Rethinking Language Education: The Case for Multilinguality

Abstract

This article explores multilinguality as a fundamental human trait challenging traditional views that treat language as a discrete unit in both theory and pedagogy, focusing on India’s language policies and practices. In view of India’s Three Language Formula and the recent National Education Policy, which often reflect a global North-centric bias, marginalising the linguistic richness of the global South, this theoretical article argues for a re-evaluation of terms like “a language,” bilingualism,” and “multilingualism,” while challenging perspectives of translanguaging, code-switching, and hyper-diversity. It advocates for a more nuanced understanding of language as multilinguality, highlighting how it is inherent in all educational settings and how the diverse linguistic resources learners bring to school can be used to enhance cognitive development and foster inclusive environments. By addressing the inequities perpetuated by dominant languages of power, this article suggests strategies rooted in multilinguality for teacher training, curriculum development, syllabus, and classroom processes. The aim is to promote a more inclusive, equitable, and globally relevant framework for education informed by multilinguality that values innate universal grammar, linguistic fluidity and social sensitivity. This would also bridge the purported gap between the global North and the global South.