Kamwangamalu (2000: 6) cites resistance to mother-tongue instruction, ambivalent clauses in the policy, and the tentative language in which the policy is framed as the main reasons behind its non-implementation. In addition to the training of pre-service student teachers, it will also be necessary to upgrade the competence levels of teachers already in the system. However, even within this ideal linguistic scenario, there are some possibly unexpected and certainly ironic implications. 3. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Moreover, since they have often not been taught English (or Afrikaans) successfully, they find themselves unable to communicate effectively in their second language, in either oral or written mode. The subjects making up the Literacy Learning Area – the eleven official languages as subjects – are obviously written in the particular languages themselves. She is an expert in post-apartheid language policy in South Africa and has advised governments in more than 30 countries on the role of mother tongue, minority languages and multilingual education. In the last census less than 10% of the population identified English as their home language. The Bantu Languages: Sociohistorical perspectives. More recently, the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, speaking at a Language Policy conference at the end of 2006, intimated that this initial period of mother-tongue instruction would be extended to six years, that is, both the Foundation Phase (Grades 1 to 3) and the Intermediate Phase (Grades 4 to 6). Department of Education. Nompumelelo Mohohlwane, Education researcher, Stellenbosch University. This is the most supported policy option in terms of teacher and learner resources. PanSALB The Pan South African Language Board, established in terms of the Pan South African Language Board Act, 1995 (Act No. Which of these models would be best for any particular South African school is a complex matter, and is clearly best left to each specific School Governing Body to decide. In consequence, the translation of the RNCS in this Phase can only proceed successfully if the African languages have been developed to a significantly higher degree as academic languages. The language of teaching and learning changes to English from Grade 4 and then mother tongue … Given the diverse linguistic profiles of many South African classrooms, together with learners’ limited grasp of English, it is inevitable that teachers will resort to a mixture of languages for purposes of clarification and explication. African languages refer … be furthered evenly through a language in education policy, that is imple-mented nationwide, but also through a higher status of mother tongue/ indigenous languages within every sector of Namibia. For schools seriously to implement initial mother-tongue instruction (followed later by English) means that schools would have to be divided into particular language groupings, and learners would have to attend a school offering their particular language. As they currently exist, however, the standard written forms of the languages have not yet been developed to the point where they are able to carry academic discourse effectively and therefore function as full-fledged languages of learning and teaching, even at the Foundation Phase. While they may have attained a certain level of basic interpersonal communicative competence, they lack what Jim Cummins (2000, for example) termed cognitive academic language proficiency, and thus they are unprepared for higher education or for training in a sophisticated work environment. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. South Africa is a multi-lingual society that has some unique linguistic problems because of its policy of apartheid. announce a framework for a language policy for South Africa. Madagascar 42 2.1 0. If learners and their parents do not actively desire mother-tongue instruction, then all the effort in the world will not make the policy viable. Available at http://www.futurefact.co.za/2006survey.html. The Standardisation of African Languages in South Africa. Secondly, the entire Teacher Education curriculum (or at the very least the undergraduate Bachelor of Education programme) needs to be translated into each of the African languages. standards and in the Language in Education Policy on diversity – which in turn forms a good foundation for respect and dignity – marks a break from the historical treatment of languages in South Africa. [4] What is not unfair to expect, however, is that by the time learners leave school they will all have full academic proficiency in at least one language (for the moment this would continue to be English or Afrikaans) as well as some degree of academic proficiency in one and perhaps two other official South African languages. Their aim is to ensure that all South African languages are "developed to their full capacity while at the same time ensuring that the Whichever option is pursued, there's a need for language policy implementation in education with greater cognisance of the relationship between education and the economy. And if this does indeed continue to be the will of the majority, then the State must take far more active and extensive steps to improve the teaching and learning of English in South African schools than has hitherto been the case. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC. London and Paris Google Scholar. A Project by the English Academy of Southern Africa. But there are gaps which show that this option still needs further investment. 2000. The curriculum statements - which set out what should be taught and when - are available in mother tongue only until Grade 3. I'll outline what's necessary to implement these options and what can be done to make progress in policy and society. Instead, what needs to occur is that the entire intellectual speech community of each language becomes actively involved in the development of the language as academic discourse by strenuously attempting to use the language to write scholarly articles, give formal lectures, present conference papers, produce textbooks and scientific manuals, and the numerous other activities which require a rigorous academic register. To suggest that such teaching could begin imminently, and to propose rapid policy changes to this effect, is both disingenuous and irresponsible. