The Ripple Effects of Forced Assimilation in the Lives of Native Americans
Why the desire to investigate the lives of Native Americans?
In the course ENGL 589 Graduate Seminar Global English; taught by Julia Kim, Ph.D., we studied the effects of English colonization, the history of English, and the expansion of this language explained in the Three Circle Model of English developed by Braj B. Kachru. Granting that Native Americans were not mentioned in the Three Circle Model, they experienced the ripple effects of forced colonization. The purpose of this research, "The Ripple Effects of Forced Assimilation in the Lives of Native Americans," is to attempt to show the catastrophic results when communities are pressured to give up their language, culture, familial roots, and religious beliefs. As early as the 20th-century, theorists have been searching for the process of Second Language Acquisition. Some of these methods could impede or assist when acquiring an L2. It was very enlightening to learn that the language production not only involves the cerebrum but the whole being. How we react to learning could easily be a result of how we feel at the moment. Mental and emotional exhaustion could impact acquiring or producing language. The forced assimilation that Native Americans experienced affected their mind and body, the entire person, destroying their societies. The colonizers used several approaches to enforce assimilation in the lives of Native Americans. The outcome of these methods can point to the destruction of Native American cultures and societies. Being connected with family and community is the link to survival as an individual and as an ethnic group.