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Language for Itself
and Inand For Development
Sheldon Shaeffer
Cagayan de Oro, PhilippinesMarch 18, 2010
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Linguistic Diversity in AsiaCountry Languages
Uzbekistan 39
Tajikistan 33
Kyrgyzstan 32
Bhutan 35
Singapore 31
Turkmenistan 27
Cambodia 25
Timor Leste 19
Brunei 17
Japan 16
Mongolia 15
Sri Lanka 7
Korea, South 4 Maldives 2
Korea, North 1
TOTAL: ~ 3572(Source: Ethnologue 2009)
Country Languages
P.New Guinea 830 Indonesia 722
India 445
China 296
Philippines 181 Malaysia 145
Nepal 127 Myanmar 116
Vietnam 108
Lao PDR 89
Thailand 85
Pakistan 77
Iran 79 Afghanistan 52
Bangladesh 46 Kazakhstan 43
(30 countries)
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Number of Languages
spoken in Asia
-Of the worlds more than 6000 languages, 50% are dying, 40% areendangered, and only 10% are safe.
- 96% of these languages are spoken by only 4%of the worlds population.
- Most of the endangered languages are spoken by ethnic minorities.
- If nothing is done, these languages and their cultures will likely die.
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When a language dies -- we lose a piece ofknowledge, of human thought, and of world-view and it cannot be replaced.
Languages in danger must be revitalised andfurther developed because:
they are needed to maintain cultural andlinguistic diversity for a sustainable future
they express identity, hold history, andtransmit culture
they contribute to the sum of human andcultural knowledge
they are essential for human and socialdevelopment and for the fulfillment of
human rights
Why languages cannot be allowed to die
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What do we know? (1)
A language can survive and thrive only if it
has a strong presence in the education
system.
But most education systems are
inappropriate for, or even hostile to,indigenous and minority groups and their
languages.
Large numbers of learners are forced to learn
in a language (official or international) that isdifferent from the language they speak at
home.
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What do we know? (2)
People only learn to read once.
It is therefore essential both to keepcultures and their languages strong and
intact and to increase school successthat early education and initial literacy be
provided in the learners first language or
mother tongue which then makes it easier
to master national and internationallanguages.
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What do we know? (3)
Learners must begin school from where they
are in their home language -- and NOT ina language they do not know.
It is very difficult to teach people to read andwrite in a language they dont understand.
The starting point of learning how to readand write is the language of the learnerbeginning with the known and movingprogressively to the unknown.
Skills in the first language of literacy shouldbe consolidated before the second is
mastered - preferably during at least three
years of study.
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What do we know? (4)
A strategy of multilingualism beginning
with mother-tongue mastery producesbetter learning outcomes and higher ratesof internal efficiency higher enrolment,less repetition, lower drop-out rates, higher
achievement.
Education for All can only be achievedwith a strategy of mother tongue-based
multilingual education without it, toomany children will not enter school, will fail,
and will drop out or be pushed out -- of the
education system.
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What do we know? (5)
Using mother tongue also:
builds initiative and participation in learning
stimulates the production of materials in
home languages
inserts local knowledge into the classroomfacilitates integration into broader social,
cultural, and economic contexts
contributes to the individual and collective
development of often excluded people
can improve relations between political
leaders and the multilingual population of a
country
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Learners whose
mother tongueis
thelanguage ofinstructionand
literacyin
education.
Learners who do
not speakthe
standard school
languageusedwhen they enter
school
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MLE for building a strong foundation and
a good bridge in multilingual contexts
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The development of MLE in Asia
Slowly, over time, MLE based on mother-
tongue is making progress in Asia. Supportive Ministry of Education policies exist
in Cambodia, Singapore, China, Bangladesh,
India, Nepal, Afghanistan, New Zealand,
Australia, and especially! -- the Philippines.
Many private systems use the approach inMyanmar.
Ministries in Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste,Central Asia, and the Pacific are showing
greater willingness to experiment with MLE.
