← RAMBLE in the JUNGLE: Debating Africa and the World

RAMBLE in the JUNGLE · Textbook · Unit 2: Development, Democracy and Self-Rule in Africa

Issue 2.3

Should Children First Learn to Read and Write in Their Home Language?

YESWanaku Verdzekov, Cultural Amnesia, Not Imperialism (2014) and Literacy in Any Language (2011–2014)
NOEditorial counterpoint, The Door to the Wider World (written for this book)

Learning outcomes

After reading this issue, you should be able to:

Define literacy and explain the difference between speaking a language and being literate in it.
Summarize the author's argument for mother-tongue literacy.
Evaluate practical arguments about language policy in schools.
Compare the goals of cultural preservation and economic opportunity.
Write a proposal on language policy for a school you know.

Introduction

About a third of the world's roughly 7,000 languages are spoken in Africa. Most African children speak at least one language at home that is not the main language of their school. In many countries, formal schooling uses the language of the former colonial power (English, French or Portuguese), a policy that began in colonial times and often continued after independence.

UNESCO and many education researchers recommend mother-tongue-based multilingual education: teaching children to read and write first in a language they already understand, then adding other languages. Some countries have tried this. Ethiopia teaches primary school in many regional languages; Tanzania uses Swahili in primary school. Others have moved the other way, towards English or French from the first year, often because parents demand it.

The author of the YES readings, Wanaku Verdzekov, speaks itaŋiKom, the language of the Kom Kingdom in north-west Cameroon. (Cameroon has around 250 languages, with English and French as official languages.) Text A answers a researcher who was recording oral traditions; Text B argues that literacy can happen in any language. Both refer to local languages of Cameroon (Ngemba, Lamso, itaŋiKom) and Nigeria (Efik). Text B also recommends a 1933 book by the African American historian Carter G. Woodson, whose title uses the historical term "Negro".

As you read, ask: What is school for: to connect children to their own community, or to the wider world? Can it do both?

YES

Cultural Amnesia, Not Imperialism (2014) and Literacy in Any Language (2011–2014)

By Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A: Cultural Amnesia, Not Imperialism

Cultural imperialism? I'd say "cultural amnesia". Check the budget allocation for "culture" in the governing systems of Sub-Saharan African states…

Maybe (just maybe) there is a lack of vision of what to really do "culturally"… or, even worse, a complete misunderstanding of what "culture" in the Sub-Saharan context should really be. The lack of a defined cultural path for our various communities leaves a cultural space that gets devoured by a prowling, high-octane culture. Guess which one.

Replying to a researcher, Awoh Emmanuel:

Excellent idea! If you ask me, the gaping canyon in the health and quality of education of the masses in our region (considering our tribal heritages) is the disconnect between our precious oral traditions and the watered-down "Western-style" education currently in use (Anglophone or Francophone). That is just my opinion. And for the following simple reason: common sense is not common.

Consider this: if you or your brother or sister are very fluent in Ngemba (you speak it and understand it very well), and someone offers you an algebra class in Ngemba while another person offers you the same class in French or English, which will you take first? Remember that you are fluent in Ngemba, and tell me.

"Education" of the masses (if properly defined and contextualized) should, and must, consider the existing skill set of the target audience. Ignoring that is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water. Refilling the bath with water does not bring back the baby that is already rolling in the potopoto.

My point is to stress the importance of what you are setting out to do: recording information about ourselves, our own people, our own ideas, thoughts, aspirations, philosophies and worldviews. You are helping to record our traditions and cultures, which so far have only been spoken. The transition from oral history to recorded history (still ongoing) is a difficult, painful one for most of our region.

It seems the ability to read and write is still considered an "elite" profession. Why? After more than half a century of post-colonial, try-it-yourself rule? Did we set the bar too high? As in: to educate the masses, ALL citizens have to learn to read, write and speak French, English or some other foreign language in order to be "educated"?

Then there is the question of what an "educated" citizen really is. If you ask me, an educated citizen can be the Baba or Nini who can calculate the square root of 16 in itaŋiKom without the help of a translator, or the stonemason in Kumbo who uses calculus principles learned in Lamso to work out the shape of the stone dome s/he is building to store grain after a bumper harvest.

Excuse my ramble, but our people are precious the way they are. It is just a question of having a clearly articulated vision of how to move from point A (where we are, who we are, what skills we have) to point B (where we all want, and are supposed, to be).

Your research is on point.

Wakikɨki

Text B: Literacy in Any Language

When I mentioned to some people that "literacy" is important, not because it is an English word but because the concept can be applied to any language (call it a vernacular if you like), some said I was calling for a revolution.

Well, think about it. The one simple thing that actually changes brain cells from thinking one way to another is the ability to connect signs and symbols to words, sounds and meaning. That is why any civilization with literacy built into its culture seems to move faster than the rest. I have met Chinese people with PhDs who do not speak a word of English, French, German or any other Western language.

So, conclusion: my grandma in Mɨgwachu can be totally "literate" in itaŋiKom, to the point where she can even do some algebra, without speaking a word of English (or any other Western language).

In my opinion, until we (Africans south of the Sahara) understand this simple concept and apply it locally in our different tribes (or places of origin), moving our people from point A to point B will not just be a pipe dream; we will all get lost in the middle of the pipe and have to wait for a rescue squad (probably from the West again!).

TribalMonk

There are several ways to catch a mouse.

