Contents
Introduction 1 Background to the current MTB MLE movement 1
Part 1: Purposes, benefits and essential features of MTB MLE 3
Q1: What is the educational situation for children in many minority language communities?.......................................... 3
Q2: What are the challenges to MTB MLE and what has been done to overcome them?...................................... 4
Q3: How does MTB MLE help minority language children achieve a quality education?...................................... 5
Q4: How does MTB MLE support gender equity?...................... 12 Q5: How does MTB MLE support social cohesion and national development?.... 14
Q6: Does MTB MLE cost more than single-language education to implement and maintain?................................ 14
Q7: What are the essential components of successful and sustained MTB MLE programmes?.......................................... 16
Q8: Can it be done? Can strong MTB MLE programmes be established and sustained?......................................... 23
References 24
Part 2: Research-based answers to questions about mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education 27
Introduction 27 Q1: Does MTB MLE help students learn the official school language?......... 28
Q2: Does MTB MLE help students achieve grade-level competencies in other academic subjects?...................................... 30
Q3: Does MTB MLE prepare students for secondary schooling?............. 32 Q4: Does MTB MLE help girls achieve academic success in primary school?..... 34
Final comments 35