https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18888 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 22:50:56 GMT 2026-04-09T22:50:56Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18975 Title: Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies : Volume 6, Issue 1 Abstract: Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, Volume 6, No. 1 (2001). Special issue: Multilingualism and Education, edited by Rima Bahous and Ingo Thonhauser. Description: Contents Include : Multilingualism and education around the Mediterranean (Editorial Introduction) / Rima Bahous & Ingo Thonhauser - The Mediterranean: Cultural Identity and Intercultural Dialogue edited by Biserka Cvjetieanin (Book Review) / Salldro Spiteri - Young People and the Broadcasting Media: the Maltese Experience by Joe Grixti (Book Review) / Beatrice Gatt - English in Europe. The Acquisition of a Third Language edited by Jasone Cenoz and Ulrike Jessner (Book Review) / Ingo Thonhauser - Doing Comparative Education: Three Decades of Collaboration by Harold J. Noah & Max A. Eckstein (Book Review) / Carmel Borg - The Educational System of Israel by Yaacov Iram and Mirjam Schmida (Book Review) / Devorah Kalekin-Fishman - Ecole et Modernite en Tunisie et dans le Monde Arabe by Ahmed Chabchoub (Book Review) / Mourad Bahloul - Conference Announcements - Abstracts Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18975 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18918 Title: Multilingual education in Lebanon : 'Arabinglizi' and other challenges of multilingualism Authors: Thonhauser, Ingo Editors: Bahous, Rima; Thonhauser, Ingo Abstract: It is the aim of this paper to describe and discuss important aspects of multilingualism in Lebanon and its impact on education. In the first part a review of existing research establishes a profile of urban multilingualism, which is then supported by additional data, including elements of public discourse and qualitative case studies. Communication in Lebanon is characterised by a dominant spoken language, Lebanese Arabic, and great diversity in the private and public uses of written Standard Arabic, English and French. The multilingual diversity is also reflected in the education system, where Standard Arabic, French. English, and German serve as languages of instruction. Quantitative data indicate a shift from the preference of French towards English as a language of instruction. With the help of a revised concept of diglossia, these findings are put into perspective. There are a number of educational implications, of which the two most prominent are explored in the second part of the paper. First, an analysis of 'voices from the language classroom', documented in 18 essays collected in summer 1999, shows how Lebanese multilingualism affects student attitudes towards reading and writing and their perception of their native language(s) and culture. This leads to a return to the topic of diglossia and its consequences. I discuss the issue of what I have come to call 'perceived semilingualism' and argue that this may be a consequence of diglossia. Finally, I examine the impact of the Lebanese version of biliteracy and diglossia on writing in education. The paper concludes with a thesis on the main challenge multilingualism entails for education in Lebanon. Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18918 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18917 Title: Teaching English in a multilingual context : the Algerian case Authors: Miliani, Mohamed Editors: Bahous, Rima; Thonhauser, Ingo Abstract: In Algeria, the educational system, as much as the use of languages (foreign and national) are the preserve of politicians. Thus, these thorny domains are rarely dealt with in a way that avoids increasing the level of sensitivity about them, leading to a deepening social fracture. If the debates, more often than not, verge on partisanship rather than objectivity, it is because of the scramble for power between French- and Arabic-speaking intellectual communities. Politics rules even when the concern is that of the technicians or the experts in education or didactics. In a situation where the French language has lost much of its ground in the sociocultural and educational environments of the country, the introduction of English is being heralded as the magic solution to all possible ills-including economic, technological and educational ones. The whole process is being implemented with an immediate result: the popular vernaculars are outlawed, French is being compartmentalised in domains which are decreasing in number, while foreign languages are being called upon to supposedly help Arabic come to terms with the demands of a globalised and technological world. Language policy is not planned according to objective and realistic criteria. It is mostly the outcome of individual or group political take-over. The educational system is also taken hostage by jingoistic attitudes expressed in hasty and unrealistic educational reforms. This is no less the case of English teaching and its early introduction in the primary level, a roundabout way to end the influence of French inside and outside the school system. Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18917 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18916 Title: Shifts in environmental literacy in multilingual contexts : the Lebanese case Authors: Cortazzi, Martin Editors: Bahous, Rima; Thonhauser, Ingo Abstract: This paper draws attention to the print environment in streets and shops in multilingual contexts. It applies a cultural framework to examine multilingual signs in Lebanon to show that they reflect a number of global and local changes in environmental literacy. It argues that these are important to educators because they are part of wider notions of literacy from which students may learn, even peripherally. The paper gives examples of slips and slides between Arabic, French and English to show that potentially environmental literacy can be a double-edged visible model of languages in relatively permanent public forms; it suggests the validity of multilingualism but presents erroneous or inappropriate examples -to learners. However. teachers can encourage learners to observe such language processes in scripts and signs in the local street environment as part of raising critical language awareness. Mon, 01 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/18916 2001-01-01T00:00:00Z