PROSPECTS OF MT AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN AFRICA: With Special Reference to Tanzania

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PROSPECTS OF MT AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN
AFRICAWith Special Reference to Tanzania

• Martha A.S.Qorro
• Department of Foreign languages and Linguistics
• University of Dar es Salaam
• Tanzania

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Introduction

• Apart from the first three years of schooling
  most African countries do not practice mother
  tongue or bilingual education
• That partly explains why this paper addresses the
  prospects of offering MT and BL education in
  Africa.
• Those coming from Africa this Conference is a
  learning process.
• Thank you for the invitation

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Introduction cont

• Before independence formal education in Africa
  was offered in the MT for the first three to five
  years of schooling, followed by transition into a
  European language such as English, French or
  Portuguese.
• With independence some countries tried to
  introduce African languages as media of
  education, however the effort did not last.
• With the influence of liberalised economy and
  globalisation, European languages, especially
  English are coming back strongly.
• The tendency now is to introduce English from the
  first year of schooling the intention is to make
  children bilingual from an early age.

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Introduction cont

• The emphasis has shifted from offering education
  to English language teaching
• The shift is clear from the arguments given by
  policy makers
• The shift is based on the myth that the best way
  to teach a foreign language is to use it as the
  language of instruction.

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Introduction cont

• The outcome is however contrary to what was
  intended.
• Despite the early start in learning English in
  the first year of school, complaints still abound
  about students poor proficiency in the language
• Students proficiency is equally poor in MT or
  African languages of wider communication
• Students level of understanding of subject
  taught in English is also poor
• Research findings elsewhere show that the use of
  MT or a familiar language is a key factor in
  accessing Quality education
• The paper examines the effects of not using MT or
  a familiar language as medium of instruction.

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Dangers of using a foreign language for
instruction

• Research findings in Tanzania show how seriously
  handicapped teachers and students are when using
  English, and how better they perform when they
  use a familiar language, Kiswahili. Below is a
  Form II students response to the researchers
  question How will your secondary education be
  of use to you and to Tanzania?
• My name secondary education is a treal secondary
  school for education in Dodoma region in
  Tanzania. The student are paying fees this school
  is not spend the sam thing for the education off
  like the subject for year (Mlama and Matteru
  197839).

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Dangers of using a foreign language for
instruction

• A Form 3 student was asked the same question, and
  the response was
• In my secondary education used to find the
  political in swahili. I dont know why dont you
  find all subjects in secondary in Swahili. They
  find others in swahili others in English. I think
  if the subject we can find in swahili the
  secondary it is their happy to enjoed the subject
  except eny reason (Mlama na Matteru 197840)

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Dramatic change in the quality of response when a
familiar language is used

• The same student was asked the question in
  Kiswahili Unafikiri elimu ya sekondari
  utakayopata itakunufaishaje wewe na nchi yako
  Tanzania? Response
• Elimu nitakayopata katika shule ya sekondari
  itaninufaisha mimi pamoja na taifa langu.
  Nitashirki kikamilifu katika kazi ya kujitolea
  nafsi yangu kuondoa ujinga, magonjwa, nitashiriki
  kikamilifu kuwafundisha wazee ambao hawakupata
  nafasi ya kusoma. (Mlama na Matteru 1978 39-40).

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Dramatic change in the quality of response when a
familiar language is used

• Authors translation
• The secondary school education that I will get
  will benefit me and my country. I will
  participate fully in volunteering in person to
  remove ignorance, disease, I will participate
  fully in teaching the old who did not get a
  chance to study.

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Further examples of classroom observations

• In a study (Rubagumya, Jones and Mwansoko 1998
  17) the following interaction between the teacher
  and students was observed
• T When you go home put some water in a jar,
  leave it direct on sun rays and observe the
  decrease of the amount of water. Have you
  understood?
• SS (Silence)
• T Nasema, chukua chombo, uweke maji na kiache
  kwenye jua, maji yatakuwaje? (I say, take a
  container with water and leave it in the sun,
  what will happen to the water?)
• SS Yatapungua (it will decrease)
• T Kwa nini? (why?)
• SS Yatafyonzwa na mionzi ya jua (it will be
  evaporated by the suns rays).

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Further examples of classroom observations

• Extract from a Form 3 students notes
• By the end of 18th some at the States had become
  beig sertralised king doms. By the middle at 19th
  C states such as Buganda, Bunyoro, Ankole, Rwanda
  and Burundi had become powertul througth trident
  and military conquest Anuther form of feudal
  relation was Ubagabice which clevdoped between
  the Tustsi and Hutu in Rwanda, Burund, and Buha.
  Here feudal plaction revelved catllo ownership.
  The Tutsi wduld some at thes catlle toa Hutu
  family. Land lord (master mass cattled sebujca
  and his subject was called Mugabbi (Qorro 1999).

