CHAPTER 1Overview on the Use of Local Languagesin Education in South-East AsiaKimmo Kosonen, Ph.D.SIL International and Payap University, Chiang Mai, ThailandIntroductionA significant proportion of the population in South-East Asia speaks a local language as their mothertongue. There are hundreds of such languages in the region spoken by various ethnolinguisticminorities. However, not all speakers of these languages have sufficient knowledge of the languagesused in education. Therefore, they are underprivileged in terms of educational access, retentionand achievement. In some cases, speakers of local languages are marginalized and threatened bybeing completely excluded from education due to prevailing language policies.Figure 1 shows an estimated percentage of national populations in East, South and South-East Asiahaving access to education in their mother tongue (or first language, L1). Basically, the figureshows the percentage of people in a given country that speak as their mother tongue the language1009080706050403020100Korea, SouthKorea, NorthJapanSri LankaMaldivesViet NamCambodiaPercentMongoliaBangladeshAfghanistanIndiaChinaMyanmarNepalLaosThailandMalaysiaSingaporeIranPhilippinesIndonesiaBhutanPakistanTimor LesteBruneiSource:SIL International Literacy Office, DallasFigure 1. Estimated populations with access to education in their firstlanguage in East, South and South-East Asia3
used as the medium of educational instruction. If several media of instruction are used in a givencountry, the total population speaking those languages as their mother tongue is counted. As exactfigures for the populations speaking various languages are not always available, all figures presentedshould be considered as estimates. However, the graph shows that in many Asian countries, theissue of language in education is a major one.This section provides an overview of various language usage in education throughout South-EastAsia. In addition, the cases of China, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) are included. Theuse of local languages in China and PNG is more extensive than in South-East Asia. Unfortunately,other countries of Asia are not included, because the author has researched only the national casesof South-East Asia and China. The focus of the discussion is, thus, on local minority languagesand their use in basic education for both formal and non-formal systems.Language-in-Education Policy and Practice in South-East AsiaBrunei DarussalamIt is estimated that 17 languages are spoken in Brunei. Standard Malay is the official language,but the most widely used language in the country is Brunei Malay. Languages used as the mediaof instruction are Standard Malay and English, and local languages are not used. The situation inBrunei is unique in the region, as basically two foreign languages are used as the media of instruction.CambodiaAbout 20 languages are spoken in Cambodia. The largest ethnic group, the Khmer, make upapproximately 90 percent of the population. In Cambodia, the medium of instruction at all levelsis the national language, Khmer. Recently, several minority languages have been introduced asthe media of instruction in pilot projects targeting the Eastern Highlands. These projects providebilingual education in both formal and non-formal systems of education for adults, as well as children.Indeed, the draft of the new education law gives ethnic minorities the right to instruction in theirmother tongue.IndonesiaIndonesia, with more than 700 languages, is linguistically the most diverse country in all of Asia.The official language, Indonesian is also the language of instruction at all levels of education. Yet,only about ten percent of the population speaks Indonesian as their mother tongue. The constitutionand an education act support the use of students’ mother tongue as the media of instruction in earlygrades. In practice, however, local languages are rarely used in formal government schools apartfrom being taught as subjects in some areas. Local languages are more widely used in non-formaleducation, particularly in adult literacy.Lao PDRThe estimated number of languages spoken in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is 82. Thelanguage of instruction at all levels of education is Lao, the official language, which is spoken as4
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Four Types of Evaluation in Literac
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• Constructive• Achievable and
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CHAPTER 9Strategies for Government
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a linguistically diverse country. T
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There is a desire to replicate and
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egional languages of education, and
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RESOURCE PAPERSEducation for Multil
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Lack of skills necessary for paid e
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in its third year, was planned spec
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Stage 4 - Ongoing education. At thi
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“The minority languages lack grad
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• Provide funding or identify and
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Easton, C. (2003) Designing orthogr
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Benson, 2003) have come to the same
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The Role of Language in Learning:Wh
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eading skills in the mother tongue
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familiar, because they have learned
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ConclusionsThe findings of the stud
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Moll, L. (1992) Bilingual classroom
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It is often argued that providing e
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crucial in language development, cu
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