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Highlighted Session: Problematizing Education Reform: Implementing Multilingual Education as Change from Above, from Below, from the Side — or a Combination?

Tue, March 7, 10:00 to 11:30am, Sheraton Atlanta, Floor: 1, Georgia 13 (South Tower)

Session Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Description of Session

Decisions regarding the medium(s) of instruction for young learners are critical to school access and educational quality in multilingual countries. While some education systems continue to focus on one or two dominant languages, ignoring or actively condemning the non-dominant languages that learners know best, there is growing recognition of the important role played by learners’ own languages (L1s). The last thirty years have seen greater efforts to pilot L1-based multilingual education (MLE) approaches at the primary and pre-primary levels. A recent focus on early grade literacy has reinforced the importance of language proficiency in the language of initial literacy, but specialists call for development of L1 reading, writing and thinking skills for as many years as possible (see e.g. Cummins 2000; Heugh 2011).

The current challenge in many contexts is to move from piloting or small-scale MLE to large-scale implementation, bringing about sustainable change in educational policy and practice. The purpose of this panel is to investigate how such change has occurred in specific low- and middle-income contexts. Using a series of models proposed by Kosonen and Benson (forthcoming) panel members analyze change over time based on where it has been initiated: 1) from above, 2) from below, or 3) from the side. Change from above (top-down) is defined as change initiated by a government through legislation or decree, often justified on political grounds. Change from below (bottom-up) is that initiated by civil society groups like local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Finally, change from the side involves a range of actors positioned somewhere between the grassroots and the government who facilitate interaction between them. Mid-level actors might be multilateral, international or United Nations agencies, international NGOs, bilateral technical and donor agencies, or a combination. They might also be local academics (e.g. applied linguists and education specialists) or even government agencies (such as teacher trainers or local education officials in decentralized settings) working somewhat autonomously without a clear government mandate, but with technical and/or financial resources. It is hypothesized that side actors and actions are integral to the success of any change, no matter where change is first initiated.

Kosonen and Benson first provide a theoretical introduction. The subsequent papers analyze the trajectories of policy change with specific examples from a range of multilingual countries and contexts. Kosonen concludes with a brief summary of the panelists’ findings. Finally, the discussant will pick out interesting points related to his own experience in language-in-education policy and come to some conclusions regarding the usefulness or constraints of the above-below-side models. We look forward to gathering comments and contributions from the audience at the end.

References (all)
Albaugh, Ericka (2007) Language choice in education: a politics of persuasion. Journal of Modern African Studies 45(1): 1-32.
Alexander, Neville (1992) Language planning from below. In Herbert, R. (ed) Language and Society in Africa. The Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics, 143-149. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Battiste, M. (2013) Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit. Saskatoon, Canada: Purich Publishing.
Bolsmann, Chis & Miller, Henry (2008) International student recruitment to universities in England: Discourse, rationales and globalisation. Globalisation, Societies and Education 6(1): 75–88.
Cummins, Jim (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Dekker, Diane (forthcoming) Filipino teachers negotiate their identities on a new mother tongue-based multilingual education policy landscape. University of Toronto Dissertation.
DepEd (Department of Education of the Philippines) (2009) Order No. 74 2009. Institutionalizing mother tongue-based multilingual education (MLE).
http://www.deped.gov.ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceImg/DO%20No.%2074,%20s.%202009.pdf
DepEd (Department of Education of the Philippines) (2013) Republic Act 10533. Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. http://www.gov.ph/k-12/#RA10533
Dutcher, Nadine (2004) Expanding Educational Opportunity in Linguistically Diverse Societies. Second Edition. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/fordreport_040501.pdf
Heugh, Kathleen (2011) Theory and practice – language education models in Africa: research, design, decision-making and outcomes. In Ouane, Adama & Glanz, Christine (eds) Optimising Learning, Education and Publishing in Africa: The Language Factor. A Review and Analysis of Theory and Practice in Mother-Tongue and Bilingual Education in sub-Saharan Africa, 105-156. Hamburg: UNESCO/Tunis Belvédère: ADEA. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002126/212602e.pdf
Hornberger, Nancy (2002) Multilingual language policies and the continua of biliteracy: An ecological approach. Language Policy 1(1): 27-51.
Hornberger, Nancy (ed) (2008) Can schools save Indigenous languages? Policy and practice on four continents. Hampshire UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Kosonen, Kimmo (2013) The use of non-dominant languages in education in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam: Two steps forward, one step back. In Benson, Carol & Kosonen, Kimmo (eds) Language issues in comparative education. Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and cultures, 39-58. Rotterdam: Sense.
Kosonen, Kimmo & Benson, Carol (forthcoming) Increasing use of non-dominant languages in education: Change from above, from below, from the side — or a combination? Language Policy.
Lin, Angel & Martin, Peter (2005) Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education Policy and Practice. Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
McCarty, Teresa & Nicholas, Sheilah (2014) Reclaiming indigenous languages: A reconsideration of the roles and responsibilities of schools. Review of Research in Education 38: 106-136.
Ong, Aihwa (2005) Graduated Sovereignty in South-East Asia. In Inda, Johnathan (ed) Anthropologies of Modernity: Foucault, Governmentality and Life Politics, 83-104. Malden MA: Blackwell.
Phillipson, Robert (2006) English: A cuckoo in the European higher education nest of languages? European Journal of English Studies 10(1): 13 – 32.
Ricento, Thomas (2006) (ed) An Introduction to Language policy: Theory and Method. Oxford: Blackwell.
Spolsky, Bernard (2004a) Language policy failures—Why won’t they listen? Paper presented at the LAUD Linguistic Agency conference at University of Duisberg-Essen, Landau Germany, April 19-22.
Spolsky, Bernard (2004b) Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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