Language Policy and Language Loyalty

[yautiawoman2]

To my Compatriotas at Puerto Rico.com

In the late 1970’s I was lecturing on the use of “The Vernacular Languages in Education” and I used a report published by UNESCO (1951) on the same subject. As I cleaned out my office (it is very cluttered, and if I sound unintelligible sometimes, it is because I get very tired because I have too many projects, sometimes I may even sound “punchy” its because I keep working even though my brain is no longer functioning), I found the overheads that I used to make my presentation, I think this is a good place to put my talking points before I decide what I am going to say @ puertorico.com about these very important issues and what I want to discuss with them (it has been a long time since I last lectured on this subject). There are many excuses as to why the US schools do not want to allow Spanish and other languages (such as Native American languages as in Navajo (Dine), Sioux (Lakota), Hopi, Apache, etc. to be taught in the US Public Schools.

Although it is a very old study and I have not gone back to see if UNESCO published any updates on it, I still find it quite useful.. In my opinion, the findings and recommendations of the meeting and the report are still quite relevant to the subject of language preservation and language restoration or/and useful as a tool for those interested in the topic of languages in danger of disappearing. Most of my background research in the last few years has been in language restoration for American Indian languages that are in danger of disappearing.

I also included some of the notes from Dr. Ismael Rodriguez Bou, on Puerto Rican Spanish, but one of these days I will post all the battles against the "English Only" mob in the good old USA. Why? Because they are still alive and very well funded. They are doing their best to try and get 35 states to adopt an English only policy, so they can make English the Official language of the USA. Most people do not know that the USA does not have an official language.

RECOMMENDATIONS: (From UNESCO)

On educational grounds we recommend that the use of the mother tongue (the non-English language) be extended to as late a stage in education as possible. In particular, pupils should begin their schooling through the medium of the mother tongue, because they understand it best and because to begin their school life in the mother tongue will make the break between home and school as small as possible.

Many teachers complaint that neither the children or the parents speak a language that has a grammar or an alphabet.

THIS LANGUAGE HAS NO GRAMMAR AND NO ALPHABET

Frequently someone who has not analyzed the languages of people without a modern technology or “civilization” is of the opinion that a language which has never been written has no grammar. This is not true. Every language, even an unwritten one, has its consistent patterns or rules by which its speakers combine words into sentences, and so on. Often such grammatical structure is as complicated or as regular as those of any world language. In fact, we hold that there is nothing in the structure of any language which precludes it from becoming a vehicle of “modern civilization.”

Similarly, any unwritten language can be written, some of the problems involved in writing a hitherto unwritten language are discussed. (See Spanglish, Code-Switching, Lingua Franca, Patois, Tex-Mex, etc.)

THE CHILD ALREADY KNOWS HIS OR HER MOTHER TONGUE

The second objection is that the child already knows his or her own language before he or she comes to school, and that there is no need for the school to teach it to her. There are two replies to this. In the first place, the child has not completely learned it before coming to school. She has learned it enough for her won childish purposes, but she will still need to develop her knowledge of it as she grows older. The English or French (or Puerto Rican) child devotes a great part of her time throughout her school career to studying her mother tongue (Spanish). In the second place, the school is not merely teaching the child her mother tongue; it is using her mother tongue as the most effective means of teaching her other things. (Things such as math calculations, reading poems, essays and newspapers, science experiments, observations and collections of leaves and insects for classification, social studies, art, music, computer literacy, and health education, for example).

THE USE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE WILL PREVENT ACQUISITION OF THE SECOND LANGUAGE

Some people claim that it is impossible for children to acquire a good use of the second language unless the school adopts the second language as a medium of instruction from the very beginning. In fact, it is on the basis of this action that some schools in the past have actually forbidden any use whatsoever of the vernacular anywhere in the school. However, recent experience in many places proves that an equal or better command of the second language can be imparted if the school begins with the mother tongue as the medium of instruction, subsequently introducing the second language as a subject of instruction. (In Puerto Rico and in many schools in the USA with large numbers of National Origin Limited English Proficient Minority Students (NOM-LEPS) the subject of instruction is known as English as a Second Language).

USING THE VERNACULAR IMPEDES NATIONAL UNITY

It cannot be denied that the business of government is easier in a monolingual than in a multilingual nation. However, it does not follow that legislation or school policy requiring the use of the official language at all times will serve the same results as actual monolingualism. On the contrary, it is fairly likely that absolute insistence on the use of the national language by people of another mother tongue may have a negative effect, leading the local groups to withdraw in some measure from the national life. In any event, it seems clear that the national interests are best served by optimum advancement of education, and this in turn can be promoted by the use of the local language as a medium of instruction, at least at the beginning of the school program.

