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1.
Jo Arthur 《Compare》2001,31(3):347-362
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2.
Many ‘alternative primary education’ programmes operating in the developing parts of the world use children’s first language as the medium of instruction. Programme sponsors often base their vernacular language policy on literature that highlights the cognitive and other benefits that accrue from using children’s first languages as the medium of instruction during their early stages in school. Working within a postcolonial discursive framework the paper examines the attitudes of community members, parents, school authorities and schoolchildren toward the use of the vernacular as a medium of instruction in the Shepherd School Programme, an alternative primary education programme, that has been implemented to provide improved educational access for schoolchildren in seven rural northern Ghanaian agri‐pastoral communities.  相似文献   

3.
Jo Arthur 《比较教育学》2006,42(2):177-202
Drawing on observations and audio‐recordings of classroom language use in two postcolonial societies, the Republic of Botswana in Africa and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in south‐east Asia, this study seeks to explore how teachers and pupils face the challenge of accomplishing teaching and learning using a language which is not their own. In both Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, English is the official language of instruction for some subjects from mid‐primary school level. Unlike many comparative studies which concentrate on the macro or national level, the focus of this study is the micro‐level of classroom interaction. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences across the two contexts in the ways teachers and pupils engage with language(s) through a range of monolingual and bilingual strategies. In comparing the discourses of primary‐level classrooms in Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, the study demonstrates the tensions in the language policies and practices in the two postcolonial countries. The pressure of globalisation has resulted in the privileging of imported over indigenous languages and the study shows the pragmatic responses of the classroom participants in the two contexts.  相似文献   

4.
Reading research has shown that variable relationships exist between measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, depending on whether the language of the text is the reader's first language or an additional language. This paper explores this phenomenon, using reading assessment data for 2,000 Kenyan children in two or three languages: English, Kiswahili and one of two mother tongues, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The assessment data allowed us to compare reading and comprehension rates across languages. The data indicated that many children could read English words more easily than words in Kiswahili or their mother tongue; nevertheless, their reading comprehension was significantly lower in English than in Kiswahili, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The paper concludes that emphasising English reading fluency is an inefficient route to gaining reading comprehension skills because pupils are actually attaining minimal oral reading fluency in English and only modest comprehension skills in their own languages. The evidence also demonstrates that Kenya's national language policy of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early primary grades is consistently ignored in practice.  相似文献   

5.
This paper reports on the multilingual background, language education policies and practices in Lebanon. Specifically, it shows how the multilingual make-up in the country is translated into language policies in schools. A survey of 30 private school principals, middle managers and teachers was administered online to obtain their views on school policies, problems, successes, concerns and quality ranking. Results showed that a great deal of work has been done to introduce a language of instruction and a third language as decreed by the Ministry of Education and at the same time keep the national language, Arabic, alive. The main concerns of the participants were the need for teacher training programmes and resources. Although the research implies that the school systems, in keeping up with this multilingual milieu, could be contributing to the death of the national language as well as producing students who are not fluent in any of the languages, there continues to be an attempt to keep alive a quality multilingual educational context which contributes to a cohesive society.  相似文献   

6.
Rurally situated minority groups in Southeast Asia, especially those with nomadic backgrounds, such as the Penan in Borneo, have received relatively little scholarly attention with regard to language knowledge and use, language education and levels of achievement in formal learning contexts. When individuals from these small, as well as socially, politically and generally economically vulnerable groups enter formal education, they are almost inevitably immersed in school settings where the medium (or media) of instruction are either second or foreign languages, and where they receive little or no second or foreign language support for their immersion or, rather, submersion experience. These minorities, in this case the Penan of Brunei, frequently attain (unnecessarily) poor academic results for reasons that are posited and discussed in subsequent pages. This article depicts the environment of Penan in Sukang, in the southern part of Brunei, and describes ways in which the Penan are affected by aspects of the context they inhabit, including national policies, in terms of language and social categorization. This is part of a larger consideration of ways in which Penan have been adapting to settlement, since they gave up a nomadic hunting and gathering existence (Sercombe, 2007), a significant aspect of which is processes of socialization and ways in which formal education has impacted on the lives of Penan in Brunei. The paper begins with an outline of the locality, physical and social, and goes on to describe the language ecology of this part of Brunei. It then considers more closely the local school and its role, as a conduit for the implementation of national policy, and ways in which this affects Penan children's educational progress, as well as suggesting strategies that might be implemented for the benefit of all stakeholders.  相似文献   

