6,000 students in 288 high

schools in 35 states.' The average for the twelfth grade English

norms was figured from the Table V. 5 and converted from the standard

score to percentiles according to the teat directions. This con­

version showed the average norm percentile scored distribution to range

from the eighty-second percentile downward to the fourth percentile.

The middle 50# of the class ranged from the sixty-fourth percentile

A P Harry and Walter N. Durost, Essential High School Content motions (Yonk.ro-on-Hndnon, New York,

World Book Company, 195lT, P- 10 *

^Ibid., p. 34•

k9

downward to the thirty-ninth percentile. The middle 50# percentile

distribution of the senior students at Mt. Edgecumbe ranged in

distribution from the forty-ninth percentile downward to the nineteenth

percentile. The top of this distribution was fifteen percentiles lower

vtu) w sAxl jus m, anew -XttsiMi&jitt.. finl** than the norm established by the test authors, and the bottom of this

. .. .. . . ... , .. distribution was twenty percentiles lower than the norm.

at >h i« MelegtwwiiA m torn* the totimrtlw

1 sotand • •. ,t Jtogliah their '

ZWsortwS p .«r«er« three tM*0> needed tar a %w«faiK*. %»

PMI l#«tSllW *fett

, . vs- w :xah to e* > &f * *«* Hm "%«**

'jwi -f * « *fc fteww- 'turn w tflM

.t r- «w di«o*«Ao*it #r*l report*, «nd wfci twriftfts*'

{me of -ne afcri . Jjsf : no*** t* ta* #)»**, >•*%

, HigSe i&cshi&ol w®# It' ti#it# I# a di*—

4**UVr X* 4i»e»vered

a w».a MIM % wmw fir**, mat Sfcte* * tpoofetat disrooted

with lips mI «£«•«* iW fUii** *

v.wT rttetorted ingMuh #»u*A *** ®ta Wsiwc-

*» «lwr*» 41*1* ******* "t® *« •*N|

-,=, *u.r* ;*««**«« tta« ***•• "** *** m *** ** *****

hiu.U »<*»». msi is aissiffle ••"« »««•**

CHAPTSH VI v

• « r- V-: SPEECH

'-. v i tTNiiifr/ir.iriri •>•• ., »». .

The chief problem in learning a new language, Fries contended,

was learning the sound system. He further insisted that a person with

a non-English linguistic background must learn to hear the distinctive

sound features of English and practice to approximate their production."^

Backus enumerated three things needed for a teacher to teach effective

speech, namely; knowledge of specific techniques, regular practice, and p

employing useful procedures.- The same author elaborated upon uses of

speech which needed to be mastered if a student was to make the best

use of his abilities in school. These uses weret answ ering questions,

class contributions, class discussion, oral reports, and oral reading.'

One of the striking peculiarities noted in the class climate at

Mt. Edgecumbe High School was unwillingness to participate in a dis­

cussion, or even answer questions orally. It was eventually discovered

that if a student was called by name first, and than a question directed

at him, he would mumble an inaudible reply. Many Mt. Edgecumbe students

manipulated the verbal sounds with lips and teeth half closed so that a

very distorted English sound was produced. The Eskimo student generally

was most reluctant to speak in class. Girls appeared to be much more

taciturn or perhaps more reserved than boys. It may be that the value

t < » v I t m t o a r p l * » f a r a *

^Tries, op. cit.. P» 3.

2011ie L. Backus, Speech in Education (New York: Longmans, Green

and Company, 19^3)» P* 2^'

'ibid., pp. 238-51.

51

in Eskimo society described as "egalitariariso" in Chapter HI had much

to do with this reluctance to speak in the classroom.

The Tiingit student appeared more at ease in speaking in the

classroom than the Eskimo. This characteristic may also be the result

of the home environment of the Tlingit. The Tlingit is said to have

had long-standing close contact with nearby white-communities an

opportunity for great exposure to mass media communication such as

movies, radio, magazines, and newspapers. In the last few years

television has come into some communities of southeastern Alaska.

When oral reports were assigned to classes, at times more than

half of the class members would say, "I don't have one" or more often

just shake their heads when called upon even though a prepared report

was In sight on the student's desk.

