International research verifies the advantages of learning to read in first language

The Honey Ant Readers (HAR) team were extremely impressed and excited by the work of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas who presented at the Australian Council of TESOL Associations International TESOL Conference 2012 “TESOL as a Global Trade – Ethics, Equity and Ecology” early this month, where HAR author, Margaret James was also invited to speak.

Tove is based at the University of Roskilde, Denmark and her active involvement over the past 5 decades with minorities’ struggle for language rights has generated a significant literature (around 50 books and 400 book chapters or scientific articles in over 30 languages) on the subjects of linguistic human rights, linguistic genocide, linguicism (linguistically argued racism), bilingualism and multilingual education, linguistic imperialism and the subtractive spread of English, support for endangered languages, and the relationship between linguistic and cultural diversity and biodiversity.

During her presentation, she made reference to the first Expert paper written for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Magga et al. 2005), which explored violations of the (human) right to education. The report contains sociological and legal argumentation where they show that to educate Indigenous/tribal and minority (ITM) children through a dominant language in a submersion (or even early-exit transitional) programme violates this basic human right. Subtractive dominant-language medium education for ITM children prevents access to education, because of the linguistic, pedagogical and psychological barriers it creates. Thus it violates the right to education. They conclude that “there is a clear risk that the policy of using English as a vehicular language may contribute to stunting, rather than promoting, academic and cognitive growth’. She believes that this fits the UN genocide definition of “causing mental harm”.

There is clearly an emerging body of international research that verifies the advantages of learning to read in first language, from relevant, meaningful material that the community feel ‘ownership’ of. To quote Tove again,“Each language is a unique key to a community’s world view and culture and plays a central role in transmitting historically-developed knowledge about specific, biologically diverse environments.” To give Indigenous students reading material in their home language, and to address the problem of teacher shortages amongst traditional Aboriginal language speakers, the Honey Ant Readers are written in the ‘language of the playground’, spoken (in light or heavy varieties) by the majority of Indigenous students throughout Australia and understood by Australian teachers.