Language Inclusivity is Crosscutting
/by Christof A. Weber
Executive Director, SIL LEAD, Inc.
On my first trip to Peru (roughly 50 years ago) I was too young to read, but I am certain that my parents read to me on the airplane. As I prepare to travel to Peru later this month with my wife, I am reminded of just how privileged I am to have grown up surrounded by books in both English and Spanish—and even a bilingual "Dr. Seuss Dictionary." My favorite books, however, were always story books in English—the language I heard spoken most often in our home.
While accessibility and gender inclusivity in educational materials is finally receiving a lot of well-deserved attention, are books genuinely inclusive if they are not in a language that children know and understand well?
A young girl may be pleased to see gender-inclusive and affirming illustrations in a storybook. But unless she can read the story in a language she knows and understands well, she is unlikely to be encouraged and empowered by the storyline. And because she is less likely to have had the same exposure to languages spoken outside the home than her male peers, struggling to read and understand a national or marketplace language will likely add to her discouragement.
Such books may do little more than reinforce her growing sense that she is of lesser value than the boys in her home and classroom.
Visually impaired and deaf students who cannot access the same books as their sighted or hearing peers are similarly marginalized. Whether a language is spoken or signed, unless a child with disabilities has access to the same learning materials as their peers, in a language they know and understand well, they too will be further marginalized and disadvantaged. The same is true for children with learning differences, or children who are neurodivergent.
Developing learning materials in languages that children know and understand well is a crosscutting requirement that should be implemented wherever and whenever possible. All children benefit from educational materials that are accessible and gender inclusive. But unless language inclusivity is considered, these materials will not reach their full potential—nor will the students who depend on them.