Untitled

saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
smooth transition to the non-native language instruction students need much more time. Given to the
insufficient amount of time allocated students suffer from academic problems at a later stage; (b) Minority
languages have much lower status than majority languages which lowers the self-esteem of the students and
hinders their academic progress and succcess; (c) majority of the teachers are monolingual and are competent
only in the majority language. The success of these programs mainly depend on the existance of the billingual
teachers who can speak both majority and minority languages when needed; (d) Given to the quick shift to the
majority-language instruction students remain at the low academic level in their native language as well.
(Garcia, 1991, Evando et al, 2003, , Creese, 2004, Baker, 2006). These arguments are very powerful.
However, it should be mentioned that the Georgian context significantly differs from the US and Great Britain
due to the following reasons: (a) The status of the minority languages in Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-
Javakheti is quite high. Therefore students cannot be expected to develop low self-esteem or negative attitudes
towards their mother tongue if they study in their native language; (b) Majority of the teachers in non-
Georgian schools are monolingual, but in the minority rather than the majority language; (c) Both in Kvemo-
Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti the social environment outside the school is fully non-Georgian. Having
considered these differences it can be argued that given the proper planning and implementation,
“transitional” billingual programs can be very effective in the monority regions of Georgia. For effectivnes of
the program transitional program should be implemented in primary as well as on basic school level and the
entire shift to the state language can be done only on high school level. However, the human resources are
important for transitional programs. The main aim of the schools implementing transitional model should be
professuional development of their teachers. Monolingual teachers should become bilinguals themselves.
Out of the 26 target schools 4 schools selected mixed billingual education programs (3 schools in
Samtskhe-Javakheti and 1 school in Kvemo Kartli). Previously the language of instruction was Russian in 3
schools, and Georgian – in 1 school. The case of the Georgian school is very interesting. This school selected
mixed program, however, in practice this is a totally innovative program and can be defined as a “doublesubmerssion”
program for the minority students. Majority of the students in Aklalkalaki Georgian school are
ethnically Georgians. Introduction of the billingual (Russian-Georgian) program was seen as the instrument
for attacting more ethnically Armenian students. Russian-Georgian Billingual program puts the ethnic
minortity students under the “double-submerssion”, as for the majority of the Armenian students neither
Georgian nor Russian is the native language and accordingly start the schooling with the two languages of
instruction they do not speak. Hence, it can be easily predicted how negative the impact of the “doublesumberssion”
program is for Aremenian students. Above-mentioned Russian-Georgian billingual program at
the Georgian school in Akhalkalaki can have different implications for the Georgian and Russian students.
From their perspective, this program can be defined as a dual billingual program.
In general, mixed billingual education programs can possibly play important role in substituting Russian
submerssion and prestigious-migration programs. Nevertheless, the program contains certain risks mainly
related to the multiple languages used in it. As it was mentioned, Russian is not the native language for some
students. Therefore, the schools are facing three imprortant tasks they have to accomplish: they have to ensure
that Armenian students have opportunity to receive education in the native language in the beginning stage;
they also have to ensure that students are learning the state language which is Georgian; an finally they have
to fulfull the Russian-language component of the program. This complicated approach becomes even more
challenging if we consider the new policy of the Ministry of Education and Science to strenthen the teaching
of English language at the secondary schools. As a result of this policy, instruction of the English language
will be starting from grade 1 in all the schools in Georgia, including the minority schools (National
Curriculum 2011-2016, 2011). In this context proper planning and implementation of the school language
policy is very important.
“Strong” billingual education programs are the most effective ones, However, only introduction of such
types of the programs cannot guarantee their success. Out of the 26 target schools only 7 schools selected the
“strong” billingual programs. Among these 7 programs 6 programs are formative ones, whereas the seventh
one can be classified as a dual billingual program. 6 of these programs were introduced in Kvemo-Kartli and 1
– in Samtskhe-Javakheti.
Dual billingual education program is a very interesting one. This program implies that students to be
taught are both representatives of majority and minority. Dual billingual education programs are widely
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