Addressing the Issue of Standardization through Bidialectalism in Kurdistan, Iraq

In some countries around the world, determining what languages or dialects should be the instrument of education in schools is a major issue. Today, in Kurdistan, Iraq the issue of which dialect, Sorani or Kurmanji, to be the medium of education has become the subject of a heated debate amongst the Kurdish scholars, authors, and academics. Some scholars claim that Kurmanji should be utilized asthe standard dialect in Kurdistan. Whereas, some believe Sorani should be adopted as the official dialect across the nation. This study is an attempt to investigate the issue of dialect and standardization in Kurdistan, Iraq. Its purpose is to show how other countries, such as America, Australia, Canada, Britain, etc. have grappled with this issue through the use of a method called bidalectialsim. Thismethod helps students learn the target dialect through the use of the students’ home dialect (Yakoumetti, 2006, 2007). For this reason, to achieve the aim of the study, the literature review relating to issues of bidialectalism and efforts in countries dealing with problems of multi-dialects are used toconsider in detail how other countries have crafted educational programs to meet the needs of their multi-dialect speaking student populations. The literature presented in the study makes it clear that bidialectalism can offer the Kurdish Government in Iraq a blueprint for how to address the issue of dialects and standardization.