Language of instruction

A language used to teach academic subjects in schools and other educational settings. It may differ from learners’ home languages and from the language taught as a subject.

Mother-tongue education: Education that uses learners’ first or home language as a principal medium of instruction. It is a common approach when the instructional language is chosen to match learners’ home language.
Language barrier: A difficulty in communication caused by differences in language proficiency or language use. Limited proficiency in the instructional language can obstruct understanding of subject content.
Subtractive bilingualism: A pattern in which learning a second language coincides with loss or weakening of the first language. It contrasts with instructional models designed to maintain learners’ home languages.
Colonial education: Schooling established or governed by a colonial power, often organized to serve colonial institutions and priorities. Colonial school systems frequently established European languages as instructional languages.
Mother-tongue-based multilingual education: An educational model that begins instruction in learners’ home languages and develops additional languages over time. Its implementation raises questions about how and when to transition instructional languages.
Multilingual education: Education that uses or develops more than one language for learning and teaching. It provides frameworks for teaching subjects through multiple languages.
Educational equity: Fair access to educational opportunities and support, accounting for differences in learners’ needs and circumstances. Instruction-language policy can distribute learning opportunities unevenly across language groups.
Immersion education: An educational approach that teaches substantial subject content through a language learners are acquiring. It contrasts with instruction conducted primarily in learners’ already-established language.
Language policy: Rules and practices that shape how languages are used, taught, and recognized in institutions and society. Educational language choices are one part of broader language policy.
Language-of-instruction policy: A policy specifying which languages schools use to teach subjects and under what conditions. Policy design must balance learning evidence, national goals, and community language preferences.

Linked from 13 pages