Multilingual education in Iranian schools: Qualitative meta-analysis

Introduction: Humans display different behaviors and beliefs because of what they learn and follow the patterned ways of those they encounter in their daily lives. Many philosophers and social scientists believe that the fundamental difference between man and animal is culture, which is realized in manifestations such as religion, science, mysticism, art, etiquette, ethics and philosophy, in various individual and social fields.
Multiculturalism is a concept that has been emphasized in recent years in education, especially the sociology of education and it means that despite the expansion of relations between countries and their movement towards a global and regional military, the issue of ethnicities and nationalities and cultural differences between them is of particular importance. The diversity of cultures is not limited to continents and countries, and in each country you can see different ethnicities and nationalities that, despite cultural differences, continue to live within the national culture. On the other hand, one of the most characteristic cultural features of human beings is language. The ability to communicate through language has affected all aspects of culture, from kinship, politics, religion and life to science and technology; Language also plays a crucial role in our ability to adapt quickly and effectively to new requirements, enabling us to codify and systematize our knowledge.
Iran is a multicultural society. Archaeological and historical findings show that different ethnic groups and cultures have always lived in it for thousands of years. With the changes that have taken place in the geographical conditions and boundaries of this land, of course, its cultural and ethnic composition has also changed over time. But the facts still show that there is cultural and ethnic diversity in this land. Presence and life of different ethnicities such as Persians, Turks, Kurds, Baluchis, Turkmens, Arabs and Lors together as well as speaking Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Lori, Turkmen, Arabic, Baluchi, Taleshi, Tati, Laki, Armenian and the existence of different dialects in some languages is another manifestation of the diversity of ethnicities and cultures in present-day Iran. The policy makers of each society take different approaches to the issue of cultural diversity, depending on the circumstances, which sometimes leads to challenges in different areas. One of the most challenging areas of cultural diversity is the field of education, which becomes more important in Iranian society due to high cultural diversity and on the other hand, the centralized educational system of planning.
In our country, every year, a large number of students enter primary school with fluency in their ethnic and mother tongue and with little knowledge of Persian. This means that not all children at the age of six or seven have the same language status and their mastery of Persian is not the same, but from the past until now, our educational system has treated all these children in the same language and considers them all Persian. Teaching and learning takes place through language and all the sciences that the human child wants to learn through language. After entering school, the child begins to learn to read and write in various sciences with language, which is true for Persian-speaking children in our country, but this does not happen for children whose first language and mother tongue is not Persian. Issues related to cultural and linguistic minorities have been the subject of numerous works in recent years. But the question is, to what extent have these researches been able to provide a deep and reliable framework for scientific and macro policies? What have these studies achieved so far? What has been the overall outcome of this research? What has been their theoretical and methodological direction and approach? The present study aimed to provide a clear answer to these questions.
Research Methods: The purpose of this study was to outline the research of multilingual education in Iranian schools. In order to achieve this goal, the qualitative meta-analysis method was used. The statistical population of the present study includes all researches carried out by executive bodies, dissertations and researches published in scientific and research journals and scientific conferences in Iran from 1390 to 1398. The following sources have been used to find related researches: 1- Iran Scientific Documentation Center 2- University Jihad Scientific Database 3- National Library of Iran 4- Noor Journals Database 5- Universities affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. At the beginning of the sampling method, snowball sampling was considered; Thus, the sources, information, articles and researches were tracked and out of 44 researches, 35 researches were selected as the research sample. In order to obtain the data required for the research, a checklist with 10 questions was designed and compiled, the completion of which required a careful study of each work and the discovery of the underlying views; Therefore, after careful study of each research and based on the coding and annotations, the components of the checklist in relation to each work were completed. The information obtained from the research was analyzed at both structural and content levels. In order to obtain the data required for the research, a checklist with 10 questions was designed and compiled, the completion of which required a careful study of each work and the discovery of the underlying views; Therefore, after careful study of each research, checklist components were completed in relation to each effect. The information obtained from the research was analyzed at both structural and content levels.
Discussion: In the field of structure, from 1390 to 1398, only 35 researches in the form of dissertations, scientific and research articles and conferences have been conducted in Iranian schools, and it is interesting that in the specialized doctoral program, no dissertation on the subject of multilingualism has been found during these years. The time period of the research represents a bell diagram that indicates a slow-fast-slow process. Most multilingual researchers are university professors and faculty members. The field of study is most linguistic researchers. Research Method Most researches are quantitative and rarely qualitative method has been used.In terms of content, there are many shortcomings in research related to multilingual education. Most research focuses on examining and comparing the cognitive effects and intelligence of multilingual students and has not attempted to design curricula for multilingual children. The theoretical foundations of research are based on conservative theory. The results of most studies indicate the difference between monolingual and multilingual children. But no instructions have been provided to take advantage of these differences, and only the differences are enough.