Students at an elementary school have reading time with older peers
who alternate use of Xhosa, the "mother tongue," with English
as they read a traditional-themed story.
The core identity of a culture is embodied in and perpetuated by its
language—the idioms, proverbs and gestures at once espouse the
sanctity of tradition and salience of innovation. Moreover, any discussion
about language is inherently a discussion about access to education
and economic mobility. As the cornerstone of success in a technology-driven
economy, literacy is the “catalyst for inclusion” in South
Africa , and linguistic equity is needed in order to realize the
democratic ideals of mass literacy.
For the nearly eighty percent of South Africa’s forty-five million
residents who identify as African (Black), efforts to overcome past
discrimination is severely crippled by the population’s low rates
of proficiency in English, what many assess to be the de facto language
of power and access in the country. Linguistic equity, and by extension
all other aspects of social equity, can not be achieved without a concerted
effort to preserve, rehabilitate and institutionalize indigenous languages
in South Africa. Moreover, a bilingual approach to early literacy has
shown indications of providing a sounder pedagogical foundation for
achieving literacy in English.
Background: Post-Apartheid as the Postcolonial and the International
Democratic South Africa has the task of transforming itself within the
social context of post-apartheid, specifically, and post-colonialism,
in general. Despite its singular history of serial dislocations, institutionalized
racial segregation and reconciliation, South Africa is a part of the
majority of the world’s countries who are striving for social
equity in the aftermath of oppressive colonial orders. A central tenet
of feminist, race and post-colonial studies is that institutionalized
systems of oppression are multifaceted, and any fruitful attempts at
liberation must also be such, addressing both the material and immaterial
residues of the system.
Perhaps the most detrimental aspect of the Eurocentric colonial system
in South Africa, which perhaps reached its nadir during the Afrikaner-ruled
apartheid period, was the implementation of a psychological colonization
that nearly decimated the spiritual, artistic and intellectual integrity
of Black African peoples. Hence, a revalorization of indigenous languages
in South Africa is a revalorization of the people who speak these languages.
In a democratic South Africa, working to counter past injustices, or
achieve social transformation, is not divorced from measures to institutionalize
the languages of formerly marginalized communities.
Deciding which language of instruction (LoI) to use in early literacy
lies at the core of the national literacy debate in South Africa, but
it is not alone, for the process of determining the best methods of
instruction in bilingual education is emotional, tortuous and of international
proportions. As state, religious and racial borders become more permeable,
the expedient need for more comprehensive and representative language
policies will increase throughout the world.
The proceedings of a 1997 conference on educational policy in Africa
revealed that South Africa’s current literacy practices mirror
those of its neighboring countries, in which the LoI is dictated by
the geographical distributions of languages in each province. . In
this system, the mothertongue is used as the LoI in primary schools
with the foreign language (almost always the former colonial language
and current language of greatest social mobility) taught as a subject
area. At a later period, usually at the end of primary school or start
of secondary school, the instructional positions of the languages are
inverted. When this occurs, the foreign language becomes the medium
of instruction while local languages are taught as subjects.
This immersion method of language acquisition—empathetically known
as ‘sink or swim’ among linguists and educators alike—has
had dismal results in producing advanced literacy in either language,
leaving learners stagnated at basic reading and writing skills and often
unprepared for higher or even secondary education. Critics of this method
promote bilingual programs that, by introducing the foreign language
earlier, are designed to improve foreign language literacy at the higher
educational levels. This method also facilitates literacy in the mothertongue
as “bridging,” or the systematic comparison of two language
systems, builds a solid understanding of the vocabulary, grammar and
pragmatics of both.
In Malawi, bilingual literacy instruction using ChiChewa, the mothertongue,
proved more effective in developing literacy skills in the mothertongue
than the traditional English-only approach. Further evidence to support
the effectiveness of bilingual and bridge methods can be found in Nigeria,
Kenya and Zambia. Specifically, the “Language Experience Approach”
developed in the Northern Province of Zambia is a literature-based method
of literacy instruction that uses children’s own dictated stories
as the basic text for their reading and writing. Learners are encouraged
to engage in free writing exercises, the free up their voices so to
speak, and through the process of rereading and revising, they learn
the nuances that distinguish the grammars brought to the classroom from
those that are being taught. The children who used the program were
found to have made more progress in literacy skills when compared to
those who had received more traditional instruction .
