Carol Benson

BILINGUAL SCHOOLING IN MOZAMBIQUE AND BOLIVIA: FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO IMPLEMENTATION

While there is renewed interest in bilingual schooling in developing countries, many systems have found it difficult to move from the experimental phase to more generalized implementation. Highlighting educational development in the cases of Mozambique and Bolivia, while also providing examples from other countries in which the author has worked,this paper discusses steps taken toward implementing bilingual education, beginning with findings from research on bilingual schools, challenges to implementation, strategies that may or may not lead to implementation, and finally what can be learned from an examination of the whole process.

How multilingual African contexts are pushing educational research and practice in new directions

A strong case can be made for developing more flexible and relevant multilingual strategies for teaching and learning within the field of bilingual education. This paper aims to demonstrate how current linguistic and educational practices in countries like Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Ethiopia suggest new directions for research and practice. A practical approach is proposed to illuminate the gap between actual language competence on the part of primary students and teachers and the language competence to which their education system aspires. By applying known language and learning principles, policies and practices can be more realistically directed towards reducing this gap in the short, medium and long terms. This involves a reconstruction of multilingual pedagogy to capitalise on the strengths of learners, teachers and linguistic communities. Meanwhile, there is a need for more research on the following: (1) effective ways to assess multiple language competencies on the part of teachers and learners; (2) the relationship between learners’ multilingual oral competence and literacy; and (3) methodologies that facilitate transfer of skills and knowledge between languages. The implications are that language-in-education policy should be based on what is possible in each sociolinguistic situation and should be flexible enough to offer equitable opportunities for all.

Towards Adopting a Multilingual Habitus in Educational Development

This chapter explores how educational approaches in low-income multilingual countries are pervaded by a monolingual habitus, or set of assumptions built on the fundamental myth of uniformity of language and culture. This habitus is evidenced in transitional bilingual approaches and unrealistic expectations for native-like proficiency in second or foreign languages. Northern biases have made research methodologies imperfectly suited to multilingual settings with dominant languages other than English. Fortunately, there are new terms, approaches and research that support a multilingual habitus more appropriate to linguistically diverse contexts of schooling and have great liberatory, transformative potential.

Empowerment of bilingual education professionals : the training of trainers programme for educators in multilingual settings in southern Africa (ToTSA) 2002-2005

Abstract This article describes a South Africa-based training programme in multilingual education for African educators and assesses its potentially transformative effects on participants. Based on a range of data collected during four course runs, as well as an e-mail survey of past participants, the authors explore how the programme has supported educators in promoting mother tongue-based schooling in multilingual African contexts. There is also a discussion of principal challenges involved in delivering a course that balances theory, ideology and practical knowledge. The authors conclude with implications for similar courses to positively impact educational practice in multilingual settings.