PATANI M ALAY-THAI BILINGUAL EDUCATION:

SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, LESSONS LEARNED, FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Suwilai Premsrirat and Hugh Delaney

5th International Conference on Language and Education: Sustainable Development Through Multilingual Education19-21 October 2016 Bangkok, Thailand

Language Diversity Thailand

65 million population

speak 70+ living Languages,

belonging to 5 Language Families

• Thai is the only official/national language.

- Derived from a variety of Central Thai. About 50% of

the population use it proficiently (as in the first language

or mother tongue )

- Used as the medium of instruction in all levels of

education all over the country

- Language shift and language decline

- Underachievement in education

• Tai (24)• Austroasiatic (22)• Austronesian (3)• Hmong-Mien (2)• Sino-Tibeton (20)

More than 40% are not literate in Grade )

For large language groups at the border, not only is their mother

language declining but many cannot access government services. Children lack sufficient knowledge of Thai, the

school language.

Language Identity Issue Political Unrest and Violence

Thailand M elayu83% of the population or more than a million people

in 4 border provinces of Thailand are Muslim and speak Patani Malay

Once Patani Sultanate – Center of Islamic Studies

From : www.redratchaprasong.org, www.oknation.net

Implementation of Patani Malay-Thai MTB-BEin Thailand’s Deep South

An act ion - part icipatory research project•Implemented in 4 pilot schools in 4 Southern Border provinces. •Expanded to 15 schools over lifetime of program•A 9-year program starting from KG1 to Grade 6 plus one year of preparation.

Goals•‘To facilitate Patani M alay speaking children to speak, read and w rite w ell in both Patani M alay and Thai.

• To retain M alay ident ity and culture at the local level and Thai ident ity at the nat ional level, contribut ing to nat ional social cohesion

10 Components of the Program

Essential components of successful MTB MLE programs

Preliminary ResearchRealistic

implementation plan

Awareness raising & mobilization

Acceptable alphabets

Curriculum & instructional materialsReading & learning

materials

Teacher recruitment &

training

Monitoring & evaluation

Supportive partnerships

Supportive MTB-MLE policy

Susan Malone, 2016

Establish PM writing systemThai-based PM Orthography

DevelopmentJawi Orthography Reform

“ Script Issue”

Listening – Speaking EnglishListening – Speaking – Reading – Writing Thai Listening – Speaking – Reading – Writing Patani Malay

Grade 3-6

Reading-Writing ThaiListening – Speaking – Reading – Writing Patani Malay

Listening – Speaking ThaiReading – Writing Patani Malay

Start listening – Speaking Thai (Learning Thai as a 2nd language)Prereading – Prewriting Patani Malay

Listening – Speaking Patani Malay (for cognitive development)

Grade 1

Kindergarten 2

Kindergarten 1

Listening – Speaking – Reading – Writing EnglishListening – Speaking – Reading – Writing Thai Malay studies (Local Knowledge, oral traditions and Poetry)Listening-Speaking-Reading-Writing Melayu (Jawi and Rumi)

Grade 2

“Step by Step” Language Learning and Literacy Process

Writ ing stories Edit ing

Draw ing

Book binding

Community consultat ion and part icipat ion

Melayu Reading Materials – Big books and Small books

Cultural scenes – to stimulate talking and thinking

TEACHING SCIENCES USING SANDWICH TECHNIQUE (G. 1-3)Students are alert and

participated well in the class

“ This project is very useful. It has brought back our M elayu ident ity. I w ould like to pray for Allah to make this project sustainable forever.”

(Abdul Rohim, a religious teacher from Satun)

“(The PM – TH Bilingual Education) is very very good. The students know how to read and write when they go up to Grade 1. They know both Melayu and Thai.”

Wisut YayoFather and member of Local administration, Pattani

Parents are happy watching their children’s performance in the class.

Grade 1 Academic Assessment for 4 subjects

Comparison

Experimental

Performance Categories

Num

ber o

f Stu

dent

s

Annually, 30 student teachers from Yala Rajabhat University spend their one-year internship in the 15 program schools

• Student learning monitored and bet ter achievements recorded;• Local research teams (teachers, academics, religious leaders, local art ists,

musicians etc.) w ere involved in all stages of the program;• 145 teachers and 13 teacher assistants developed skills (through 106

w orkshops) and served over 2,300 M LE students in 15 primary schools.• Thai-based, Patani-M alay w rit ing system standardized and approved by

the Royal Society of Thailand;• 1,447 educat ional items (big books, small books, diglot books, primers,

games, posters, teacher handbooks, student dict ionary, etc.) produced.• Local University empow ered to establish the M LE t raining program for

undergraduates, in-service teachers and school administ rators.• Greater levels of t rust /sat isfact ion w ith schools among local communit ies.• The draft of the Nat ional Language Policy of Thailand supports M LE

and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by using the mother tongue as the key factor in learning languages and literacy process.

Achievements

Framework of Thailand’s Current Draft of National Language Policy

Challenges• Different stakeholders have differing opinions and somet imes

opposit ion to M LE – advocacy and communicat ion on the importance and approach of the program has been vital;

• Diff icult environment (security, violence, f looding) w hich made the program implementat ion and monitoring more diff icult ;

• Diff icult condit ions for teachers combined w ith the demand for substant ial change in teaching pract ice/curriculum/materials;

• Some of the elites and religious leaders prefer the Arabic-based Jaw i script (used for religious documents);

• Need to build t rust betw een local people and Thai off icials

Learning• Stakeholder analysis should be done as part of the programme

planning, especially in a conflict zone;

• Community consultat ion and part icipat ion is crucial to take into account cultural, linguist ic and other considerat ions;

• Any M LE programme should have an accompanying advocacy st rategy to inform and inf luence key actors both for programme implementat ion and any future scale-up.

• There needs to be a systemic approach to teacher t raining and development, as w ell as support for school directors, for sustainability

• Advocacy w ith M inist ry of Educat ion: Development and implementat ion of Nat ional Language in Educat ion Policy, building on the Nat ional Language Policy.

• Technical support : Regional and Nat ional scale-up st rategy and budget w ithin the educat ion sector, informed by the program

• Stakeholder engagement cont inued – documentat ion, disseminat ion of approach and results, public advocacy

• Program schools cont inue to offer a model for scale up, learning, teaching pract ice…..

• Inst itut ionalising M LE teacher educat ion in other universit ies.

Future Direct ions