Medium of Instruction Policies: Which Agenda? Whose Agenda? PDF
Preview Medium of Instruction Policies: Which Agenda? Whose Agenda?
Medium of Instruction Policies Which Agenda? Whose Agenda? Medium of Instruction Policies Which Agenda? Whose Agenda? Edited by James W. Tollefson University of Washington Amy B. M. Tsui The University of Hong Kong LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS 2004 Mahwah, New Jersey London This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Copyright © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, NJ 07430 Cover design by KathrynHoughtalingLacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mediumofinstructionpolicies:whichagenda?whoseagenda?/ed- ited by James W.Tollefson, Amy B. M.Tsui. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-4277-2 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-4278-0 (pbk. :alk. paper) 1. Native language and education—Government policy— Cross-cultural studies 2. Educational, Bilingual—Government policy—Crossculturalstudies. I. Tollefson,JamesW. II. Tsui, Amy. LC201.5.M43 2003 306.44—dc21 2003042386 CIP ISBN 1-4106-0932-4 Master e-book ISBN BookspublishedbyLawrenceErlbaumAssociatesareprintedonacid- freepaper,andtheirbindingsarechosenforstrengthanddurability. Contents Preface vii Contributors xi 1 The Centrality of Medium-of-Instruction Policy 1 inSociopoliticalProcesses Amy B. M.Tsuiand James W.Tollefson Part I Minority Languages in English-Dominant States 2 Ma(cid:1)ori-MediumEducation inAotearoa/New Zealand 21 Stephen May 3 Bilingual Education and Language Revitalization in Wales: 43 Past Achievements and Current Issues Dylan V. Jones and Marilyn Martin-Jones 4 Dangerous Difference: ACritical–Historical Analysis 71 of Language Education Policies in the United States Teresa L.McCarty Part II Language in Post-Colonial States 5 Medium of Instruction in Hong Kong: One Country, 97 Two Systems, Whose Language? Amy B. M.Tsui v vi CONTENTS 6 Medium-of-Instruction Policy in Singapore 117 Anne Pakir 7 Medium-of-Instruction Policy in Higher Education 135 in Malaysia: Nationalism Versus Internationalization Saran Kaur Gill 8 Rural Students and the Philippine Bilingual Education 153 Program on the Island of Leyte Iluminado Nical, Jerzy J. Smolicz, and Margaret J. Secombe 9 Medium of Power: The Question of English in Education 177 in India E. Annamalai 10 Medium of Instruction in Post-Colonial Africa 195 Hassana Alidou Part III Managing and Exploiting Language Conflict 11 Language Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa 217 Vic Webb 12 Indigenous Language Education in Bolivia and Ecuador: 241 Contexts, Changes, and Challenges Kendall A. King and Carol Benson 13 Medium of Instruction in Slovenia: European Integration 263 and Ethnolinguistic Nationalism James W. Tollefson 14 Contexts of Medium-of-Instruction Policy 283 James W. Tollefson and Amy B. M. Tsui Author Index 295 Subject Index 301 Preface Sincetheearly1990s,arevivalofinterestinlanguage-policyresearchhas contributedtogrowingawarenessthatmedium-of-instructionpoliciesin educationhaveconsiderableimpactnotonlyontheschoolperformance ofstudentsandthedailyworkofteachers,butalsoonvariousformsofso- cialandeconomic(in)equality.Becausemuchofthedailyworkthattakes placeineducationinvolvesverbalinteractionamongstudentsandteach- ers, medium-of-instruction decisions play a central role in shaping the learning activities that take place in all classrooms and on all play- grounds.Moreover,becauseeducationalinstitutionsplaysuchacrucial roleindeterminingsocialhierarchies,politicalpower,andeconomicop- portunity,medium-of-instructionpoliciesthusplayanimportantrolein organizingsocialandpoliticalsystems. Inmanymulti-ethnicandmultilingualcountriesaroundtheworld,the choice of a language for the medium of instruction in state educational systems raises a fundamental and complex educational question: What combinationofinstructioninstudents’nativelanguage(s)andinasecond languageofwidercommunicationwillensurethatstudentsgainbothef- fective subject content education as well as the second-language skills necessaryforhighereducationandemployment?Althoughthisquestion focuses primarily on the educational agenda of providing effective lan- guage- and subject-content instruction, medium-of-instruction policies alsoraiseimportantsocialandpoliticalquestions:Whichethnicandlin- guisticgroupswillbenefitfromalternativemedium-of-instructionpoli- cies? What language policy best fulfills the need for interethnic communication?Whatpolicybestmaintainsabalancebetweentheinter- estsofdifferentethnicandlinguisticgroupsandtherebyensuresanac- ceptablelevelofpoliticalstability? vii viii PREFACE Thiscollectionofchaptersexaminesthetensionbetweentheeducational agenda and other underlying social and political agendas in different sociopolitical contexts. In countries where English is the dominant lan- guage,debatesovertheuseofthenativelanguagesofminoritystudentsas mediaofeducationcenteronthreequestions:Forwhatpurposesshould mother-tongueeducationbeencouragedandsupportedbyofficialpolicy? Should multilingualism and multiculturalism be seen as assets or liabili- ties?Howcanethnicminoritiesmaintaintheircultureandatthesametime notbedeprivedoftheiropportunitytogainaccesstohighereducationand employment,andtoparticipateeffectivelyinpubliclifeaswellasineco- nomicactivities?Inpost-colonialcountries,theeducationalagendaofus- ingthemosteffectivemediumforeducationisoftendrivenorcloudedby thepoliticalagendasofnationbuilding,nationalidentity,andunity,aswell astheneedtoensurepoliticalstabilitybybalancingtheinterestsofdifferent ethnicgroups,classes,orpoliticalparties.Incountrieswherediglossiaor triglossiaisevident,eitherofficiallyorunofficially,thechoiceofmediumof instruction is often a reflection of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic forcesatworkinthecommunity,aswellasavehicleforthestrugglefor poweramongdifferentsocialgroups.Theaimofthisvolumeisthereforeto unravelthecomplexsocialandpoliticalagendasthatunderliedecisionson medium-of-instruction policies. Inselectingtheauthorsandchaptersforthisvolume,theeditorshave beenguidedbytheirbeliefthatmedium-of-instructionpoliciesmustbe understoodinconnectionwithsocial,economic,andpoliticalforcesthat shape education generally. The chapters in this collection demonstrate thatmedium-of-instructionpoliciesarenotonlyaboutthechoiceofthe language(s) of instruction, but also about a range of important socio- political issues, including globalization, migration, labor policy, elite competition, and the distribution of economic resources and political power.Itisthepurposeofthiscollectiontoexplorethelinksbetweenme- dium-of-instructionpoliciesandthesebroaderissues.Thecollectionisin- tended for scholars and other specialists in education, language policy, sociolinguistics,appliedlinguistics,andlanguageteaching.Itisintended foruseingraduateandadvancedundergraduatecoursesonlanguageed- ucationandlanguagepolicy. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Theeditorsaregratefultotheauthorsofthechaptersinthiscollectionfor theireffortstoconnectmedium-of-instructionpolicieswithcriticallyim- portantsocial,political,economic,andeducationalissues.JulieScalescon- tributedherconsiderableresearchskillstothisvolume.VikkiWestonand WinkyMokoftheUniversityofHongKongprovidedsuperbassistancein PREFACE ix editing the language of some chapters, formatting the manuscript, and checkingthedetails.TheeditorsareespeciallygratefultoNaomiSilverman of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, for her support for this project. —James W. Tollefson —Amy B. M. Tsui
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