This project, developed within the CREDIBLE framework, aims to enhance children's literature in Khoekhoegowab by creating an engaging, culturally relevant story, aligned with the local social studies curriculum for Grades 4 and 5. Despite Namibia's multilingual policy, Khoekhoegowab remains under-resourced, resulting in low literacy rates and limited contemporary reading materials for young learners. The dominance of English and Afrikaans in education, coupled with an English-only policy from Grade 4 onwards, hinders literacy development and the maintenance of Indigenous languages. To address these challenges, the project produced a new story and related activities that integrate Indigenous knowledge, map-reading, and translanguaging pedagogy, guided by the HEART model of biliteracy as the pedagogical framework for activity design. The initiative involved a preliminary survey of local teachers to identify their needs and expectations, ensuring the materials are relevant and practical for classroom use. The story was disseminated through multiple channels—printed copies, audio broadcasts on local radio, and community library workshops—to engage learners with diverse learning preferences and promote community involvement. Pilot activities, including a radio broadcast and a library workshop, provided initial feedback from teachers, learners, and community members, informing further refinement of the resources before school-wide implementation. The project also emphasizes collaboration with teachers, librarians, and community media to raise awareness and support sustainability. By grounding its approach in the participatory and ethical principles of the CREDIBLE framework, and operationalizing these through the HEART model, the project seeks not only to improve Khoekhoegowab literacy outcomes but also to foster community pride and intergenerational learning. Ultimately, the project calls for education that is sensitive to Indigenous knowledge systems and languages, advocating for curricula that integrate local perspectives. By prioritizing these elements, future teacher development can foster richer, more inclusive learning and strengthen Khoekhoegowab's role as a living language in both classroom and community contexts.
This article provides detailed analysis of the “Language Travels” project in Paimo Village, Guizhou Province, China. Grounded in the CREDIBLE framework, the project prioritizes three pillars, including cultural authenticity, participatory design, and microeconomic sustainability. As the Miao language is facing a decline of intergenerational transmission due to urbanization, Mandarin dominance and insufficient institutional support, this project targets the revitalization of Miao language as well as its socioeconomic marginalization with integration of language learning and cultural immersion. This project comprises a 2-day language travel program that combines experiential pedagogy, interactive cultural activities, and community-led economic initiatives. By demonstrating how endangered languages can thrive as cultural-economic assets, this project provides a replicable framework for global language revitalization, emphasizing that linguistic survival depends on embedding languages within living cultural ecosystems, which includes pedagogy, tourism, and community agency intersection. This project integrates hands-on cultural activities such as batik creation with language instruction, creating an immersive experience that resonated deeply with visitors. Local artisans gained greater visibility, while traditional practices such as batik production reached broader audiences. This project promotes local income through tourism activities and sales of cultural products, and creates a sustainable model linking cultural tourism with language preservation, which generated new economic opportunities for Paimo Village. When language use provides financial benefits, it creates substantial opportunities to improve its status in prestige planning efforts.
This CREDIBLE report presents the development of a practical toolkit designed to support professionals in public and third-sector organizations in adapting digital resources for autistic users. Informed by a linguistic ethnography framework, the project moves beyond deficit-based models of autism to foreground a difference-oriented understanding of autistic communication. The research employed a multistage methodology comprising discourse analysis of social media posts, semi-structured interviews, participatory design workshops with autistic adults, and focus groups with third- and public-sector professionals. A key contribution of the project lies in its co-creative and participatory design, which positioned autistic individuals as expert collaborators. This methodological orientation ensured that the toolkit's recommendations are grounded in lived experience and attuned to recurrent challenges such as sensory overload, ambiguity in digital cues, and uncertainty around audience or interaction norms. The linguistic analysis in the first stage of the project identified recurring strategies employed by autistic social media users, such as elaboration for clarity and a preference for directness. This was followed by the second stage of participatory workshops. Results from both stages informed practical guidance for the design of more accessible digital environments in the resulting toolkit. Overall, the project illustrates the value of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of applied linguistics and human–computer interaction design in supporting more equitable and inclusive forms of digital participation.
This report documents the design and implementation of Fit Kids, Bright Futures , a school-based, community-informed project that supports children's critical food literacy by helping them recognize and question common “weasel words” on food packaging. Grounded in the CREDIBLE approach and informed by Positive Discourse Analysis and the Teaching and Learning Cycle, the project offers co-designed classroom and home-based materials developed through stakeholder consultation and iterative refinement. This report presents the project rationale, design logic, teaching sequence, materials suite, implementation notes, and reflective insights to inform adaptation in other contexts.
