雙語兒童的母語：爲什麽母語對教育那麼重要？

Chit phiN kai-seng bat tah-koe a, m-koh in-ui choe-kin siong siang-gi kau-iok e su-iau koh tah chit pai, hong-pian hak-seng lai khoaN. Chin-cheng tah e kai-seng si Tai-gi e pan-pun.

Bilingual Children's Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education?
雙語兒童的母語：爲什麽母語對教育那麼重要？
Jim Cummins
吉姆康明斯
加拿大多倫多大學

The term globalization is never far from the front pages of newspapers these days. It evokes strong positive or negative feelings depending upon whether it is being praised by the business community for opening up world markets to more extensive trade or condemned by those who associate the term with the dramatically widening gap between rich and poor nations and people.
近來全球化這一名詞不時登上報紙頭版。它引起褒貶不一的反應，就看站在什麽立場，企業界對全球化讚譽有加，因為它開放世界市場，帶來更繁榮的貿易，而反對人士則譴責全球化造成貧國與富國、窮人與富人之間的差距急劇擴大。
One aspect of globalization that has important implications for educators is the increasing movement of people from one country to another. Population mobility is caused by many factors: desire for better economic conditions, the need for labour in many countries that are experiencing low birthrates, a constant flow of refugees resulting from conflicts between groups, oppression of one group by another, or ecological disasters. Economic integration within the EU also encourages the free movement of workers and their families among EU member countries. The fact that travel between countries is now fast and efficient (most of the time) obviously facilitates population mobility.
全球化對教育的一個重要的影響是國與國之間越來越頻繁的人口流動。人口流動是許多因素造成的：渴望更好的經濟狀況，許多低生育率的國家需要勞工，由於族群衝突、族群壓迫、或是生態災難所造成的一波波的難民潮。歐盟內部的經濟整合也鼓勵勞工及其家庭在歐盟會員國之間自由遷徙。當然，現代國與國之間交通便利、快速，無疑也促進人口流動。
A consequence of population mobility is linguistic, cultural, "racial", and religious diversity within schools. To illustrate, in the city of Toronto in Canada, 58% of kindergarten students come from homes where standard English is not the usual language of communication. Schools in Europe and North America have experienced this diversity for many years but it remains controversial, and educational policies and practices vary widely between countries and even within countries. Neo-fascist groups in a number of countries promote overtly racist policies in relation to immigrant and culturally diverse communities. Other political parties and groups adopt a somewhat more enlightened orientation and search for ways to "solve the problem" of diverse communities and their integration in schools and society. However, they still define the presence of diverse communities as a "problem" and see few positive consequences for the host society. They worry that linguistic, cultural, "racial" and religious diversity threaten the identity of the host society. Consequently, they promote educational policies that will make the "problem" disappear.
人口流動帶給學校內部的語言、文化、“種族”和宗教的多樣性。舉例來說，在加拿大的多倫多市有58 ％的幼稚園學生來自日常溝通用語並非標準英語的家庭。歐洲和北美的學校已經有許多年的多樣性經驗，至今還是時有爭議，教育政策和實際做法各國不同調，甚至同一國家各地的做法也有所不同。新法西斯團體在一些國家公開的提倡對移民和文化多元社區的種族主義政策。其他的政治政黨和團體採取較為開明的態度，追尋“解決”多元社區問題，並且將之融入學校和社會的方法。然而，這些人仍然將多元社區視為“（有待解決的）問題”，認為這些社區對主流社會沒有什麽積極正面的貢獻。他們擔心語言、文化、種族和宗教的多元性會危及主流社會的認同，因而提倡能讓“問題”消失的教育政策。
Whereas neo-fascist groups advocate expulsion of immigrants or at least exclusion from the mainstream of society (e.g. in largely segregated schools and housing areas), more liberal groups advocate assimilation into the mainstream of society. However, "assimilation" is similar in many ways to "exclusion" insofar as both orientations are designed to make the "problem" disappear. Under both policies, culturally diverse groups will no longer be visible or audible. Assimilationist policies in education discourage students from maintaining their mother tongues. If students retain their culture and language, then they are viewed as less capable of identifying with the mainstream culture and learning the mainstream language of the society.