On a global scale, language policies in the education of former colonial
countries have followed a similar trend. During the period of colonialism,
there was no or little access to education available for the enslaved
peoples. When education was available, the content was primarily of
the domestic and industrial natures—as was experienced with Bantu
Education—and the LoI was the colonial language with severe physical
and emotional sanctions meted out to those who dared to speak in their
mothertongue. Documented accounts of school administrators’ using
corporal punishment to elicit fear and self-hatred in learners can be
found throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia. In the period following
independence, newly independent states were left with the Sysiphean
task of sorting through often hybrid social orders with no clear delineations
between traditional and modern, helpful and harmful.
The South African Context
In a brazen move that some have labeled the most progressive language
policy in the world, South Africa adopted eleven official languages
in its Constitution of 1996. In addition, the constitution states that
each person has the right to instruction in his or her language of choice.
While intended to promote social harmony, this particular mandate is
precisely at the core of a national debate regarding the best method
of achieving literacy in a multilingual South Africa. As one can imagine,
the sentiments that fuel the debate are torturous and complex.
Parents from each language group would like for their children to be
able to retain their cultural language; however, it seems that, primarily,
parents are interested in access to greater social mobility for their
children. Most of the parents and educators that our seminar group spoke
to agreed in their desire for their children to learn English, the only
of South Africa’s official languages with international marketability.
Regardless of ethnic background, we noticed that in all of our school
visits, English was the foreign language of choice. Primary school children
whose mothertongue was isiXhosa in Khayelitsha or Afrikaans in Clanwilliam
were all being instructed in their mothertongue with some English songs
and phrases gradually being introduced. In South Africa, the Department
of Education has determined that learners must be taught in their first
language until the age of nine years, or upon reaching the third grade.
After this point, the learning of a second language can begin. Some
educators and NGO administrators support the government’s recommendation,
but not everyone agrees.
Among supporters of the ‘first-language-first’ position
is Elizabeth Anderson, manager of the Capetown-based Centre for the
Book. Like the Department, she advocates for monolingual instruction
for primary school learners. Opponents of monolingual instruction argue
that learners need to be introduced to English earlier. According to
project evaluator Eric Schollar, “the critical issue is the fact
that learners may become proficient in vernacular [the mothertongue]
by the end of grade three, but then switch to learning everything in
English from grade four—a prescription for the underperformance
that we see throughout the system…What I am saying is that the
policy is only workable if learners also become proficient in English
by the time they start grade four” .
Our observations at an Afrikaans-speaking school in a rural area seem
to corroborate Schollar’s claim. As I read to students from an
English book about the 1994 elections entitled The Day Gogo Went to
Vote by ANC member Elinor Barezat Sikulu, the sixth graders appeared
to have had a very difficult time following, despite my slowed reading
pace. When my partner led the discussion period, we were disheartened
when their teacher was required to translate each of our questions into
Afrikaans, and this method still failed to produce more answers. Taking
shyness and our foreign American English accents into account, we expected
to have received more feedback from the students. It did not appear
to me that the students had been receiving full instruction in English,
but this is understandable. No dedicated teacher would sacrifice the
learning of her students by suddenly instructing in a language that
was foreign to them, or to her, for that matter. As an aspiring teacher,
I would do the same.
Based on my observations as a visitor, my research as a student and
my intuitions as an educator, I believe that a sustained bilingual approach
is the best method of achieving additive bilingualism. Beginning a second
language at a later stage contradicts numerous literacy and psychological
studies that claim greater cognitive abilities for second language learning
at earlier ages.
To facilitate literacy in the mothertongue, government funding needs
to be allocated for educational programs that focus on reading prior
to age seven, the current age at which students begin school. For inspiration,
South Africa should look to the examples set forth by peer countries
who are striving for—and gradually succeeding at—alleviating
the burdens that colonialism has left behind.
1. Penny Morgan, “Catalyst for Inclusion,” Mail and Guardian
[South Africa] Vol 20, No 36.
2. “Languages of Instruction: Policy Implications for Education
in South Africa,” IDRC (1997) <http://web.idrc.ca>.
3. “Languages of Instruction: Policy Implications for Education
in South Africa,” IDRC (1997) <http://web.idrc.ca>.
4. Penny Morgan, “Thinking About the Language of Learning,”
Mail and Guardian [South Africa] Vol 20, No 36.