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Contesting the default:
The impact of local language choice for learning
Barbara TrudellSIL International, Africa Area
Tokyo, August 2008
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Multilingualism: a gift, a resource
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Multilingualism
• contributes to the reinforcement of one’s own, local identity
• permits healthy engagement with the rest of the world
. . . and THAT is its primary advantage relative to globalization.
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Stable multilingualism
Requires intentional, institutional support for the language with less political capital
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Using local languages in learning contexts: multiple points of impact
• Development• Language maintenance• Academic outcomes• National citizenship
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Human-centered development: Enlarging people’s choices
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Development as the expansion of human capabilities (Sen 1999)
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Wherever people are put at the centre of the development process, issues of language will always be close to the surface.
(Robinson 1996)
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Current challenges to development
• Low education levels continue to inhibit economic development, especially in rural areas (World Bank 2007)
• EFA goals lagging: literacy, educational quality, gender parity (GMR 2008)
• Language choice is relevant to each of these educational challenges
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Sustainable development will not be achieved at the expense of the people of Africa, nor at the expense of their languages.
(Djité 2008)
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Language maintenance
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Language standardization in Bafut: mbaranga’a or ambaranga’a?
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Academic outcomes
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Qualitative and quantitative studies show conclusively: Using a language the child understands well leads to improved academic outcomes
Thomas and Collier 2002
Fafunwa 1989
Williams 2006
Abadzi 2006
Brock-Utne, Desai and Qorro 2005
Bunyi 1999Canvin 2003
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From the known to the unknown
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National citizenshipThe use of [international languages] allows only a vertical approach to political interaction; the minority who speak them control the majority who do not. Using local languages allows more horizontalinteraction, and the level of debate changes altogether.
(Matsinhe 2008)
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Needed:Enhanced access of local-language speakers to processes of national
citizenship
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… and access to fluency in the language of power
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• Globalization and localization: parallel processes
• The strength and importance of the local – including culture and language
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The intentional development and use of local languages in
education and learning strengthens the adaptability of
developing-world citizens, allowing them to survive and
even thrive in their world today.
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