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<div class="gmail-my-2 gmail-ml-sm-0 gmail-ml-1"><span class="gmail-story__byline"><a href="https://www.dawn.com/authors/1213/anjum-altaf">Anjum Altaf</a></span><span class="gmail-divider"></span><span class="gmail-story__time">July 10, 2017</span> </div> </div>
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<figcaption class="gmail-media__caption">The writer was Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Lums.</figcaption>
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</p><p class="gmail-">THE other day I read an article on indigenous languages.
I admired its spirit but was dismayed by its logic relating to language
and learning. The article mentioned there are 17 languages spoken in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of which only two, Pashto and Hindko, will be
explicitly recorded in the forthcoming census. The rest will be
categorised as ‘other.’ The author feared these languages would decay
and urged the government to preserve them for posterity.</p><p class="gmail-">So
far, so good, as the fate of minor languages is a global concern. But
one paragraph needs to be quoted in full: “There are some experts who
argue that a child should be taught in the mother tongue till a certain
grade before opting for any other language at an advanced stage. The
argument seems to be flawed since languages become harder to learn with
age. So one has to choose from an early age which language one’s
children should excel in — in a local language which does not have any
worth in the job market or the one that can serve as a vehicle for the
development of their careers.” </p><p class="gmail-">This belief effectively
represents Pakistan’s language policy and the understanding of parents
making it necessary to show why it is misleading. A minor problem is
that it undermines the author’s objective. Only living languages are
sustained — attempts to preserve languages as museum pieces inevitably
fail. Languages shunned as worthless for employment are doomed to slow
death.</p><blockquote>
<p class="gmail-">Dr Salam and Iqbal did not know their future careers at the start of their education, nor did they start it in English.</p></blockquote>
<p class="gmail-">The major problem is that the argument negates evidence on
linguistics and learning. First, the critical early-age decision is not
choosing the language a child should excel in with a career in mind. It
is choosing the language of instruction that maximises the child’s
ability to learn effectively. There is ample evidence to suggest that
children learn best in their first language — they pick up subjects like
arithmetic better if taught in a familiar language.</p><p class="gmail-">Second,
it is incorrect that children can only learn one language well because
it becomes harder to learn a language with age. In fact, evidence
suggests that children who begin learning in a familiar language are
better at acquiring a second unfamiliar language later compared to those
who start directly with the unfamiliar language. After much research
the EU has adopted the ‘mother-tongue plus two’ formula whereby children
begin school in their mother-tongue and acquire two more languages
before completing high school.</p><p class="gmail-">Third, the belief that
excelling in a language requires learning it from day one is incorrect
and results from misunderstanding the learning process. Children acquire
their first language effortlessly because they are immersed in it and
have to survive by communicating their needs in it. This need-driven
acquisition is not transferrable to alien languages. For example, in a
Seraiki neighbourhood if Chinese is made the medium of instruction
children will not acquire it as fluently as Seraiki. Rather, they will
retard their cognitive abilities struggling with an unfamiliar learning
vehicle. </p><p class="gmail-">Fourth, adults learn foreign languages quite easily. They may lack the accents of <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_5_0_4" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn#">native speakers</a></span>
but can be highly proficient otherwise. Observe the number of
non-native scholars of Urdu in Western universities doing world-class
work — Annemarie Schimmel did not learn four oriental languages as a
child. Adult Pakistani students in France and Germany do so likewise.</p><p class="gmail-">Fifth, <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_2_0_1" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn#">career decisions</a></span> are not made in kindergarten. They are based on aptitude which matures later and is itself an outcome of <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_3_0_2" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn#">a good education</a></span>.
Dr Salam and Iqbal did not know their future careers at the start of
their education, nor did they start it in English. Had they done so they
might have ended as babus in a British office.</p><p class="gmail-">The
importance of language in early education has long been recognised.
Macaulay introduced English as the medium of instruction for the Indian
elite in 1835, triggering a wider demand because of its association with
employment. However, a review of the policy in 1904 by the British
themselves came to the following conclusion: “It is true that the
commercial value which a knowledge of English commands, and the fact
that the final examinations of the high schools are conducted in
English, cause the <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_4_0_3" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn#">secondary schools</a></span>
to be subjected to a certain pressure to introduce prematurely both the
teaching of English and its use as a medium of instruction… This
tendency however should be corrected in the interest of sound education.
As a general rule, a child should not be allowed to <span style="font-size:inherit"><a id="gmail-PXLINK_1_0_0" class="gmail-pxInta" href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn#">learn English</a></span>
as a language until he has made some progress in the primary stages of
instruction and has received a thorough grounding in his mother-tongue.”</p><p class="gmail-">Over
100 years later, a British Council study in Pakistan noted “various
adverse outcomes arising from negative attitudes towards indigenous
languages and for using Urdu and English as languages of instruction.
These included high dropout rates, poor educational achievements, ethnic
marginalisation and, longer term, a risk of language death”. The study
concluded that “there was an urgent need for awareness-raising about the
importance of the mother tongue in the early years of education”.</p><p class="gmail-">Parents
most in need of this message, with children short-changed by early
education in poor English, do not read such studies. It is for
educationists to both raise awareness and convince the authorities to
respect available evidence. Note that the Chinese have made remarkable
progress without using English as the medium for early education while
we who have done so are left far behind. All Chinese who need to learn
English to advance their careers manage to do so.</p><p class="gmail-">The
simple message to convey is that to acquire English it is not necessary
to have it as the language of instruction in early education and doing
so is bad for learning. It is understandable if parents confuse the
issue; for decision-makers to do so just proves that knowing English
does not necessarily correlate with intelligence.</p><p class="gmail-"><em>The writer was Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Lums.</em></p><p class="gmail-"><em>Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2017</em></p><p class="gmail-"><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn">https://www.dawn.com/news/1344306/when-will-we-learn</a><br><em></em></p><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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