John Benjamins Publishing Company
Multilingual education in India
Abstract
A double divide between English, the vernaculars or the regional dominant languages, and tribal minority languages characterizes Indian multilingualism. In India, multiple languages complement each other in meeting the communicative needs of people and, hence, education must necessarily foster multilingual proficiency in the languages of functional significance. However, the common school programs in India offer only nominal forms of multilingual education. Nature and implications of the linguistic double divide for educational failure of tribal children due to their language disadvantage in schools in a dominant language are analyzed. Recent programs of mother tongue based multilingual education in India to overcome the language barrier for the tribal mother tongue children and their limitations in rising above the linguistic discrimination are discussed.
Abstract
A double divide between English, the vernaculars or the regional dominant languages, and tribal minority languages characterizes Indian multilingualism. In India, multiple languages complement each other in meeting the communicative needs of people and, hence, education must necessarily foster multilingual proficiency in the languages of functional significance. However, the common school programs in India offer only nominal forms of multilingual education. Nature and implications of the linguistic double divide for educational failure of tribal children due to their language disadvantage in schools in a dominant language are analyzed. Recent programs of mother tongue based multilingual education in India to overcome the language barrier for the tribal mother tongue children and their limitations in rising above the linguistic discrimination are discussed.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing a new series ix
- Multilingualism, language contact, and urban areas 1
-
Language acquisition, contact and change
- Voice onset time across the generations 19
- Investigating second language pronunciation 39
- Ethnolects in Northern Norway 63
- Two gender systems in one mind 95
-
Multilingual identities
- Selfing and othering through categories of race, place, and language among minority youths in Rotterdam, The Netherlands 129
- Multilingualism and identity 165
- Ethnolect studies in the German and the Netherlandic area 177
-
Urban spaces
- The delicate search for language in spaces 209
- The management of multilingualism in a city-state 227
- Multilingual communication in Hamburg 257
-
Education
- Current research on language transfer 289
- Multilingual education in India 305
- Fostering early literacy learning using dual language books 327
- Measuring success when English isn’t your native language 349
- Name index 369
- Subject index 377
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introducing a new series ix
- Multilingualism, language contact, and urban areas 1
-
Language acquisition, contact and change
- Voice onset time across the generations 19
- Investigating second language pronunciation 39
- Ethnolects in Northern Norway 63
- Two gender systems in one mind 95
-
Multilingual identities
- Selfing and othering through categories of race, place, and language among minority youths in Rotterdam, The Netherlands 129
- Multilingualism and identity 165
- Ethnolect studies in the German and the Netherlandic area 177
-
Urban spaces
- The delicate search for language in spaces 209
- The management of multilingualism in a city-state 227
- Multilingual communication in Hamburg 257
-
Education
- Current research on language transfer 289
- Multilingual education in India 305
- Fostering early literacy learning using dual language books 327
- Measuring success when English isn’t your native language 349
- Name index 369
- Subject index 377