Students appeared less reluctant to read orally. It was dis­

covered that practically all of them especially enjoyed the reading

of plays. Perhaps in assuming a character, they forgot themselves.

An innovation which began in the English IV classes this year

was group discussions with a student leader. Before setting up the group,

the author appointed five of the most outspoken students as leaders.

The leaders were asked to choose by listing names on a paper five

persons whom he would like to have on his group. Next, the students

in the room were asked to list as first and second choices the groups

on which they would prefer to work. It was explained that^ as far as

possible, student requests would be granted but that if it were neces­

sary in order to equalize the groups, the teacher would make changes.

After the groups were set up, specific daily assignments were given

52

each group. The assignment often was a short selection from literature,

generally an essay. Sometimes the assignment was a section of a larger

literature unit. The groups met and discussed the assignment. Each

group was to select a reporter (who must be a different person each

day) to give a summary of the discussion of the group in about two

minutes at the end of the class period to t he entire class. This

helped somewhat in encouraging students to talk, however} it was not

uncommon to observe a group with one or two persons in it who were not

talking. The leaders were requested to ask questions of the silent

members of the group so as to bring them into the discussion.

The art of speaking appeared so important to Fries that he stated

that without first mastering a language orally it was extremely doubtful

k if a person would ever be able to read.

A problem which appeared to frustrate the Mt. Edgecumbe student

was the inability to distinugish between various English word meanings.

The student had been accustomed to hearing a word used in one way and

was completely baffled when it appeared in another eontext in written

form. Fries pointed out that the native English speaker used words in

a great range without being conscious of the different senses and in

different contexts. He further stated that few English words have

only on. meaning and that moat .oris ha., fir. to tw.nty moaning..5

Th. vocabulary of many Bt.Sdgacuabe student. appeared to be

,uit. limited. 1h. isolated Sekimo village community life ... not

i r.incr ft laree number of English words. Brown stated conductive to learning a large numce

b o„., p. 6. s2£i-< * *>• Fries, 0£.

53

that the average first grader recognised 10,000 words as he heard them

spoken.' Other authors reported that the average number of basic words

7 known by the twelfth graders was *+7,300 ranging from 28,200 to 73*000.

These numbers unquestionably referred to the recognition vocabulary.

Although no research had been taken to determine the size of the Ht.

Edgecumbe English IV students' speaking vocabularies, it seemed quite

likely that the number of words used would fall far short of the

national average.

The pronunciation difficulty most noticed was the differentiating

between the voiceless £ and the voiced b. The £ was generally given the

b sound by the Eskimo students. It appeared that this difficulty arose

from the Eskimo language characteristics as described in Chapter II. It

was to be noted that b and £ were interchangeable in some word-sentence

constructions. Perhaps the pronunciations had become identical,

The traditional training for the high school English teachers

was insufficient for teaching bi-lingual students. Specialization for

the teacher of speech was emphasized by many writers. Pulgram cited

a professional preparation in linguistics as being required for a good

teacher of language.8 Another author listed the following information

that a teacher needed who was to teach English to foreign students, the

(Bow Sstrut fmmm 8Brown, o£. cit. * P» 65.

Wi ». Gray and Claud. M. W±». BiSSfcf edition, New York: Harper and Brothers, 193 >, -

®Ernst Pulgram (ed.), (Washington D.C.l Georgetown University Press,

5k

rowel and consonant sounds, stress, pitch, juncture, grammatical units,

9 and grammatical constructions. Still another author suggested that •' >!' : .. . ft» ' i

students profit enormously from an immediate correction of their errors

from a direct model of correct speech, The same author insisted

that language learning was a skill and that skills could be acquired

. , ,. 11 only through practice.

y - j. i,, • «? f 4jt a >41 i tw- ? mtd Ijfrwllt

» . ,i r- '• • |.« Mw}«asltr in the

aerearawmt 4* the VMktdift

, II iiThjlfSl itT11 *'*

• «* SHE AERF.AFRRH3D.FCY' <1 JI IRWLIIW^ITT A# THE

;,vi# <&X' » by tise *,11" te i *

• ,t» 4-jtoh & mar tmr tks fww

...» •• « ,<» tr'-'fi;state 'in

?erv « *>»#• thwuwwd fWHf

„,., ?taee pjuhi'liti tit fcJ&fci*

p inif T.l ihMtl

v i.. mXr: Of fc&* •fcji*

• _ T»aehine (New York: Thomas 9 Ed win T. Cornelius, Jr.. Language Teaching

Crowell Company, 1953). P« 159#

"W* B. Dunkel* M <** «" —

nopany, 19^), p.

lipid., p. 150.