7.
With increasing numbers of students learning science through a second language in many school contexts, there is a need for research to focus on the impact language has on students’ understanding of science concepts. Like other countries, Brunei has adopted a bilingual system of education that incorporates two languages in imparting its curriculum. For the first three years of school, Brunei children are taught in Malay and then for the remainder of their education, instruction is in English. This research is concerned with the influence that this bilingual education system has on children’s learning of science. The purpose was to document the patterns of Brunei students’ developing understandings of the concepts of living and non-living things and examine the impact in the change in language as the medium of instruction. A cross-sectional case study design was used in one primary school. Data collection included an interview (n = 75), which consisted of forced-response and semi-structured interview questions, a categorisation task and classroom observation. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results indicate that the transition from Malay to English as the language of instruction from Primary 4 onwards restricted the students’ ability to express their understandings about living things, to discuss related scientific concepts and to interpret and analyse scientific questions. From a social constructivist perspective these language factors will potentially impact on the students’ cognitive development by limiting the expected growth of the students’ understandings of the concepts of living and non-living things. A paper accepted by Research in Science Education, August, 2006.  相似文献   

8.
Papua New Guinea (PNG), an independent state in the southwest Pacific, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. Its roughly six million people speak over 800 distinct languages. In spite of this diversity, in 1995 the Papua New Guinean government established a mother tongue-based bilingual education programme in which community languages are taught as a subject and used for instruction in the first three?years of formal education. English is introduced as a subject in the third year of school and becomes one of the languages of instruction, with the community language, in early primary. In grades seven and eight, teachers use only English for instruction, although community languages can still be used informally. By the early 2000s, over 400 languages were being used in PNG??s formal education system. This paper describes the background to PNG??s bilingual education programme, then provides an overview of its main features and the positive outcomes as well as the problems encountered since it was initiated 15?years ago.  相似文献   

9.
Language-in-education policies are a highly debated topic in Africa and at the root of understanding inequalities in Africa's education systems. This article explores the implementation of Uganda's recent local language education policy; how it has been received and practiced in urban and rural contexts, and the major challenges and implications addressed by education stakeholders in each context. The study confirms that the use of local languages as the language of instruction has contributed to the improvement of literacy skills, children's participation in lessons, and their understanding of content. Nevertheless, the local language policy was fiercely disputed by teachers, parents and various authorities at district and national levels, as many appeared to be concerned with the policy constraining children's academic success at upper primary levels and limiting their transition to secondary education. Through the study, the authors highlight critical misconceptions and assumptions in language-in-education within both policy development and in local education practices and perceptions. The article points to a review of language-in-education in its entirety; across mediums of instruction and assessment for lower and upper primary levels; across teaching methodologies for second language acquisition in multilingual environments; and across socio-economic divides in rural and urban regions of the country.  相似文献   

10.
The authors of the present article are engaged in a research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. In this project the language policies of Tanzania and South Africa, as well as the practices of these policies in the classroom are analyzed. The article gives some preliminary results from the project. While the language policies of Tanzania are described as confusing, contradictory, and ambiguous, the language policies of South Africa seem clearer and more progressive. In Tanzania, Kiswahili is seen as the national language, while both Kiswahili and English are official languages. The issue of language has, however, disappeared from the constitution in Tanzania. In the constitution of South Africa, 11 languages are official and seen as equal. But when it comes to practice in the classroom in both countries, the majority of the learners struggle to learn academic content because of the foreign medium that is used as the language of instruction from secondary school onwards in Tanzania and already from the fourth grade in primary school in South Africa. The research reported here shows that whatever the official policies may be the teachers in the classrooms will use whatever language they and their students feel most comfortable with. Examples are given here of the coping strategies teachers and learners use in both countries like translations, code-mixing and code-switching. At the end of the day the learners have to write their exams in English however. The language in education policy in most African countries lead many African pupils to fall even further behind. What seems to be a learning problem or a matter of bad grade, drop out and repetition is really a language problem.  相似文献   

