Lost in Translation: Oral and Written Narratives of Linguistic- and Cultural-Minority Students

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Unique Approaches to Content and Literacy Learning With Bilingual Learners

Abstract

The children of the Indigenous communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh, are among the most illiterate in the country and at the highest risk of dropping out from schools. A research study has been initiated that utilizes the rich oral story telling tradition indigenous communities in classrooms where students tell folk tales they have collected from grandparents and village elders and also submit in written format. In this paper, I analyze oral and written narratives presented by same students in two different languages and explore what is lost or reduced in translation. These findings suggest the benefit of learning in home language and using relevant content for classroom engagement and reducing dropout.

Author

• Maung T Nyeu, Harvard University