Untitled

saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
low index of their integration and current alarming situation as at schools of general and higher education so
in the non-Georgian speaking communities in general. The low level of knowledge of the official language
among the non-Georgian-speakers, the informational vacuum, civil isolation and low quality of involvement
in the united national space due to this lack of knowledge of the official language is most evident in the regions
compactly inhabited with the non-Georgian-speakers where the interest and need in the study of the
Georgian language is very low. The current alarming situation and estrangement due to the ignorance of the
Georgian language is very detrimental for representatives of both national minorities and majority on the way
of peaceful development (Cimera publication 2006).
The latest scheduled and implemented activities of the Georgian Government aimed at the promotion of
education and integration of the non-Georgian-speaking population are serving facilitation of these problems
and slackening of estrangement. One of the most important activities was the introduction of the bi-
/multilingual education which has been step-by-step implemented in 40 non-Georgian-speaking schools selected
nationwide (The UN Association of Georgia, 2010). The detection of the preventive and impeding factors
existed in the process of multilingual education piloted in those schools and search of the ways for their
elimination is the goal of our research.
The bilingual education implies teaching of academic subjects in the native and second languages simultaneously.
The bilingual education is not a separate process and represents a part of the general education and
socioeconomic and cultural policy. As Polstin (1992) notes, “If the effect of social, historical, cultural, economic
and political factors on the bilingual education is not studied, we will not share the results of this type
of the education”. (Baker, 2010). Therefore, it is very important to study the effect of those factors which determine
the effectiveness of the bilingual education. If the bilingual education and programs are customized to
the individual needs of the students where their age, surrounding, social status, national and cultural peculiarities,
children physical and mental abilities are taken into consideration, the bilingual education will bring only
positive results to schools (Baker, 2010).
The bilingual education in the article is considered in the context of ethnic minorities that implies the development
of the skills and competencies determined by them in the curriculum both in the native and official
languages thus promoting their integration in the Georgian community and preventing the threat of assimilation
and anxiety of loss of the minority’s language and culture. Noteworthy is that the bilingual education is
one but not the only facility, on the right and purposeful implementation of which the positive or negative
outcomes depend. We may face both the positive and negative outcomes in case of wrong implementation of
the programs. All innovations which are entering our everyday life and which are establishing as standards
therein, require the thorough study, analysis, conscientious research and consideration of their results in the
process of introduction of the innovation as well as the will and support of the government.
Based on the results of the performed qualitative and quantitative research we have detected some important
factors, the consideration or ignorance of which determines the effect thereon. The surrounding where
the concrete multilingual education model is introduced; taking into account the culture, traditions, mentality
and other individual peculiarities of ethnical groups; the current sociopolitical environment in the country;
sharing experience of other countries; analysis of individual needs of a concrete region and school, consideration
of psychological and age peculiarities of children, adequate readiness of the logistic base – those are the
factors which along with many other ones determine the successful implementation of the program.
Research in 40 pilot schools
The research was held in 23 out of 40 non-Georgian-speaking schools selected by the Ministry of Education
and Science of Georgia where the multilingual education programs has been piloted since 2009. (The
Statute of Multilingual Education Programs, 2010). The goal of the research is to reveal the preventive factors
existing in the process of implementation of the bi-/multilingual programs which impede the effective
implementation of the programs. Based on the set problem the methods of qualitative and quantitative study
were selected as the method of research. Within the qualitative study were held two depth interviews with the
multilingual education experts and for the quantitative study were randomly sampled the principals of 23 non-
Georgian-speaking pilot schools that represents 58% of all such schools and enables to generalize the obtained
result for all pilot schools.
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