11.
This paper presents an historical overview of issues around the language of instruction and the curriculum of mother‐tongue education for the Swedish‐speaking minority in Finland during the half‐century after the establishment of the public school in 1866. In a linguistic‐ and culturally‐diverse society like that of Finland it has not been self‐evident that the question of language as a medium of instruction and as a school subject would be understood and shared in the same way by Finns and Swedes. This paper focuses on two collective themes, homogenization and differentiation. Homogenization stands for forces aiming at securing equal opportunities for education, regardless of vernacular languages and cultures. Differentiation refers to the possibility of accommodating the education to specific needs of the Swedish‐speaking population.  相似文献   

12.
In this study, we examine how bilingual students in elementary school use their languages and what this means for their meaning-making in science. The class was multilingual with students bilingual in different minority languages and the teacher monolingual in Swedish. The analysis is based on a pragmatic approach and the theory of translanguaging. The science content was electricity, and the teaching involved class instruction and hands-on activities in small groups. The findings of the study are divided into two categories, students’ conversations with the teacher and student’s conversations with each other. Since the class was multilingual, the class instruction was carried out in Swedish. Generally, when the conversations were characterised by an initiation, response and evaluation pattern, the students made meaning of the activities without any language limitations. However, when the students, during whole class instruction, were engaged in conversations where they had to argue, discuss and explain their ideas, their language repertoire in Swedish limited their possibilities to express themselves. During hands-on activities, students with the same minority language worked together and used both of their languages as resources. In some situations, the activities proceeded without any visible language limitations. In other situations, students’ language repertoire limited their possibilities to make meaning of the activities despite being able to use both their languages. What the results mean for designing and conducting science lessons in a multilingual class is discussed.  相似文献   

13.
This article examines some of the problems concerning the language of instruction in higher education within Europe and relates them to the African context. The author argues that there is reason to be worried about the spread of the use of English as a language of instruction in higher education, to the detriment of the smaller European languages in particular. The article gives an insight into the Norwegian and Swedish debate on the issue of domain loss to English in higher education. Towards the end, the article examines the language situation within the European Union. Here politicians publicly stress the need to maintain all the languages of the EU as part of the community’s wealth, but the reality appears to be different, as the EU is marked by the ever greater predominance of just one language, English.  相似文献   

14.
This article deals with the fact that most children in Africa are taught in a language neither they nor their teachers master, resulting in poor education outcomes. While there are also donor interests and donor competition involved in retaining ex-colonial languages, as well as an African elite that may profit from this system, one of the main reasons why teaching in ex-colonial languages persists lies in the fact that a large proportion of the general public still believes that the best way to learn a foreign language is to have it as a language of instruction. By contrast, research studies conducted in Africa, as well as examples from Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia, have shown that children actually learn mathematics and science much better in local and familiar languages. Though the recent World Bank Education Strategy policy paper is entitled Learning for All, it does not specify which language learning should take place in. A claim one often hears in countries of so-called Anglophone Africa is that English is the language of science and technology, and that teaching these subjects through English (instead of teaching English as a subject in its own right as a foreign language) is best. The monolingual island of Zanzibar is in fact about to reintroduce English as the language of instruction in maths and science from grade 5 onwards in primary school. The author of this paper suggests that when it comes to language policy, some African and some Asian countries could learn from each other.  相似文献   

15.
加拿大和香港的双语教育都有着悠久的历史.加拿大法语浸入式双语教育和香港EMI双语教育表面上有很大的相似度,然而,从本质上来看,两地的语言环境、双语师资、双语教育的类型以及第一语言和第二语言的相似度之间都有很大的差异.这些差异导致了两地双语教育的效果也大相径庭.通过对两地双语教育的分析比较,对我国大陆开展的双语教学是有借鉴作用的.  相似文献   