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Further examples of classroom observations

• Teacher and students interaction in Form 2
  Commerce lesson (Vuzo 2005 68-69)
• T Good must be remain in the storeto be ready
  for a changing of weatherit is a danger to sell
  all goods in the store The dangerous of selling
  all the goods in the store when good are
  scarcity and sales are increase (T mixes
  language to elaborate the point) Nina maana kuwa
  bidhaa zikipungua we need time for preparation.
  Time to ask for a new goods(in the course of the
  lesson he posed a question)
• T How can we do before to sell all goods in the
  store?
• S You must be care with that changes and making
  time for a preparation

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Effects of using European language LOI in Africa

• It has resulted in 90 of intellectual production
  in Africa being stored in FL forts, completely
  inaccessible to the majority of African people
• Education has become an investment with little or
  no returns for the continent nurtured poverty
• It has fostered dependency on foreign financial
  institutions, technology, ideas for development
  models and educational materials
• It has alienated the elite from the general
  population in Africa almost irrelevant
• It has fuelled brain drain from Africa.

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Effects of using European language LOI in Africa

• It has denied generations of youths firm
  understanding of issues and how they relate to
  real life and has resulted in
• Poor planning and decision making,
• Lack of commitment to community service,
• Lack of independent thinking,
• Inability to think critically, creatively and
  independently to question, discuss and analyse
  issues in a systematic manner.

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Confusing ELT with English as LOI

• Most policy makers and parents seem to confuse
  ELT with using English as the language of
  instruction
• Most of the reasons they give for using English
  as LOI (see p. 6) are good reasons for teaching
  English
• One wonders whether these are genuine reasons or
  there are covert reasons only known to
  policymakers
• There is need to raise awareness among policy
  makers and parents in Africa.

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Lack of understanding on language proficiency
levels

• Students are expected to learn all subject in
  English, even when their proficiency level is
  very low
• Research findings for almost thirty years have
  consistently shown that most secondary school
  students in Tanzania learn by memorising due to
  low level of proficiency in English, the official
  LOI
• Research findings elsewhere show that students
  need to attain a certain level of proficiency
  before they can use a language for academic
  purposes (Cummins 2000).

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The impact of mother tongue learning in Africa

• A comparative study of learners writing skills
  in Kiswahili/IsiXhosa and English (Brock-Utne and
  Desai 2005243-244) shows that
• Students description in Kiswahili and IsiXhosa
  were explicit and related clearly to the given
  pictures, while the descriptions in English were
  largely incomprehensible and often did not relate
  to the pictures.
• The stories were much longer and clearer compared
  to those written in English.
• The vocabulary in Kiswahili and IsiXhosa was rich
  and varied, with proper sentence construction, no
  grammatical, spelling and tense errors.

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The impact of mother tongue education beyond
Africa

• Cummins (1979, 1981 and 2000) and Krashen (1985)
  have shown that poor performance in the language
  of instruction results in poor performance, not
  only in subjects taught in that language, but
  also in the language of instruction as well.
• In other words, when students have a firm
  understanding of their specialised subjects, when
  taught in the first language (MT), that firm
  understanding gives them a solid ground on which
  to build a strong foundation for learning
  English, or any other foreign language.

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The impact of mother tongue learning beyond Africa

• The strong foundation in MT that lead to higher
  proficiency in a foreign language is what Cummins
  has termed as the interdependence hypothesis.
• The same hypothesis might explain why those who
  started learning English in the fifth year of
  schooling (before independence) were more
  proficient in English than those in the current
  system, who start in the first or third year of
  schooling.
• Thus MT and BL go well with the learning of
  foreign languages.

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Why MT and BL education have not been implemented
in Africa

• Lack of understanding among parents and the
  general public, on the critical importance of MT
  and BL education
• These exert pressure on governments to introduce
  foreign languages early in schools,
• Stigmatization of African languages and cultures
  during the colonial rule
• It works in the interest of a few powerful
  countries for political and economic reasons
• MT education liberates the mind, thus people are
  not easily manipulated,

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Why MT and BL education have not been implemented
in Africa

• The use of an unfamiliar language in any
  communication situation acts as a means of
  control on the part of the leadership
• At the national level it works in the interest of
  the rulers,
• In schools it sometimes works in the interest of
  school heads,
• In offices and industries???
• Thus the use of MT works contrary to that of
  unfamiliar language

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Conclusion

• Examined the way MT and BL education have been
  sidelined in Africa, e.g. Tanzania
• It is project carried out partly by Africans,
• It does not benefit the majority of people,
• It is used as a means of control (tongue tied)
• MT and BL are possible, viable and sustainable in
  Africa just as they are in Asia and Europe
• It means hard work to develop materials,
• It means learning other languages,
• NGOs, CSO, CBO, researchers and educators have a
  critical role to play
• Awareness raising and liberating minds on MT and
  BL.

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• Tak!
• Asanteni kwa usikivu wenu!
• Thank you for your attention!
• Shukran!