Language-in-education policies in Southeast Asia

LanguageLanguage--inin--education policies education policies in Southeast Asiain Southeast Asia

Kimmo Kosonen Kimmo Kosonen SIL International & Payap UniversitySIL International & Payap University

Chiang Mai, ThailandChiang Mai, Thailand

Many ethnolinguistic minority (and other) groups face a ‘language barrier’ in education

‘Language barrier’ – Access

Primary Level Net Enrolment Ratios in Lao PDR (Source: Lao National Literacy Survey 2001)

65.6

77.2

53.747.8 46.3

64.1

75.4

52.8

44.7 44.2

0102030405060708090

National average Thai-Kadai Austroasiatic Sino-Tibetan Hmong-Yao

Language Family

% MaleFemale

60 Million Out-of-School Girls (Lewin & Lockheed, 2007)

• Nearly 70% of out-of-school girls belong to the ethnic, religious, linguistic, racial and other minorities,

• Many ethnolinguistic minorities are poor in remote rural areas,

• Significant increases in primary education have not helped these “doubly disadvantaged” girls,

• Language of education is a reason for exclusion, • Mother tongue-based bilingual education can help

get girls in school and learn.---------------------------------------------------------------------

• World Bank (2005): “50% of the world’s out-of-school children live in communities where the language of schooling is rarely, if ever, used at home”

‘Language barrier’ - Quality

ØMinority children with poor Standard Thai skillshad 50% lower learning results than Thai-speaking students in all main subjectsØAbout 13% of Grade 2 students could not read

or write Standard ThaiØOver 25% of students in 10 education areas

have problems in reading and writing Standard ThaiØA reason: teachers and students speak different

languages

Thailand – surveys on educational quality

Quality of Literacy in OECD’s PISAPISA (2000-2002) report

• In Indonesia 69% of 15-year-old students performed at or below the lowest of five proficiency levels for reading literacy. – (94% at level 2 or below)

• In Thailand the figure was 37%– (74% at level 2 or below)

http://www.pisa.oecd.org

Lao PDR - Tested "Secured Functional Literacy" rate in the Lao Language (Lao National Literacy Survey 2001)

37.4

47.6

28.6

22.1

28.724.5

33.5

17.214.6

6.8

05

101520253035404550

National rate Tai-Kadai Austroasiatic Sino-Tibetan Hmong-Yao

Language Family

Perc

ent

MaleFemale

Language policyLanguage policy•• Legislation on (and/or practice of) the use Legislation on (and/or practice of) the use

of languages in a societyof languages in a society

LanguageLanguage--inin--education policy & education policy & practice:practice:•• Language (or medium) of instruction (Language (or medium) of instruction (LoILoI))•• Language of literacyLanguage of literacy

Key ConceptsØMother tongue – first / home language – L1ØLocal & regional languageØSubject of study vs. language of instructionØOral use of a language

• An auxiliary language helping learners understand

ØBilingual / multilingual education (MLE)ØMother tongue- / L1-based MLEØFirst language first MLEØMother tongue as a ‘bridge’

What do they look like?What do they look like?

Sustainable strong Sustainable strong programmesprogrammesof mother tonguemother tongue--based based multilingual education multilingual education ……

The New York Times, 19 July 2005Data: Ethnologue, 2005

The World According to Linguistic Diversity

Number of Languages- Southeast Asia (Source: Ethnologue 2005)

742180

147113

1048684

30241917

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Indonesia

Philippines

Malaysia

Myanmar

Vietnam

Laos

Thailand

Singapore

Cambodia

Timor Leste

Brunei

Number of Languages spoken in AsiaNumber of Languages spoken in AsiaCountry LanguagesCountry Languages

•• UzbekistanUzbekistan 4040•• TajikistanTajikistan 3333•• KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan 3232•• BhutanBhutan 3131•• SingaporeSingapore 3030•• Turkmenistan 27Turkmenistan 27•• CambodiaCambodia 2424•• Timor Timor LesteLeste 1919•• BruneiBrunei 1919•• JapanJapan 1616•• MongoliaMongolia 1515•• Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 77•• Korea, SouthKorea, South 22•• MaldivesMaldives 2 2 •• Korea, NorthKorea, North 11

TOTAL: ~ 2200TOTAL: ~ 2200Source: Ethnologue (2005)Source: Ethnologue (2005)

