Abstract
In a multicultural-multilingual society, inclusion requires equitable access to quality education as stated - UN Sustainable Development Goals, target 4 (sdg4). In the deep south of ...Thailand, the majority Muslim population speak Patani Malay in daily life, making language identity an issue as it is not recognized for official use. Students are required to study in Thai and as a result have the lowest academic achievement in the country. Furthermore, parents and the community have no confidence in government schools and some even fear that education is being used to destroy their ethnic identity. This paper presents a participatory action research, a Patani Malay-Thai mother tongue-based bi/multilingual education programme, implemented in Thailand's Deep South as a case study of academic efforts to create social inclusion. Policies and practices will be discussed and related to the reinforcement of ethnic identity, enhancing educational achievement and tightening social cohesion.
This study delves into the intricate landscape of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics within the context of African Biblical Hermeneutics, aiming to unravel its origins, discern trends, and confront ...challenges. Employing a qualitative research methodology grounded in extensive literature review and critical analysis, this investigation explores the evolution and current state of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics in the African context.Findings underscore the significance of linguistic and cultural nuances in biblical interpretation, emphasizing the role of indigenous languages in shaping contextual understanding and relevance. Moreover, the study identifies persistent challenges including colonial legacies, linguistic imperialism, and theological biases that impede the full realization of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics.In light of these findings, recommendations are proposed to foster the integration of indigenous languages into biblical scholarship, advocate for linguistic diversity, and promote inclusivity in theological discourse. Ultimately, this study contributes to scholarship by illuminating the vital intersection of language, culture, and interpretation in African Biblical Hermeneutics, thereby enriching theological dialogue and advancing decolonial approaches to biblical studies. Keywords: Biblical Hermeneutics, African Biblical Hermeneutics, Mother-tongue Biblical studies, Origin, Trends and Challenges.
The study aimed at examining the strategies of teaching English as a second language in Grade 4 in selected schools of the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. From the ...entire elementary schools within the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape Province, the researchers of this study randomly selected eight Grade 4 ESL instructors, from the agreed four elementary schools, which means two Grade 4 ESL instructors for each agreed school. For the data collection, a questionnaire with thoroughly designed questions and an observation checklist that entails guidelines of what to observe were used. Hence, the data were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The study findings particularly indicated that all the interviewed Grade 4 ESL instructors understand what teaching strategies denote and can recognise the current teaching strategies of Grammar Translation Method (GTM), Direct Method (DM), Silent Method (SM), and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method except for the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) and the Total Physical Response (TPR). However, the findings indicated that all the Grade 4 ESL instructors were only able to apply the features of both GTM and CLT strategies during the classroom observation, while the features of direct and silent methods were recognised by some of the Grade 4 ESL instructors were not applied during the classroom observation. Also, the findings established that the GTM is more applied by the Grade 4 ESL instructors compared to the CLT. Thus, the implication is that realistically in the teaching of Grade 4 ESL learners, the instructors only employed either the GTM or CLT, where the GTM is mostly used against the CLT.
This study investigated interactions among linguistics, social and political factors in a linguistically rich environment. For this purpose, two-hundred Iranian preschoolers (aged 5 to 6 years old) ...from four ethnic/linguistic groups (Arab, Kurd, Turk and Fars) were selected using multi-stage stratified sampling. All participants took part in an Elementary English language course and their exposure to foreground TV was recorded using media exposure portfolio. Maternal education and family income were considered as criteria for socio-economic status. Children's language proficiency was measured through Language Sample Analysis (LSA). The LSA components included total number of utterances produced, total number of words produced, total number of new words produced and mean length of utterances. Regression analysis, ANOVA and t-tests were used for data analyses. The results showed that bilingual children performed slightly better than multilingual children in LSA measures but this cannot be taken for granted. Moreover, socio-economic status and LSA measures were significantly related but TV exposure was not associated with the LSA measures. These results supported the arguments purported by minority language proponents on the importance of using children's mother tongue in educational curriculum.
