Revisiting English as medium of instruction in rural African classrooms

Abstract

In this paper, we address findings from a study conducted in a rural, Ugandan secondary school from August 2009 to May 2011 that explored the challenges and possibilities of developing language and literacy across the curriculum, including digital possibilities for the development of multilingual academic literacy. The central questions we address are: (1) in a rural African context, what educational conditions and language policies impact the use of English as a medium of instruction in secondary schools? and (2) how do teachers across the curriculum navigate these conditions and policies to integrate English language and content? Data collection methods included questionnaires, interviews, observations, policy document analysis and researchers' journal reflections. Central findings highlight the difficulties faced by content teachers in addressing their students' language needs in the context of contemporary policy guidelines; issues related to the pre-service preparation of subject area teachers; and possibilities for developing pedagogy for teaching language/s and literacies across the curriculum. From the findings, we argue that language policies, despite best intentions, might, like other ‘placed resources’ become dysfunctional when moved across distinctly different spaces from relatively well-resourced urban areas to poorly resourced rural communities and from elite to grassroots contexts.

Keywords:

• English as medium of instruction
• language policy
• placed resources
• multilingualism
• rural Africa
• language across the curriculum

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge and thank the teachers of Sebatya Secondary School, who generously shared their insights and experiences with us. We also greatly appreciate the assistance of Kimberley Meredith with data transcription and Juliet Tembe with site coordination.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, whose funding has been crucial in our programme of research in Africa.

Notes

1. Research has addressed language policy (Norton and Mutonyi 2010; Tembe and Norton 2008), health literacy (Jones and Norton 2007; Kendrick and Mutonyi 2007), multimodal pedagogy (Kendrick et al. 2006), digital literacy (Mutonyi and Norton 2007; Norton, Early, and Tembe 2010; Norton and Williams 2012), researcher identity (Norton and Early 2011) and narrative inquiry (Early and Norton 2013).

2. A number of these recommendations were presented to the Ugandan Ministry of Education representatives at a meeting in Kampala, June 2012.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, whose funding has been crucial in our programme of research in Africa.