Multilingual Education

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Recognizing and valuing linguistic diversity, and using strategies to support the academic success of students with different language backgrounds.

Language Acquisition: The study of how people learn languages and the different factors that influence language acquisition.
Cognitive Development: The study of how children develop the ability to think, reason, and understand the world around them.
Linguistics: The study of language and its structure, including grammar, syntax, and phonology.
Cultural Diversity: The study of different cultures, beliefs, and practices and the ways in which they interact with each other.
Second Language Learning: The study of how individuals learn a second language, including factors that influence success and strategies for language learning.
Bilingualism: The study of individuals who speak two languages fluently and the different cognitive benefits associated with bilingualism.
Language Policy: The study of how governments and institutions regulate the use of languages and promote multilingualism.
Curriculum Development: The design and development of educational programs that incorporate multiple languages and cultures.
Teaching Strategies: The approaches and techniques used by educators to teach second languages and promote multiculturalism in the classroom.
Assessment and Evaluation: The measurement of language proficiency and academic progress for multilingual students.
Sociolinguistics: The study of the relationship between language and society, including how language use varies across cultures and communities.
Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in the Workplace: The study of how language and cultural diversity impact the workplace and strategies for creating inclusive environments.
International Education: The study of education systems in different countries and the ways in which language and culture are integrated into these systems.
Language and Identity: The study of how language can be used to express and shape individual and collective identities.
Language and Literature: The study of multicultural literature and how it can be used to foster cross-cultural understanding and appreciation.
Dual Language Immersion: This involves teaching academic subjects in two languages. For instance, in the US, K-12 schools provide instruction in English and another language, with the students receiving half the instruction in each language.
Bilingual Education: Bilingual education facilitates instruction in two languages, one being the primary language of the student and the other being the language of instruction. The bilingual program aims to develop bilingualism, biliteracy, and bicultural understanding.
Translanguaging: This refers to a teaching technique wherein the students are encouraged to use all the languages they know collectively in the classroom. The focus is primarily on communication while developing multilingual competence.
Heritage Language Education: This allows the students to develop proficiency in their parents' language or other languages they are exposed to outside the classroom.
Content-Based Instruction: This approach provides instruction in content areas such as math and science, in a language different than the students' native language.
Sheltered Instruction: Sheltered instruction is an approach that focuses on adapting the language of instruction to make it more comprehensible to students who have limited proficiency in the language of instruction. It is designed to provide second language learners with access to grade-level content.
Immersion Education: This approach immerses students in the target language and culture, often through an entire instructional day, during which all academic subjects are taught in the second language.
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning): CLIL involves teaching subjects such as math, science, and geography in a language other than the students' native language. The approach aims to build competence in the target language while advancing content knowledge.
Plurilingual Education: Plurilingual education endorses the notion that all students should be multilingual and supports students in developing proficiency in various languages.
Global Education: This approach promotes an understanding of global issues and events while promoting linguistic and cultural diversity. Students learn to appreciate different cultures and communities worldwide.
- "Multilingual education typically refers to 'first-language-first' education, that is, schooling which begins in the mother tongue and transitions to additional languages."
- "Typically MLE programs are situated in developing countries where speakers of minority languages, i.e. non-dominant languages, tend to be disadvantaged in the mainstream education system."
- "Speakers of minority languages, i.e. non-dominant languages, tend to be disadvantaged in the mainstream education system."
- "There are increasing calls to provide first-language-first education to immigrant children from immigrant parents who have moved to the developed world."
- "First-language-first education" refers to schooling that begins in the mother tongue and later incorporates additional languages.
- "MLE programs are situated in developing countries where speakers of minority languages... tend to be disadvantaged in the mainstream education system."
- "Speakers of minority languages, i.e. non-dominant languages, tend to be disadvantaged in the mainstream education system."
- "Immigrant children from immigrant parents who have moved to the developed world" are the target learners for first-language-first education.
- "Schooling... begins in the mother tongue."
- "MLE programs... transitions to additional languages."
- The main purpose is to provide non-dominant language speakers with education opportunities that prioritize their mother tongue.
- They are disadvantaged because their languages are considered non-dominant.
- "Speakers of minority languages" are the speakers of non-dominant languages.
- Non-dominant languages are minority languages that tend to be disadvantaged.
- People are calling for it in developed countries where immigrant parents have moved.
- The aim is to offer a supportive education model that allows immigrant children to develop their mother tongue while learning additional languages.
- Multilingual education addresses their needs by prioritizing their mother tongue and providing a bridge to additional languages.
- Minority language speakers, specifically those who are disadvantaged in the mainstream education system, could benefit from multilingual education.
- Minority language speakers are typically disadvantaged in developing countries.
- The key principle is to start education in the mother tongue and then transition to additional languages.