Indigenizing vocabulary teaching: an example of multiliteracies pedagogy from Unamen Shipu

This article presents a community-based pedagogical initiative for teaching vocabulary. The research took place in the Innu community of Unamen Shipu in northern Quebec. The study introduced a teaching method grounded in Indigenous knowledge theory that exemplified the multiliteracies pedagogy principles. This exploratory study used participatory action research in which thirty students were exposed to the teaching method. The teaching method was designed and validated by the community-based researcher. The results give insight on how to adapt French language teaching for Indigenous communities. This article analyzes the benefits of including elders, parents, Indigenous knowledge, observation, and storytelling for vocabulary teaching