SoundHunters: Increasing Learner Phonological Awareness in Plains Cree

Indigenous languages have been dying out due to colonial practices that limited and even punished their use. For this reason, there is a need to support the maintenance and revitalization of these languages as part of the reconciliation process. However, there has been little research to guide the use of technology in supporting language revitalization. To contribute to this process, this study investigated the use of a novel e-learning activity for a specific Indigenous language - Plains Cree (nehiyawewin). This activity, SoundHunters, targets the development of learner phonological awareness (i.e., their ability to understand and manipulate sounds in a language) through game play. A mixed-methods study was used to measure learning and explore learner experiences. Learner performance on a transcription task, which required the mapping of sounds to characters, improved following SoundHunters use. The nature of learner errors indicates the development of learners’ interlanguage and provides evidence of transfer from English to Cree. Additionally, learners enjoyed the activity while finding it appropriately challenging. These results show the potential for using adaptive technology to support learning in low-resource settings, such as those that exist for most Indigenous languages.