‘I use my mother tongue at home and with friends – not in school!’ Multilingualism and identity in rural Kenya

Abstract

The present paper investigates students' experiences of being multilingual. Qualitative data have been collected during observation, focus groups, interviews and text writing in a public primary school in rural Kenya. The informants are students in standards one, three and eight whose mother tongue is the indigenous language called Nandi, which all these students use at home and with friends. The school languages are Swahili and English, and the use of Nandi is forbidden in school except in mothertongue lessons in standards one to three. The aim of the study is to explore the students' experiences of being multilingual, and to analyse how the prohibition against the use of the mother tongue in school may influence their identity. The data are interpreted in the light of research and theory concerned with the influence of the colonisation of education in Africa and the effect of languages on identity. Results indicated that the students are proud of their vernacular language and culture, but also see the importance of being multilingual in a global world. The students agree with the prohibition against the use of their mother tongue in school, and understand that English and Swahili are important for education. The conclusion constitutes a critical contribution to add to earlier research about multilingualism and education in Africa.

An analysis of Chinese EFL students’ use of first and second language in peer feedback of L2 writing

“…In recent years, a growing body of research has been carried out to explore L1 use in pair or small group work of L2 learning (Musk, 2010;Muthwii, 2004;Spernes, 2012;Storch & Wigglesworth, 2003;Swain & Lapkin, 2000;Yang, 2006Yang, , 2014. While the use of L1 varies in different contexts, these studies conclude that L1 is routinely observed in EFL contexts during pair or small group work (Hamid & Honan, 2012;Ngwaru, 2011).…”

Assessing early grade reading: the value and limits of ‘words per minute’

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Dialogic instruction and learning: the case of one Kiswahili classroom in Kenya

“…This school's language policy differed from many schools in Kenya (e.g. Bunyi, 2001;Jones, 2008;Spernes, 2012) where at least grade 1 children were taught mother tongue lessons. I was informed that this school did not teach Kikamba because it was not an examinable subject.…”