Including Non-Dominant Languages in Educational Policy Change

Kimmo Kosonen has worked in the Asia-Pacific region as a consultant on multilingual education with SIL Global for over 26 years. His research focuses on language-in-education policies, the role of non-dominant languages in education, and multilingual education in low-income countries. He is currently Head of Literacy and Education at the Finnish Bible Society and Global Literacy Strategist at the United Bible Societies. Carol Benson is founder and current co-director of MLE International, a non-profit organization providing research, networking and technical support to implementers of bi/multilingual education in low-income countries and contexts. She is an experienced development practitioner, researcher and academic who has worked in MLE teacher professional development, learner assessment and program evaluation in multilingual countries of Africa, the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions.

Offering fresh perspectives on Kosonen and Benson’s above–side–below framework, this book explores how key actors shift between roles and shape language policy trajectories from multiple positions. Through the framework, chapters investigate varied contexts and reveal the dynamic of actors’ power, agency, and context, contributing to the discovery of the best course of action for policy change that sustains MTB-MLE implementation in diverse settings while extending and enriching the framework for research and practice.

• ContributorsCarol Benson and Kimmo Kosonen: Introduction to the Volume: Background to the Framework, Key Concepts, a Meta-Level Study of the Authors and Summary of the ChaptersChapter 1: Kimmo Kosonen and Carol Benson: Towards the Inclusion of Non-Dominant Languages in Education: Analyzing Trajectories of Policy Change, Key Actors and AgencyChapter 2: Jessica Ball and Mariam Smith: An Actor-Focused Approach to a Theory of Change Supporting Multilingual Education in CambodiaChapter 3: Mirinda Burarungrot and Kirk R. Person: Why the Top Needs the Side: The Interplay of State and Non-State Actors in Bringing in (and Keeping) NDLs in Thailand’s ClassroomsChapter 4: Melody Ann Ross and Kerry Taylor-Leech: The Revolving Door of Agentive Spaces for Change: Analyzing Trajectories of Change in Timor-Leste’s Multilingual Education ProgramChapter 5: Molly Kay, Non Sorn and Sam Marip: The Dual Role of Ethnic Basic Education Providers as Above and Below Actors in the Quest for Multilingual Education in MyanmarChapter 6: Maria Mercedes Arzadon and Fernigil Colicol: Teacher Agency and Synergistic Actions Among the Top-Side-Bottom Actors in the PhilippinesChapter 7: Franklin A. Eneh: Tamazight in Moroccan Education: The Importance of Teacher PerspectivesChapter 8: Erina Iwasaki: The Role of Militants in Advocating For a National Bilingual Education Policy in SenegalChapter 9: Gabit Zhumatay: Implementing the Kazakh Language Education Policy in Kazakhstan: Policy Change from Below and the SideChapter 10: Stephen A. Bahry: Language Policy and Practice in Two Endangered Languages in China: Change from the Side Without Civil Society Institutions?Chapter 11: Emma Browne and Barbara Martin Napanangka†: Warlpiri Schools in Australia’s Northern Territory: Sustaining Change from Below with Championing from the SideChapter 12: María Pía Maití: Intercultural Bilingual Education in Chubut, ArgentinaChapter 13: Nicholas Limerick: Reconsidering Unified Kichwa as an L1 in Ecuador: Change from the Side and BelowChapter 14: Kara Brown: Possible Worlds: Concluding Thoughts on Temporalities and Non-Dominant Language-in-Education Policies