Country LanguagesCountry Languages•• IndonesiaIndonesia 742742•• IndiaIndia 427427•• ChinaChina 241241•• PhilippinesPhilippines 180180•• MalaysiaMalaysia 147147•• NepalNepal 125125•• MyanmarMyanmar 113113•• VietnamVietnam 104104•• Lao PDRLao PDR 8686•• ThailandThailand 8383•• PakistanPakistan 77 77 •• IranIran 7575•• Afghanistan Afghanistan 5151•• BangladeshBangladesh 4646•• Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 4343

(30 countries)(30 countries)

National or Official Languages in AsiaNational or Official Languages in Asia

• Kazakh,• Kirghiz,• Khmer,• Konkani,• Korean 2,• Lao,• Maithili,• Malay 3,• Malayalam,• Maldivian (Diwehi),• Mandarin Chinese 2,• Marathi,• Meitei,• Myanma,• Nepali 2,• Northern Uzbek,• Oriya,

• Assamese,• Bengali (Bangla) 2,• Bodo,• Dogri,• Dzongkha,• Eastern Farsi (Dari),• Eastern Punjabi,• English 4 (1),• Filipino,• Gujarati,• Gurung, • Halh Mongolian,• Hindi,• Indonesian,• Japanese,• Kannada,• Kashmiri,

(50 languages) (50 languages) (22 in India)(22 in India)

• Portuguese,• Russian 2,• Sanskrit,• Santhali,• Sindhi 2,• Sinhala,• Southern Pashto,• Tajiki,• Tamil 2,• Telugu,• Tetum,• Thai,• Turkmen,• Urdu 2,• Vietnamese,• Western Farsi

Source: Ethnologue (2005)

Language map of Thailand (70

living languages)

Language map of Thailand (70

living languages)

ØØ LinguisticLinguisticdiversitydiversity is is evidentevident

ØØ FewFewmonolingualmonolingualnationsnations

ØØ ManyManyeducationeducationsystemssystems useuseonlyonly oneonelanguagelanguage

Population with access to education in mother tongue in 2000

(Source: UNDP 2004, SIL International 2004)

13

62 66 7487 91

0

20

40

60

80

100

Sub-SaharanAfrica

East Asia andthe Pacific

South Asia Central andEastern

Europe andthe CIS

High-incomeOECD

Latin Americaand the

Caribbean

Region

Perc

ent

Estimated population with access to education in first language - Southeast Asia (no info on bilingualism) (Source: Ethnologue, 2005)

91 90

61

50 5045

3326

105 2

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100Vi

etna

m

Cam

bodi

a

Mya

nmar

Laos

Thai

land

Mal

aysi

a

Sing

apor

e

Philip

pine

s

Indo

nesi

a

Tim

or L

este

Brun

ei

Perc

ent

VietnameseVietnamVietnamPortuguese, Tetum (Eng. and Indo. working la)Timor Timor LesteLesteThai (de facto national language)ThailandThailandEnglish, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil SingaporeSingaporeFilipino, EnglishPhilippinesPhilippinesBurmese (Myanmar, Bamar)MyanmarMyanmarMalayMalaysiaMalaysiaLaoLao PDRLao PDRIndonesianIndonesiaIndonesiaKhmerCambodiaCambodiaStandard Malay, EnglishBrunei DarussalamBrunei Darussalam

Official / national languageCountry

No (1992)VietnamVietnamYes (2002), Tetum & NLs valued & developedTimor Timor LesteLesteNo (1997), No (2007)ThailandThailandYes (1965), preserve & sustain the use & studySingaporeSingaporeYes (1987), LLs auxiliary languagesPhilippinesPhilippinesYes (1974), ? (2007)MyanmarMyanmarYes (1957), preserve & sustain the use & studyMalaysiaMalaysiaNo (1991)Lao PDRLao PDRYes (1945), RLs respected & preservedIndonesiaIndonesiaNo (1993)CambodiaCambodiaNo (1959)Brunei DarussalamBrunei Darussalam

Minority languages in the ConstitutionCountry

Vietnamese, some LLsVietnamVietnamPortuguese, TetumTimor Timor LesteLesteThai, some LLsThailandThailandEnglishSingaporeSingaporeFilipino, English, some LLsPhilippinesPhilippinesBurmeseMyanmarMyanmarMalay, English, Tamil, Mandarin, some LLsMalaysiaMalaysiaLaoLao PDRLao PDRIndonesianIndonesiaIndonesiaKhmer, 5 LLsCambodiaCambodiaMalay, EnglishBrunei DarussalamBrunei Darussalam

