The Mother Tongue Teaching as a Multicultural Category: Impacts and Consequences (A Synthesis Study)
Subject Areas : Curriculum Design and DevelopmentFatemeh Bahrami 1 , Mostafa Ghaderi 2 , Behnam Talebi 3
1 - PhD student, Department of Curriculum Planning, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum Studies, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
Keywords: Training, mother tongue, Multiculturalism,
Abstract :
Purpose: Mother tongue is considered as an important part of the human identity. The objective of this study was to investigate mother tongue training as a multicultural category and its impacts and consequences.Methodology: This study was applied in terms of the objective, and descriptive and research synthesis in terms of method. The study population was studies on mother tongue, mother tongue training, multiculturalism, cultural diversity and systematic training in the last ten years. Among them, 183 studies were selected by purposeful sampling method after investigating the inclusion criteria and entered the final synthesis. The data were analyzed by content analysis.Findings: The results showed that most of the studies had a positive view of multiculturalism and believed that the rights of minorities and individual differences should be taken into account. Regarding mother tongue training or training in the mother tongue can help strengthen national solidarity. The structure of curricula in some places requires more revision and flexibility. The teachers, learners and parents had a positive attitude towards training in the mother tongue, and teachers should have special competence to teach in multicultural education centers, for which in-service training can be used. Training in the mother tongue improves psychological and social conditions, academic performance, self-confidence, learning, writing skills of learners in the training environment and even easier learning of second and third languages.Conclusion: Regarding the impacts and consequences of mother tongue training as a multicultural category, professionals and planners should look at mother tongue training or training in mother tongue as a necessity and plan to implement it.
Abdoli SoltanAhmadi J, Sadeghi A. (2015). Designing and validating multicultural curriculum model in Iran
public educational. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 10(39), 71-108.
Acar-Ciftci Y. (2019). Multicultural education and approaches to teacher training. Journal of Education and
Learning, 8(4), 136-152.
Ahmadi P, Mokhtari R. (2019). The position of multicultural education components in the pictures of
elementary school textbooks in the academic year 2019-20. International Conference on Educational
Sciences, Psychology, Counseling, Education and Research, Tehran: Comprehensive University of
Applied Sciences.
Awopetu AV. (2016). Impact of Mother Tongue on Children's Learning Abilities in Early Childhood
Classroom. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 233, 58-63.
Aydin H, Ozfidan B. (2014). Perceptions on mother tongue (Kurdish) based multicultural and bilingual
education in Turkey. Multicultural Education Review, 6(1), 21-48.
Bal M, Mete F. (2019). Cultural literacy in mother tongue education: An action research. Qualitative Research
in Education, 8(2), 215-244.
Behjat F, Dastpak M, Taghinezhad A. (2018). Examining the factors influencing the use of mother tongue
in Iranian EFL context: A mixed-methods approach. International Journal on Studies in English
Language and Literature, 6(3), 40-49.
Chicoine L. (2019). Schooling with learning: The effect of free primary education and mother tongue
instruction reforms in Ethiopia. Economics of Education Review, 69, 94-107.
Eidi N, Nourian M. (2019). The impact of multicultural situations in the process of teaching, learning
investigating of human factors experiences in Ahvaz Faculty of Petroleum. Iranian Journal of Engineering
Education, 20(80), 97-114.
Frutos AE, Izquierdo Rus T, Habib Allah MC. (2017). The use of ICT and the mother tongue in the academic
performance of immigrant students in secondary education within a vulnerable context. Procedia – Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 237, 189-195.
Ganuza N, Hedman C. (2019). The impact of mother tongue instruction on the development of Biliteracy:
Evidence from Somali-Swedish Bilinguals. Applied Linguistics, 40(1), 108-131.
Geerlings J, Thijs J, Verkuyten M. (2019). Preaching and practicing multicultural education: Predicting
students' outgroup attitudes from perceived teacher norms and perceived teacher–classmate relations.
Journal of School Psychology, 75, 89-103.
Ghafar-Samar R, Mokhtarinia Sh, Akbari R, Kiani Gh. (2013). Language ideology in ELT: The role of Farsi
in learning and using English in Iran. Journal of Foreign Language Research, 3(2), 243-262.
Gharibi J, Golestani SH, Jafari SI. (2016). Epistemological foundations of multicultural education. Research
in Curriculum Planning, 12(20), 1-15.
Havasbeigi F, Sadeghi A, Maleki H, Ghaderi M. (2018). Multicultural education in Farsi textbooks (Reading)
Iran elementary education. Theory & Practice in Curriculum Journal, 6(11), 141-174.
