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Mother tongue and English medium of instruction

madhu prasad wrote:

>> The pedagogically sound solution would be to retain the former as the medium of instruction but to introduce English as a subject, to be taught adequately and imaginatively, even from Class 1.>>

Yes, here are the main recommendations (slides 30-33) from a recent
keynote by Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, a language-rights activist:

Recommendation 1: the mother tongue should be the main teaching
language for the first eight years

1a. All Indigenous/tribal and other linguistic minority children
(hereafter, IM children) should have their first or own language (or
one of them, in case of multilingual children) as their main medium of
education, during minimally the first eight years (but absolutely
minimally the first six years), in non-fee state schools.

1b. Even if the mother tongue might no longer be used as a teaching
language after grade 8, it should be used orally in the classroom, and
it should be studied as a subject during the entire education process.

Recommendation 2: good teaching of a dominant local or national
language as a subject

2. IM children should have good teaching of a dominant local or
national language as a second language, given by competent bilingual
teachers, from grade 1 or 2. It should be studied as a subject
throughout the entire education process. It should be studied as a
second (or foreign) language, using second/foreign language
pedagogy/methods; it should not be studied as if it were the
children's mother tongue.

Recommendation 3: transfer from mother tongue medium teaching to using
a dominant local or national language as a teaching language

3a. Some subjects can be taught through the medium of a dominant local
or national language and/or an international language in the upper
grades, but not before grade 7 and only if there are competent
teachers.

3b. If necessary one or two practical subjects (physical education,
music, cooking, etc) can be taught earlier through the medium of a
second language, but cognitively and/or linguistically demanding
subjects (such as mathematics or history) should be taught in the
child's first language minimally up to grade 7, preferably longer.

Recommendation 4: additional languages as subjects

4. IM children should have an opportunity to learn other languages as
school subjects, including a language in international use such as
English, Spanish, French, Russian, Hindi, etc, if it is not a dominant
local or national language mentioned in Recommendation 2 above.

This keynote - at the Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism
(19-21 Jan), organized by the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN,
the African Union) - is archived at
http://www.tove-skutnabb-kangas.org/en/PowerPoint_presentations.html

The next three slides (34-36) give a slew of references to back up
these recommendations. Skutnabb-Kangas concludes:

Research conclusions about results of present-day indigenous and
minority education show that the length of mother tongue medium
education is more important than any other factor (including
socio-economic status) in predicting the educational success of IM
students, including their competence in the dominant language....

A Giridhar RAO

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