Cristin-resultat-ID: 603722
Sist endret: 13. oktober 2016, 13:09
Resultat
Vitenskapelig foredrag
2008

Language policy challenges in Madagascar

Bidragsytere:
  • Øyvind Dahl

Presentasjon

Navn på arrangementet: "Cultures in translation" : 15th conference of the Nordic network for intercultural communication (NIC)
Sted: Reykjavik
Dato fra: 4. desember 2008
Dato til: 6. desember 2008

Om resultatet

Vitenskapelig foredrag
Publiseringsår: 2008

Importkilder

ForskDok-ID: r09012013

Klassifisering

Emneord

Språk • Policy • Education

Beskrivelse Beskrivelse

Tittel

Language policy challenges in Madagascar

Sammendrag

According to the constitution, Madagascar (20 million inhabitants) has one national language, viz. Malagasy. Many dialects exist, with the principal border running between the coastal regions and the interior. Modern schools and the present-day written language were introduced by British missionaries at the beginning of the 19th century. Teaching in French and of French was introduced by the French colonial power from 1896 to 1960. After independence in 1960, French continued to be the language of instruction until 1972. From then until 1991, Malagasy was introduced as the medium of instruction at all levels in primary, middle and secondary education. From ca. 1992, the pendulum swung back, French is now being gradually introduced as the language of instruction in the first five years of schooling. This means that all teaching in the subsequent middle, secondary and higher education is given in French. The Ministry of Education has drawn up a plan to give all children seven years of primary education by 2015, in keeping with the ¿Education for All¿ program and with the ¿Millennium Development Goals¿ declared by UN. In the course of the last three years, the enrolment rate of children has risen from 67% to 82%; but the quality of education in most schools is very poor and the dropout rate is alarmingly high. Several reasons are indicated for this fact: many teachers with a poor knowledge of French (to say nothing of English) have been recruited. The differences between the dialects mean that many children and teachers do not speak the official national language, which is an adapted variant of Merina, the dialect in the capital city. Probably French is introduced as the language of instruction too early in the primary school. Children do not learn their own mother tongue well enough, and this is a handicap when they are instructed in foreign languages. The parents, however, expect that if only their children know French, they will be secured good jobs when they grow up. This can well turn out to be an illusion. About 80% of the population live in rural villages and practice only Malagasy in daily life. The challenge is to identify what would be a rational linguistic politics in relation to the educational system.

Bidragsytere

Øyvind Dahl

  • Tilknyttet:
    Forfatter
    ved Fakultet for teologi og samfunnsvitenskap ved VID vitenskapelige høgskole
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