(In the USA this attitude has generated a great deal of controversy and has spanned decades of political confrontation between the proponents of bilingual education and the “English Only” movement.)

PRACTICAL LIMITATIONS IN THE USE OF THE VERNACULAR IN SCHOOL

We have already said that we think all children should at least begin their schooling in their mother tongue, and that they will benefit from being taught in their mother tongue as long as possible. There are, however, certain practical difficulties – some temporary, some permanent—which may compel the school authorities to abandon the use of the vernacular as the medium of instruction at some stage.

(In the USA the major problem is Racism against National Origin Minority Teachers, Parents and Students). The school districts in the USA consider many of their teaching positions as pay for, and the exclusive domain of, the spouses of the local elite. (They will very seldom try to hire anybody who is bilingual or a person outside the local Anglo community who speaks a language other than English. Sometimes there are exceptions such as the ultra right wing Republican Vietnamese immigrants and the Cubans who are anti-Castro who are often placed in many of the English as a Second Language programs when the districts do not want to implement bilingual programs that require the use of the vernacular in the classroom as a medium of instruction).

INADEQUACY OF THE VOCABULARY

The first difficulty is that the language may not yet have a vocabulary sufficient for the needs of the curriculum. In this case, a second language will have to be introduced at an early stage, and as soon as the pupils have learned enough of it the second language can become the medium of instruction. The transition to a second language should normally take place gradually and should be made as smooth, as psychologically harmless as possible. Thus, if the second language is completely different from the mother tongue it should be taught as a subject for some years, and until such time as the child has an adequate working knowledge of it, before it is brought into use as a full teaching medium. The reasons for this and the methods to be used are discussed in “The uses of the Vernacular”. We would only add that the adoption of a second language as a medium need not be total, that is, one or mere subjects may continue to be taught through the mother tongue, even though for others the second language has become necessary.

(This is the biggest obstacle in the maintenance and restoration of Native American Languages in the USA. Many of the languages have never been used for academic purposes, most of the traditional American Indian Languages have been used at home and for special ceremonial and religious purposes. Many traditional elders feel bringing the language into the classroom is going to accelerate its disappearance. There are no textbooks in chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology, economics, linguistics, history or social studies and current events, in many of the Native American languages, for example.) This leads us to a discussion on the need for curriculum design and educational materials.

SHORTAGE OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

.One of the most important and difficult problems connected with the use of the vernacular languages in education is that of providing reading materials. It will often happen that even a language which is quite capable of being used as a medium of instruction will be almost or entirely without school books or other materials. The difficulty is not so much in printing, since there are various machines and techniques in existence which are designed to produce books and other printed matter in small quantity. The difficulty is to find or train competent authors or translators; to obtain supplies of materials (such as paper, type and Machinery) in days of general shortages; to distribute the finished product under conditions of great distances and poor communications; and above all to find the money. These are practical problems, extremely difficult and of the highest importance. We are not, however, competent to advise on those problems and we strongly urge that UNESCO should investigate them by consulting those who have had to face them in different parts of the world; and that it should make available the results of the investigation.

MULTIPLICITY OF LANGUAGES INA LOCALITY

If a given locality has a variety of languages it may be difficult to provide schooling in each mother tongue simply because there are “Too few students speaking certain of the languages. In such cases it may be necessary to select one of the languages as the medium of instruction, at the cost of using a language other than the mother tongue of some of the students. Before accepting this necessity, the school should seek ways and means to arrange instruction groups by mother tongue. If mixed groups are unavoidable, instruction should be in the language which give the least hardship to the bulk of the pupils, and special help should be given those who do not speak the language of instruction.

It must be recorded that there is a wide variation in the strength and validity of these reasons for not using the mother tongue. In some areas they are indeed very strong; in others they are advanced without complete justification.

As the conditions permit (in other words that the transfer to a second language, if necessary, should be deferred to as late a stage as possible); and that authorities should do everything in their power to create the conditions which will make for an ever-increasing extension of schooling in the mother tongue, and make the transition from mother tongue to second language as smooth and as psychologically harmless as possible.

We now discuss the policy which should be followed with regard to the use of the mother tongue in certain specific linguistic situations.

