Transcript Slide 1
Jessica Ball, MPH, PhD.
School of Child and Youth Care
University of Victoria, Canada
International Conference on Language:
Enhancing Language Ability and Language Education
Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China
June 5-6, 2014
Voice, Inclusion, Retention
Hear all children’s voices in the languages they bring with
them to school
Include minoritized and marginalized children in
Education for All
Retain the rich repositories of cultural knowledge and
languages that remain in the world today
Language diversity promotes participation
“The protection and promotion of mother languages are keys
to global citizenship and authentic mutual understanding.
Recognizing local languages enables more people to make
their voices heard and take an active part in their collective
fate.”
Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO
Mother languages connect hearts and minds
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that
goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that
goes to his heart.”
Nelson Mandela
What? Mother tongue based Multilingual
education (MTB-MLE)
MTB-MLE is the pedagogical practice of relying primarily
on the first language that learners’have acquired at home
as a foundation for learning, with introduction of a second
language in part of the curriculum, often as a formal subject
of study, until children have become fully literate at the
end of primary school.
“First Language First” (UNESCO, 2005)
What’s the problem?
Language Politics
Some children’s mother tongue is privileged in education.
Other children’s mother tongue is dismissed, denied, or
given only token support.
Policy - Research Gap
Rigorous research showing that children have the capacity
to learn multiple languages and that this capacity is
enhanced by MTB-MLE still does NOT inform languagein-education policy, pedagogy, and teacher training in
some countries.
Education for assimilation
In some countries, the dominant language is promoted to
children and parents as
Normative
Desired
High status
Required for success in school
Subtractive education
Children arrive at school with a precious resource: their
home language.
Education systems in some countries continue to neglect or
deliberately stamp out this capacity. Some even encourage
parents to use the language of instruction at home so that
children can be more ‘school ready.’
The manufacture of marginalization
53+ million children are not enrolled in school
Many millions fail in early school grades
Most are ethnolinguistic minority girls
Proof of concept
Learning in one’s home languages improves engagement in
school and learner self-efficacy
Young children can learn more than one language.
Bilingual learning does not ‘take up more space’ in a child’s
brain.
Bi/multilingual learning produces cognitive benefits
And metalinguistic skills that make it easier for older children
to learn subsequent languages
The science is unequivocal: those who refuse to believe it are
burying their heads in the sand.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Continuity is critical to optimize potential
Mother tongue as the primary language of instruction throughout
primary school, until children can read to learn
Introduce additional languages as subjects of study until children are
fully literate in their mother tongue.
Children can readily transition to a second (or third) language as the
language of instruction after they are fully literate in their mother
tongue (e.g., in secondary school)
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
MTB-MLE promotes Education for All
Research shows that MTB-MLE promotes rather than detracts from:
Learner engagement and success
Ethnolinguistic minority parents’ support for education
Dominant language parents’ support IF parents are given accurate
information about benefits to their child’s innate multilingual capacity,
cognitive development, and future prospects
“Local languages are perfectly capable of transmitting the most modern
scientific knowledge in mathematics, physics, technology and so on.”
Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO
Lo Bianco, J. (2013). Language planning and student experiences: Intention, rhetoric and implementation. Multilingual Matters.
MTB-MLE promotes Millenium Development Goals
Universal primary education
Child rights
Gender equality
Poverty reduction
Maternal and child health
Global partnerships for sustainable development
National unity and security
Achieve universal primary education
Sandy Barron, Why language matters for MDGs, for the Multilingual Education Working Group based at UNESCO Bangkok (2012)
Promising policies supporting MTB-MLE pedagogy
Philippines, Canada, some states in USA, some states in
India, Pakistan, Cambodia, South Africa, Papua New
Guinea, Wales, Ireland......
Funding to implement MTB-MLE language policies
informed by research evidence
Recruit and train MT teachers
Teach teachers the mother language used in communities
Develop MT textbooks and other learning materials
Best wishes for success in the important work that you do!
謝謝 / 谢谢
(Mandarin)
Thank you
HISWKE SIAM
(Sencoten)
Thank you good people
Merci
(French)
Thank you
Find out more: www.ecdip.org/reports/
[email protected]
Ball, J. (2010). Educational equity for children from diverse backgrounds:
Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in the early
years. Paris: UNESCO.
http://www.unesco.org/en/languages-in-education/publications/
MTB-MLE Network website: http://www.mlenetwork.org/
Book Corner:
Benson & Kosonen (Eds). (2013) Language issues in comparative
education: Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and
cultures. Sense Publishers.
Skutnabb Tangas, T. (2013). Linguistic genocide – or worldwide diversity and
human rights? Routledge.