Part II.pdf - MTB-MLE Network

APPENDIX 1
Essential Concepts Used in the Article
The distinction of language and dialect is seen from the linguistic point of view emphasizing
intelligibility. Thus, only if people speaking different speech varieties sufficiently understand each
other and can communicate without difficulties, they speak dialects of a same language. If the
intelligibility between speakers of different speech varieties is insufficient, they speak different
languages.
Mother tongue may refer to different situations depending on the definition criteria used (Baker &
Prys Jones 1998; Skutnabb-Kangas 1988, 16-18; 2000, 105-108; UNESCO 2003b, 15). Other terms
such as or first language (L1), vernacular (language), native language or home language are also
used to refer to the mother tongue. Bilingual or multilingual people may have several mother tongues.
The mother tongue may refer to at least the following situations: The mother tongue is a language:
(a) that one has learnt first; (b) one identifies with or is identified as a native speaker of by others;
(c) one knows best; and (d) one uses most.
Second language (L2) is a language that is not the mother tongue of a person, but she/he speaks
or has to study it. It may be a foreign language or another non-native language of the learner.
Second language may also be a language that is not spoken in the immediate environment of the
learner, or it may be a language widely spoken outside the home. For ethnolinguistic minorities,
the second language usually is the national or the official language that is used in contexts such as
schools and interaction with government agencies or in communication with other language groups.
Local language is a language (a) without a written form; (b) for which language development is
not yet complete; or (c) that is otherwise not considered suitable for education, for example, due to
its low status or small number of speakers (CAL 2001; Robinson 1999; Vawda & Patrinos 1999;
Walter 2004). In minority settings, the local language is usually the first language of the given
ethnolinguistic minority group.
Language of Wider Communication (LWC) is a language that speakers of different mother tongues
use to communicate with each other. LWC is also called lingua franca or trade language. At the
national level, LWC is usually the national or official language. In multilingual situations of
South-East Asia, LWCs are usually major regional languages that various ethnolinguistic groups
use in communication with each other.
Language (or medium) of instruction is a language that is used for teaching and learning the subject
matter of the curriculum in a given educational system or a part of it. Bilingual education refers
to the use of more than one language in education. In an ideal situation education begins with the
learner’s first language (L1) and a second language (L2) is gradually introduced later. Biliteracy
refers to the use of two (or more) languages for reading and writing (Hornberger 2003). Benson
(2003) provides a useful concept of mother tongue-based bilingual education referring to “a form
of schooling that uses the L1 for teaching beginning literacy (reading and writing) and basic concepts
such as mathematics, while teaching the L2 as a second or foreign language, ideally using appropriate
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