(In some school districts in the USA there is a “Home Language Survey” that must be filled out when the child comes to school. If a language other than English is indicated on the survey form, the child should be tested with a language proficiency instrument. After that, if they child is identified as a non-English or limited English speaking child the child’s parents should be told what the options are in the school district for placing the child in an appropriate educational program. However, there are very few schools in the USA that comply with these basic educational civil rights for Hispanic National Origin Minority Students. The Federal government, i.e. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, does very little to remedy this situation. The states, a.k.a. State Education Agency, (SEA) or State Department of Education and the local school districts a.k.a. as The Local Education Agency (LEA) or The Local School Board does everything to avoid compliance, in my experience). The most common practice is many places where thare are large numbers of Hispanics and small number of Asians (from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, for example) is to hire Asian teachers to teach “English as a second language” in these isolated “Language Labs” and where most of the students, a good 80% or more, come from homes where Spanish is the only language spoken. Many of these teachers are not certified and they are Limited English speakers themselves. They are given very short in-service (in house) “workshops” in HILT (High Intensity Language Training) and paid minimum wages with little or no benefits in order to “comply” with rules and regulations by giving classes to the Hispanic, Non-English speaking students.

These students are placed in separate and unequal settings in most cases in the USA. Since September 11, 2001 things have gotten much worse because of the racism against dark skinned non-English or Limited English immigrants and because of the cut in Federal funds to the Office for Bilingual Education and Language Minority Affairs for Bilingual Education Models.

THE NEED FOR READING MATERIALS

We have already referred to the practical problems that are involved in providing an adequate supply of textbooks and reading material both for children and for adults. It will be useless teaching either school children or adults to read unless they have a supply of textbooks and other reading material. Indeed to do so may easily cause disappointment and resentment, and also a reversion to illiteracy on the part of many.

This Problem has three aspects:

1. Provision of textbooks and reading materials for children in schools.

2. Provision of follow-up materials of all kinds for adolescents and others who have had some years of formal education.

3. Provision of suitable material for newly literate adults.

THE SHORTAGE OF SUITABLY TRAINED TEACHERS

Teachers who have themselves received their education and professional training in a second language have real difficulty in learning to teach in the mother tongue.
The main reasons for this difficulty are of two kinds.

First:

They have to teach subjects in a language which is not the language in which they are accustomed to think about them; and some of what they have to teach involves concepts which are alien to their pupils’ culture and therefore have to be interpreted in a tongue to which they are alien.
Secondly:

There is often a lack of suitable books to guide or help them both in teaching and in teaching through the mother tongue; they have to depend, therefore, more on their own initiative and skill than when teaching through the second language in which they themselves have been trained. In those regions, where a mother tongue is spoken by a large population, it should not be difficult to give teachers much of their theoretical training and all their practice teaching in the mother tongue.

POPULAR OPPOSITION TO THE USE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE

Some people in a locality may be unmoved by the benefits to be derived from the use of the mother tongue in education and may be convinced that education in the mother tongue is to their disadvantage. We believe that educationists must carry public opinion with them if their policy is to be effective in the long run, since in the last resort the people of a country must always be in a position to express their free choice in the matter of the language in which their children are to be educated; and we urge that the educational authorities (Administrators and Policy Makers) should make very effort to take the people into consultation and win their confidence. The problem will lose many of its elements of conflict if the people are confident that the use of languages in the educational system does not favor any section of the population at the expense of others. (Hispanics over African Americans, for example). I f the people as a whole will not accept the policy of education in the mother tongue, efforts should be exerted to persuade a group to accept it at least for experimental purposes. We believe that when the people as a whole have had an opportunity of observing the results of education in the mother tongue, they will be convinced that is sound policy.


We feel strongly that in the case of the Hispanic population in the USA the schools that claim to have effective school models must depend on an effective school principal who:

provides strong curriculum leadership with a strong focus in a developmental Bilingual education model. ( A model for excellence in a two way bilingual and multicultural curriculum).
A principal provides strong curriculum leadership by:

ü Establishing achievement as a top priority
ü Actively participating in the curriculum committees
ü Establishing nonbiased student evaluation in a language the parents can understand

communicates high expectations for teacher and student performance in two languages in every subject area (math, science, language, social studies, art, music and technology).

ü Encouragement of students and rewarding excellence and hard work
ü Monitor instruction and conduct staff evaluations
ü Support staff development in two languages

introduces administrative procedures to encourage equity and excellence for all students.

ü Review scheduling and grouping procedures
ü Establish an orderly school atmosphere where people feel welcomed
ü Have after school activities focused on academic content areas that are fun such as Spanish dance club, a bilingual newspaper, chorus, trips, etc.

Mobilizes community resources to help maintain a positive school climate.

