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Multi-Page.Pdf PHREE Background Paper Series Public Disclosure Authorized Document No. PHREE/92/47 Language Issues in Scientific Training and Research Public Disclosure Authorized in Developing Countries by Thomas Owen Eisemon (Consultant) Public Disclosure Authorized Educationand EmploymentDivision Population and Human ResourcesDepartment The World Bank Public Disclosure Authorized January 1992 This publication series serves as an outlet for background products from the ongoing work program of policy research and analysis of the Education and Employment Division in the Population and Human Resources Department of the World Bank. The iews expressed are those of the author(s), and should not be attributed to the World Bank- . It This paper was prepared in connection with the author's responsibilities at the World Bank while on leave from the Center for Cognitive and Ethnographic Studies at McGill University. O ThzeIntemational Bank for Reconstrction and Development/ Thle World Bank, 1992 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................ iii I. INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1 IL LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE ......................................... 2 English "Hegemony" in Scientific Training and Research . 2 Variations in Language Policies .4 Ill. DOES USE OF AN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE CREATE A BARRIER TO INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION? .6 "Parochialism"in Science .6 Economic Impediments to Scientific Communication ............. ............. 7 Effects of Language Policies on Mainstream Scientific Visibility .......... 8 Achieving International Visibility......................................... 13 Use of Information and Publication Strategies ............................... 15 IV. THE QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF SCIENTIFIC TRAINING .... ..... 16 The Metropolitan Language as a Proxy for Educational Quality ..... ............ 16 Metropolitan Language Instruction and Foreign Training ....................... 19 English Language Skills of Foreign Students in American Universities ..... ........ 20 V. USE OF INDIGENOUS AND METROPOLITAN LANGUAGES FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION .24 Social Selectivityof Access to Metropolitan Language Education .24 Teaching in a Metropolitan Language ...................................... 26 Methods of Instruction .............................. 27 Effects of Language on Student Achievement .28 Implications of Language Policies for Using Science in Daily Life .32 VI. SUMMARY ................................ .....................35 VII. TABLES Table 1: Percentage of Countries Teaching English and Other European Languages in Secondary Schools ............. .... 3 i Table 2: Number of Journal and Book Authors and Number of Research Scientists and Engineers by Region and Selected Countries: 1987 & Various Years . ............. .9 Table 3: Developing Country SCI Source Publications by Region and Country: 1987 ..................................... 11 Tab!. 4: Proport ion of Developing Country Agricultural and Forestry Scientists Who Publish Local or in Developed Country Journals ................................. 12 Table 5: Language of Examination By Course of Study: 1967 .................... 17 Table 6: Ranking of TOEFL Repeaters 1977-1980by Country and Region of Origin ........................................... 21 Table 7: Mean TOEFL Scores 1987-89 By Region and Country ................. 22 Table 8: Foreign Student Performance on the Graduate Record Examination and Grades Received for First Year of UtniversityStudies: 1982-84 ...................................... 23 Table 9: Student Performance in Reading Comprehension, Written Composition, Mathematics and Science/Agriculture in Kirundi and French .... ......... 30 Table 10: Percentage Differences by Test: Repeaters Versus Nonrepeaters .... ..... 32 References ..... 38 ii Absta Language policies affecting scientific education and research have important implications for educational efficiency and effectiveness. An analysis of the role of European and other languages in science education and in advanced scientific training and research in developing countries is presented. Three conclusions are drawn. First, policies favoring indigenous languages for scientific training do not necessarily create a "language barrier" to international scientific communication. They do not inhibit the production of mainstream, mainly English language scientific research or use of English scientific information. Second, in countries where a foreign language has been adopted for all science instructions, poor foreign language proficiency is an important cause of high wastage and repetition rates and low achievement in scientific and technological courses. Foreign language training must be improved at all educational levels. Finally,use of indigenous languages at least at the primary level may promote leaming of science and related subjects. Indigenous languages will not develop as language of ordinary scientific discourse unless they are employed for instruction social and material welfare. .. INTRODUCrION Language policies in developing countries reflect the ways western science and education were transplanted to non-western societies. They are also influenced by outcomes of historical experiences, especially by trading relationships and patterns of foreign scientific and educational assistance. At the same time, language policies are instruments for deliberately changing these circumstances. That may involve expanding instruction in an indigenous language, providing support for indigenous language scientific publications or introducing a new foreigr language for scientific training. For example, some Francophone countries in Africa have made English a compulsory second language for scientific and technical studies to diversify sources of educational assistance. MoFambique is considering changing the langua6,e of instruction from Portuguese to English to foster greater economic and scientific co-operation regiona!ly and internationally. Many Asian countries like Japan, Korea and China adopted indigenous languages for scientific instruction and research to create a national scientific community. Inflt.ential Filipino scientiss recently proposed that their country follow these examples (Scott 1989). How language policies may affect scientific training and research and the utilization of modern science in eaily life is the subject of this paper. Language policies generate intense controversy and for this reason, are often regarded as matters for political debate rather than a subject for dispassionate analysis. The purpose of this paper is to identify their consequences and to show their centrality to efforts to improve educational efficiency and effectiveness. An analysis of the role of European and other languages in science education and advanced scientific training and research is presented in the first section of the paper. Linguistic barriers to scientific communication and recognition are discussed. The impact of language policies on the quality and effectiveness of science education and advanced scientific training is addressed in the second section of the paper. Since increasing access to foreign universities is important to the rationale for using a foreign language for science instruction, the relationship between language policies, foreign language proficiency and success in foreign studies is considered. In many countries, science and even health, agriculture and nutrition are taught only in a foreign language. How teaching science in a foreign language may influence teaching methods and learning outcomes is investigated in the final section. Three conclusions are drawn. First, policies favoring indigenous languages for scientific training do not necessarily create a "language barrier" to international scientific communication. They do not inhibit the production of mainstream, mainly Englishlanguage scientific research or use of English scientific information. Economic and political circumstances are more serious constraints on scientificproduction and communication. Second, in countries where a foreign language has been adopted for all science instruction, poor foreign language proficiency is an - 2 - important cause of high wastage and repetition rates and low achievement in scientific and technological courses. Foreign language training must he improved at all educational levels. Finally, use of indigenous languages a. least at the primary level may promote learning of science and related subjects. Indigenous languages will not develop as languages of ordinary scientific discourse unless they are employed for instruction. That, in turn, may facilitate diffusion of science in the popular culture and in doing so, strengthen the many positive effects of schooling on social and material welfare. LANGUAGE AND SCENCE English "Hegemony" in Scientific Training and Research Language establishes the intellectual boundaries cf scientificcommunities influencing what students are taught, how scientific instruction and research is organized and carried out as well as with whom scientists communicate. There are transnational scientific communities to which almost all scientists belong defined on the basis of the language of scientific activities, the largest being the English language scientific community. Boundaries between these transnational scientific communities are made permeable by language requirements in science education and especially in advanced scientific training, and by the comprehensiveness of bibliographic data bases and aostracting and
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