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This book calls for critical adaptations when theories of bilingual education, based on practices in the North, are applied to the countries of the global South. For example, it challenges the assumption that transitional models necessarily lead to language shift and cultural assimilation. Taking an ethnographically-based narrative on the purpose and value of bilingual education in Mozambique as a starting point, it shows how, in certain contexts, even a transitional model may strengthen the vitality of local languages and associated cultures, instead of weakening them. The analysis is based on the view that communicative practices in the classroom influence and are influenced by institutional, local and societal processes. Within this framework, the book shows how education in low-status languages can play a role in social and cultural transformation, especially where post-colonial contexts are concerned.
This volume presents a landmark study of bilingual education policy and local practice in a new context. It offers a fresh and thought-provoking African perspective on the value and purpose of bilingual education, foregrounding its transformative potential. Chimbutane’s arguments are grounded in detailed, multilayered research of an innovative sociolinguistic and ethnographic nature. The volume represents a significant new intellectual resource for all of us who are concerned with education in multilingual settings in the global south.
Feliciano Chimbutane is Assistant Professor in Linguistics at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. His research interests concern languages in education, with special reference to bilingual education. His focus is on policy, classroom practice, and the relationship between classroom discourse, day-to-day talk and the wider social and political order.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Language and Education
Chapter 3: Mozambique: Historical, Sociolinguistic and Educational Context
Chapter 4: The Research Sites: Communities, Schools and Classrooms
Chapter 5: Interaction and Pedagogy in Bilingual Classrooms
Chapter 6: Socio-Cultural Impact of Bilingual Education
Chapter 7: Bilingual Education and Socio-economic Mobility
Chapter 8: Conclusion