Language Issues in Comparative Education II

Carol Benson, PhD (1994), is Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She researches policy development and innovation in multilingual education for speakers of non-dominant languages, with ongoing collaborative projects in Cambodia and Senegal.Kimmo Kosonen, PhD (1998), is a Senior Consultant in multilingual education with SIL International and Specialist in language development at Payap University in Thailand. He has published on non-dominant languages, multilingual education, and language-in-education policy in Asia.

“This book is an important contribution to research on a topic that has been neglected in the academic field of comparative education and sidelined in the EFA/SDG policy discourse. A balanced combination of context-specific and comparative analyses, it opens nuanced perspectives on the issues of multilingual education policy and practice in their wider socio-cultural contexts, complemented with suggestions for needed further research.” – Tuomas Takala, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Education, University of Tampere“First language-based multilingual education is one of the most formidable strategies for inclusion. The lessons in this book will help policy makers in governments improve their own basic education systems to ensure that the learner is in the center of education implementation.” – Dina Ocampo, Professor, College of Education, University of the Philippines “This volume contributes a timely, authoritative argument for the use of non-dominant languages in education as an essential component of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for education. The chapters in this volume demonstrate that the keys to linguistic sustainability are language-in-education policies and teaching practices that recognize children’s first languages as valued resources for their communities, their nations, and the world.” – Jessica Ball, Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria“At a time when most of the news is bad–pandemic, unemployment, climate change, 40% of children cannot understand their teachers—it is very cheerful to have an account of serious efforts to correct one of these problems. This collection reports a number of efforts to provide education in the home language of pupils, describing promising cases to provide mother language education. It deserves to be widely read.” – Bernard Spolsky, Professor Emeritus of English, Bar-Ilan University

• ForewordJessica BallAcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: The State of Research on Multilingual Education in the Context of Educational DevelopmentCarol Benson and Kimmo KosonenPART 1: Language-In-Education Policy Change from above, from below, and from the Side1 Bringing Non-Dominant Languages into Education Systems: Change from above, from below, from the Side—or a Combination?Kimmo Kosonen and Carol Benson2 MLE Implementation in Ethiopia and Mozambique: How the Above-Below-Side Framework Shakes out in Two Multilingual ContextsCarol Benson3 Jumping, Sliding, and Creating Shared Spaces “From the Side”: Reflections on Võro Language Education in EstoniaKara Brown4 Language-in-Education Policy Reform in the Philippines: Who Influences Policy Change from Above?Diane DekkerPART 2: Non-Dominant Languages in Implementational Spaces Policies and Practices5 Implementing Kenya’s Language of Instruction Policy among Maa-Speaking Communities of Laikipia NorthRoderick Hicks and Lucy Maina6 Stakeholder Perspectives on Medium of Instruction Policy in EthiopiaZoe James7 Cultural Heritage and Displacement: Implementing a Non-Dominant Language Literacy Program for Darfur Refugee Children and Adults in Eastern ChadEunice Kua8 Contextualizing Pre-Service Teacher Education Materials and Instruction in Multilingual EthiopiaShannon Hall-Mills, Adrienne Barnes, Dawit MeKonnen, Marion Fesmire and Flavia Ramos-Mattoussi9 Refugee Education and Medium of Instruction: Tensions in Theory, Policy, and PracticeCelia Reddick and Sarah Dryden-Peterson10 Trilingual Rajbanshi-Nepali-English Education in Southeastern Nepal: Improving Educational Quality for Rajbanshi Speakers and OthersCarol Benson (with Members of the Project Support Team)PART 3: Supporting Education in Non-Dominant Languages Research Methods and Strategies11 Getting the Right Language Information for Education: Insights from a Language Mapping Project in the Democratic Republic of CongoMaik Gibson12 Language-in-Education Policies: An Analytical Framework Applied to Kenya and UgandaPierre de Galbert13 Policy, Advocacy and Programs for Multilingual Education: Kick-Starting Change at ScaleDhir JhingranIndex