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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.