Timor-Leste: sustaining and maintaining the national languages in education

Article

Taylor-Leech, Kerry. 2011. "Timor-Leste: sustaining and maintaining the national languages in education." Current Issues in Language Planning. 12 (2), pp. 289-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2011.589108
Article Title

Timor-Leste: sustaining and maintaining the national languages in education

ERA Journal ID22151
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorTaylor-Leech, Kerry
Journal TitleCurrent Issues in Language Planning
Journal Citation12 (2), pp. 289-308
Number of Pages20
Year2011
Place of PublicationAbingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
ISSN1466-4208
1747-7506
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2011.589108
Abstract

This article presents an overview of language-in-education policy development between 1999 and 2010 in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. In the decade since independence language-in-education policy in this newly independent country has been dominated by debates about the medium of instruction. Over time, policy has shifted from an authoritarian stance that insisted on monolingual, submersion schooling in a former colonial language to one that accepts the need to accommodate linguistic diversity in order to promote social inclusion. Recent policy documents allow for instruction in the vernacular languages, designated in the 2002 Constitution
as national languages. The article identifies some key drivers that have provided impetus for this change in orientation, a change which offers opportunities for localised language planning from below. The paper therefore suggests that the acceptance of agency at both macro- and micro-levels will play a critical role in sustaining and maintaining the national languages in East Timorese education.

KeywordsTimor-Leste; national languages; mother tongue-based multilingual education; language-in-education; language policy and planning; language planning from below; Tetum
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390102. Curriculum and pedagogy theory and development
470401. Applied linguistics and educational linguistics
440105. Linguistic anthropology
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Byline AffiliationsFaculty of Education
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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