Bilingualizing linguistically homogeneous classrooms in Kenya: implications on policy, second language learning, and literacy

ABSTRACT

Bilingualism characterizes people in linguistically heterogeneous settlements like Nairobi among other urban centres in Kenya. But the country is also predominantly rural (where you find people of a common language settled in one geographical rural region) in which mother tongues are primary means of communication. Children in lower primary in rural areas should be taught in their mother tongues. The purpose of this study was to find out the use of mother tongues and official languages in elementary linguistically homogeneous classrooms in Kenya and the possible effect of this use. Data were obtained through classroom observations and interviews with classroom teachers and head teachers. The findings indicate that instead of using mother tongues to teach, teachers use Kiswahili (a national and co-official language) and English (an official language) in various ways to teach content subjects; mathematics, science, social/religious studies, hence making the classrooms bilingual. The article presents evidence and discusses how this use of language affects learning and what it implies on language in education policy, on second language learning, and on early literacy development. Negative effects of the practice include poor learning outcomes and poor teacher morale. The study recommends corrective steps to avert learning and literacy development losses.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingualize
• content subjects
• learning
• policy
• literacy
• linguistically
• homogeneous

Acknowledgement

The opinions expressed are, however, those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the National Research Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Peter Nyakundi Mose is a Post-Doctoral Fellow under the NRF SARChI Chair: Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education at the School of Languages and Literatures, Rhodes University, South Africa. His primary research interests are in language planning, multilingualism, literacies, and research methods.

Notes

1 Mother tongue has been used in this research report to refer to the language a child learns from the mother/father/babysitter in rural Kenya. Settlement patterns in Kenya are such that specific geographical regions (except major urban centres such as Nairobi) are settled by specific mother tongue speakers (Ekegusii, Agikuyu, Dholuo, etc). For instance, Ekegusii-speakers live in Gusii region of south-western Kenya. In almost all cases, a child born here learns Ekegusii as a mother tongue; the first language is, in most cases, the mother tongue. Only in major urban centres would a child learn Kiswahili/English as a first language. Local language and first language are used as synonyms of mother tongue in this article.

2 The common word for levels of primary school education in Kenya is standard. In the article, it is used in subjects’ responses, but grade is used in all other sections to refer to the same concept.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) [82767] of the Republic of South Africa courtesy of the SARChI Chair in the Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism, and Education, Rhodes University.