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox. 2.The inherited language-in-education policy in South Africa has been fraught with tensions, contradictions and sensitivities, and underpinned by racial and linguistic discrimination. Motion Against South Africa's Ramaphosa a Looming 'Iceberg'? Burundi 22 2.4. In South Africa, it is the policy that in non-Afrikaans schools there will be three years of mother tongue education before switching to English. Although this is what government recommends, many parents choose to send their children to straight-for-English schools (i.e. On one level, there are tensions between its two official language groups, Afrikaans and English. The Political and International Studies Department at Rhodes University has tried to remedy this situation by accepting academic pieces in South African mother-tongue languages. Herbert, R. K. and Bailey, R. 2002. During the same period, the numbers of students enrolling for African language courses … This shows an inconsistency between the language policy and the schooling experience. At the moment, however, English is, in many cases, badly taught in South African schools. mother tongue medium education as they did during the colonial and apartheid eras” (Heugh, 2011, p. 53). Read the original article. [This has been confirmed by her successor – Ed.]. An additional feature of South African language policy is that individuals and communities have the right to choose the language of instruction for their children (Government of South Africa, 1997). Cambridge: University Press:449-475. The nine official African languages are certainly able to function as media of communication at such levels as interpersonal conversation, narrative and cultural practice. AIM . 1.3 Background of the Problem . [3] In addition, these standard forms are often quite different from the various dialects spoken by the actual language communities, even to the point in some cases of mutual incomprehensibility (see Schuring 1993; Herbert and Bailey 2002:59f). A comparative analysis of South Africa and Germany will also be undertaken with regard to language policies and the mother-tongue education situation in these countries' school systems. Lesotho 40 2.9. 38679 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 7 … Cogent … It is a simple truism that any educational system which prioritises the African languages at the expense of English is destined to fail at the levels both of practical reality and educational theory. And for this desire to be inculcated, parents and their children will have to see that mother-tongue education leads to palpable benefits in such spheres as economic empowerment, social mobility and influence, and pathways to further academic opportunities. As regards language-in-education policy, government is widely accused of ‘procrasti- nating’ and ‘prevaricating’ on the implementation of ‘a potentially enabling language- in-education policy’, resulting in the potential of many learners in the South African According to the education policy, Kinyarwanda must be a language of instruction in the lower primary school; this is the first three years of elementary level. 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Indeed, even if mother tongue education were one day to be employed right through to Matric level, learners would still need to be proficient in English for the purposes of higher education where, in a globalised academic environment, English is indispensable. 2018. As a result, many learners emerge from the schooling system unable to write their own mother tongue with any acceptable level of competence. At the same time, they would continue to study their home languages as subjects in a model of additive bilingualism. The Consequences of Language Policy in Africa. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. By Christina Sukop The majority of learners in South Africa receive their education through the medium of a second language, English. No language in education policy which is forced on the majority against its will can ever succeed, and will serve only to perpetuate the unequal and inefficient conditions which currently exist in South African education. If they are to be implemented as academic languages of learning and teaching, therefore, the standard written forms need to be modernised, regularised, codified and elaborated. AllAfrica publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. It must be noted, furthermore, that the development of the indigenous languages into academic media of communication cannot be achieved merely through the endeavours of a few scholars working in isolation, however industrious and well-intentioned they may be. If this does not happen, the current trend of successful black education graduates taking posts in private schools or government schools in the affluent suburban areas will continue. While this does happen informally to a certain degree, a formalised policy would in effect return South Africa (at least in the primary schools) to a kind of linguistic apartheid reminiscent of a former era. In addition to language and curriculum development, a crucial aspect of providing mother- tongue education in South Africa lies in the field of teacher education (or teacher training as it used rather inelegantly to be termed). These realities are entrenched in the attitudes and misconceptions that have gone unchallenged due to inadequate literature on the successful use of mother tongues in the classroom and beyond. [3] To give but two lexical examples, there is no agreed equivalent in isiZulu for the word “hypothesis”, while in Sesotho one term is used for the quite distinct scientific notions of “force”, “power” and “energy”. For the most part, they are based on particular rural dialects in conservative contexts, having been standardised in the nineteenth century by missionaries for such specific purposes as proselytisation, and later by the apartheid era Language Boards at least partly as a mechanism of social control. It remains true, however, that progress has not been rapid and that a very great deal more needs to be done if the ideal of the African languages functioning fully as academic and scientific media of instruction in South Africa is to be actualised. This is particularly important in the fields of mathematics, science and technology where an extensive range of new terms and phrases will have to be developed, learnt by the teachers and then communicated