Tag Archives: English education

Welcome to Third Quarterly Issue 17 (112)

Creative Writing, Critical Thinking, Education in General, English as a Global Language, English Medium Instruction, Global thought, Language planning and policy, Miscellaneous, reflection, Reflections, Scholarly Article, Teacher Education, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes, ,

Dear Esteemed Readers and Contributors,

Greetings!

We are delighted to announce the release of the Third quarterly edition of ELT Choutari (October-December 2024), dedicated as a special issue focusing on “Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policies Practices and Research Nepal.”

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in Nepal is grounded in the belief that students learn best in their native language, which enhances cognitive development and academic success. Introduced after Nepal’s democratic transition in 1990, MTB-MLE aims to preserve linguistic diversity while improving educational outcomes for children from various ethnic and language backgrounds. Despite strong policy frameworks supporting MTB-MLE, its implementation has faced challenges, including limited resources, teacher training, and community resistance. The policy’s success hinges on developing contextually appropriate teaching models and addressing the complex multilingual needs of Nepal’s classrooms, particularly in rural and marginalized areas.

This edition presents an exclusive interview with two renowned scholars—Professor Dr. Yogendra Prasad Yadava and Professor Dr. Ram Ashish Giri—as they explore the complexities of MTB-MLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) policies, practices, and research in Nepal. Delving into its multifaceted challenges and opportunities, their discussion illuminates the cultural, educational, and sociopolitical dynamics shaping language-in-education reforms in the region.

Professor Yadava highlights Nepal’s policy-practice disconnect in implementing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE). Despite constitutional guarantees for mother-tongue education, contradictory laws impede implementation. He identifies systemic challenges: underdeveloped policies, scarce resources, and lack of localized materials. Effective execution requires teacher training, community language awareness, and rigorous research to evaluate and refine programs. Yadava stresses collaborative partnerships with academic and civil institutions to align practical strategies with evidence-based research, ensuring policy coherence.

Professor Ram Ashish Giri discusses the cognitive, pedagogical, and linguistic challenges of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in Nepal. He emphasizes the importance of designing policies that reflect the country’s multilingual reality and align with local aspirations, advocating for the inclusion of English alongside native languages. Giri critiques the gaps between policy intentions and practical implementation, citing inadequate resources, teacher training, and community support.

Additionally, the issue includes three scholarly papers by devoted researchers from Australia and Nepal :

Naomi Fillmore’s paper explores the challenges and successes of incorporating Indigenous and minority languages into education systems globally. She examines initiatives in Nepal, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand, highlighting the importance of mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE). While these countries face similar issues like resource development and teacher training, each context offers unique approaches. Fillmore emphasizes the crucial role of community involvement, policy support, and culturally appropriate educational content.

Dr. Uma Nath Sharma discusses the integration of students’ mother tongues (MT) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Nepal, highlighting both the theoretical benefits and practical challenges. He emphasizes how MT enhances comprehension, cognitive development, and cultural identity, supported by theories like Cummins’ interdependence hypothesis. Despite these advantages, societal biases, teacher reluctance, and institutional pressures favoring English create obstacles. Sharma advocates for the use of translanguaging as a transformative pedagogical approach, allowing students to use their MT alongside English.

Dr. Bishnu Khadka presents the tension between Mother-Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) policies and English Medium Education (EME) practices in Nepal, focusing on equity and inclusion. Analyzing policy documents, reports, and field studies, Khadka identifies challenges such as inadequate resources, insufficient teacher training, and sociocultural biases favoring dominant languages. The study highlights the gap between policy intentions and grassroots realities, which limits marginalized communities’ access to quality education.

For your convenience, here are the hyperlinks to the articles:

  1. Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policies, Practices and Research in Nepal by Professor Dr. Yogendra Prasad Yadava
  2. Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education Policies, Practices and Research in Nepal by Professor Dr. Ram Ashish Giri
  3. Global Perspectives on Indigenous Languages in Education: Commonalities, Challenges, and Reflections by Naomi Fillmore
  4. Reflections on the Use of Students’ Mother Tongue in Nepalese EFL Classes by Uma Nath Sharma
  5. Mother-Tongue or Other-Tongue Education? by Dr. Bishnu Kumar Khadka

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our co-editor, Dr. Nani Babu Ghimire, along with all our editors and reviewers—Jeevan Karki, Ganesh Kumar Bastola, Mohan Singh Saud, Sagar Poudel, Binod Duwadi, Puskar Chaudhary, Yadu Gnawali, and Dasharath Rai—for their unwavering dedication and invaluable contributions in bringing this issue to the readers.

ELT Choutari is a platform for researchers, scholars, educators, and practitioners to share insights, practices, and narratives from classrooms and communities. We invite you to contribute to our upcoming anniversary issue (January-March 2025) by submitting your articles and blogs to 2elt.choutari@gmail.com.

If you find value in the interviews, articles, and reflective pieces, please share them within your circles and feel free to leave your comments below each piece.

Happy Reading!

Thank you.

