On speaking Amazonian Kichwa authentically

Our paper argues that Amazonian Kichwa language assessment, when based on the evaluative tools provided by IRIS and ACTFL is not culturally appropriate for students whose aims are to learn to speak in culturally appropriate ways and to conduct graduate-level research and scholarship. We examine the evaluative questions used by IRIS in light of case studies from our research as well as our experiences guiding students’ own research. For example, the emphasis on decontextualized, perspective-free, factual statements, on hypothetical statements and questions, and on standard dialects are all culturally inauthentic. Our findings point, instead, to a Kichwa view of language in relation to social and environmental ecology as a salient organizing principle for speakers’ discourse practices, aesthetic expression, and lifeworlds. We conclude with a list of evaluative measures, which will better assess students’ speaking abilities for authentic Kichwa communication.