MTBBE - Bilingual teaching, what it is and is not

Bi/multilingual education involves the use of two or more languages of learning, teaching and assessment (LOLTA). Bi/multilingual education is mandated by the South African Language in Education Policy (1997) which encourages schools to use more than one LOLTA. The goal of bi/multilingual education is for children to become highly proficient in more than one language. There are different forms of this type of education. Sometimes it is called ‘bilingual education’ and sometimes ‘multilingual education’. We use ‘bi/multilingual education’ to show that more than one language can be used in the same school or classroom.