新法西斯集團主張排除移民,或至少將之排除於主流社會之外(比如說，相當隔離的學校和住宅區），自由派團體則主張將移民同化於主流社會。然而，就兩者皆採取讓“問題”消失的立場，“同化”在許多方面和“排除”很類似。文化多元團體在這兩個政策下，變成隱而不見、靜默無聲。教育上的同化政策不利於學生維持母語。要是學生保持其族群語言、文化，就會被視為較無法認同主流文化以及學習主流社會的語言。
While students may not be physically punished for speaking their mother tongue in the school (as they previously were in many countries), a strong message is communicated to them that if they want to be accepted by the teacher and the society, they have to renounce any allegiance to their home language and culture.
就算學生不至於因為說母語而遭受體罰（以前許多國家就這麼做），他們接收到的強烈的訊息，告訴他們：要是他們想要被老師以及社會接受，他們就得放棄對家庭語言和文化的忠誠。
This "solve the problem" orientation to diversity in education is still dominant in most European and North American countries. Unfortunately, it can have disastrous consequences for children and their families. It violates children's right to an appropriate education and undermines communication between children and their parents. Any credible educator will agree that schools should build on the experience and knowledge that children bring to the classroom, and instruction should also promote children's abilities and talents. Whether we do it intentionally or inadvertently, when we destroy children's language and rupture their relationship with parents and grandparents, we are contradicting the very essence of education.
在大多數的歐美國家這種“解決問題”的立場仍占主導地位。不幸的是，它可能對兒童及其家庭造成災難性的後果。它違反了兒童接受適當教育的權利，也阻礙親子之間的溝通。任何可靠的教育家都同意學校教育必須建基於兒童帶至課堂的經驗和知識，教學應該促進兒童的能力和天賦。不管有意或無意，毀滅兒童的母語，破壞兒童和家長、祖父母之間的關係，就違反了教育的本質。
The destruction of language and culture in schools is also highly counter-productive for the host society itself. In an era of globalization, a society that has access to multilingual and multicultural resources is advantaged in its ability to play an important social and economic role on the world stage. At a time when cross-cultural contact is at an all time high in human history, the identities of all societies are evolving. The identities of societies and ethnic groups have never been static and it is a naive illusion to believe that they can become static-fixed as monochrome and monocultural museum exhibits for posterity--when the pace of global change is as rapid as it is today.
學校裏語言和文化的毀滅，並不利於對東道國社會本身的發展。在全球化的時代，近用多語言和多文化資源的社會，能發揮優勢在世界舞臺上，扮演重要的社會、經濟角色。在這個人類歷史上跨文化接觸最為頻繁的時代，每個社會的認同都在轉變中。社會和族群團體的身份認同從來不是靜止不動的；在這個瞬息萬變的全球社會，認為這些認同能夠像陳列在單一文化博物館的黑白畫像紋風不動的供後人瞻仰，不過是癡人說夢。
The challenge for educators and policy-makers is to shape the evolution of national identity in such a way that the rights of all citizens (including school children) are respected, and the cultural, linguistic, and economic resources of the nation are maximized. To squander the linguistic resources of the nation by discouraging children from developing their mother tongues is quite simply unintelligent from the point of view of national self-interest and also represents a violation of the rights of the child (see Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000, for a comprehensive review of international policies and practices relating to linguistic human rights).
教育工作者和決策者面對的挑戰是在形塑國家認同的時候，能兼顧所有公民（包括學童）的權利，並且將國家的語言、文化和經濟資源做最妥善的運用。從國家自身利益的觀點來看，阻礙兒童發展母語的做法相當令人不解，這不但是浪費國家的語言資產，同時也違反兒童的權利(Skutnabb-Kangas（2000）提供語言人權的國際政策和實踐的全面性回顧)。
How can schools provide an appropriate education for culturally and linguistically diverse children? A first step is to learn what the research says about the role of language, and specifically children's mother tongues, in their educational development.
學校如何提供語言文化多樣的學生適切的教育？第一步就是去瞭解學術研究對於語言，特別是兒童母語，在教育發展上所扮演的角色。
What We Know About Mother Tongue Development
我們對母語發展的瞭解
The research is very clear about the importance of bilingual children's mother tongue for their overall personal and educational development. More detail on the research findings summarized below can be found in Baker (2000), Cummins (2000), and Skutnabb-Kangas (2000).
學術研究很清楚的表明母語對雙語兒童個人以及教育發展極為重要。以下總結學術研究的主要發現，進一步細節可參考Baker (2000), Cummins (2000) 和Skutnabb-Kangas (2000)等人的論述。
Bilingualism has positive effects on children's linguistic and educational development. When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of language and how to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when they develop literacy in both, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in which their two languages organize reality. More than 150 research studies conducted during the past 35 years strongly support what Goethe, the German philosopher, once said: The person who knows only one language does not truly know that language. The research suggests that bilingual children may also develop more flexibility in their thinking as a result of processing information through two different languages.
