Viet Nam experience on language classroom mapping:

1. Viet Nam experience on language classroom mapping: • a tool for planning and managing bilingual education 4th International Language and Education Conference: Multilingual Education for ALL in Asia and the Pacific – Policies, Practices and Processes 6th-8th November 2013 Bangkok

2. Contents of the Presentation • 1. Country context • 2. Purpose and research questions • 2. Process and methodology • 3. Results and applications

3. Multilingual education as a way towards achieving quality UPE in Vietnam 1. Viet Nam country context Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Viet Nam • Population: 86 million • 53 ethnic minority groups (13% of the total population of Viet Nam;) • 54 ethnic groups speaking approximately 100 languages; 30 languages with scripts; • Rich diversity as to language genetic affinities • Distinctive characteristic of language situation all over the country: mixed population distribution Sources: SIL International (www.ethnologue.com)

4. 1.Viet Nam country context Quality and equity in Ethnic Minorities Education in Viet Nam Multilingual education as a way towards achieving quality UPE in Vietnam Source: VIES and INTREC/Mekong Economics, (2008). Assessing learning results in Vietnamese Reading and Mathematic of children grade 5, school year 2006-2007.

5. 1. Positive Experience on Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education in Viet Nam - Vietnamese subject: children learning, speaking; they are good at the oral of VN - Math: the initial result is positive; - For other subjects, MTBBE students got A+ marks; - MTBBE students have good behaviours in school.

6. 1. Country context: Assessment results primary level 2010-2011 school • MTBBE students had better learning outcomes than their peers. • MTBBE contributed to better learning outcomes of ethnic minority children.

7. 2. Purpose and Research Questions Purpose of Research: - To understand the language situation in the classroom so that education can be appropriate for all the students and their communities. - Students learn best when they can begin studying in the language that they know best. Research Questions: • How many classes and locations are there where all the students speak the same language? What is the situation for these students? • How many classes and locations are there where students don't share the same strongest language? • What are the language abilities of the teachers?

8. 3. Process of Language Mapping Data Collection Project Planning Training Data Anlaysis/ Mapping Presenting Results

9. 3. Process and Methodology • Leadership and participation from all levels of the educational system (school, district, province, and national). • The data collected was carefully checked. • Maximizing of education system to collect data. • Training of trainers for the data collection process – teachers collected data – Principals reviewed data – District, Province, and National education levels reviewed the information. • Basic information was collected that could easily be collected by teachers and mapped using GIS software.

10. 3. Process and Methodology Reviewing Important Points in research School • Main School • Satellite • Classroom Information collected according to • Language • Location • Classroom What are the other factors related to language and location (academic performance, poverty...)?

11. 1 Satellite School many Class Rooms Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

12. Language Scenario at School Language A Language C Language B Is this the situation in every school, at every location, in every classroom??

13. There are at least two possibilities Multi-language School(A) but single language satellites Multi-language School(A) and multi- language satellites

14. 3.Statistics Primary Schools – Lào Cai

15. GIS Project File

16. 3. Classroom Language Scenarios Học sinh Giáo viên One language shared by all students and teacher

17. 3.Classroom Language Scenario Students speak 2 different ethnic languages with Kinh speaking teacher

18. 3.Single Language vs Multi Language Classrooms Students in 51% of Lao Cai primary school classrooms share the same home languages - Mong, Dao, and Tay. However, their home languages are not used for teaching.

19. 3.Students' Strongest Language

20. 3.Percentage of Primary Classrooms with 1 to 8 Languages 2011 – 2012 64% of primary school classes in Lao Cai have students that all speak the same language - Mông, Kinh, Dao, Tày -

21. Teacher Ethnicities

22. Teachers Students Ethnicities Strongest Language In Lao Cai primary schools, 70% of the teachers are Kinh and speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue but Vietnamese is the strongest language of only 22% of the students.

24. How many students can be helped by MTBBE in single language classrooms? Approximately 19,000 Mong and Dao students could immediately be a part of an MTBBE program.

25. Percent Students in Monolingual Class per Grade The percentage of students in monolingual classes is farily consistent across grades which would allow MTBBE through grade 5.

26. Grade 1 Academic Performance 2010-2011 60% 50% Kinh 40% MTBBE 30% Province Average 20% Grade 1 10% Mong 0% Excellent Good Average Weak The MTBBE program is helping Mong children close the learning gap between themselves and other ethnic groups.

28. 4. Applications Local: • Adjust teacher training and allocation especially ethnic teachers to match student languages. • Expand for MTBBE planning. • Conduct further research, expand mapping to other levels (Kindergarten and Secondary school). • Inform policy and plans for human resource training, management and development to support the education system. Ministry of Education and Training: • Share the methods and results of language mapping with other programs to strengthen ethnic education and make it more effective.