•Multilingualism is becoming the norm in educational and social spheres.•Multilingualism is associated with political, social and educational consequences.•Differences between bilingual and multilingual children are less investigated.•Exposure to TV, socioeconomic status and mother tongue literacy are important predictors of multilingualism.•Multilingual children are not falling behind their bilingual counterparts regarding language measures.
In 2016, following the publication of her memoir, In Other Words, Pulitzer Prize author Jhumpa Lahiri announced her intention to abandon English to solely write in Italian. Six years later, having ...become an acclaimed Italian writer and translator, Lahiri returns to English to consider her role as a 'postmonolingual' subject (Yildiz) in an era still dominated by a paradigmatic monolingualism. Released in 2022, Translating Myself and Others can be considered to all effects Lahiri's translation memoir as it extends to the field of translation, the reflections initiated by In Other Words on the questions of language, identity, and cultural assignation. Through the analysis of both texts, this article discusses how the notion of 'mother tongue' is progressively deconstructed in Lahiri's memoirs and how translation and self-translation become the vehicle through which overcoming what Yasemin Yildiz defines as the 'monolingual paradigm'.
Scholars such as Murray Emeneau and John Gumperz made India prominent in the development of sociolinguistics as a field of study through their simultaneous attention to difference and cohesiveness. ...Later, scholars stressed the ideological mediation of practice, especially the importance of colonial constructions that continue to be relevant in the postcolonial period. Work on specific notions such as mother tongue and medium of instruction, and the salience of English, led scholars to provide insights into multilingual practices in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Finally, a vast scholarship on an array of older and newer media forms ranging from early print publications to social media has posed questions about the possibilities of representation and participation. Ethnographic approaches to digital media that focus on the complex dynamics between ideologies and practices have put South Asia at the forefront of studies of communication.
The search for the place from which the poem in mother tongue can be pronounced, blends with the search for the country not yet found. Poems by several authors between 2013 and 2019 protest against ...this absence. This paper raises questions about this place and the language traits observed during its poetical enunciation. Through their writings, poets propose a historical experience of revolt. I shall examine Vinagre: uma antología de poetas neobarrocos (2013), poems by Lu Menezes (2016) and Tatiana Pequeno (2019), texts that have managed to give an answer through their own poetical language to the street’s social protest shoutings.
The paper explores whether mother tongues should be given a sustainable chance to thrive as mediums of instruction in tertiary education in Bangladesh and China. In the Bangladesh context, four ...universities located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, were included in this qualitative research study. Eight teachers of English, law, general education, and business participated in interviews. In the Chinese context, two international universities located in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) were also chosen for study. Six teachers were observed in their classrooms to understand their classroom practices and were interviewed to determine their perceptions about implementing mother-tongue instruction in classroom interactions. The data show that teachers are aware that English, on the one hand, limits students’ learning, fosters improper learning strategies, and marginalises them in academia while on the other hand, compromises students’ opportunities to develop critical thinking skills. However, they do not believe introducing the mother tongue will prompt significant changes in higher education learning and teaching. The paper concludes that introducing mother-tongue-based translanguaging that challenges the monolingual biases towards English seems a utopian ideal that may take a long time to be accepted and implemented in these two Asian countries. However, fostering mother-tongue-based translanguaging by recognising the need for the mother tongue within a broad linguistic repertoire that promotes a de-colonising pedagogy and equality in education could be a promising approach in tertiary education in the Global South.
•The paper explores whether mother tongues should be given a sustainable chance to thrive as a medium of instruction in tertiary education in Bangladesh and China.•Teachers in higher education in Bangladesh do not believe that introducing the mother tongue in higher education will prompt significant changes in learning and teaching.•Students’ inadequate literacy and the lack of textbooks in their mother tongues may hinder their learning and knowledge construction in higher education in Bangladesh.•In the Chinese context, the content teacher thought that EMI teachers may face challenges in communicating their mindset and values to their students.•Introducing Mother-tongue-based translanguaging may take a long time to be accepted and implemented.•Fostering mother-tongue-based translanguaging that promotes a de-colonising pedagogy and equality in education could be a promising approach in tertiary education in the Global South.
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