Developing Mother Tongues as Academic Languages in Primary Schools in Kenya: Exploring Extent and Indispensability

ABSTRACT

The language in education policy in Kenya recommends mother tongue education in primary school learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the development of mother tongues as academic languages at the lower primary section in which the languages are supposed to be used. The exploration was on the functions they play in classroom instruction and if they are dispensable or otherwise. Ekegusii was used as a case study. Data were obtained through classroom observations and administration of semi-structured interviews with lower primary teachers. The findings indicate that mother tongues play important pedagogical functions in grades 1 up to 3, but not exactly as contemplated in the language policy. Secondly, mother tongues are indispensable in classroom teaching in spite of negative attitude towards their use. The study recommends a stakeholders’ admission that, against all considerations for early English, mother tongues play an irreplaceable role in lower primary teaching and learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Ekegusii
• English
• Kenya
• lower primary
• mother tongue
• policy issues

Acknowledgments

This research is funded by grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of the Republic of South Africa courtesy of the SARChI Chair in the Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism, and Education, Rhodes University. The opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF.

Notes

1. Academic languages: These are languages used to bear and transmit knowledge. In Kenya, the trend is such that English, a second language/a foreign to some (Piper et al., 2015) is in common use even in classes 1, 2, and 3, for which the language policy prescribes the use of mother tongues.

2. Heritage language: This is a language passed down from parents to children as part of cultural heritage. In rural Kenya, children in majority of cases acquire and use a language the parents speak. If it is in the Kisii Region, the language is Ekegusii (elsewhere in the country is Dholuo, Kipsigis, Kikamba, etc.). In this article, heritage language is interchangeably used with mother tongue and indigenous language.

3. Indigenous languages: These are languages indigenous to Kenya and spoken locally; not exoglossic. To most rural Kenya dwellers, these are the mother tongues/heritage languages.

4. Language development: It refers to the progressive cumulative acquisition of abilities to speak and use a language for learning and knowledge acquisition.

5. Mother tongues: These are languages children learn at home in which their primary conceptual frame is constructed. Majority of Kenyans speak a mother tongue first before the acquisition of Kiswahili and English, both second languages to many. In this article, mother tongues is used interchangeably with heritage languages and indigenous languages.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation [82767].