TY - GEN
T1 - A unipolar concentration of english and the multilingual-semilingual paradox
AU - Katada, Fusa
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is supported by Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS), Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory) No. 19K21790 (Principal Investigator: Fusa Katada). My appreciation goes to Siverlyn Camposano at SPAMAST in Davao del Sur for her interest and collaboration for the planned advancement of research on the multilingual issues addressed in this paper. I would also like to thank two anonymous CELDA reviewers who furnished helpful referential comments. All shortcomings are mine.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 16th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, CELDA 2019. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - 'We have the right to talk and think in our own language.' This self-evident slogan is ever challenged in the digital age of the 21st century. 'Talking and thinking' is most effectively trained and achieved by formal education carried out in one's own language. However, multilingual children growing up in multilingual societies would have to adjust their own language to a language of education in schooling. This paper clarifies scientific grounds that in such situations the main root of learning and thinking through language is discontinuous. It is claimed that the students may face semilingualism, defined as 'linguistic competence insufficiently developed for complex conceptual thinking'. Multilingualism and semilingualism are two sides of one coin, and semilingualism is affecting many parts of the world. This is due to the established eminence of English as a global lingua franca (ELF), which serves as their language of education. This paper is qualitative in nature, pointing out discrepancies between the politically empowered unipolar concentration of English and cognitively suited languages for sustainable development of conceptual thinking. It is intended to serve as a reference point for educators and professionals who are responsible for raising human resources in the digitalized global age.
AB - 'We have the right to talk and think in our own language.' This self-evident slogan is ever challenged in the digital age of the 21st century. 'Talking and thinking' is most effectively trained and achieved by formal education carried out in one's own language. However, multilingual children growing up in multilingual societies would have to adjust their own language to a language of education in schooling. This paper clarifies scientific grounds that in such situations the main root of learning and thinking through language is discontinuous. It is claimed that the students may face semilingualism, defined as 'linguistic competence insufficiently developed for complex conceptual thinking'. Multilingualism and semilingualism are two sides of one coin, and semilingualism is affecting many parts of the world. This is due to the established eminence of English as a global lingua franca (ELF), which serves as their language of education. This paper is qualitative in nature, pointing out discrepancies between the politically empowered unipolar concentration of English and cognitively suited languages for sustainable development of conceptual thinking. It is intended to serve as a reference point for educators and professionals who are responsible for raising human resources in the digitalized global age.
KW - Language for Conceptual Thinking
KW - Mother-tongue-based Education
KW - Multilingualism
KW - Semilingualism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078965622&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.33965/celda2019_201911l047
DO - 10.33965/celda2019_201911l047
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85078965622
T3 - 16th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, CELDA 2019
SP - 379
EP - 386
BT - 16th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, CELDA 2019
PB - IADIS Press
T2 - 16th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, CELDA 2019
Y2 - 7 November 2019 through 9 November 2019
ER -