Torwali
[aka Torwālī, Turvali, Dardu]Classification: Indo-European
·vulnerable
This is a chapter written on the early writing in Torwali where the writing of children in Torwali is analyzed. It is the the third chapter in the book 'Teaching Writing to Children in Indigenous Languages' Instructional Practices from Global Contexts' edited by Ari Sherris, Joy Kreeft Peyton and published by Taylor & Francis Group in 2019 as Routledge book. I past the abstract here. The number of speakers in your website is very old and I request to update it with reference to this chapter. Abstract Torwali is an endangered language that lacks a rigorous writing tradition and is threatened by Pashto, a language of wider communication in the same region. Torwali is a Dardic language of the Indo-Aryan family, mainly spoken in the Bahrain and Chail areas of District Swat in Northern Pakistan. Estimates place the number of speakers at approximately 80,000–100,000. Close to half of that number have migrated permanently to the larger cities of Pakistan, where their language is either being replaced by the national language, Urdu, or by other languages of wider communication, such as Pashto. However, recently the documentation and writing of the Torwali language have been undertaken by a local organization, Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi (IBT). The organization has established schools for children, where they start their education in Torwali and then transition to Urdu and English. This chapter is an attempt to explore the educational opportunities available in Torwali, with an emphasis on the evaluation and assessment of the teaching and instructional materials, approaches to the pedagogy applied, and challenges faced by the educators and activists who have undertaken the revitalization efforts for the Torwali language. The chapter also tries to trace the history and identity of the Torwali people, which is buried in obscurity. The chapter specifically analyzes the writing of students, both current and former, of the Torwali multilingual education program, which was established in August 2008. The chapter highlights some of the areas where improvement is needed in the Torwali multilingual education (MLE) model and describes future efforts for the revitalization of the Torwali language.