Language & Literacy Issues (S7)
Presenters: Mohamed Maamouri & C J Daswani
In literacy planning, language can be viewed as a problem, a right, or a resource. Language and literacy diversity will be discussed, including a consideration of bilingualism, mother tongue and national languages. Case studies will be presented to illustrate policy and planning issues.
Readings: (Language and Culture, Section 4)
-What is Meant by Local Literacies? (Street)
-Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Development (Verhoeven)
-Literacy and Literacies (McKay)
-Language and Literacy Planning (Hornberger)
-Literacy and Development in South East Asia (Daswani)
-Language, Literacy and Bilingual Education (Aikman)
-Linguistic Diversity and Literacy in India (Daswani)
Session Summary
Dr. Maamouri opened the session by introducing and defining some of the key concepts in linguistics and used examples from Chinese and Arabic to illustrate some important issues in language policy and planning. In the countries where these languages are spoken, one dialect among many is often adopted as the standard. Dominant political and religious groups are very influential in this process thus demonstrating how language and literacy are related to social differentiation and power.
Dr. Daswani used the Indian example to show how many languages can co-exist in a country. Languages are not static but are elaborated through usage and literature. He argued that an alphabetized language is not truly "written" until people read and write it regularly. Furthermore, literacy training is only effective when learners have bonafide opportunities to use their literacy skills.
People's identification with any one language is related to power and politics, which is a part of an ongoing debate about the use of mother tongue languages in literacy programs and is important to consider in all language policy discussions. While UNESCO has recommended that literacy programs be in mother tongues, people may prefer to learn a language that is used more widely in the interest of improving their social mobility. In this situation, literacy training is predominantly training in new language skills, not only in literacy skills. Daswani suggested that a country cannot be empowered to rely on its own knowledge until an indigenous language is used throughout the education system and mass media.
The participants shared some of their diverse language experiences, giving examples which included:
- the difficulty of shifting from Swahili-medium primary schools to English-medium secondary schools in Tanzania;
- the multilingual skills of Indian nationals, for whom speaking three languages on a regular basis is normal; and
- the use of the term "Arabic" as a term for the many regional dialects spoken across Tunisia, Mauritania, and Yemen.
The session raised many further questions about language and literacy
issues, not only in the countries and regions represented by the SLTP'98
participants, but across the globe. Discussions about language and literacy
will continue throughout the program.
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY
INSTITUTE