16.
The national language Bangla (Bengali), which is spoken by 98% of the people, is foundational to the nation of Bangladesh as a nation. Language played a crucial role in the struggle for independence from Pakistan which was finally successful in 1971. The medium of instruction in state‐provided basic education is Bangla. Nevertheless, as in the colonial period a significant part of the elite is educated in English medium schools and subject to British‐determined curriculum and assessment. English medium private education carries the highest prestige, and the private sector is dominant in secondary education. The role of English is now being enhanced by globalization, which threatens a cultural recolonization of Bangladesh, and by World Bank strategies designed to promote the private school sector. The article discusses these problems and explores elements of a language policy that might be able to enhance both Bangla literacy and competence in English.  相似文献   

17.
The past three decades have witnessed rapid growth and expansion in higher education. This study attempts to throw some light on the extent to which Saudi universities have attracted national faculty to match the level of increase in students' enrollment. Another important issue which is discussed in this article is the extent to which Arabic, the national language, is used as a medium of instruction in Saudi universities.Saudi government publications, as well as some international statistical documents, have been utilized in evaluating the possibility of achieving a national faculty and the possibility of using Arabic as the medium of instruction. Practical suggestions are offered to help the higher educational system in Saudi Arabia overcome some of the current problems.  相似文献   

18.
This article investigates university students’ attitudes and perceptions about language in a multilingual country where most instruction is in English and annual national literacy results have been declining for at least 15 years. Despite this decline, English seems to be entrenched as the language of instruction, and at university it seems a foregone conclusion that instruction will occur in English. Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital is offered as an explanation for the preponderance of English, but the question is posed: Is the dominance of English as simple as desiring linguistic capital? Do students really regard English as critical to success, and if so, is it to the exclusion of their home languages? The results show that students invest considerable effort in learning English, but not to the exclusion of their home language and with little desire to assimilate with the English culture. The results also provide interesting and sometimes contrasting insights into students’ desired language of instruction.  相似文献   

19.
The two decades from 1950 to 1970 were a crucial period of educational reorganization in Malaysia that stemmed from the decolonization after the Second World War. This educational reorganization sought to address the perennial issue of nation building via educational language policy. The development of Chinese education was under severe threat as the British colonial government opted for a national school system that used English and Malay as the media of instruction in place of the segregated vernacular school system that had existed during the colonial period. Much to the relief of the Chinese, the national school system failed to materialize due to the lack of financial resources to reorganize the entire educational system. But the Chinese were unable to maintain the Chinese school system within the ambit of the national educational system advocated by the postcolonial Alliance government. The Alliance government had only allowed the Chinese to undergo Chinese education at the primary level. At the secondary level, it opted for a monolingual system of education based on Malay as the main medium of instruction in order to foster national integration through a common language. The Chinese had to switch to this medium of instruction if they wanted to remain in mainstream education. Such a system of transitional bilingual education was aimed at incorporating the Chinese into the nation building process.  相似文献   

20.
This article analyses four narratives told by four teachers teaching science subjects in four different public secondary schools in the district of Gampaha in Sri Lanka. Gampaha is the second most populous district in Sri Lanka, and is known for excellent results in General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) exams which school leavers sit at the end of the secondary school cycle. The teachers’ narratives focus on the policy and practice of teaching science subjects through English at secondary level, which was reintroduced in a small number of selected government schools in Sri Lanka in 2002. After using the two local languages, Sinhala and Tamil, for nearly half a century, the Sri Lankan education authorities decided to bring back the English medium to the teaching of science subjects at secondary level as a third language option. One of the policymakers’ reasons was an apparent decline in the English-language fluency of students at this level. To implement the new policy, science teachers (who had themselves been taught in Sinhala or Tamil) were asked to teach in English. More than a decade into the English-medium option, the author interviewed four of them. Their testimonies about their experiences in teaching science subjects offer valuable insights into the difficulties experienced by both teachers and students when teaching and learning in a foreign language such as English. The author’s analysis of his respondents’ statements reveals hidden realities which challenge the benefits of reintroducing English as a medium of instruction (MOI) for science subjects. Thus, the lived experiences of the teachers may help to inform language policy in education in Sri Lanka, and perhaps also in other countries.  相似文献   

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