cohesion - European Centre for Modern Languages

for the aims of mother tongue education. Some arguments listed in favour of mother
tongue education are:
mother tongue education strengthens self-esteem and identity and pupils get a
clearer understanding of their life situation;
mother tongue education aims at developing multilingual individuals with a
multicultural identity;
developing one’s mother tongue is also a way of learning Swedish;
the mother tongue is the key to cultural heritage of the minority culture;
pupils can make comparisons between different cultures and better understand
their own situation;
mother tongue education increases understanding between people and cultures, e.g.
intercultural competence.
The assumptions are that bilingual children need a clearer understanding of their life
situation because they have a different cultural minority background. Increasing
intercultural competence is another argument for mother tongue education, which is in
theory sound but in practice difficult to realise because of the high number of
unqualified people who work as mother tongue teachers.
The specific objectives are defined as follows:
pupils should develop their ability to understand and express themselves orally and
in writing in the mother tongue;
pupils should develop their ability to be able to read and understand different kinds
of texts in the mother tongue;
pupils should acquire knowledge of the structure of the language in order to be
able to make comparisons between their mother tongue and Swedish and thus
develop their bilingualism;
pupils should acquire knowledge of their culture of origin and the ability to make
comparisons with Swedish conditions;
mother tongue education should strengthen their self-esteem and identity, and they
should acquire dual cultural affiliation.
The development of an ability to read and write is important for children undergoing
mother tongue education (those points are named twice in the syllabus). The
understanding of culture is that of a stabile continuum which can be taught and where
comparisons can be made with Swedish conditions. But which Swedish conditions:
those in a village in the north with a Sami population or that of Rinkeby with its high
immigrant population? In the aims of the syllabus oral bilingual competence is
mentioned, whereas in the arguments often given in favour of mother tongue teaching
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