Aplicación del Análisis Financiero propuesto

The models that have been looked at above have shed light on the co-existence of languages in contexts which perhaps already have a relatively consolidated body of (written) literature, a strongly structured lexicography and a history of usage (although possibly marginalised) in school settings, which, although having a number of similarities, are quite different from the model that is being looked at in this study. As said previously in Chapter One, Mauritius has inherited from a double colonial educational system, with English serving as medium of instruction and French taught as a core second language. Moreover, an additional Oriental/Asian/Arabic language is taught as an optional language. It is only recently that Creole, which is considered to be the language of daily interaction of most Mauritians, has been introduced within the multilingual educational system of Mauritius (Carpooran, 2011). One interesting thing that should be noted is that Mauritius – like other former British colonies – has also opted to maintain English within its multilingual educational system. As it was highlighted in Chapter One, English is believed to be the language that leads to social mobility. Moreover, Mauritius’ multilingual educational system is very much embedded within the parallel monolingualism discourse. However, unlike the other British colonies, the mother tongue of most Mauritians has been officially absent from the multilingual educational system for a number of decades. This research study context, thus, is characterised by the incorporation of a language (Creole) that has everyday common usage as an oral discourse nationally, but has been marginalised. KM has only recently been granted formal legal linguistic status as a written and codified language nationally. There is also not yet a strong well-developed and circulated corpus of KM literature presently, although such attempts to boost this status quo are consciously being engaged.

In the de facto operations within Mauritian classrooms nevertheless, KM has been accommodated (largely in its oral form) because it is seen as being lingua franca of a large percentage of the population. The study aims to obtain insights into how this language (KM) is understood as a language in the landscape of education given that several previous attempts at including it within the educational system have not been successful. Models of multilingual education through the introduction of a creole language in international literature (Bartens, Migge & Légglise, 2010)

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affirm the view that such an inclusion is a step of reversing previous marginalisation of the language which is both a social-political and an educational intervention. The coinciding of the political and the educational dimensions to elevate the status of KM to that of an optional language within the multilingual educational system and its effect on the educational schooling landscape formed sets up the background against which this study will be carried out.

The research literature of creolinguistics suggests that it has been hitherto very rare to have creoles used officially within formal multilingual educational systems (Siegel, 1999). Where a creole has been implemented within a formal multilingual educational system, Siegel categorises three types of programmes: those which are used for instrumental purposes, for accommodation strategies, and for awareness raising. It is noted that the objectives of all three types are similar, namely, they are motivated as forms of additive bilingualism which aim to develop the learners’ skills in the targeted official language whilst allowing them to speak and learn their mother tongue. The differences exist in the status and purposes afforded in way the students’ mother tongues are used in the classroom.

 In an instrumental programme, the mother tongue is used as the initial medium of

instruction which permeates all dimensions of the school curriculum to foster deep

learning: in the foundational literacy, numeracy and discipline-based subjects. The language of prestige (other than the creole) still features in the school curriculum, but is introduced at a later stage until it (the target language) eventually becomes the medium of instruction for some (if not all) subjects.

 Within the accommodation programme, the creole language is accommodated in the classroom but is not the medium of instruction. Instead, it is a language of negotiating

teaching and learning (Siegel, 1999). In the early years of school, students and

teachers are allowed to use their mother tongue to speak as well as to write at times. When the learners reach higher grade levels in the schooling system, ‘literature and music from students’ communities may be accommodated into the curriculum. However, the dominance of the prestige target language still prevails20.

20 _{It is sometimes argued that this second strategy becomes an “end in itself” (becoming ossified as a form of}

linguistic practice that develops neither the target nor the mother tongue), rather than a “means to an end”. This critique is still couched in the subtractive bilingualism conceptualization.

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 The awareness programme makes use of the creole language as a subject of comparative linguistic study. The objective is to show up the differences between the lexifier target language21 _{and the creole. This model emphasises a comparative}

juxtaposition to help the learners acquire the target language by emphasising how the structure of the target language is different from the creole. This still might arguably, position the creole as a lesser linguistic form depending on how this cross-linguistic pedagogy is negotiated pragmatically.

As can be seen, none of the models proposed in the two previous sections or which guide multilingual educational systems adopting creole languages can be used to describe aptly the Mauritian multilingual educational system. Thus, in most of the research conducted within the realm of multilingualism which is situated within the field of the study of minority languages, it is noted that English is either the dominant targeted language and the mother tongue is indirectly (or consciously) relegated to the periphery. Moreover, in most of these models, the learners’ first language is included within the educational system, even in models which aim at its subtraction. However, within the Mauritian context, English is the dominant language within the educational system despite the fact that it is “socially rarely heard and seldom used” in everyday discourses (Auleear-Owodally, 2014, p. 18). The majority language of everyday social discourses, namely Creole, has been hitherto absent from the school curriculum. The introduction in 2012 of KM only as an ‘optional language’ in the schooling system follows perhaps neither the instrumental, the accommodation, nor the awareness models described above (Korlapu-Bungaree and Jean Francois, 2012). Thus, the teaching of languages within the multilingual educational system is perhaps being driven by factors other than a pedagogical imperative. Moreover, the complexity of intersected languages within the Mauritian wider social context could be considered as being absent the the primary school linguistic educational policy. How this takes shape within the context of primary schooling when KM is formally selected as an optional language after many years of marginalisation, is the focus of this study report. Mauritius is one of the rare countries which offer a model whereby the majority language is taught as an optional language and the minority language is the official medium of instruction. This study will explore whether the inclusion of KM as an ‘optional language’ appeases political rather than educational purposes. The lack of adequate educational attention to how the ‘optional language status’ is understood and enacted in the

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primary schooling system forms the backdrop to this study. Possibilities or not of educational schooling co-existence of KM as a medium of instruction (not yet officially sanctioned), a language of teaching and learning (the de facto present classroom practice), a language as subject (still under development) and/or as an optional language (the new de jure status) needs further exploration.

As has been seen above, most multilingual educational systems are strongly entrenched within the structuralist parallel monolingualism theoretical construct. This construct is seen as being limiting when dealing with complex multilingual situations as is the case in Mauritius. The following section will look at how recent research done within the field of multilingualism has also enunciated the necessity of coming up with a new theoretical lens to better understand the phenomenon.

2.3 Section Three: Multilingualism research in Mauritius and the necessity for a new