Negotiating Languages of Home and Language of Opportunity in Reading Instruction in Mali

• In Event: Supporting language learners in the classroom

Proposal

Education Development Center has been supporting literacy teaching and learning in Mali for more than a decade, using a balanced literacy approach that is a localized iteration of its Read Right Now literacy framework. In Mali, French is seen as the language of opportunity but is not the native language of most people; the supply of teachers who are both well-trained and fluent in the local language of the schools to which they are assigned is limited; and families and educators remain divided on the value of mother tongue instruction, particularly in rural areas and conflict zones. Malian public schools may offer instruction in French or in a bilingual French-local language curriculum. EDC has therefore worked to support improvements in literacy instruction in both French and a range of local languages, focusing on enhancing literacy instructional practice and providing resources to support the teaching and learning of the language of choice in each community.

This presentation will outline the range of responses to the language gap in Malian reading instruction by the literacy programs that EDC has implemented: PHARE, ERSA, SIRA, FFE3, YCRY, OCLR, and AEEQ. The programs share a common emphasis on strong oral language skill-building and integrated reading and writing practice, combined with explicit instruction in core reading and writing skills and metacognitive skills related to reading strategies, which allow students to bridge successfully from one language to another. In some cases, instruction is in French from the very beginning. In others, it is in one of several mother tongues. And in an accelerated education program in the conflict zones of Northern Mali, where language politics are fraught, students learn to read in French, but oral language components of the curriculum focusing on social-emotional development and problem solving are in mother tongue.

In all of these contexts, the balanced literacy approach has produced significant improvements in student fluency and comprehension, students transition successfully from mother tongue oral language development to French reading, and teacher practice has dramatically improved. The presentation will share comparative data on student gains across the Mali literacy programs, discuss the relevance of teacher-student language matching to literacy outcomes, and present strategies for successfully bridging the gap where student and teacher or instructional languages are not shared.

Author

• Susan Ross, Education Development Center (EDC)