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saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi: problemebi da gamowvevebi Issues of State Language Teaching; Problems and Challenges For Georgian-speaking children attending a Georgian school the monolingual system guarantees both sound linguistic and psychological development and good competencies in the State language, which will enable them to full participation in the social and political life of the country, and have the full opportunities for higher education and employment. For children speaking a minority language and living in a region where the State language is not used in everyday life, however, this poses serious challenges. The following diagram 3 is depicting the tendencies of the linguistic development of children, who are being taught in their mother tongue (i.e. the language, in which they first learned to speak and in which they speak at home), and learn the State language as a second language in separate language lessons. Language development MONOLINGUALISM 6-7 years age (school) These children steadily develop their mother tongue until it reaches the norm, because in the process of school education they will constantly communicate in this language. The cognitive development, fostered by the content of learning of different subjects, evolves together with the increasing language competence and vice versa. The second language on the other hand does not reach a high level, because traditionally the methods of teaching do not enable the development of communication skills. Even if the teaching is more communicative, usually the time during which the child is exposed to the second language is not sufficient to reach the needed level of language competency. Persons, who are educated in their mother tongue, even if they enjoy second language lessons, usually become monolingual. They have a high command of their mother tongue, but when communicating in the second language constantly translate from or to the mother tongue. While this approach corresponds to the State's duties for fulfilling what is stated in Article 29 1.c) of the Convention, namely that education "shall be directed to �...� the development of respect for �...� his or her own cultural identity, language and values �...�" other parts of the Convention are not covered. Article 28 1.c) of the Convention obliges the State to make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity. However, with the education with the mother tongue as language of instruction, this obligation is not fulfilled: In the 3 The diagram shall be understood as an aid to illustrate the arguments. The line referring to the language development combines various aspects, including language skills, communication competence and general cognitive development. The line labelled "norm" in the diagram denotes a level of linguistic and cognitive development that enables a person to fully participate in all aspects of life. 240
saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi: problemebi da gamowvevebi Issues of State Language Teaching; Problems and Challenges course of the discussion about the unified national examination for entering university in Georgia in 2005 and 2006, this difficulty became evident. While in a first step in 2005 there was the possibility for high school graduates from non-Georgian schools to take an adapted Georgian language test, this benefit was cancelled in 2006. As we have seen, monolingual education in the mother tongue does not give minority language speakers the opportunity to acquire the State language on the needed level, making it impossible for numerous young people from national minorities to enter a Georgian higher education institution. Apart from the purely linguistic drawbacks for minority language students, there is another problem with the system of separate minority and majority language schools: It divides children from a very early age according to their ethnic, linguistic and cultural background, and teaches them separately, even in regions and towns where they live next to each other. In their everyday life the children experience that they are seemingly fundamentally different from each other. This situation is counter-productive with regard to the State's obligation to what is stated in Article 29 1.d) "to ensure an education that is directed to �...� the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin." The current system therefore not only provides the children with unequal possibilities in life, but also creates a divided society with a high potential for conflict. Additionally, with this limited competence in the Georgian language, there is both little motivation as well as little possibility for minority language speakers to orient their professional life towards Georgian speaking parts of the country, wherefore they might rather search their opportunities in the neighbouring countries, where their mother tongue is the State language. This tendency is a potential threat to the development of a unified state based on citizenship. Education for minority language speakers with the State language as language of instruction: Understanding the growing importance of a good command of the Georgian language, as well as the minimum standards for command of the State language as laid down by the State, more and more parents of linguistic minorities send their children to Georgian language schools. This development was increasingly observed in an unpublished survey done by CIMERA in 2005 in the Kvemo Kartli region, where the notion prevails that it is the task of the family to "teach" children their mother tongue. However, in this setting the importance of education in the mother tongue for both the linguistic and cognitive development of a child is neglected. Teaching children exclusively in a language, which is not their mother tongue, is called submersion or total immersion. It is important to note that this model can lead to bilingualism only in very specific linguistic settings, where the children's mother tongue has very high prestige and is widely used outside of the school 4 . Usually - and in most situations in Georgia - this does not lead to bilingualism. On the contrary, it can be dangerous for the overall linguistic and intellectual development of the child. If non-Georgian speaking children attend a Georgian school together with Georgian speaking children, they undergo the whole education process in a language unknown to them and experience a so-called "full immersion shock". This shock slows down the children’s ability to perceive information and to learn. These children are expected to adopt the second language on native speakers' level and learn the content of the school subjects at the same pace as native speakers. The pupils are constantly in a situation in which they do not understand what is being asked of them, and can conclude that the problem lies in them themselves: they feel stupid and think that they are not able to learn at all. In this situation the child can close in and the Georgian language, although in time does start to develop, never reaches the required level. This shock slows down the children's ability to perceive information and to learn and it puts in danger their cognitive development. 5 Throughout the world, this problem is one of the roots for high drop-out rates in primary education. In this setting the requirements of the CRC Articles 29 1.a) "...education of the child shall be directed to the devel- 4 Baker (1993) and Wode (1997). 5 Crawford (1989) and (1997), Cummins (1980), Sweetnam Evans (2001) 241
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a. passionate b. Pathetic c. enthus
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� Creates opportunities for pract
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