This book explores the benefits and challenges of mother tongue-based multilingual education in numerous settings in the Asia-Pacific region. Centered on the experiences of the language communities concerned, it offers insights into the complex nature of language policy and practice in both more and less accommodating sociopolitical environments.

Suwilai Premsrirat was Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and the Founding Director of the Resource Center for Documentation, Revitalization and Maintenance of Endangered Languages and Cultures, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA) at Mahidol University, Thailand. Her work was dedicated to the study of minority languages, language revitalization and language education.

David Hirsh is Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. His areas of focus include language revitalization, bilingual education and academic acculturation. Related publications include Endangered Languages, Knowledge Systems and Belief Systems (Peter Lang, 2013) and Language Revitalization: Insights from Thailand (co-edited with Suwilai Premsrirat, Peter Lang, 2018).

Dedication

Suwilai Premsrirat and David Hirsh: Introduction

Part 1: Implementing Multilingual Education

Chapter 1. Susan Malone: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: Rationale, Purpose and Process in Asia and the Pacific

Chapter 2. Joseph Lo Bianco: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? Multilingual Education in Asia Pacific

Chapter 3. Muhammad Zaman Sagar and Susan Malone: Establishing Multilingual Education Programs in Non-Dominant Language Communities

Chapter 4. Dennis Malone and Erona Paschal Matti: Implementing Multilingual Education: The Pakari Community Development Program

Part 2: Pedagogy in Multilingual Education

Chapter 5. Sheldon F. Shaeffer: Mother Tongue and Early Childhood Care and Education: Synergies and Challenges

Chapter 6. Suwilai Premsrirat and Dennis Malone: Multilingual Education in Primary Grades: The Case of the Patani Malay-Thai Multilingual Education Project (Thailand)

Chapter 7. Ashley South, Emily Stenning and Tim Schroeder: Multilingual Education: Politics and Pedagogy: A Case Study on Myanmar's Ethnic Education Systems

Chapter 8. Kirk R. Person and Mirinda Burarungrot: Multilingual Education and Teacher Training in Thailand

Part 3: Multilingualism, Literacy Development and Identity

Chapter 9. Susan Malone: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education that Supports Multilingualism and Multi-Literacy: Examples from Asia and the Pacific

Chapter 10. Stephen L. Walter and Mirinda Burarungrot: Assessment of Multilingual Education Programs

Chapter 11. Stephen L. Walter: The Impact of Partial Proficiency in the Language of Instruction on Learning Outcomes on Basic Education

Chapter 12. Panadda Pananil and Panadda Rerkplian: Obstacles to Identity Development and the Need for Multilingual Education: A Case Study of Shan Students in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Part 4: Developments in Multilingual Education

Chapter 13. Jessica Ball and Mariam Smith: Developments in Multilingual Education in Cambodia 2000 to 2020

Chapter 14. Kirk R. Person: What's Next? Future Challenges for the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education

Notes on Contributors