Multilingualism in Education in Indonesia: A Literature Review

Abstract

Education in many countries of the world takes place in multilingual contexts. This implies a notion that in the education system, there is a diversity of policies and regulations each country takes to determine the kinds of languages used as mediums of instruction to run the education. Bilingual and multilingual educations refer to the use of two or more languages as mediums of instruction. In much of the specialized literature, the two types are subsumed under the term bilingual education (UNESCO, 2003). The term of multilingual education has been firstly used by UNESCO in 1999 in the General Conference Resolution 12 to refer to the use of at least three languages, the mother tongue, a regional or national language and an international language in education (UNESCO, 2003). Multilingual education has also been implemented in Indonesia with regard to its importance and relation to the existing values for future development. This paper aims to examine the picture of multilingual education in Indonesia particularly related to the use of multiple languages in current practices.