The Inclusion, Mobility and Multilingual Education (IMMLE) Conference: Exploring the role of languages in education and development brought together the 13th Language and Development Conference and the 6th Multilingual Education Conference. It was co-hosted by the British Council and UNESCO Bangkok on behalf of the Language and Development Conference Trustees and AsiaPacific Multilingual Education Conference. 476 delegates attended from 59 countries. You can download the proceedings from the conference in PDF format below.
Conference proceedings
Part 1
The restless species and its languages by Hywel Coleman
This paper takes a broad view of human mobility in general - not only in the context of migration – and then considers implications for language by mentioning two concepts: Short-termism and Deep Time.
Planning for sustainable inclusion and resilient systems: multilingual education in an era of displacement, mobility and turbulence by Kathleen Heugh
This paper sets out an argument for a sequence of key principles for shifting from monolingual and monocultural education systems to ones that meet the complexities of current diversities, instabilities and precarities in order to achieve inclusion and sustainability.
Framing the Debate: Language, inclusion and the Sustainable Development Goals by Psyche Kennett
Inclusive language policy and practice play a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The article looks at some of the main challenges to achieving language inclusion through the SDGs: language blindness, the lack of financial flows to the local level, and unrealistic time and budget constraints for effective reform. Three strategies are suggested to address these challenges.
Part 2
The dynamics of local languages facing the challenge of socio-economic integration of migrants in the Lake Chad Basin: the case of Hausa, Fulfulde and Kalam Arabic by Ahmat Hessana
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the central role played by the three dominant cross-border languages of Hausa, Fulfulde, and Kalam Arabic in the socio-vocational inclusion of refugees, migrants, and other displaced persons.
Exploring the roles of languages in social cohesion and inclusion in minority ethnolinguistic communities in Nepal by Ambika Regmi Banjara
This paper explores the roles as well as challenges of languages in achieving social cohesion and inclusion in minority ethnolinguistic speech communities in Nepal and suggests some strategies to beat those challenges.
Changing Language-in-Education policy in Pakistan by Fakhruddin Akhunzada
This paper outlines the policy changes in Pakistan that have taken place at the education level in the country recently toward recognising all people’s linguistic and cultural rights. It also attempts to determine what factors have contributed to changing the language attitudes and policies in Pakistan.
A measuring stick, not the measuring stick for MLE: A tool, a Karen case study, and discourse in support of MLE best practices by Greg Tyrosvoutis, Saw Shar Nay Thaw, Naw Mee Lay, Naw Paw Su Klay, Saw Nay Ta Mu, Naw Paw Htoe Ki Wah, Nan Eh Sar Klain, Th’Blay Moo, Naw Nay Yu Paw
The study sought to identify and validate the approaches and best practices for multilingual teaching and learning cited in international literature by utilising classroom observations conducted in collaboration with the Karen Education and Cultural Department (KECD) to assess the Multilingual Education (MLE) competencies of 12 teachers working in multilingual classrooms.
The language factor and the impact of the Gothra Bandhu project: a case study of Thirunelly village, India by Hafeesha TB, Vishnu Prasad. K
This paper, based on a research study, is an attempt to find out the impact of the Gothra Bandhu project and the role of language in Thirunelly village. It provides an analysis of the Alternative School System that was put in place initially to resolve the problem of tribal dropouts.
Language for Resilience: towards principled and purposeful inclusion of migrants and refugees in education through language programmes by Hala Ahmed, Claire Duly, Micheline Esso, Caspar Mays, and Francis Randle. Edited by Harry Haynes
The purpose of this report is to provide insight into the learning from the British Council programmes across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region between 2015 and 2020, principles that have emerged and frameworks for understanding teacher development needs, and how to best utilise digital resources in challenging contexts.
Sustainable development and sexuality education: does the language inhibit youth in Mauritius? By Jimmy Harmon
This paper explores the relationship between the language of instruction and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with the introduction of a sexuality education programme in all secondary schools in the Republic of Mauritius.
Real-life language: comparing student writing skills in the SEA-PLM by Louise Courtney
The Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) is a new comparative learning assessment programme, designed by and for countries in Southeast Asia. It provides robust evidence to answer the vital question of how children in Southeast Asia perform against regional measurements in reading, writing, and mathematics at the end of primary school. The results of the first round of the SEA-PLM main study were released in December 2020.
The elephant in the classroom: language endangerment by Rynj Gonzales
This paper presents information about language endangerment in the Philippines and the challenges brought about by using an endangered heritage language in the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education within the Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED) programme. The author proposes recommendations on policy and programme planning for the IPED Framework.
Spinning the top: translanguaging pedagogy for just education for students from minority language groups in Northern Thailand by Sangsok Son and Minjung Kim
The paper is a discussion of why the present education practices are unjust for the students whose home languages are not the same as the medium of instruction, Thai, in the schools in Northern Thailand. The translanguaging (TL) Top Model is introduced and used to explain why the present education could be perceived as unjust for ethnolinguistic minority students, and how TL pedagogy can level the education playing field.
The bilingual education model on the basis of the mother tongue language in Vietnam by Tran Thi Yen
The mother tongue-based bilingual education model is a new initiative and approach for the education of ethnic minority children in Vietnam, with support and funding from UNICEF. This paper sets out a comprehensive picture of the model that has been successfully implemented in Vietnamese ethnic minority communities with a theoretical and practical basis, educational outcomes and lessons learnt for future replication of the initiative.
Part 3
Introduction by Helen Hanna, PhD.
This introduction by Dr Helen Hanna provides information about the aims and scope of the programme.
Aweng Timek, Garaw (Sound, Voice and Movement): Culturally responsive and mother-tongue based music education in the Ilocos region of the Philippines
This article considers a pre-service teacher training project that proposed the development of a worktext for teachers and students that incorporates documented and undocumented local songs, dances, rhymes and games from the Ilocos region through archival and field research.
Ensuring Access to Pangasinan language today and tomorrow
This article presents a study on the role of libraries in language conservation and preservation. The study surveyed nineteen librarians and analyzed the oral tradition and expression collections of nine selected public libraries in the Province of Pangasinan, as well as their safeguarding practices in the areas of conservation and preservation.
Co-producing multilingual big books through service learning
This study examined the service-learning (SL) experience of a university that involved collaborative production of mother tongue big books (enlarged picture books for shared reading) in four locations in the Philippines.
An investigation of the shadowing techniques in teaching speaking to English as a foreign language students
This article presents a quantitative pilot study that investigates the effectiveness of the use of the shadowing technique in teaching speaking to students studying English as a foreign language.
Responsive and inclusive education in the new normal: A case study of adaptive curriculum implementation in a Philippine tertiary classroom
This article presents a real-life praxis case study in response to the disaster in the Philippines. It analyses whether a two-month holistic academic, psychosocial and logistics intervention that uses an outcomes-based education adaptive curriculum can lead to measurable language learning and student easing from displacement.
Language appreciation among elders and learners from indigenous people' communities
This paper identifies language appreciation indicators to deepen the understanding of how languages are valued. Indicators were generated from focus group discussions with Filipino indigenous peoples (IP) community elders as well as interactive activities conducted with IP learners from Grades 5-6.