LANGUAGE POLICY AND MULTICULTURAL TEACHING IN ZAMBIA

Language education is an essential tool for successful human life in a multicultural and multilingual community of people. Knowledge of a foreign language of international significance gives an individual a chance to take a more prestigious position in society, both socially and financially. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that the wealth of culture in the modern market economy and the development of information technologies are human resources, which act as the primary strategic factor of economic and social progress. In solving this problem, an important role is given to language education as a factor that turns a person into a developed personality. It expands his/her social and economic freedom and mobility. The article considers problems of the language policy and multicultural teaching, peculiarities of multilingual and multicultural education in Zambia. Integrative learning of two or more languages involves the formation of bilingualism or multilingualism. The concept of 'multilingualism' is determined as the development of interlanguage and intercultural relationship. It is a necessary condition for communication between people representing different societies and ethnicities. The interpenetration of languages is a tool for uniting peoples, understanding and strengthening friendly and good-neighborly relations between representatives of different countries. It contributes to the preservation of the multi-ethnic and multicultural heritage on a global scale. The modern process of teaching a foreign language (FLT), built on a communicative basis, with a focus on the student's personality and taking into account the language situation in the multinational country, forms a broad humanistic view of the world around the people, based on universal values, and makes a significant contribution to improving the humanitarian content of national education. As a result of comparative analyses, the author discovered that the curriculum and its teaching and learning in educational institutions of Zambia are thoroughly multicultural. Zambian students can critically evaluate various language policies, teaching practices, and planning programs implemented in multilingual education settings.