Dr. Jnanu Raj Paudel- Lead Editor of this issue

Dr. Nani Babu Ghimire- Co- Editor of this issue

Welcome to the Sixteenth Anniversary Issue, 16 (110)

Editorial, , ,
credit: pngtree.com

Multimodality and multiliteracies in English language education

Dear valued readers and contributors,

Namaste!

We are sixteen! It gives us immense pleasure to release the sixteenth-anniversary issue of ELT Choutari. This relentless journey wouldn’t have been possible without your support, contribution, and affection. We are thankful to our readers, contributors, friends, and critics for everything they have contributed thus far.

This issue on multimodality and multiliteracies in English language education not only presents blog posts and conversations across multiple modalities but also captures educators’ practices of integrating multimodality and multiliteracies in their classes.

This issue transcends traditional modes of composition and publications. We have moved beyond the written mode to include video, visual and oral modes in this issue. It aligns with The New London Group’s (2000) conceptualization of multimodality, which recognizes changing landscape of communication by incorporating modes such as texts, visuals, audio, gestures, and spatial elements. Expanding this, Cope and Kalantzis (2013) added tactile mode into communication and meaning making as well as distinguished written mode from oral. The ability to communicate and construct meaning out of those modes are generally referred to as multiliteracies. Based on the authors’ contributions and the classroom practices in this issue, educators and students in Nepal’s classrooms are incorporating multimodality in English language teaching and learning to the extent possible. To further advance it, curricula, and pre-service/in-service teacher preparation programs must deliberately cultivate the knowledge and skills of teachers and students to effectively integrate multimodality and multiliteracies for equitable learning opportunities.

This issue is also notably remarkable for transcending across languages, leveraging the strength of bilingualism and it breaks the traditional hierarchy between authors and reviewers. In this issue we have gone bilingual, switching between languages, to recognize contributors’ linguistic repertoire and reflect their natural communication practices. It thus provides insights for educators of multilingual students about the possibilities of incorporating asset-based pedagogies such as translanguaging (García & Kleyn 2016). Similarly, we have pushed the hierarchy and boundary between authors and reviewers. Based on our years of experience supporting emerging authors and educators to write and publish, we have found that they thrive when offered mentorship support, rather than simply having their contributions accepted or rejected based on blind review. This issue further affirms the value of mentorship for emerging authors. Touching on the process in this issue, we invited interested authors to participate in a series of group and one-on-one workshop sessions, leading to the creation of first drafts. Feedback to their drafts were provided through face-to-face one-on-one sessions, which were proved very effective as it avoided confusion and miscommunication between the authors and reviewers. The orientation of these mentoring sessions was geared towards helping them articulate their ideas effectively and recognize suitable modes of composition. As a result, Choutari successfully welcomed two additional first-time authors through the mentorship sessions, a feat that would not have been achievable through the traditional blind review process alone.

We also celebrate the diversity in contents and modalities of presentation. In the blogs, we have covered teachers’ good practices, such as incorporating activities that promote multimodality and multiliteracies, implementing project-based learning in under-resourced classrooms, integrating ICT in classrooms including the use of social media for building virtual communities to scaffold each other. In conversation with teachers and teacher educators, the interview has dived deep into Nepal’s English language curricula, materials and pedagogy. In terms of modality, the blogs and conversations range from visual essays, audio-visual narratives, podcasts to video conversations. Let’s hear from the authors: 

Here is the link of blogs, interview and a bonus content:

  1. Interview on Nepal’s School-level English Curricula and Materials: Authenticity, Agency and Local Ecology
  2. Multimodality and Multiliteracy Approach to Teaching Poetry in English Language Classroom: From Experience to Exploration by Dasarath Rai
  3. Project Based Learning in Rural English Language Classrooms: A Podcast by Jham Bahadur Thapa
  4. Exploring the Transformative Impact of Technology on Language Teaching and Cross-cultural Understanding across Borders by Bibas Thapa
  5. Experiences of Flipped Teaching Through Messenger Group: A Teacher’s Reflection by Baburam Shrestha
  6. Editor’s choice: A video on Multiliteracies Framework for Language Teaching by ACTEL Membership

Finally, we would like to thank our reviewers Nanibabu Ghimire, Puskar Chaudhary, Karuna Nepal, Sagar Poudel, Jnanu Raj Paudel and Mohan Singh Saud, for their valuable contribution.

If you enjoy the multimodal publications in this issue, please feel free to share them in your circle and leave comments and questions for the contributors.

Meanwhile, we encourage you to contribute to our next issue (July- September) and send blog pieces and reflections to 2elt.choutari@gmail.com.

Happy exploring!

Jeevan Karki, the lead editor of the issue
Ganesh Bastola, Co-Editor

References

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2013). “Multiliteracies”: New Literacies, New Learning. In M. R. Hawkins (Ed.), In Framing languages and literacies (pp. 105–135). Routledge.

García, O., & Kleyn, T. (Eds.). (2016). Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

The New London Group. (2000). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures (First). Routledge.