• ts g¥"?de

CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions •,

The greatest need for the efficient operation of a democracy

appears to be a populace capable of keeping itself informed on all

phases of government affairs. Surely an ability to read and speak

the English language with facility must be a necessity in the efficient

operation and maintenance of a democratic government in the United

States. The understanding of the spoken and written language is of

no less importance. In addition, the personality development of the

individual citizen can be enhanced or marred by the ability to mani­

pulate language for everyday situations in such a way for the person

to feel confident.

Alaska's admission into the Union as the forty-ninth state in

1959 brought into potential citizenry some several thousand young people

of high school age of a linguistic and cultural background which is

unique. These Alaskan non-Caucasian youth face problems in their

learning the English language. In a democratic society, individual

pupil problems become teacher problems. A summary of the major

findings follows!

Four different ethnic groups were enrolled at Mt. Sdgeeumbe

in English

Aleut.

English rather

2. Ik. grade ik achool at Hick studont. wr. able to opoak

, rather e.eilr «ri«d from "before achool" to grad. olght.

56

-$ The largest bi-li^al speech group among the students was

»Wch amounted to 30* of the SrouF. Inaldltlon 5* ot tho

etndente epoh. only MOmo while at home.

k Inherent in the Eskimo language were certain elements which

tended to make the use of English very difficult, i.e., long polysyllabic

words, importance of suffixes, absence of verb past tenses, nouns

covering the use of English nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, and the

semantic characteristic that the order of words in a sentence was of

no significance*

5. In the Tlingit language singular and plural nouns are the

same and both adjectives and prepositions follow the noun.

6. Eskimo students came from an isolated community where the

culture patterns and customs emphasized non-competitiveness, class

equality, communal use of property, no social tensions, and an extreme

value placed on respect for individual rights.

7. Tlingit students came from a community where rigid castes

were maintained, and early independence of the child was expected.

8. The Aleuts, perhaps because of longer contact with Caucasian

races, tended to have fewer language learning problems in both the

written and oral phases.

9. As so few students are Athapascan and Haida, no generalizations

could be made concerning these cultures.

10. Students came to English IV classes from all types of schools.

11. After living with other ethnic groups in a bearding school

for up to three years, English IV students almost unanimously chose to

work with their own ethnic group.

58

language usage where an average of almost twenty-two was missed from

sixty.

20. Evidences of incorrect pronunciations possibly due to

linguistic background were found as well as an extreme reluctance t©

do oral classroom work.

21. Evidences of below average vocabulary for both written and

v t •, „ Iw i Ifctt spoken English were found*

. . .. * ,«*•# £ '&% . f

Rec ommenda tiona sxtiM;

Possible methods for improvement of existing problems are

recommended as follows!

1. It is believed that the teaching of English could be

aoco«pli.h.d .or. .ff.otir.ly if students of ai»il«r linguistic

u.-„ a. ».r. grouped together In English din.—. »U would

Mk. lt poaalble for th. English t.ach.r to make u.. of building upon

.i«il«riti.s .nd contrasts of th. natir. language of th. stuaent and

.ould tend to .ak. stud.nt difficulties .or. uniform. It must b.

recognized that conoo.itant social problems would not he alleeiated

4f n«. feit that the one hour of in the English class. However, it is felt

i ,mmTiinn would not be detrimental, cultural grouping

• make fflore practice in the use oi Efforts should be made to make

i.he English classes, oral language i rather than

English grammar ahould h. taught hy a structure, rath

a meaning, conceat. phon.tios so that th. h. Special instruction should b. gir«

59

5* ncreased effort should be made bo enlarge the students'

vocabularies so that they may more nearly approximate vocabularies of

native English-speaking students.

