by W D Adkins

Created on: April 23, 2008

Children learn better and more easily if they are instructed in their first language. Under ideal circumstances, therefore, there really is no debate. African children in primary school should be taught in their first language. However, as with most of the issues facing African societies, choosing a language to serve as the medium of instruction is not that simple. A host of problems beset African schools, and these require making trade-offs between the best pedagogical method and what is feasible in practice.

It is also important to remember that there is no single model that will apply to all of Africa. To begin with, only one-third of African nations have English as the official language. In Egypt, for example, the official (and nearly universal) language is Arabic. It would hardly make sense to use English as an instructional language in Egyptian schools. It would make very good sense to teach English as a foreign language even from the time a child starts school. Besides the educational value of learning a second language, this has considerable practical value. Learning English prepares young people to be competitive in a world where English is the predominant language of international business and commerce.

ISSUES AFFECTING THE CHOICE OF ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

For the 19 African countries in which the official language is English, the situation is more complex. There are approximately 2000 indigenous African languages. Some, like Swahili and Yoruba, are spoken by large numbers of people; others are spoken by only a small number. Recruiting qualified teachers and producing textbooks in many different languages would be a formidable challenge even for a wealthy nation like the United States. Given the very limited resources of most African nations, the task would be difficult, if not impossible.

The second problem is that there is an acute shortage of teachers in Africa. Even in South Africa, which is relatively well off, 21,000 new teachers are needed annually, but only 5000 are graduating from the nation's universities each year. Schools must rely on the teachers that are available. Currently, most teachers speak English. Frequently, there are no teachers available who speak the languages of the students.

Finally, African nations must place a high priority on allocating resources, including educational resources, to approaches that promote economic development. English is a marketable skill. Workers who are fluent in English have better opportunities

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