Dalit students’ critical awareness of their linguistic identity for pedagogical scaffolding: a geolinguistic perspective from Nepal

Abstract

This study explores the critical awareness of Dalit students in Nepal (belonging to the subaltern group of the untouchables in the Hindu caste system) regarding their linguistic identity and pedagogical scaffolding. Language as the medium of instruction plays a crucial role in having access to quality education. Children from marginalized communities, who do not have their own language, have a compulsion to use the language of oppressors. More specifically, Dalit students’ perception, awareness, and ideology with regard to their linguistic identity, language learning, and medium of instruction at the plus-two level, despite their marginalization in the society, enhance broader understanding of the role of the linguistic factor for their pedagogical support. This qualitative study adopts interview and focus group discussion as major tools for generating data from purposively sampled Dalit students studying in the Kathmandu Valley. To generate the data, 22 semi-structured interviews of the key informants and two focus group discussions were conducted. Descriptive, exploratory and interpretive methods were employed to analyze the data from a geolinguistic perspective. The findings show that Dalit students studying at the plus-two level were aware of their sense of loss for not having their own mother tongue, i.e. a separate linguistic identity. They prefer the Nepali language as the medium of instruction for their pedagogical scaffolding as they understand clearly in this language. At the same time, the respondents preferred the English language for professional opportunities, foreign employment, and uplift of the socio-economic status of Dalits and as a tool for combating their power negotiation in society. This conclusion supports the need to deal with Dalit students in regard to their pedagogical scaffolding by addressing the issues of their linguistic identity at the plus-two level.