Although the difficulties in teaching English are extremely

severe, as all English teachers at Mt. Edgecumbe are led to recognize

problems and aire given time, as veil as proper and sufficient teaching

materials with which to work, a great majority of the problems can be

eliminated. However, action is needed immediately for once a student

leaves Mt. Edgecumbe the probability of his having further opportunities

for improving his English usage and comprehension is greatly curtailed.

The student is likely to become a confused adult attempting to function

in a society that demands a knowledge of the English language as a

basis for everyday experiences. This can only result in a multitude

of social and economic problems for the Native Alaskan.

BIBLIOGBAPHX

A. BOOKS

And*rson, H. Dewey. Alaska Natives. Stanford University, California; Stanford University Press, 1935.

Backus, Ollie L. Speech in Education. New York; Longmans, Green and Company, 19^3»

Birket-Smith, Kaj. The Eskimos. Revised edition. Londoni Methuen and Company, 1959.

Bjerstedt, Ake. Interpretations of Sociometrlc Choiee Status. Copenhagen: Lund C.W.K. Glerrup, 195^.

Brown, Soger. Words and Things. Glencoe, Illinois; The iree Press, 1958.

Collins, Henry 3,, Austin H. Clark, and Egbert H. Walker. The Aleutian Islands; Their People and Natural History. Washington; Smithsonian Institute, 19^5•

Cornelius, Edwin T. Jr. Language Teaching. New York; Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1955*

Dunkel, Harold B, Second Language Learning. Boston; Giim and Company,

19^8.

Fries, Charles Carpenter. Teaching and Learning, Engl**** S£ * goreffio Language. Ann Arbor, Michigan; University of Michigan Press, 19*8.

Gray, Giles W. and Claude M. Wise. The Bases of S£eech. Third edition. New York; Harper and Brothers, 193^«

Harry, David P., and Walter N. Durost. Essentia^ High Scho^ Content Battery Manual of Directions. Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.

Book Company, 1951 •

Hill, Archibald A. introduction to Linguistic Structures. N« York. Hare our t, Brace, and Company, 195".

— IJS^IFNRUSI 0oSge/MU OSI«r^SX«»HOF Publications, 19^7.

Hughes, Charles Campbell. An Eskimo |ill|S® |2 ||| *lodern Worl_. Ithaca, New York; Cornell University Press, I960.

61

Krause, Aurel. The Tllnglt Indians. Seattle; University of Washington Press, 1956. Original publication Jena; IS85.

Pulgram, Ernst (ed.). Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. Washington, D.C.; Georgetown University Press, 195^ »

Ray, Charles K., Joan Ryan, and Seymour Parker. Alaska Native Secondary School Dropouts. University of Alaska, 1962.

Rogers, George W. Alaska in Transition; The Southeast Region. Baltimore; The Johns Hopkins Press, I960.

Rudenko, S. I. The Ancient Culture of the Bering Sea and the Eskimo Problem. Trans. Paul Tolstoy. Toronto, Canada; University of Toronto Press, 1961.

Sapir, Edward. Language. New fork; Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1921.

Thalbitzer, William. Handbook of American Indian Languages. Edited by Franz Boas. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin kQ. Washington, D. C.; Government Printing Office, 1911.

B. PERIODICALS

"Anyone For Eyak," Senior Scholastic. November 29, 1961, p. 19.

Ives, Sumner. "Grammar and Style," The English Journal, LII (May, 1963), 36^-70.

Whorf, Benjamin Lee. "You Can't Snow an Eskimo," The Saturday Review, Vol. M», February h* 1961, p.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX B

1. At what grade in achool did you begin to speak English rather easily?

2. What language does your mother speak in the home?

3. What language does your father speak in the home?

k. What language do you now speak in your home?

5. In what language do you now "think"?

6. List in the order of most difficult, the phase of English IV whieh has been hardest for you: Grammar, Reading, Writing, or Speaking.

7. Of the four phases listed in question 6, which do you feel you have made the most progress in this year?

_8. In which do you feel you have made the least progress?

9. List in the blank how important you feel the mastering of correct English usage, both spoken and written, is to your future success:

very important rather important of little importance of no importance

List any suggestion or suggestions which you believe English teachers at Mt. Edgecumbe might do in order to make English classes more

beneficial for you.