Definitions
Non-dominant Languages
Scholars in the field of education and linguistics have begun using the term non-dominant languages (NDLs) to refer to “the languages or language varieties spoken in a given state that are not considered the most prominent in terms of number, prestige or official use by the government and/or the education system (Benson and Kosonen, 2013, 1). On the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), the languages involved in this study would be at levels 2-5, which includes provincial, wider communication, educational, and developing languages (Lewis et al., 2015). Languages higher than 2 on the scale are usually dominant languages, while languages lower than five are not available in written form, and therefore are not usable in most education systems. These considerations will be used as guidelines, rather than hard rules, as “dominance” is a relative concept. For example, in Malawi, seven indigenous languages have “official” standing, but as of 2008, only one was actually used in instructional materials. If there has been a recent materials design project in the remaining six languages, it would be of interest in this study.