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Using Multilinguality As a Classroom Resource

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Using Multilinguality As a Classroom Resource Using Multilinguality as a Classroom Resource Rajni Dwivedi Understanding Language has to learn all the languages; what it means is Can we think of ourselves as being human if that one has to respect all languages and their we did not have language? What would we have speakers. been without it? What kind of a society would It is indeed surprising to note that languages have we have been? How would we share our more similarities than differences. For example, thoughts with each other? Would we be able to all languages have vowel and consonantal sounds think? Would we be able to reflect on what we (of course the number may vary). Also, most of were doing and what was happening around us, the words will follow alteration of these sounds. and record it? Would it be possible for us to go The sentences will generally have a subject, an into the past and discover our histories? Would object and a verb (the order may vary). it be possible for us to plan our future? Would The central idea of this paper is to discuss how we be able to do so many new experiments and multilinguality can be used as a resource in the researches? The list of questions is endless. It classroom. I will first discuss the language is obvious that without language none of these situation in India with the help of some concrete things would be possible. Language is a vital examples. I will then try to explain why we need attribute of being human. to promote multilinguality, and how it can be used For a long time, language was seen just as a as a resource in the classroom. Lastly, I will tool for communication. It is now clear, however, explore how the similarities and differences in that this is a very narrow understanding of languages can be exploited in the classroom to language. Language has a much wider make learning more interesting and meaningful. application; apart from communication, language also enables human beings to think, imagine, feel, Multilingualism in India analyze, and is a powerful medium of constructing knowledge. I reproduce below observations from three different situations: Generally, language is taken to mean English or Hindi, or a specific language. However, no one Observation 1 speaks only one specific language or only a single I observed class 1 in an Udaipur primary school. fixed variety. In the context of India, almost It had twenty-five children. Most of the children every Indian uses many languages and their were quite fluent in Hindi and Mewari (language varieties. Thus apart from cultural, religious spoken in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and nearby areas). and ethnic diversity, we also have language They also spoke a few words of English. Some diversity. In fact there are so many languages of the children could speak Vagari and Marwari. that it is not possible for one to understand all of In conversations with me (or any other teacher), them. But multilinguality does not imply that one they would talk in Hindi, but when talking with Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 Issue 4 July 2013 27 their friends, while doing group work, while children fear a new language when it is playing or during lunch, they would talk in their introduced? Despite having the potential for local language (s). learning several languages, why do children get disinterested in learning the new language being Observation 2 taught formally at school? Why do they often not want to share the fact that they already know This is an observation of an office in Raipur, so many languages? This makes us think about Chhattisgarh. There were approximately fifty the multilingual classroom. cleaning staff employed at the office. Most of them spoke at least three to four languages. By multilinguality we mean that not only do During an informal conversation with them, I people possess the ability to speak different learnt that not only did they speak Chhattisgari languages, but they also have the freedom to and its other varieties, but they also spoke Hindi speak their own languages. Also, people are not and some English. Most of the people belonging laughed at, or seen as inferior because they to this group had never been to school but they come from a certain language background. If spoke all the languages quite fluently. this can be achieved, then classroom multilinguality is here to stay. However, how this Observation 3 is to be achieved is not very clear as multilinguality is considered as a barrier to I have recently shifted to Assam where I am learning ‘the one language’ with all its ‘purity’. living in a very small village. The majority of the We need to break these stereotypes that not adult population here has never been to school. only become hurdles in achieving democratic However, almost all of them speak at least two- values, but also hamper the learning processes three languages. These include Mundari, Kisani, of children. Asami, Nepali, Bengali and some Hindi. Building upon what children already know, and These observations give us an idea of the relating the school knowledge with their daily linguistic diversity in our country. They also experiences has a positive impact on children’s substantiate the fact that India is a multilingual learning. A three to four-year-old child knows country and that knowing/speaking at least two not only the rules of his/her language, but also to three languages is a common phenomenon when to speak, whom to speak with and how. across the country—whether it is Rajasthan in By treating a class as monolingual, the teacher the west, or Chhattisgarh or Assam in the east. neither appreciates the language potential of the The observations elucidate that: 1) learning more children, nor makes use of the linguistic capability than one language is not a difficult task (provided each child has. Instead language is treated as there are many languages in the environment) another subject where the emphasis is on and 2) each one of us has the potential to learn finishing the syllabus. The primary objective of more than one language. language teaching, however, is to make children Why then does language learning become so feel secure, to help them share their difficult in school? experiences, to draw a connection between the home and school language, to listen to each other, Appreciating Classroom Multilinguality to question and thus develop an interest in Many people acquire several languages as language learning. This objective will be achieved children, yet language learning seems to be a if the classroom interaction respects all very difficult task in schools. What makes languages, and the educational programme and Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 Issue 4 July 2013 28 the teacher make an effort to understand and In the Classroom use the languages of children and their What should be taught, how it should be taught, community. Several studies have repeatedly what kind of textbooks should be used, what shown that multilinguality correlates highly should the role of the teacher and the children significantly with language proficiency, scholastic be—all these questions are connected with the achievement, cognitive flexibility, and social kind of education we want, which is ultimately tolerance. linked to the kind of society we want. In the The concept of spirality between various following section, we will see how multilinguality subjects is well known. A multilingual classroom can prove to be a useful resource in the makes it possible for children to see the classroom. We will also learn how multilinguality similarities and differences between various allows us to attain some of the objectives of languages. While analyzing languages, children language teaching, and thus of overall education. learn various skills such as collecting, observing and analyzing data, and reaching conclusions, Some Activities which are important for any subjects be it, For these activities, the teacher may evolve her Science, Mathematics or History. own methodology. The following guidelines may A good classroom is one where children are help: respected for what they are and where they 1. Do not make children feel that some are engaged. We all are aware that language is languages are better than others. constitutive of human being; without it, it is difficult to think of ourselves and our society. 2. Allow them to speak the language they are Respecting children’s language means comfortable with. respecting children, giving their language space 3. Do not pressurize them to speak the in the class is essential for giving them space. standard language. “Children will learn only in an atmosphere where 4. Allow them to talk about their family, they feel they are valued….Our children need experiences with their friends, toys or to feel that each one of them, their homes, whatever they like. communities, languages and cultures, are valuable” (NCF 2005, pp. 14). A multilingual Imagine a class (classes 1 and 2) where two- classroom is the only viable way forward. three languages are represented. The teacher Engagement with the children is possible when does not speak the language/s of the children. the children understand the task, feel that it is How can she start? It is quite a challenging challenging according to their level, can make situation for the teacher; either she can take some meaning out of it and thus see the purpose help from other teachers or older children. of doing it. Often, children get stuck because Children may be asked to draw things they like they cannot understand the task as it is in a the most. The teacher may ask them to name different language.
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