The problem we have is that everyone is so distracted and carried away by events far, far from home (the effect of globalization?) that attention to our own problems takes a back seat. Back in Mɨgwachu, a young person is more interested in Jay-Z's or Beyoncé's new release, or P-Square's dance moves, than in figuring out how a quadratic equation can be expressed in, for example, Efik.

We have a whole class of educated people, but it is not translating into problem-solving on the ground. So what's the point of PhDs that cannot solve socio-economic and political problems?

Carter G. Woodson's 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro should be revisited by anyone concerned about the same trend simmering in Africa south of the Sahara. A review of the book puts it this way: "Mis-Education criticizes the system, and explains the vicious circle that results from mis-educated individuals graduating, then proceeding to teach and mis-educate others."

Excuse the ramble, but sometimes it's good to share thoughts. You never know.

— Wanaku Verdzekov

Text A was written in December 2014, Text B between 2011 and 2014. Both lightly edited for this book.

The Door to the Wider World

Editorial counterpoint Written for this book, not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

This essay was written for this textbook to present the opposing side fairly. It is not by Wanaku Verdzekov.

Wanaku Verdzekov makes a powerful case: a grandmother who can calculate in itaŋiKom is literate, and a child who learns algebra in the language they speak at home will understand it faster. Research supports part of this. But turning it into school policy is harder than it looks, and a home-language-first approach can close some doors even as it opens others.

Which home language?

In many African classrooms, especially in towns, children come from several language groups. A single class in Bamenda, Lagos or Nairobi might include speakers of five or ten languages. Which one should the first reading lessons use? Choosing one language can leave the others behind, and may even stir up rivalry between groups. English, French or a widely shared African language such as Swahili can be the one language every child in the room starts learning together.

Books, teachers and tests

Reading in a language requires books, a standard spelling system, trained teachers and exams. Many African languages have few printed books for children, and some have no agreed way of writing at all. Writing them down, printing them and training teachers takes years and money. Meanwhile, children must pass national exams, usually set in English or French. A child who learns to read only in a home language for several years may struggle when the switch comes, especially if the switch is sudden.

Parents often choose English or French

Many parents, including parents with little schooling, want their children taught in English or French from the start. They see these languages as the route to secondary school, university, jobs and the wider world. The author criticizes this as a kind of forgetting. But parents are not foolish: in many countries, the best-paid jobs, the courts and the internet still work mainly in these languages. Should schools overrule parents' choices?

A shared language can unite

After independence, some leaders chose a colonial language as the language of schooling precisely because it belonged to no single ethnic group. It could be shared by everyone. The author sees English and French as foreign. They are. But for many young Africans today, they are also the languages in which they meet friends from other regions, read the news and imagine a national future.

Home languages still matter

None of this means home languages should be ignored. Research gathered by UNESCO and others suggests that children often learn to read more easily in a language they already speak. The question is how to use that fact wisely: perhaps by teaching in both languages at once, using home languages to explain and English or French to read and write, so that no child is left behind in either.

Conclusion

The author is right that literacy is not an English word, and that African languages deserve respect. But a policy of "home language first" must answer hard questions: which language, with which books, taught by whom, and leading where? Until those questions are answered, the safer path is a bilingual classroom that opens both doors: the door home, and the door to the wider world.

— Editorial counterpoint

Vocabulary

Word or phrase	Meaning in the readings
amnesia	loss of memory
imperialism	one country's domination of others
oral tradition	knowledge passed on by speaking, not writing
contextualized	fitted to its setting
potopoto	Cameroonian Pidgin for mud
vernacular	the everyday spoken language of a place
literate	able to read and write
pipe dream	a hope that will never come true
mis-education	education that harms or misleads
mother tongue	the first language a person learns at home
bilingual	using two languages
standard spelling	an agreed way of writing a language

Comprehension questions

Literal (find it in the text)

What does the author call the problem instead of "cultural imperialism"?
In Text A, in which language is the algebra class imagined?
Where does the author's grandmother live in Text B, and in what language could she be literate?
According to the counterpoint, what do parents often see English and French as?
What compromise does the counterpoint suggest at the end?

Inferential (read between the lines)

Why does the author say reading and writing are treated as "elite"?
What does the author mean by "throwing the baby out with the bath water" in education?
Why does the counterpoint say choosing one home language might "stir up rivalry"?
Why might a leader after independence have chosen a colonial language for schools?

Critical (evaluate and respond)

Which reading takes better account of the real conditions in schools? Explain.
The author defines an educated person by skills, not by language. Do you agree? Write your own definition.
In your country or school, which languages are used for teaching? Is that the right choice? Why?

Is there common ground?

Both writers agree that African languages deserve respect, that children learn best when they understand the language of instruction, and that literacy is more than English or French. Both want children to be able to succeed in the wider world.

They disagree about priority and practicality. The author wants literacy in the home language as the foundation, and sees the dominance of foreign languages as a form of cultural forgetting. The counterpoint worries about multilingual classrooms, a lack of books and teachers, exams, and parents' wishes.

Common ground may lie in bilingual education: using the home language to explain and to begin reading, while adding English or French step by step, with investment in books and teachers for local languages.

Debate and writing prompt

Debate motion: This house believes that all primary schools should teach reading and writing in the children's home language first.

Divide the class into proposition and opposition. Each side must use at least two pieces of evidence from its reading and answer the other side's strongest point.
After the debate, hold a vote, then discuss which arguments changed minds.

Writing task: (400–600 words) Write a letter to your ministry of education proposing a language policy for the first three years of primary school. Explain which languages should be used, for what, and why. Answer at least one practical objection.