to the learners. However, the Language in Education Policy allows schools to extend the years of mother-tongue instruction until Grade 6. Powered by WordPress.org, INTERPRETING LANGUAGE POLICY: EQUITY, DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMNET IN SOUTH AFRICA, ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA – A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (1), Welcome to the Summer 2012 Edition of TET, Ill-disciplined teachers: The training of English teachers. The findings were that learners and parents preferred English as the language of instruction at Foundation Phase. It is only when co-ordinated and systematic linguistic research is able to draw on, and feed back into, an actual, developing discourse of practice in a mutually enhancing relationship, that a language can begin to evolve into a functioning mode of academic and scientific expression. A ‘MOTIVATION’ AGAINST ‘MOTIVATE’, Theme created by PWT. Firstly, few university courses adequately equip teachers with the skills of successfully teaching home languages. It is no small matter that this right is enshrined in the Constitution. Clevedon: Multilingual matters. Such stakeholders include government education officials, school governing bodies, principals, teachers, and, most importantly, parents and learners. It must be remembered, however, that the development of Afrikaans was made relatively easy by the fact that it emerged out of Dutch, an already fully functional scientific language; that enormous resources were made available through the National Party government; that it was fuelled by an intensely nationalistic political will; and that it was whole-heartedly supported by a community seeking exclusivity and autonomy from English. This article discusses three policy options drawn from my research on language in education in South Africa. Language is a societal issue. Ethiopia 32 2.7. Chakwera Faces Backlash For Hiring Tony Blair As Malawi Advisor. This article is republished from The Conversation Africa under a Creative Commons license. 4 . [5] This is borne out by the FutureFact 2006 survey, which reveals that, “apart from the Afrikaans community, between 60%-67% of all other language groups feel that English is the preferred language for education”. In South Africa mother-tongue instruction is maintained until the third year in most schools. promote its school language policy of at least six years of mother-tongue education, the minister confirmed government’s commitment to promoting the use of African languages in education: Indeed, the future of South African languages as areas of academic study and research is a matter of pressing concern for all of us. Kenya 36 2.8. Media roles in disseminating strategies for teaching and learning indigenous languages: The case of South Africa’s language-in-education policy in post-apartheid era. Even taking into account such factors as the repetition of grades or learners leaving to study at FET Colleges, the percentage cannot be much higher than 25%. From the first year of the upper primary school, pupils are expected to choose either English or French as a language of instruction. [4] Colin Baker (2006:215f) provides a typology of bilingual education in which ten main models, each with multitudinous sub-varieties, are discussed. Even in Teacher Education programmes where an African language is a compulsory credit, the number of students who proceed with the study of an African language beyond the obligatory first level course is negligible. Please try again later. Botswana 18 2.3. Schuring, G. K. 1993. This assumes that academic and scientific terminology exists across all 11 languages to aid textbook revisions or development. Language policy/language economics interface and mother-tongue education in post-apartheid South Africa. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. (1976) (ed. Firstly, as with the African language school curriculum, the African language curriculum at tertiary level needs to be drastically revised and modernised, so that students are enabled to study and learn these languages as effective carriers of academic discourse. 1.3 Background of the Problem . This is incompatible with the demographics of South Africa. 2.The inherited language-in-education policy in South Africa has been fraught with tensions, contradictions and sensitivities, and underpinned by racial and linguistic discrimination. Several other aspects such as the choice of language as a fundamental right, the importance of international instruments, as well as some lessons to be learnt for both South Africa and Germany in … Kamwangamalu (2000: 6) cites resistance to mother-tongue instruction, ambivalent clauses in the policy, and the tentative language in which the policy is framed as the main reasons behind its non-implementation. Even assuming that at some point in the future the African languages have been effectively developed, that the curriculum has been efficiently translated, and that a full quota of properly trained teachers is available, there is still the question of whether schools will adopt the policy and implement it thoroughly. This would include all the official school subjects, but most especially Mathematics and the Sciences. The fourth aspect of mother tongue education involves its actual implementation in the schools. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what these difficulties are, and then to suggest what needs to be done to overcome them. 