雙語現象對兒童的語言和教育發展有正面的效果。當兒童在小學過程中持續的發展兩種或多種語言能力,就能對語言有更深層的瞭解,並懂得有效的運用語言。他們在語言處理有更多的實作經驗，特別當他們發展兩種語言讀寫的時候，他們也能比較兩種語言組織現實的方式異同。在過去三十五年有超過一百五十項研究強烈的支持德國哲學家歌德曾說過的一句話：“只會一種語言的人，無法真正的瞭解該語言。” 研究顯示雙語兒童由於透過兩種語言處理訊息，也可能發展出更具靈活性的思考。
The level of development of children's mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development.
Children who come to school with a solid foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language. When parents and other caregivers (e.g. grandparents) are able to spend time with their children and tell stories or discuss issues with them in a way that develops their mother tongue vocabulary and concepts, children come to school well-prepared to learn the school language and succeed educationally. Children's knowledge and skills transfer across languages from the mother tongue they have learned in the home to the school language. From the point of view of children's development of concepts and thinking skills, the two languages are interdependent. Transfer across languages can be two-way: when the mother tongue is promoted in school (e.g. in a bilingual education program), the concepts, language, and literacy skills that children are learning in the majority language can transfer to the home language. In short, both languages nurture each other when the educational environment permits children access to both languages.
兒童母語發展的程度是預測他們第二語言發展的重要指標。帶著穩固母語基礎來到學校的兒童，能發展出比較好的學校語言的讀寫能力。要是家長和其他照顧者（如祖父母）能夠花時間跟小孩講故事，或與他們討論問題的方式，藉以提升兒童的母語詞彙和概念，兒童就學時，就已經為學習學校語言做好準備，教育成功指日可待。兒童的知識和技能可以從在家庭習得的母語學習轉移到學校語言。從兒童的概念和思考技能發展來說，這兩個語言是相互依賴的。語言學習轉移可以是雙向的：學校要是提倡母語（比如說，在雙語教育課程），兒童從強勢語言學習的概念、語言和讀寫技能也能轉移到家庭語言。簡單的說，要是教育機構提供兒童近用兩種語言的環境，這兩種語言就能彼此滋養、相輔相成。
Mother tongue promotion in the school helps develop not only the mother tongue but also children's abilities in the majority school language. This finding is not surprising in view of the previous findings that (a) bilingualism confers linguistic advantages on children and (b) abilities in the two languages are significantly related or interdependent. Bilingual children perform better in school when the school effectively teaches the mother tongue and, where appropriate, develops literacy in that language. By contrast, when children are encouraged to reject their mother tongue and, consequently, its development stagnates, their personal and conceptual foundation for learning is undermined.
學校提倡母語不但有助母語發展，對於學校強勢語言的能力也大有幫助。這項發現並不令人驚訝，考慮到之前的研究發現：a）雙語現象賦予兒童語言優勢（linguistic advantages）；b）兩種語言的能力彼此緊密關聯或是說相互依賴。雙語兒童在有良好的母語教學，又能提供母語讀寫的學校受教，會有比較好的表現。
Spending instructional time through a minority language in the school does not hurt children's academic development in the majority school language. Some educators and parents are suspicious of bilingual education or mother tongue teaching programs because they worry that these programs take time away from the majority school language. For example, in a bilingual program where 50% of the time is spent teaching through children's home language and 50% through the majority school language, surely children's learning of the majority school language must suffer? One of the most strongly established findings of educational research, conducted in many countries around the world, is that well-implemented bilingual programs can promote literacy and subject matter knowledge in a minority language without any negative effects on children's development in the majority language. Within Europe, the Foyer program in Belgium which develops children's speaking and literacy abilities in three languages (their mother tongue, Dutch and French) in the primary school most clearly illustrates the benefits of bilingual and trilingual education (see Cummins, 2000, pp. 218-219).