ü Encourage teachers to communicate with parents
ü Encourage ongoing parent involvement
ü Hire community people so they become part of the educational establishment, encourage the community to continue into higher education

LINGUA FRANCA

Sometimes, as in the case of Swahili in parts of East Africa, there is a lingua franca which is so widely used that there is a great temptation to use it instead of the local mother tongue as the medium of instruction. This has the great advantages of economy and of simplicity of administration, and in particular cases in the problem of supplying textbooks and other reading material, both for schoolchildren and adults. Our view on the use of the Lingual Franca will depend in each case on how familiar the Lingual Franca really is. If nearly all the children have some knowledge of the lingua franca as well as of their mother tongue before they come to school, it may be worthwhile to incur some inconvenience to the individual pupil for the sake of more efficiency in the educational system as a whole but the Lingua Franca may not be as familiar as this. It may simply be the case that one or two people in each village have some knowledge of the language, but that it is not used in the village as a common medium of intercourse, and the schoolchildren seldom or never hear it. If this is so, we should be opposed to its use as the medium of instruction the lowest grades or classes, since it is in fact a foreign language to the children. The claim of the Lingua Franca to become the medium of instruction at a later stage would have to be weighed against the claims of a world language. The case can be made to make Mexican Spanish the lingua franca for all Spanish speaking groups in the USA based on the fact that we have made a North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the USA and Canada or for purely economic reasons.

PIDGIN

In some countries Pidgin languages, such as Creole and Pidgin-English, are spoken. These languages are sometimes only used by a section of the population in commercial or work contacts with people with whom they have no other means of communication. But in other regions a pidgin tongue is freely used over a wide area as a Lingua Franca Between peoples in habitual social contact, and the children become familiar with it from an early age. When this is the case, it can be used as a medium in the schools. There are, however, two main objections to this:
A) When the Pidgin contains elements based upon a European language, i.e. Spanglish or Texmex, it is feared that the use of the Pidgin in schools will make it harder for pupils to learn the European language (s) correctly;

B) The people are often opposed to it because of its association with economic and social subordination.

In some cases a local language may be mistaken for a pidgin languages, such as Creole and/or Pidgin-Spanish, lets say in the Caribbean. People who are ignorant of the language and dialectical varieties may see these local languages as sometimes only used by a section of the population in commercial or work contracts with people with whom they have no other means of communication.

Sometimes the people who are not from that location may have a very biased opinion about the mother tongue or the local dialect, a case in point:

The first “American” educators who came to the island (of Puerto Rico) thought that the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico was not an appropriate vehicle to transmit the culture the people already had and much less the culture the educators intended to introduce. Their experience at this time in Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, where there was no common language to serve as depository and transmitter of the cultures of the people of those islands made the “Americans” believe that the Spanish language in Puerto Rico, taken by some for a patois, should be replaced by English. Dr. Victor S. Clark misinformed and mistaken made the following statement (about Puerto Rican Spanish)

“There does not seem to be among the masses the same devotion to their native tongue or to any national ideal that animates the Frenchman, for instance, in Canada or the Rhine provinces. Another important fact that must not be overlooked, is that a majority of the people of this island does not speak pure Spanish. Their language is a patois almost unintelligible to the natives of Barcelona and Madrid. It possesses no literature and little value as an intellectual medium. There is a bare possibility that it will be nearly as easy to educate this people out of their patois into English as it will be to educate them into the elegant tongue of Castille.”

Lucky for the Puerto Rican people that there was a Puerto Rican educator Dr. Cebollero who responded:

In making such a hasty generalization about the quality of the Spanish spoken by the Puerto Ricans, Dr. Clark was unaware that the Castillian form of Spanish is not spoken in Spain itself outside of the province of Castille, and that the difference between Castillian and Spanish as spoken in most of Spain and in the Spanish countries of America is a matter of the pronunciation of a few letters and of a certain rhythm and inflection. His reference to Barcelona as a place where the Puerto Rican brand of Spanish would not be understood is particularly unfortunate because the native of Barcelona does not speak Spanish but Catalan, one of the principal dialects (languages) of Spain. That the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is as good as that spoken in most of Spain and better than the Spanish spoken in many provinces of Spain itself has been attested by Dr. Tomas Navarro Tomas, a noted Spanish philologist from the University of Madrid, who recently made a study of spoken Spanish in Puerto Rico.

(From “Significant factors in the development of Education in Puerto Rico by Ismael Rodriguez Bou, Permanent Secretary of the Superior Education Council. Dr. Rodriguez Bou directed a study in 1959 on the Puerto Rican educational system for the Committee on Education of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth.)

I wish we could be finished with this language battle, but then as one of my compatriotas likes to say, lo unico que tenemos es el derecho al pataleteo!

Que viva Puerto Rico Libre. Venceremos!

Respectfully,

La Yautia de la Amazona. , .