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The South African Constitution guarantees learners the right to receive education in the language of their choice[1]. Rwanda 56 2.14. Clevedon: Multilingual matters. Language and Education in South Africa: A policy study. and many South African children speak many languages and therefore do not need mother-tongue education (Heugh, 2000:12-30). Even this is not enough, however. In South Africa, the use of a bilingual-education model in order to promote mother-tongue education is very popular. The West African Experience. Indeed, of the remaining 33%-40% of the sample, less than 20% preferred mother tongue education (at whatever level); the remainder stating no preference. In the best of all possible worlds, learners, especially in areas where English is rarely used, would begin their schooling in their mother tongue and then at some point switch over to English as the medium of instruction, having acquired enough English through subject study to be able to cope with it. Creating an educational environment geared to offer all levels of schooling in African languages over time would require the most extensive effort. Nwammuo, Angela Nkiru, Abiodun Salawu & Steven Carr . This becomes ever more apparent as learners move into the Intermediate Phase and beyond, where increasing emphasis is placed on independent reading and writing skills. Nevertheless, if the goal is to develop the African languages into genuine academic languages, and have teachers use them as such, then code-switching cannot be viewed as anything more than a partial and transitional support mechanism. Koaile Monaheng, the Teaching Assistant at the department, said that this policy was always in place, but it was just not prioritised. For many decades Africa has been the only place in the world where most children are taught in a language not their own. In addition to language and curriculum development, a crucial aspect of providing mother tongue education in South Africa lies in the field of teacher education (or teacher training as it used rather inelegantly to be termed). 1997. In South Africa mother-tongue instruction is maintained until the third year in most schools. When asked which language should be the main language of instruction in the first three years of school, respondents have increasingly favoured English in the South African Social Attitudes Survey. The nine African National Language Bodies (under the aegis of PanSALB) have initiated projects aimed at orthographic standardisation; lexicography and terminology development; and the promotion of literature in the indigenous languages (see, for example, Webb, Deumert and Lepota, 2005). Namibia 52 2.13. Baker, Colin. Thirdly, it will be necessary to provide a very large number of new Teacher Education lecturers who are able to teach the newly translated curriculum in the medium of the African languages. In South Africa mother-tongue instruction is maintained until the third year in most schools. By Christina Sukop The majority of learners in South Africa receive their education through the medium of a second language, English. Cummins, Jim. CHALLENGES OF MOTHER-TONGUE EDUCATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: THE CASE OF AFAN OROMO IN THE EAST HARARGE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA by JEILAN AMAN GOBANA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject AFRICAN LANGUAGES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA … After a period of some inertia, a number of projects have recently been undertaken to develop the African languages by both the university sector and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB). In Rajend Mesthrie (ed.) Webb, Vic, Deumert, Ana and Lepota, Biki (eds). be furthered evenly through a language in education policy, that is imple-mented nationwide, but also through a higher status of mother tongue/ indigenous languages within every sector of Namibia. But, as in the case of African language teaching, steps must be taken, over and above this, to ensure the upgrading of in-service teachers in terms of academic proficiency in the language, content knowledge and improved methodological practice. This is the finalisation of a process that started in 1995, when I appointed the Language Plan Task Group (LANGTAG) to advise me on a framework for a coherent language policy and plan. The first policy option is maintaining the status quo and teaching in the various African mother tongues while also introducing English, and then transitioning to English from Grade 4. Both these models will be discussed in 4.1 and 4.2 … These are an important teacher resource used across the country. The society simply remains too disparate and differentiated for any ‘one size fits all’ system to be practicable or even desirable. As such, these standard written forms remain in many ways archaic, limited and context-bound, and out of touch with the modern scientific world. The Minister of Education, as mentioned previously, has included English in the list of priority subjects for student teachers, and this is to be welcomed as a long overdue practical measure. This technicist and artificial view of language development is plainly insufficient. standards and in the Language in Education Policy on diversity – which in turn forms a good foundation for respect and dignity – marks a break from the historical treatment of languages in South Africa. Thus, it is necessary to develop the African languages as academic and scientific languages, at least to a certain level, before the Foundation Phase curriculum can be translated, and, consequently, before one can expect teachers to begin teaching the curriculum in the learners’ mother tongues with any degree of consistency and precision. They would become languages of society, education and formal work while the role of English to learn science, geography and other subjects in later grades would still recognised. There is still a widespread suspicion among parents, especially the poor, that mother-tongue education will stifle their children’s aspirations for a better life. South African parents want their children be taught in English despite the fact that research shows that academic progress is hindered if a child is taught in a language they aren't proficient in. While a good idea in theory, the language policy and situation in South African education may not work for the benet of all native speakers of its multiple languages. “We were inspired when a professor submitted an entire PhD in isiXhosa,” he said. ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA – A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (1) The Language in Education Policy (1997) and the Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) were designed to promote multilingualism in the education sector. Furthermore, given the highly context-specific, personal and arbitrary nature of code-switching, it is impossible to construct generally comprehensible and enduring academic texts in a mixed-language format. African languages only got a degree of recognition in policies during the Apartheid era in South Africa where mother-tongue education was proposed for at least the first couple of years. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual children in the email we just you... 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