學校花在少數民族語言教學的時間，並不會妨礙兒童透過學校強勢語言進行的學業發展。一些老師和家長對雙語教育或是母語教學課程有所懷疑，他們擔心這些課程剝奪了學校強勢語言的時間。比如說，要是在雙語課程中一半的時間以母語進行教學，一半的時間使用學校的強勢語言，兒童學習強勢語言的時間不是少了一半了嗎？其實不然，在世界許多國家的教育研究得到強烈支持的一項發現就是實施良好的雙語課程能促進弱勢語言的讀寫以及學科知識，不會對兒童強勢語言的發展，有任何負面的影響。在歐洲，比利時的Foyer計劃在小學發展兒童三種語言（母語，德語和法語）的口語和讀寫能力，最能展現雙語和三語教育的優點(參閱Cummins, 2000：218-219)。
We can understand how this happens from the research findings summarized above. When children are learning through a minority language (e.g. their home language), they are not only learning this language in a narrow sense. They are learning concepts and intellectual skills that are equally relevant to their ability to function in the majority language. Pupils who know how to tell the time in their mother tongue understand the concept of telling time. In order to tell time in the second language (e.g. the majority language), they do not need to re-learn the concept of telling time; they simply need to acquire new labels or "surface structures" for an intellectual skill they have already learned. Similarly, at more advanced stages, there is transfer across languages in academic and literacy skills such as knowing how to distinguish the main idea from the supporting details of a written passage or story, identifying cause and effect, distinguishing fact from opinion, and mapping out the sequence of events in a story or historical account.
從以上歸納的研究發現，我們可以了解到雙語教育成功的原因。但兒童以弱勢語言（即母語）進行學習，並不只是狹隘定義下的語言學習。他們還學習到概念和智識技能，這些對他們能否在強勢語言環境運作自如息息相關。知道如何以母語報時的兒童，已經了解報時的概念。要學會第二語言（如強勢語言）的報時，他們不需要重新學報時的概念；對他們已經學會的智識技能，只消學習新的標簽或是“表面結構”就行。同樣的，在更高階段，語言之間的學術和讀寫技能也能轉移，比如說從書寫的段落或是故事當中，辨別要旨和支持的細節的能力，辨識因果關系，區別事實和意見，將故事或歷史記錄以圖表列舉先後順序。
Children's mother tongues are fragile and easily lost in the early years of school. Many people marvel at how quickly bilingual children seem to "pick up" conversational skills in the majority language in the early years at school (although it takes much longer for them to catch up to native speakers in academic language skills). However, educators are often much less aware about how quickly children can lose their ability to use their mother tongues, even in the home context. The extent and rapidity of language loss will vary according to the concentration of families from a particular linguistic group in the school and neighborhood. Where the mother tongue is used extensively in the community outside the school, then language loss among young children will be less. However, where language communities are not concentrated or "ghettoized" in particular neighborhoods, children can lose their ability to communicate in their mother tongue within 2-3 years of starting school. They may retain receptive (understanding) skills in the language but they will use the majority language in speaking with their peers and siblings and in responding to their parents. By the time children become adolescents, the linguistic gap between parents and children has become an emotional chasm. Pupils frequently become alienated from the cultures of both home and school with predictable results.
兒童的母語相當脆弱 ，在入學的前幾年很容易失去母語。很多人對雙語兒童在入學不久，不費吹灰之力很快的學會強勢語言的口語能力驚嘆不已，雖然要趕上本族語者的學術語言能力還要更久的時間。但是，教師比較不常注意到兒童也很快的喪失母語能力，甚至連在家庭也不用母語。喪失母語的程度和快慢取決於同一族群的家庭在鄰里、學校聚集的狀況。要是母語在學校以外的社區環境還有廣泛的使用，兒童的語言流失就不會那么嚴重。但是，要是語言團體並不集中在同一鄰里、社區，兒童在就學二至三年內，很快就失去母語溝通的能力。他們可能還聽得懂母語，但是使用強勢語言和同儕、姐妹交談，也以強勢語言回應家長。兒童成為青少年後，家長和孩童的語言距離，可能成為情感交流的鴻溝。學生常常因此同時和家庭和學校的文化產生疏離，造成不良的後果。
To reduce the extent of language loss, parents should establish a strong home language policy and provide ample opportunities for children to expand the functions for which they use the mother tongue (e.g. reading and writing) and the contexts in which they can use it (e.g. community mother tongue day care or play groups, visits to the country of origin, etc.).
父母親應當建立穩固的家庭語言政策，提供兒童擴展母語功能(如閱讀和寫作)的豐富多樣的機會,並且提供母語使用的情境(如社會母語幼稚園或幼兒遊戲組，探訪祖國等等)。
Teachers can also help children retain and develop their mother tongues by communicating to them strong affirmative messages about the value of knowing additional languages and the fact that bilingualism is an important linguistic and intellectual accomplishment. For example, they can initiate classroom projects focused on (a) developing children's language awareness (e.g. surveying and celebrating the multilingualism of students in the class) and (b) the sharing of languages in the class (e.g. every day a child brings one significant word from the home language into class and the entire class, including the teacher, learns and discusses this word.
