Importance of Multilingualism in Education Studies

Running head: EDUCATION STUDIES
Education Studies
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2EDUCATION STUDIES
The concept of multilingualism mainly defines the practice of a person being able to
speak more than one language. A multilingual speaker is someone who has the ability to speak
more than one language. This is, however, an advantage as the world is expanding and people
have to keep pace with the expanding world. Often people have to move away too many
different places for the purpose of studying and also for the purpose of working. So, they need to
learn the language that is prevalent in the place they are shifting to. The major number of people
in the world is multilingual speakers and this is mainly because they have been brought up in
many diverse cultural surroundings. Multilingualism is of utmost importance as it helps in
bringing people together. It acts as a pivot that helps in bringing the people and the local
communities from the margins to the center. It is for this purpose that one of the non native
English speaking student has been interviewed based on his experiences in his locality and the
kind of experiences that he had after coming to the school in UK. There are people belonging to
many local communities are deprived of their schools and their workplaces. It is for this reason
that multilingualism must be brought into practice (Pysarenko and Striuk 2017).
Multilingualism helps in bringing diversity to the language that is being spoken by one
another and also it helps in bringing the culture of many places together. This unification works
for the overall uplifting of the local and the tribal people as well. If there are multilingual
speakers within any tribal communities then they will be able to speak in their native language
and in other forms of language as well. They will be able to develop the thoughts of those people
(Whiteley 2017). They will be able to bring those people in the centers than the margins and the
isolations to which they have been subjected to. As has been seen in the interview, often when
the non native speakers are sent to attend schools where they become the victims of insults and
bullies. They often feel that they are being neglected. However, this is really a very bad practice

3EDUCATION STUDIES
and needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. It is the duty of the teachers and the schools to
make sure that they are promoting the multilingualism. This will help in encouraging those
students to learn and develop their interest in the academic professions as well. The mother
language of those children is to be included in the curriculum. This is because the children will
learn best through the language that they know. It is for this reason that the schools must also
start for some training services that will help in arranging for the teachers training services as
well (Pascoe et al. 2015). This will help in training the teachers in the native language of the
students. Apart from this, the native English speakers must also be encouraged to attend those
classes where they will be able to learn the language of the non-native English speakers. Along
with the language, they will also be able to learn different aspects of the culture and the religion
as well. This practice will indeed be very helpful as it will help in bringing people closer to one
another. This will help in the process of social communication as well (Luke 2018).
Talking about the UK in general or Britain, it is a land of many different cultures and
languages. There are so many different languages that have descended down the years and have
accumulated in the English language. There are also many of the immigrant communities that
have come and settled in the UK. It is for this reason that the language is so very different. Here
comes the role of multilingualism. The schools and colleges must have teachers who will be
proficient enough in the language of the native or the local people. The first step is to teach the
children in the language that they are most familiar with and can comprehend easily. This has to
be kept in mind that the mother tongue or the MT is the language in which a child will be the
most acquainted with. The person who is in charge of teaching the children must keep in mind
the common traits of human psychology. It is a very common phenomenon of human psychology
that people are comfortable in learning something new within the surroundings that they are very

4EDUCATION STUDIES
familiar with. It will be very difficult for them if the students or the children are taken into some
new or unknown surroundings. So, the local surroundings or the local communities play a very
vital role here and have to keep in proper consideration. Children will be able to learn and also
understand in that particular language in which they think. In the initial stages, the children need
to learn in a language that they have been accustomed to (Kalra 2017).
Apart from this, the students are to e taught in their very immediate environment and
environment. For an instance, if the student in question is of African origin and the teacher who
is in charge of teaching him is a multilingual speaker then he must at first teach the student in the
native African language itself. It is best if the children are asked to attend their first and initial
classroom sessions in their villages or in their very well known surroundings. The culture that is
already imbibed in those students is reflected through their language. So, they will be at ease if
the teacher is making them gain some indigenous language or indigenous knowledge within their
known surroundings. It is with this slow and gradual process that these children will be able to
step into the centers from the margins and will be able to learn the non native language.
A multilingual speaker must also be well versed in the form of sign languages as well.
This is because in the initial stages; he will have to teach his local people. The multilingual
speaker is very well versed in many different languages and knows the uses as well. However,
this whole thing is really very unknown to the rest of the speakers. It is for this reason that he
will have to explain the same to his local people. The best practice that he can do is arrange for
an initial village or classroom session where he will be accumulating all the people and starting
off with the initial classes. He has to keep in mind that in this context, he cannot really impose
any force or pressure. He had to give ample time to all the people and has to stay very close to
the natural surroundings of those people. Local people are very close to their environment. It is