And a new national language policy in Thailandsupports minority languages in education.
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Problems and solutions (1)
The lack of orthographies and alphabets
BUT new alphabets can be developed, atrelatively low cost, often using the script of the
national language
The cost and expertise to create instructionalmaterials and to recruit and train teachersfrom, or in, minority languages
BUT materials and texts can be produced
locally and cheaply, especially for the earlygrades, using teachers and community
members as resources
AND teacher trainees from linguistic minorities
can be found and trained
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Problems and solutions (2)
The so-called underdevelopment of
some languages and their inability toexpress complicated ideas and concepts
BUT most can express the ideas and
concepts needed for gaining initial literacy
and languages, too, can grow! Indifference and even opposition from
within minority communities themselves
BUT they can be convinced that:oral use of a mother tongue is not the
same as or as good as -- literacy
mother tongue literacy can lead to
greater mastery of the national language
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Problems and solutions (3)
Indifference even active opposition
from dominant political and economicgroups -- the fear of divisiveness and conflictand the overriding goal of national unity
BUT recognising and valuing linguistic and
cultural diversity can reduce inter-culturalstrife and make excluded groups feel more
loyal toward the state
AND gaining initial literacy in mother
tongue can lead to greater mastery of the
national language and greater contributions
by linguistic/cultural minorities to the social
and economic development of the nation
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Language and development
Languages and the cultures that go with them are:
important in themselves
essential in the immediate development process to ensure that development programmes are
appropriate for, and owned by, indigenous,excluded communities
necessary for longer-term development byguaranteeing that cultural and linguistic diversity
are part of our sustainable future
Food cooked in borrowed pots never kills
hunger
Sozinho Francisco Matsinhe, Mozambique
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So what to do?Internationally
The United Nations Declaration on theRights of Indigenous Peoples (Article 14)
states that:
indigenous individuals, especially children,
have the right to all levels and forms of
education of the State, without
discrimination...where possible...in theirown culture and provided in their own
language
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The Universal Declaration on CulturalDiversity recognizes a strong relationship
among biodiversity, cultural diversity, andlinguistic diversity. UNESCOs action plan for
this Declaration recommends:
sustaining the worlds linguistic
diversity and supporting the expressionand dissemination of the greatest possible
number of languages
encouraging linguistic diversity at alllevels of education
incorporating traditional pedagogies intothe education process
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recruiting and training teachers familiarwith the life of their people and able to
teach in their mother tongue supporting bilingual and / or multilingual
education at all levels as a means ofpromoting both social and gender equality
and as a key element of linguisticallydiverse societies
respecting the educational rights of
minorities and indigenous peoples using mother tongue education to raise
awareness of the positive value of culturaland linguistic diversity
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Nationally and locally
create networks of researchers, practitioners,NGOs, government officials, and politicians
legislate to ensure mother tongue-based MLE
advocate at all levels, from politicians andpolicy-makers to community leaders and parents
collect evidence of the impact of MLE onacademic, social, economic, and cultural
outcomes
develop orthographies and support MLE-based school curricula and texts and popularliterature
adopt affirmative action for recruiting and
educating teachers from ethnic minorities
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Desired outcomes of this conference (2)
To understand and appreciate that:
through greater integration, excluded indigenouscommunities can contribute more to economicand social development
local communities need to have a significant
influence on the governance of their educationprogrammes and the determination of the
content and methods of instruction
language development and revitalisation areuseful entry points for broader-based
development and essential for the full realisation
of the Education for All targets and the
Millennium Development Goals
Ad Kit f P ti MLE
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Advocacy Kit for Promoting MLE
To facilitate awareness
raising on the value of
mother tongue-based
multilingual education
To understand how to
overcome the majorobstacles and objections to
MLE
To encourage readers to
think about the importanceof mother tongue-based
multilingual education
issues and to investigate
them further
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Other UNESCO Publications
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