甘肃省东乡县双语教学进展情况

我国东乡族的教育问题，除了其他的因素以外，语言障碍是最根本的问题。在东乡族聚居区，绝大多数学前儿童都只会说东乡语而根本不懂汉语。这一现象给基础教育的开展造成了很多问题。为了解决这个问题，马国忠和陈元龙两位东乡族专家建议并着手实施了双语教学模式项目，这一项目旨在以本民族语言为过渡，从而达到学好普通话的目的。

第一批东乡县双语教学实验项目于2001年在甘肃省临夏回族自治州东乡县那勒寺乡中心小学开始实施，并已于2006年结束。世界少数民族语言研究院东亚部成员金瑞卿被双语教学实验班领导小组聘请为顾问，和县教育局一起进行了双语教材的研发和双语教学教师培训工作。首次编订了以东乡语为载体的教材，这些教材的内容及插图都以本土化为特点，并适应当地孩子们的需求，也更能迎合他们的兴趣。在这种模式下，学前阶段以东乡语拼音的学习为主并开始汉语口语的训练，一二年级则借助东乡语正式开展汉语的学习并最终过渡到纯普通话的课程当中。这种以东乡语为媒介学习汉语的方式使学生对汉语教材的理解更清楚，同时，学会普通话拼音及汉字的过程也会更加方便快捷，因为他们首先学习了他们最熟悉的语言的拼音，这将为他们过渡到其他语言文字的学习打下良好的基础。

经过了五年的实验工作，县政府和当地群众看到了双语教学对汉语教学的促进作用。这一点表现在已接受双语教育的学生成绩比未接受双语教育的学生成绩高出很多。那勒寺小学的马占良校长说到:“通过双语教学的开展，我们不仅解决了教学当中语言障碍的问题，更可贵的是，学生们提高了对教学的参与度，变得更加积极主动，成绩提高是很自然的结果。”在项目实施之初，学生家长们并不赞成这种“加重孩子负担”的教学模式，但是后来看到该模式的效果，都表示满意并愿意把孩子送到试验班学习。

以下为实验班与普通班学习效果的对比数据，数据清楚的显示了实验班的学生成绩远高于普通班的学习成绩：

鉴于此，县教育局决定继续将双语教学模式扩展到东乡县不同地方的八所学校。2006年7月，县教育局、香港乐施会和世界少数民族语言研究院东亚部签订了第二批关于双语教学扩展计划的合作协议，预计于2010年结束。本项目业已开展并且将继续开展下去，其中主要工作包括：借鉴国内外双语教学的新模式、培训教师和开发母语教材。现已有30位教师受到了双语模式教学培训，且有不同地区的200名学生从中获益。

在项目的开展过程中，东乡县政府的积极工作是项目顺利实施的重要保证。今后如果要继续扩展这一项目，我们还面临着问题：如果要进行至少一年的学前班母语学习，教师数量和学校的硬件设施都亟待补充。为了保证东乡地区的孩子们受到更好的教育，希望有关部门予以大力支持。

2009 Gansu Province

Dongxiang County Bilingual

Education Progress Report

In China’s Dongxiang ethnic community, the language barrier stands out as the most fundamental problem in education. The majority of preschool-age children in concentrated Dongxiang communities can only speak Dongxiang and cannot understand Mandarin Chinese at all. This phenomenon presents several challenges to providing basic education for these children. In order to address this problem, Dongxiang experts Ma Guozhong and Chen Yuanlong recommend bilingual education and are implementing a bilingual education project themselves. This project aims to use the ethnic minority language as a bridge to help students master standard Chinese.

The first experimental bilingual education project in Dongxiang County ran from 2001 to 2006 at the central primary school in Nalesi Township, Dongxiang County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Region of Gansu Province. The advisory committee of the bilingual education experimental class invited SIL International (East Asia Group) linguist Stephen Kim to join as a consultant, and together with the County Education Department, they carried out research and development of bilingual education materials and trained bilingual teachers. The project staff first compiled and edited teaching materials using the Dongxiang language as the medium of education. The content and accompanying illustrations are all based on local culture so that the materials cater to local children’s needs and suit their interests.

In this model, the preschool stage is focused on writing and spelling in Dongxiang and starting to practice oral Chinese. Then in grades one and two, students formally start studying Chinese through the Dongxiang language and finally transition to using only Chinese in the classroom. This method of using Dongxiang as a medium to learn Chinese helps students understand their Chinese teaching materials more clearly. At the same time, the process of learning Chinese spelling, pronunciation and characters is easier and quicker because students have first studied the spelling of the language with which they are most familiar. Learning to read using the most familiar language first provides a good foundation from which students can transition to reading and writing other languages.

During the experimental project’s five years, the Dongxiang County government and the local Dongxiang people saw that bilingual education advanced students’ Chinese education. This result is seen in student achievement: students who had gone through bilingual education had distinctively higher test scores than those students who had not gone through any bilingual education. Nalesi Primary School’s Principal Ma Zhanliang described the project’s impact, saying, “Through starting bilingual education, we have not only resolved the problem of the language barrier in education, but even more importantly, students have raised their levels of participation and now take more initiative. High achievement is a natural result of these changes.” In the initial phase of implementing the project, parents did not support the education model’s “extra burden” on students, but when they later saw the project’s effects, they all expressed satisfaction and willingness for their children to study in the experimental class.

The following chart is a comparison of student achievement data from the bilingual class and the Chinese language class:

In light of these results, the County Education Department decided to continue the bilingual education project and expand it to eight schools in different parts of Dongxiang County. In July 2006, the County Education Department, Oxfam Hong Kong, and SIL International (East Asia Group) signed a cooperative agreement for a second phase focused on expanding bilingual education, which is expected to conclude in 2010. As the project continues, its main activities include: learning from new bilingual education models in China and in other countries, teacher training, and developing mother tongue reading materials. Thirty teachers have already received bilingual education training, which has benefited 200 students from different districts.

In the process of launching the project, the Dongxiang County government’s initiative and work was an important guarantee of the project’s success. However, there are still some problems to address if the project is to expand. If project leaders wish to carry out at least one year of preschool mother tongue instruction, the number of teachers and classroom buildings needs to be increased. We hope that the relevant government offices will continue to give great support to this project in order to ensure even better education for children in the Dongxiang region.