First started in Fall 2022, the Diné Language Teacher Institute offers undergraduate and graduate students who speak Navajo the opportunity to enroll in a unique teaching certificate program; this is a cohort program offered through the collaboration of the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS), the Department of Native American Studies (NAS), and the Department of Linguistics’ Navajo Language Program (NLP). The goal of this certificate is to equip future Diné language teachers to use immersion methodologies when promoting the use and preservation of the Navajo language in their communities. The 18 hours of coursework for the program, which consists of classes from LLSS, NAS, and NLP, can also be applied towards a degree program in LLSS, NAS, or Linguistics. Students who enroll in this program can receive financial support, potentially including fully paid UNM tuition and fees, while they are in the program.

This certificate is incredibly important for the continued use of Diné Bizaad. Studies show that language loss occurs when two or more generations do not learn the language (Wong-Fillmore, 1991). In the Navajo Nation today, families are on this second or third generation of those who are not proficient in the Navajo language, and this rate of non-proficiency is increasing at an alarming rate.  A variety of factors contribute to this situation; they include the enforced cultural assimilation policies of U.S. federal and state governments, the ethnocentric social and cultural attitudes of non-Native educators and policymakers, the high status of the English language, and the enticement of modern popular culture that requires the primary use of English (Crawford, 1995).  As a result, Navajo youth have been steered toward a preference for only speaking English at the cost of losing their heritage language.  These factors have also severed the intergenerational transmission of the Navajo language and have thus led to few new native Navajo speakers and a lack of young Navajo language teachers. DLTI works to reverse this situation by connecting with community members and supporting them in their efforts to sustain Diné Bizaad.

For more information, please visit the coursework requirements or the DLTI website.