Towards a curriculum for the Thai Lao of Northeast Thailand?

Abstract

This article considers a fundamental issue in language planning, namely, whether or not to introduce a curriculum for the mother tongue (MT), in the wider context of a complex language planning situation in Thailand. It details recent moves in the consideration of this issue for the Thai Lao (Isan) of Northeast Thailand, Thailand's largest ethnolinguistic minority. The curriculum is being spearheaded by the Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Programme (ICMRP), a four-year programme 90% funded by the European Union. The article reports on a 2012 attitude survey of 1500 purposively sampled citizens of Khon Kaen Municipality, a decentralized Thai municipality, in a comprehensive community-based mixed-method research study designed to determine whether or not to introduce the MT as a subject in the formal curriculum as part of a multilingual education. This article reports on the results of this survey, which were seen as positive, especially for the revitalization of a community script, Tai Noi. The article concludes with a discussion, referring to Hornberger's 1994 language planning matrix, of the implications for language planning, including limitations in a sensitive area of ethnic relations and national identity.

Keywords:

• mother tongue
• curriculum development
• Northeast Thailand
• Tai Noi
• Thai Lao
• European Union

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Saran Paonariang and Supattra Tandee, both of the Department of Education, Khon Kaen Municipality, Khon Kaen, Thailand, and Saichon Singsuwan of Ban Nontan Municipality School, also of Khon Kaen Municipality, for their assistance in conducting the research on which this article is based. The author would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding

The author would like to acknowledge the European Union grant which made the Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Programme possible.

Notes on contributor

John Draper is a project officer with the Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Programme and is based at the College of Local Administration at Khon Kaen University in Northeast Thailand. He possesses an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland. His research interests include the multilingual landscape, multiculturalism and language planning in Thailand.