Developing a Hla’alua Learner’s Guide: In Search of an Auxiliary Remedy for Hla’alua Revitalization (Exegesis) and A Hla’alua Learner’s Guide (Creative component)

Abstract

This study contains a Learner’s Guide to Hla’alua (See
 Appendix A), a moribund Austronesian language in Taiwan, and an
 exegesis of this work. Language shift has taken place in the
 Hla’alua community, consequently only few fluent speakers
 remain. Most people speak Mandarin, Southern Min and Bunun on a
 daily basis (Chiu, 2008; Kuo, 2012; Pan, 2012) and no longer use
 Hla’alua for everyday communication. While the government is
 supportive of language revitalization, the current revival
 program targets children only, and the outcomes of revitalization
 remain uncertain (Kuo, 2012). This research aims to identify the
 gaps and customize complementary language learning materials for
 Hla’alua adults as an auxiliary remedy to the situation. 
 
 The project reviews the language ecology, the language education
 and the pedagogical materials available for the community.
 Additionally, the author evaluates the Australian experience of
 compiling Indigenous Australian language grammars. The analysis
 identifies a need to develop a Learner’s Guide for adult
 learners, which explains the spelling system and transforms the
 existing reference grammar (Pan, 2012) into an accessible 
 grammar. It is designed for community members to learn the basics
 of Hla’alua on their own, as there is limited access to native
 speakers and lack of trained teachers. Also, the Learner’s
 Guide incorporates multilingual resources to enhance learning
 outcomes. Since the target learners are exposed to other
 languages, methods of 
 teaching literacy in their first language (Taiwanese Mandarin)
 and techniques of teaching English as a foreign language are
 utilized to accelerate learners’ progress. This project makes a
 contribution to Hla’alua language revival and provides insights
 into development of learning materials for other endangered
 languages in Taiwan.