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LINGUIST List 18.1563

Tue May 22 2007

Diss: Socioling: Balma: 'Benchmarking Language Policies in West Afr...'

Editor for this issue: Hunter Lockwood <hunterlinguistlist.org>

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        1.    Anatole Balma, Benchmarking Language Policies in West Africa Through Reassessment, Networked Technologies and Continuing Involvement with Other Learning Communities
Message 1: Benchmarking Language Policies in West Africa Through Reassessment, Networked Technologies and Continuing Involvement with Other Learning Communities
Date: 21-May-2007
From: Anatole Balma <balma_associatesyahoo.com>
Subject: Benchmarking Language Policies in West Africa Through Reassessment, Networked Technologies and Continuing Involvement with Other Learning Communities


Institution: Purdue University
Program: Linguistics Program
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005

Author: Anatole Balma

Dissertation Title: Benchmarking Language Policies in West Africa Through Reassessment, Networked Technologies and Continuing Involvement with Other Learning Communities

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Dissertation Director:
Michael Brzezinski
Alan Garfinkel
James Greenan
Venetria Patton
Victor Raskin

Dissertation Abstract:

Whether our concerns are about the everyday lives of people and their
social interaction, or about social change and education, the issue of
language is as vital as it is complex. Language performs different
functions including a means of communication, expression and
conceptualization. Therefore, language should be seen as a resource rather
than a problem. In a multilingual society, knowledge of more than one
language is an asset both in an immediate economic sense, at the workplace,
for instance, and in the larger social sense of opening many worlds or
cultures and as a nation-building and pro-democracy practice. In the 21st
century, multilingualism is the norm, not the exception, and Africa is well
endowed in this respect. We work with, not against, the grain of our
societal multilingualism. The purpose of this study is to attempt to
articulate language policies in West Africa from the field of benchmarking
with the goal of improving educational outcomes. In so doing, this study
has elected to describe, compare and contrast existing language policies in
Burkina Faso and Ghana, it will also explore whether benchmarking offers
genuine promise for improvement in teaching and learning and ask what
approaches to policy and Benchmarking hold the most promise.




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