The role of foreign and indigenous languages in primary schools: The case of Kenya

Abstract

This article investigates the use of English and other African languages in Kenyan primary schools. English is a foreign language to the majority of Kenyans, although there are some who claim that it is a Kenyan language. English is however the official language of Kenya and, in terms of policy, the medium of instruction from Grade 4 onwards. Kiswahili, an indigenous language, is the national language in Kenya which is taught and examined as a compulsory subject from Grade 1 up to Grade 12. Kiswahili is also a subject at Kenyan universities. The other indigenous languages are only taught up to Grade 3 and only in rural schools. While the situation described above is the language policy in schools, the practice differs from the policy. Based on a comprehensive study conducted in 2006, this paper shows how English and the indigenous languages complement each other to facilitate teaching and learning in primary schools. It is shown that Mathematics and Science lessons in Grade 4 (when English becomes the medium of instruction) are conducted in bilingual English-Kiswahili code switching and in trilingual English-Kiswahili-native language code switching in urban schools and peri-urban and rural schools, respectively.

Untapped communicative resources in multilingual classroom settings: Possible alternatives

“…Dubeck, Jukes, and Okello (2012) write about a school in Kenya where English as the LOI is used from grade one. Similar findings have been presented by Muthwii (2004), Ogechi (2009), and Dhillon and Wanjiru (2013). The latter noted that Kenya's official LOI policy is not always followed by schools, and that this is complicated by a lack of instructional materials in the indigenous languages.…”

“…Taken together, the prevalence of IRE in the classroom discourse in Kenya (Abd-Kadir and Hardman 2007;Ogechi 2009;Kiramba 2016;2018) is often characterized by a teaching methodology and classroom environment that centers on the teacher, with limited student participation. Students are also rarely challenged by teachers and they end up with less-developed critical thinking skills.…”

Language ideologies and epistemic exclusion

“…English-only, exam-focused language ideologies in Kenya have led to rote learning that lacks or precludes learner meaning-construction and leads to extensive silencing and the exclusion of students from participation (Ackers and Hardman 2001;Kiramba 2017a;Ogechi 2009;Pontefract and Hardman 2005). These factors exacerbate epistemic exclusion and dropout rates alike (Alidou 2003; Bamgboṣ e 2000; Qorro 2009) among students whose MT is different from the LOI.…”

“…This paper was widely resisted by educators and parents alike (Kiplang'at 2014, 27 January). This resistance simply formalized what researchers had already previously observed; that despite calling for early indigenous language instruction, some school sites implemented English-only instruction beginning from kindergarten (Muthwii 2004;Ogechi 2009). Muthwii (2004) frames this dominant/English-only language practice as a continuation of postcolonial policy, one that advantages Kenyans who acquire English and thus serves to generate linguistic hierarchies and preferences in the country.…”

A reflection on the need for a language management scheme at the university of Rwanda’s college of education

“…As Weinstein (1990); Francis & Kamanda (2001); Shohamy (2006) have indicated, language policy, planning and management encompass deliberate decisions and choices of language form, language functions as well as language acquisition strategies that are made by institutions to solve language problems. UR-CE, like other education institutions, strive to solve language problems for quality education because it is well known that the medium of instruction strongly affects quality education (see Brock-Utne 2012;Coleman 2011;Ogechi 2009;Williams 2011). In order to achieve a balanced and effective language management, there are enablers which need to be capitalized on and challengers which need to be addressed.…”