EARLY EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE OKLAHOMA CHOCTAW LANGUAGE COMMUNITY

ABSTRACT The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has implemented some new technological means of teaching the Choctaw language to its dispersed members. After an initial year of telecourses, an Internet course was introduced in 2000 which has served approximately 1,000 students at varying levels of intensity. The design of the course makes direct evaluation of language learning difficult; however, the program has served other goals, such as cultural solidarity and political prestige for the tribal government. The introduction of high technology into the Choctaw Language Program has had other strong effects in facilitating other ventures into high-level preservation, literacy, and pedagogical efforts, the most important of which is putting the Choctaw language into all the public schools in southeastern Oklahoma. The ready acceptance of technology and deliberateness of its introduction is partially attributable to cultural attitudes. INTRODUCTION Within the past two years, the potential for the use of the modern communications media, particularly two-way interactive online conferencing, to teach small and endangered languages has been developed, generally in the media development departments in university settings. It may come as something of a surprise that one Native American political unit, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, decided to implement distance learning of the Choctaw language without outside collaboration and without previous experience in distance learning technologies. This report is a description and analysis of the story of the implementation of an Internet Choctaw language course and its development as a teaching and learning tool. Most important, it describes the effects that the presence of the technology has had upon other departments and services in the Choctaw Nation government and on individuals in the Choctaw communities. This report describes how two distance learning technologies, videoconferencing and interactive Internet, have been appended, if not integrated, into the existing institutions and cultural milieu of Oklahoma Choctaw communities. The problematic nature of evaluation of the objective goal of language learning is discussed, particularly with respect to competing cultural and political goals. This report does not draw on any theoretical models, but will serve instead as one of the first descriptions of the impact of technology on endangered language preservation for later reference and theory formulation. Included in the discussion is pertinent cultural material to the extent that it has shaped the outcome of community response and acceptance of this technology. The report first describes the Choctaw people in a brief historical sketch, then describes the early innovations of the Choctaw Language Program since its institution in 1997. The report focuses on the latest of the program's developments, an Internet-based, live, interactive language instruction program. The problems of curriculum development and especially program evaluation are discussed in light of the challenges that this kind of program encounters. Finally, the report describes far-reaching effects that can be attributed to the presence of the new communications technology, and their shaping by cultural attitudes and practices. THE SETTING To understand and appreciate the effects of current technology on the Choctaw community, it is important to understand something about the history of the Choctaws and new technologies in general. As one of the first native groups to encounter Europeans in the mid-16th century (most notably Hernando de Soto, Tristan de Luna, and Juan Pardo), the Choctaws had yet to learn that eventually Europe would vanquish all natives; nor were they aware of a European agenda beyond the self-evident benefits of trade. Choctaws entered into active trading relationships with different European groups, engaging in the play-off system (White, 1983), wherein the dissension between European groups was exploited for Choctaw gain. …