Hopp H, Vogelbacher M, Kieseier T, Thoma D. (2019). Bilingual advantages in early foreign language
learning: Effects of the minority and the majority language. Learning and Instruction, 61, 99-110.
Kang J. (2021). Discursive struggles for multicultural curriculum in South Korea. The Journal of Social
Studies Research, 45(1), 25-34.
Karami AA, Aliabadi Kh, Sahrayi R, Delavar A. (2018). Education in mother tongue in the formal education
of Iran: Opportunity or threat? Quarterly Journal of Educational Innovations, 17(1), 43-74.
Luo R, Pace A, Levine D, Iglesias A, De Villiers J, Golinkoff RM, et al (2021). Home literacy environment
and existing knowledge mediate the link between socioeconomic status and language learning skills in
dual language learners. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 55, 1-14.
Magi E, Nestor M. (2013). Students with different mother tongue and cultural backgrounds in Estonian
schools: attention, awareness and support at school level. Tallinn: Poliitikauuringute Keskus Praxis.
Maria ZD, Caterial CT, Balane OA, Tantoy O. (2019). The teaching of mother-tongue based multi-lingual
education of pre-service teachers: Basis for a training program. International Journal of Multidisciplinary
Research and Publications, 2(3), 1-5.
Mohammadi Sh, Kamal Kharrazi SAN, KazemiFard M, Pourkarim J. (2016). Providing a model for
multicultural education in the higher education system: An analysis of the views of experts in this field in
Iran. Journal of Research in Teaching, 4(1), 65-91.
Mokibelo EB. (2015). Multilingualism and multiculturalism in the education system and society of Botswana.
US-China Education Review, 5(8), 488-502.
Moradi Sh, Seifollahi S. (2012). The effect of teaching in native language on improving students’ educational
motivation (Case study: first district high school students in Sannandaj 1391-92). The Journal of Sociology
Studies, 5(16), 65-83.
Mostafazadeh E, Keshtiaray N, Gholizadeh A. (2019). The necessity of multicultural education, and the
analysis of its components in Iranian educational system. Research in Curriculum Planning, 16(33), 20-
35.
Ng CWQ, Syn NL, Hussein RBM, Ng M, Kow AWC. (2020). Push and pull factors, and the role of residents
in nurturing medical students’ interest in surgery as a career option in a multicultural Asian context:
Results of a prospective national cohort study. The American Journal of Surgery, 220(6), 1549-1556.
O'Brien B, Yussof NT, Vijayakumar P, Mohamed MBH, Leong XER. (2020). Exploring characteristics of
quality in language teaching & learning: The Mother Tongue Adapted Coding Scheme (MACS). Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 53, 586-600.
Okoye-Johnson O. (2011). Does multicultural education improve students’ racial attitudes? Implications for
closing the achievement gap. Journal of Black Studies, 42(8), 1252-1274.
Parba J. (2018). Teachers’ shifting language ideologies and teaching practices in Philippine mother tongue
classrooms. Linguistics and Education, 47, 27-35.
Paul-Binyamin I, Haj-Yehia K. (2019). Multicultural education in teacher education: Shared experience and
awareness of power relations as a prerequisite for conflictual identities dialogue in Israel. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 85, 249-259.
Piper B, Zuilkowski SS, Kwayumba D, Oyanga A. (2018). Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue
literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics.
International Journal of Educational Development, 59, 110-127.
Saneka NE, De Witt M. (2019). Barriers and bridges between mother tongue and English as a second
language in young children. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 9(1), 1-8.
Shademan K, Baykan A, Gorji R. (2016). Bilingualism in Iranian educational system. Pouyesh Journal in
Teaching Educational Sciences and Counseling, 3(3), 81-104.
Valadi A, Hemmati F, Ghahremani Ghajar S, Nemat Tabrizi AR. (2018). On the effect of L1-mediated focuson-form instruction on English language learners’ oral production. Journal of Language Research
(Zabanpazhuhi), 10(26), 165-184.
Villegas A. (2019). Multicultural education implemented in elementary schools. Capstone Projects and
Master's Theses, California State University: Moterey Bay.
Zanchetta MS, Cognet M, Rahman R, Byam A, Carlier P, Foubert C, et al. (2021). Blindness, deafness, silence
and invisibility that shields racism in nursing education-practice in multicultural hubs of immigration.
Journal of Professional Nursing, 37(2), 467-476.