Problematics of Implementing Literacy in Creole in the Mauritian multilingual situation : Conflicting Perceptions of Economic versus Linguistic Rights
Paper Presenter & Author: Natacha Bissessur, FSSH, UOM
Rationale: The very issue of mother tongue education is highly controversial in post colonial countries like Africa, Asia and Mauritius. Even though the 1953 UNESCO Report stipulates the need for the child to be educated in his mother tongue, to what extent is the design of implementing it likely to reap sound pedagogical benefits? It is to be pointed out that most linguists are in favour of mother tongue education but other problematic arise when it comes to the conflict between economic rights and linguistic ones.
AIMS OF STUDY: The objective of my study is to demonstrate than in the Mauritian language situation, a number of factors may militate against education in the mother tongue and that literacy in Creole language may not be desirable. As regards the problematic of implementing literacy in Creole in the Mauritian context, Gupta’s (1995) arguments will be of key importance since Singapore’s linguistic landscape is not extensively dissimilar form that of Mauritius. Gupta’s (1995) main contention against mother tongue education lies in the fact that the economic empowerment of individuals should have primacy over linguistic rights. In this context, defining a mother tongue follows certain parameters namely: origin (the language one learned first), identification (the language one identifies with), competence (the language one maters best) and function (the language one uses most) (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000). Therefore, in order to investigate into the problematic of economic versus linguistic rights, this study will take into account the opinions of parents (who are among the major stakeholders in the decision-making process of education). As such, the language-in-education situation in the Caribbean and Seychelles will be taken into consideration to demonstrate the fact that the opinions of stakeholders matters. The different instances which have characterized the discourse of those advocating literacy in Creole will also be highlighted.
METHODOLOGY: As far as the methodology of the study is concerned, the questionnaire method has been used to target stakeholders (parents) to obtain quantitative as well as qualitative data. A number of 300 questionnaires have been distributed to parents and the variables of level of education, social class, profession, ethnic background have been considered. Presently the data collection exercise has been completed and the data is being currently fed on SPSS for generating results which will serve to prove/disprove the assumption that parents want their economic rights to be recognized for the purpose of empowerment even if they acknowledge that linguistic rights are important.
REFERENCES:
Banda, Felix (2000). The Dilemma of the Mother Tongue: Prospects for Bilingual Education in South Africa. Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 13, No.1.
Gupta, A.F (1997). When Mother Tongue Education is not Preferred. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 22
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
Rajah-Carrim, A. (2007). Mauritian Creole and language attitudes in the Education System of Multicultural and Multilingual Mauritius. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 28, No. 1.
Skutnabb-Kangas,T. (2000) Linguistic Genocide in education or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers, New Jersey.
Sonck, G. (2005). Language of Instruction and Instructed Languages in Mauritius. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol.26, No.1
Spolsky, B (2004). Language Policy. CambridgeUniversity Press
UNESCO (1953). The Use of Vernacular languages in Education. Paris: UNESCO.