Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World Brings Together Fifteen of the Most Important Papers Presented at the Conference
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Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World the Developing Language in and Social Cohesion The Ninth International Language and Development Conference was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2011, with the theme Language Language and Social Cohesion and Social Cohesion. It was jointly funded by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, formerly GTZ, in the Developing World the German development organisation of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development) and the British Council. It was hosted and co-organised by the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration and the Ministry of Education. Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World brings together fifteen of the most important papers presented at the conference. The book is organised in four parts: • Social Cohesion, Language and Human Rights • Languages as Connectors or Dividers • Education and Social Cohesion in Multilingual Contexts • Languages, Education and Social Cohesion in Sri Lanka. The nineteen authors discuss the role of language in weakening and strengthening social cohesion in many parts of the world, including India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania and Timor-Leste. Six chapters deal with the specific case of the host country, Sri Lanka. An introductory chapter relates the discussions which appear here to previous work on social cohesion and identifies eleven important lessons which can be drawn from these studies. This volume makes a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of Language and Development. It will be of particular interest to policy makers, development specialists, educationists, linguists and language educators. ISBN 9789559055372 ISBN 9789551896126 Hywel Coleman (ed.) Hywel Coleman 9 789559 055372 9 789551 896126 British Council Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Edited by Hywel Coleman Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World the Developing Language in and Social Cohesion The Ninth International Language and Development Conference was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2011, with the theme Language Language and Social Cohesion and Social Cohesion. It was jointly funded by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, formerly GTZ, in the Developing World the German development organisation of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development) and the British Council. It was hosted and co-organised by the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration and the Ministry of Education. Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World brings together fifteen of the most important papers presented at the conference. The book is organised in four parts: • Social Cohesion, Language and Human Rights • Languages as Connectors or Dividers • Education and Social Cohesion in Multilingual Contexts • Languages, Education and Social Cohesion in Sri Lanka. The nineteen authors discuss the role of language in weakening and strengthening social cohesion in many parts of the world, including India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania and Timor-Leste. Six chapters deal with the specific case of the host country, Sri Lanka. An introductory chapter relates the discussions which appear here to previous work on social cohesion and identifies eleven important lessons which can be drawn from these studies. This volume makes a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of Language and Development. It will be of particular interest to policy makers, development specialists, educationists, linguists and language educators. ISBN 9789559055372 ISBN 9789551896126 Hywel Coleman (ed.) Hywel Coleman 9 789559 055372 9 789551 896126 British Council Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Edited by Hywel Coleman Language and social cohesion in the developing world Language and social cohesion in the developing world Edited by Hywel Coleman British Council & Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Language and Social Cohesion in the Developing World (Selected Proceedings of the Ninth Language and Development Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2011) www.langdevconferences.org Edited by Hywel Coleman First published 2015 by British Council and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH © 2015. Copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors and copyright in the volume as a whole belongs to the publishers. Extracts from this publication may be reproduced by any method for research and teaching purposes, but the source must be acknowledged. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of the British Council and GIZ and do not commit the publishers. Cover photograph © 2015 Walter Keller, third-eye-photography Jointly published in Colombo by British Council ISBN 978-955-9055-37-2 and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH ISBN 978-955-1896-12-6 Typesetting and design by R. J. Footring Ltd, Derby, UK Printed in Sri Lanka by Karunaratne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd Contents The Language and Development Conferences vii Foreword ix Language and social cohesion: An introduction and lessons learnt 1 Hywel Coleman Social cohesion, language and human rights 1 Monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism: The human rights perspective 15 Nirmala Chandrahasan 2 Language rights and social cohesion: A balance for inclusion and stability 22 Fernand de Varennes 3 Multilingual education: From ‘why’ to ‘how’ 36 Helen Pinnock 4 One stone, two birds: Stories to enhance both social cohesion and transformative learning 44 Gary Hernandez and Angi Malderez Languages as connectors or dividers 5 Reflections on issues of language in Sri Lanka: Power, exclusion and inclusion 55 Sasanka Perera 6 National languages, English and social cohesion in East Africa 75 Karsten Legère and Tove Rosendal 7 Language, social cohesion and confrontation: The case of the historiography of Urdu 92 Tariq Rahman v vi Contents Education and social cohesion in multilingual contexts 8 Timor-Leste: Language and identity in Southeast Asia’s newest nation 111 Kirsty Sword Gusmão 9 The effectiveness of English language learning in multilingual schools in Pakistan 116 Khawaja A. Rehman and Muhammad Zaman Sagar 10 Multilingual education, social transformation and development in Nepal 128 Prem Phyak 11 Mother-tongue-based literacy, a tool for indigenous people’s empowerment: The Western Subanon and Binukid/Higaonon experience 144 Leslie Laviña-Gumba Languages, education and social cohesion in Sri Lanka 12 Building bridges: National integration through the teaching of the Second National Language 155 Marie Perera 13 Instruction in the English medium: A Sri Lankan case study 166 Jayageetha Balakrishnar and Thaiyamuthu Thanaraj 14 Sri Lankan English: An appropriate model for the teaching of English in Sri Lanka? 178 Michael Meyler 15 The role of the standard variety in defining sub-varieties: A study based on teaching English and Tamil 186 Rukshaan Ibrahim Contributors 195 The Language and Development Conferences All the conference publications can be accessed at www.langdevconferences. org. Additionally, those published by the British Council can be accessed at www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications. 1993 1st Language & Development Conference, Bangkok, Thailand Theme: ‘Issues in Language & Development’ Kenny, B. & Savage, W. (eds). 1997. Language and Development: Teachers in a Changing World. London: Longman. 1995 2nd Language & Development Conference, Bali, Indonesia Theme: ‘Language & Communication in Development: Stakeholders’ Perspectives’ Crooks, T. and Crewes, G. (eds). 1995. Language and Development. Denpasar: Indonesia Australia Language Foundation. Crooks, T. (ed.). 1996. ESP in Southeast Asia. Denpasar: Indonesia Australia Language Foundation. 1997 3rd Language & Development Conference, Langkawi, Malaysia Theme: ‘Access, Empowerment, Opportunity’ Abdullah, A., Crocker, T. et al. (eds). 1998. Language in Development: Access, Empowerment, Opportunity. Kuala Lumpur: National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN). 1999 4th Language & Development Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam Theme: ‘Partnership & Interaction in Language & Development’ Shaw, J., Lubelska, D. & Noullet, M. (eds). 2000. Partnership and Inter- action. Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology. vii viii The Language and Development Conferences 2001 5th Language & Development Conference, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Theme: ‘Defining the Role of Language in Development’ Lo Bianco, J. (ed.). 2002. Voices from Phnom Penh: Development and Language: Global Influences and Local Effects. Melbourne: Language Australia. 2003 6th Language & Development Conference, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Theme: ‘Linguistic Challenges to National Development & Inter- national Cooperation’ Coleman, H., Gulyamova, J. & Thomas, A. (eds). 2005.National Develop ment, Education and Language in Central Asia and Beyond. Tashkent: British Council Uzbekistan. 2005 7th Language & Development Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Theme: ‘Language & Development’ Coleman, H. (ed.). 2007. Language and Development: Africa and Beyond. Addis Ababa: British Council Ethiopia. 2009 8th Language & Development Conference, Dhaka, Bangladesh Theme: ‘Language & Development: Sociocultural Issues and Chal- lenges’ Savage, W. (ed.). 2015. Language and Development: Sociocultural Issues and Challenges. Published online by the Trustees of the Language & Development Conferences. 2011 9th Language & Development Conference,