REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.5 THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE ON MOTHER TONGUE EDUCATION POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
2.5.1 The case of South Africa
In South Africa, 11 languages were declared official languages at independence after 1994.
However, Tshotsho (2013) laments the poor implementation of the policy. She notes that, in practice, Afrikaans and English continue to enjoy a higher status compared to the other nine.
De Klerk (2002) observes that the fact that English is recognised as the language of government authenticate the reality that the South African government sees it as the language of power and high value. This implies that despite the promulgation of a MTE policy, English still maintains its superiority over South African indigenous languages. However, Heugh (2005) reports that the high failure and dropout rates in South Africa is caused mainly by the use of the English Language as MOI. This means that using a foreign language as MOI is hindering the acquisition of educational knowledge.
Miti (2008) observes that in certain circumstances untrained teachers in local languages are required to teach the language by virtue of them being able to speak the languages. Tshotsho (2013) reports that, the government of South Africa is yet to avail resources (both physical and human) for the promotion of multilingualism. As a result, she further notes that MTE policy implementation is not practicable in the near future because books written in the South African languages are not yet available. This indicates that it is mammoth task to ask the teacher to teach using any one of the local languages without the requisite resources. MLE is yet to be achieved in South Africa because as Desai (2012) notes, the common features of South African schools are: congested classrooms, malnourished children as well as poorly qualified teachers.
33 Teachers in South Africa are also facing challenges in the use of indigenous languages because the parents are not in support of MTE. This is despite the fact that MTE enhances the teaching of Mathematics as well as Sciences in schools (Mwinsheikhe, 2002). Nkosi (2014) cites various authors (e.g. Adegbija, 2004; Kamwangamulu, 2003; Kamwendo, 2010) as saying that the English assumed a prestigious position because of the history of apartheid laws in South Africa.
On the other hand these scholars observe that local languages continue to occupy an inferior position in independent South Africa as they are not seen as possible vehicles through which educational knowledge can be acquired. As Tshotsho (2013) reports, parents in South Africa insist that their children should learn through the English medium.
Ndamba (2008) reports that in a research carried out by Langa and Setati in 2006 it was found out that the language of preference in learning Mathematics for learners at secondary school was English because they saw no value in local languages which could not offer them any economic and social benefits in the future. This is because English is used as a yardstick to measure one’s ability to do a job or not. Hence, out of desperation African language speakers willingly choose to learn English for instrumental reasons for them to be able to access education, health and housing (Tshotsho, 2013). Thus, what is happening in South Africa currently is the same as what is happening in typical post-colonial countries (Desai, 2012), implying that indigenous languages continue to perform peripheral roles in the South African context. As such Desai (2012) observes that in the post-colonial world language policies are notorious for remaining statements of intent.
2.5.2 The case of Malawi
A notable MTE policy in the history of Malawi was the one that the government of Malawi unleashed in 1996. It stated that with immediate effect learners in standards 1 up to 4 were supposed to learn in their L1 (Ref. No IN/1/4 dated March 1996 as cited by Chilora and Harris, 2001). This was a shift from the then existing policy where Chichewa (the national language) was the MOI in all schools. Chilora and Harris (2001) note that, the government of Malawi had fully supported the policy on Chichewa as the MOI. They further observe that teachers already in service and new received training on using Chichewa as MOI in standards 1-4. In addition to that, teaching and learning materials were developed and dispatched to all schools. As a result of this preparedness towards mother tongue education, teacher training matched well with the MOI (Chilora and Harris, 2001) but this was not consistent with the pupils’ home languages, hence the need for the 1996 policy reform.
34 The recognition of the pupils’ home languages could be seen as a positive development as this would ensure mastery of concepts. Magwa (2010) notes that, learners would understand Mathematical and Scientific concepts better when presented in their mother tongues as compared to when a foreign language is used. However, Chilora and Harris (2001) lament that despite the promulgation of the said policy; government maintained the previous policy on teacher posting, i.e. the posting of teachers was based on the need in particular regions and not that they spoke the languages spoken in the schools. What it means is that there was a high possibility that a teacher who was not proficient in the learners’ mother tongue would be posted to that school and be expected to even use the language as the MOI. As a result of this, the policy was minimally implemented as teachers only switched to the learners’ mother tongue when officials entered their classrooms. It was a painful experience for those teachers. Chilora and Harris (2001) thus observe that there was a mismatch between the two policies and the situation in schools and that had a negative impact on the successful implementation of the policy at classroom level.
2.5.3 The case of Nigeria
The Nigerian government has a policy in place which states that in lower primary classes the MOI is the mother tongue. However, Abidogun (2012) concurs with Adegbija (2004) that there is inconsistency between the advantages for the children to be taught through the L1 and what is taking place in the classrooms. The major challenge that the teachers are experiencing while using Yoruba as the language of instruction is the shortage of resources. According to Abidogun (2012) mother tongue education was advocated in a situation where syllabi and textbooks are written in the English Language. As a direct result of this, teachers had to devise strategies like translation and improvisation of reading materials for them to be able to use Yoruba as the MOI.
Research has shown that from 1971-1983, the Yoruba programme which advocated for MTE throughout the six years of primary school yielded very positive results. This was because the steps taken for the implementation of the programme included among other things, the designing of the curriculum, availing relevant teaching aids and using Yoruba as the MOI throughout the six years of primary education (Ejieh, 2004 cited in Abidogun, 2012 ). The requisite training for primary school teachers on how to use the home languages as mediums of instruction was also done. The findings of that research clearly confirmed that performance of participating children in the experimental group was much better than those in the control
35 group in all subjects at the end of primary 6. The six year Yoruba programme according to Akinasso (1993) established indisputably that making children at primary school learn through the Yoruba language for all the six years and learning the L2 just as a subject was practicable in addition to giving better results than making them learn through the English Language. This indicates that if serious considerations on the ideals of MTE implementation are made, positive results are guaranteed.
The Nigerian government can learn something from the 1991 Education Reform in Papua New Guinea. Abidogun (2012) cites Buhmann and Trudell (2008) as reporting that The ‘Tok Ples Pri Skul’ preschool programme was introduced in 1994 and promoted the use of over 200 local languages for teaching in these schools. The programme was a huge success because learners who were literate in the local languages out-performed those that were proficient in English only (Wroge, 2002 cited by Abidogun, 2012). These results confirm the fact that the MTE gives a foundation for the learners’ ability to learn, thus enabling them to learn a second language and other school subjects in their mother tongue (Mathooko, 2009) and other African countries can draw lessons from the Papua New Guinea’s experience.