Languages of InstructionCountry

YesVietnamVietnam?Timor Timor LesteLeste

YesThailandThailandYesSingaporeSingaporeYesPhilippinesPhilippines

?MyanmarMyanmarYesMalaysiaMalaysia

?Lao PDRLao PDRYesIndonesiaIndonesiaYesCambodiaCambodiaNoBrunei DarussalamBrunei Darussalam

Local languages as medium of instruction - allowed/legal? Country

Languages-in-education: SEA•• National languages used as the main mediaNational languages used as the main media•• BruneiBrunei, , MalaysiaMalaysia, , thethe PhilippinesPhilippines and and

SingaporeSingapore use several languages as media of use several languages as media of instruction (including English) instruction (including English)

•• BruneiBrunei, , LaosLaos and and SingaporeSingapore do not use local do not use local languages at alllanguages at all

•• LaosLaos uses national language only uses national language only •• MyanmarMyanmar has NFE in has NFE in LLsLLs by NGOs onlyby NGOs only•• CambodiaCambodia, , the Philippinesthe Philippines, , ThailandThailand and and

VietnamVietnam have pilot MLE projects which use have pilot MLE projects which use local languageslocal languages

•• CambodiaCambodia, , ThailandThailand and and Timor Timor LesteLeste reviewing reviewing their languagetheir language--inin--education policies (inclusion education policies (inclusion of local languages?)of local languages?)

Regional Trends in the Use of Local Languages in Education

•• Promising pilots in several SE Asian countriesPromising pilots in several SE Asian countries•• Increased interest in the use of local languages Increased interest in the use of local languages

by govt agencies, UN agencies, INGOs, local by govt agencies, UN agencies, INGOs, local NGOsNGOs

•• Local languages used more in NFE than FELocal languages used more in NFE than FE•• Local languages used orally quite widely, even Local languages used orally quite widely, even

without official endorsementwithout official endorsement•• NGOs provide more education in local NGOs provide more education in local

languages than governmentslanguages than governments•• Policies on paper vs. implementation & practicePolicies on paper vs. implementation & practice

Thank you!

[email protected]

• Educational efficiency and quality• Social, political, and economic participation• Social equality & equity• Language endangerment, maintenance,

and revitalization• Multilingualism, pluralism• Human rights

Key Issues 1 – Language-in-education policies

Rationale for policies supporting the use Rationale for policies supporting the use of local languages:of local languages:

• Economic factors- Multilingual education is too costly

• National unity- Using many languages in education disintegrates the nation

• Power issues- Distribution of power, decentralization


Rationale for monolingual and Rationale for monolingual and elitist policies:elitist policies:

• Misunderstanding of language & education issues and multilingualism- Using several media of instruction confuses students,- Using non-dominant languages will delay the learning of dominant (national, official, international) languages,- Parents want the national/international language only, as they don’t understand multilingual approaches



• Technical and ‘logistical’ challenges- Non-dominant languages: no orthographies, ‘modern’terminology & standard form- No literature and learning materials - No teachers speaking non-dominant languages- Multilingual classrooms / linguistic diversity in schools- Minority communities not interested (or this is what the decision-makers think)- MLE not seen as high priority by donors / program implementers



• Policies vs. implementation- Supportive policies exist in documents, but policies not implemented

• Colonial “legacy” and example - Colonialists supported elitist and dominant language only-policies - Major issue in Africa, less so in Asia

• Language classification



Language classificationLanguage classification

Tai Tai ThanhThanh (20,000)(20,000)

Tai Tai DaengDaeng (140,000)(140,000)

PhuPhu ThaiThai (209,000)(209,000)Thai Thai (1,370,000)(1,370,000)

Tai Don Tai Don (280,000)(280,000)

Tai Tai DamDam (699,000)(699,000)LanguageLanguage ((populationpopulation))NationalityNationality

Ethnicity vs. language Ethnicity vs. language e.ge.g. the Thai in Vietnam. the Thai in Vietnam

Additional issues

• Role of media (TV, Radio, Internet, print)• Role of English

Documents

Language-in-education policies in Southeast Asia