Language and the Learning Crisis: Evidence of Transfer Threshold Mechanisms in Multilingual Reading in South India.

This paper provides evidence for a non-linear relationship between local language and English reading scores in multilingual South India. The mechanism suggests that being taught English prematurely may lead to struggles in English literacy acquisition; whereas being taught English after achieving a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Development Studies Vol. 55; no. 11; pp. 2287 - 2306
Autores principales: Nakamura, Pooja Reddy, de Hoop, Thomas, Holla, Chinmaya Udayakumar
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Nov2019
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This paper provides evidence for a non-linear relationship between local language and English reading scores in multilingual South India. The mechanism suggests that being taught English prematurely may lead to struggles in English literacy acquisition; whereas being taught English after achieving a threshold reading level in the local language may lead to success in transitioning to English literacy acquisition. We base our findings on non-parametric and parametric regression analysis of data from assessments that were uniquely designed for South and Southeast Asian languages, and for multilingual children. Our findings help explain the global trend of increased school enrolment, with learning achievements lagging.