Minority language learning in mainland Southeat Asia

2018

Southeast Asia (SEA) is a sub-region of Asia, comprising a mainland and a maritime region, with a population of, currently, just under 700 million. The focus of this chapter is language education policy in SEA and how this relates to indigenous minorities, an issue considered from a social justice perspective (cf. Piller, Linguistic diversity and social justice. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016). Indigenous minority groups of SEA mostly inhabit interior areas of the region removed from centres of power, but, despite their indigeneity, they are frequently materially poor and tend to be of relatively small size. In addition, they are generally distinctive from politically major groups in terms of social organisation (as they are often egalitarian), with an accompanying animistic belief system, rather than being socially hierarchical and subscribing to a major religion. The socioeconomic position of these minorities has tended to decline since nations of the region achieved indepe...

Different Southeast Asian countries have embraced different language-ineducation policies and practices for classroom instruction. In some, such as Vietnam, explicit language policies have been in place for decades and need reviewing in the light of emerging social issues and their relevance to global and regional trends. In others, such as the newly independent Timor Leste, adopting a relevant language policy is critical to the country's drive towards nationbuilding. This volume is largely based on the presentations and deliberations of the consultative conference, and it aims to bring together, in a single volume: a) relevant legislation and national policies and regulations related to the use of the mother tongue as the language of instruction. b) some case studies of projects or initiatives introduced by various countries' Ministries of Education, written up by identified experts, and annotated by international experts and consultants. c) policy recommendations and region-wide strategies.

2014

This volume tracks the complex relationships between language, education and nation-building in Southeast Asia, focusing on how language policies have been used by states and governments as instruments of control, assimilation and empowerment. The individual chapters each represent one of the countries in the region, namely Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Written by established and well-known scholars of language, education and politics in Southeast Asia, the chapters examine the place of minority or non-dominant languages in nation-building agendas and practices, as well as their impact both on the linguistic ecology of specific countries and on the cultural, socio-economic and political well-being of their speakers. With a recent worldwide push towards multilingual education as one way to address the cultural, political and economic marginalization of millions of people around the world, this volume also examines the possibilities and challenges of implementing mother tongue-based education programmes in the region

2021

Countries in Southeast Asia share similar characteristics in terms of ethnic and cultural diversity. Each country is rich with its population of different ethnicities, religions, and languages (Ooi & Grabowsky, 2017). To keep a balance between unity and diversity is a challenge that countries in the region commonly experience. Compared to the present time, the management of cultural diversity had not been an issue in the past. In many vassal states, ethnic groups could retain their linguistic and cultural identities. The existence of cultural diversity among tributary states helped strengthen the power of the overlords (Sattayanurak, 2016). But, in the beginning of the 19 th century, this gradually changed. In Thailand, the encroachment of Western imperialism made the ruling classes to initiate nationbuilding projects. Since then, people of diverse ethnicities and cultures have been subsumed under the same national identity (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). In other Southeast Asian countries, nation-building projects became prominent after gaining independence following the end of World War II. Most countries relied on the centralized, unitary nation-state model to assimilate people of diverse ethnicities and cultures living within the same territory (He & Kymlicka, 2005). In almost all Southeast Asian countries, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity has been perceived as a threat to national unity, and education is one of the tools that Southeast Asian countries have used to unify people. Mono-cultural educational policies, such as the prohibition of other languages in schools, a centralized curriculum, or the closing of schools set up by ethnic and religious groups, were implemented across countries in the region (Aguilar, 2017). These policies deprived ethnic groups and indigenous people of their cultural practices and identities. The result was resentment, marginalization, and at times, persistent conflicts, as in the case of Muslims in the southernmost provinces of Thailand. However, upon entering the 21 st century, a shift in language policies reflecting an ostensible acceptance of cultural diversity has been witnessed in many parts of Southeast Asia. Articles in this special issue document such policy shifts and the movements to reclaim linguistic and cultural rights, as in the case of Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia. (MULTI-)LINGUISM AND ETHNICITY IN THE CONTEXT OF NATION-BUILDING Myanmar is inhabited by 135 ethnic groups, each of which has distinguished languages and cultures. This rich linguistic and cultural diversity has long been

The general theme of the present volume is the place and role of minority languages in formal and informal educational and socio-cultural settings. It has been established both in the academic literature and in democratic practice that the presence of minority languages (which serve as languages of primary socialization) in public communicative domains (among which education stands as the most crucial) brings very important benefits to the children of those ethnolinguistic minority groups in terms of affective, cognitive and academic progress. The volume before you aims to foster communication among theoreticians and practitioners in minority language policy and planning in Europe and worldwide from a wide range of perspectives as it covers a number of specific topics included in a number of thematic sections.

Diversity in Indian Culture, Language, and Literature, 2021

The mother tongue is vital in framing the thinking and emotions of people. Learning to speak in the mother tongue is very necessary for a child's comprehensive development. Being fluent in the mother tongue, which is also known as the native language, benefits the child in numerous ways. It associates him with his culture, ensures enhanced cognitive development, and supports the learning of other languages (Nishanthi, 2020). According to the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), It is estimated that 221 million primary-aged children from minority language and ethnic communities do not have access to education in a language they know. Majority of this population fall in Africa and Asia. The lack of opportunity in mother tongue literacy is a roadblock for the children and their parents in the indigenous communities in India. This situation gradually leads the speech communities to develop a negative attitude towards their language. The absence of orthographic structuring also causes the death of cultural values over the generations before they are getting written down. Ultimately, this affects the linguistic and cultural diversity of society. Hence, this paper examines the possibilities of mother tongue education at various levels to preserve the socio-cultural and linguistic diversity of the minority/ethnic communities across the country.

2008

In countries with linguistic diversity, people who speak socially less powerful languages tend to be bior multilingual, speaking their own ethnic/local language, possibly a more dominant regional language and the official or national language. On the other hand, people who speak the dominant language tend to add only those national and/or international languages that are as or more powerful than their own. Simply put, people in power tend not to learn the languages of the less powerful. This is the scenario commonly observed in the kingdom of Thailand, as well as in other developing countries in the world.

Language Teaching

East and Southeast Asia represents a linguistically and culturally diverse region. For example, more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia alone. It is against this backdrop of diversity that the ten countries that comprise Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have recently signed the ASEAN Charter which, while calling for respect for the region's languages, cultures and religions also officially nominates English as ASEAN's working language. In this article, we examine the language education policies of the region and consider the implications of these policies for the maintenance of linguistic and cultural diversity on the one hand and the promotion of English and the respective national languages on the other. As ASEAN is closely connected to the three major countries of China, Japan and South Korea, as indicated by the ‘ASEAN + 3’ forum, we also include these countries here. We stress that, as space forbids an in-depth treatment of the language education ...

Aila Review 21, 2008