教師也可以協助兒童保存和發展他們的母語，透過傳遞給他們積極肯定的訊息，讓他們瞭解會其他語言的價值，也瞭解到雙語現象是重要的語言和智識成就。比如說，教師進行一項課堂計畫，把焦點放在（a）發展兒童的語言意識（如：調查並頌揚課堂上學生的多語言現象）以及（b）在課堂上分享各種語言（如：每天由一位兒童在課堂上介紹一個意義深遠的母語詞彙，然後全班，包括老師，一起學習、討論這個詞彙）。
To reject a child's language in the school is to reject the child. When the message, implicit or explicit, communicated to children in the school is "Leave your language and culture at the schoolhouse door", children also leave a central part of who they are-their identities-at the schoolhouse door. When they feel this rejection, they are much less likely to participate actively and confidently in classroom instruction. It is not enough for teachers to passively accept children's linguistic and cultural diversity in the school. They must be proactive and take the initiative to affirm children's linguistic identity by having posters in the various languages of the community around the school, encouraging children to write in their mother tongues in addition to the majority school language (e.g. write and publish pupil-authored bilingual books), and generally create an instructional climate where the linguistic and cultural experience of the whole child is actively accepted and validated.
學校拒絕兒童的母語，就是拒絕兒童。學校當局有意無意之間傳遞給學童“把你的語言、文化留在校門口”的訊息，兒童同時也把他們自我的核心部份，他們的自我認同，留在校門口。兒童要是覺得受到排擠，就不太可能積極的參與課堂教學，也缺乏自信心。學校教師只是被動的接受兒童的語言文化多樣性還不夠，他們必須採取積極主動的作為，確立兒童的語言認同，比如說在學校四周貼上社區各種語言的海報，鼓勵兒童除了書寫學校的強勢語言外，也進行母語讀寫（如書寫、出版學生自己創作的雙語書），並且營造出兒童的語言文化經驗得到正面的接受和肯定的教學環境。
Shaping a Dynamic Identity for the Future
為未來形塑變動不居的身份認同
When educators within a school develop language policies and organize their curriculum and instruction in such a way that the linguistic and cultural capital of children and communities is strongly affirmed in all the interactions of the school, then the school is rejecting the negative attitudes and ignorance about diversity that exist in the wider society. In challenging coercive relations of power, the school is holding up to bilingual children a positive and affirming mirror of who they are and who they can become within this society. Multilingual children have an enormous contribution to make to their societies, and to the international global community, if only we as educators put into practice what we believe is true for all children:
當學校教師發展的語言政策，以及課程和教學的組織，都能積極的肯定學生和社區的語言文化資本，並納入學校的互動之中，學校就是拒絕大社會對多樣性所持的負面的看法，脫離全然無知的狀況。這樣做，就挑戰權力的強迫關係（coercive relations of power），學校為雙語兒童高舉一面能讓兒童積極肯定自我以及對未來充滿希望的鏡子。多語兒童對所在的社會、對全球社區有重要的貢獻，只要我們這些老師能具體實踐以下我們認為對所有兒童都是真實的信念：
• children's cultural and linguistic experience in the home is the foundation of their future learning and we must build on that foundation rather than undermine it;
• every child has the right to have their talents recognized and promoted within the school.
 兒童家庭的語言和文化經驗是他們將來學習的基礎，學校教育必須建基於此，而不是破壞這個基礎；
 在學校，每一位兒童都有讓他們的才智得到尊重和發揮的權利；
In short, the cultural, linguistic and intellectual capital of our societies will increase dramatically when we stop seeing culturally and linguistically diverse children as "a problem to be solved" and instead open our eyes to the linguistic, cultural, and intellectual resources they bring from their homes to our schools and societies.
總之，我們社會的語言、文化和知識資本將大幅提升，要是我們不再把語言文化多樣的兒童視為“需要解決的問題”，而是睜開我們的雙眼珍惜這些兒童從家裡帶到我們學校和社會的資源。
References
Baker, C. (2000). A parents' and teachers' guide to bilingualism. 2nd Edition. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy. Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000). Linguistic genocide in education-or worldwide diversity and human rights? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.