Cover not available

In:Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms
Edited by Andreas Bonnet and Peter Siemund
[Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 7] 2018
► pp. 57–75

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Multilingualism and education in sub-Saharan Africa

Policies, practices and implications

 | Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique
Published online: 24 October 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/hsld.7.03chi
The management of multilingualism has been a challenging issue around the world, in particular in post-colonial contexts whereby former colonial languages are usually associated with upward socioeconomic mobility while local languages are often linked with informal domains, thus assumed as low-status languages. This situation poses challenges to language-in-education planning, policy and practice. Among other things, education planners, teachers and parents are required to make choices between the attested relevance of first language based education and education in a second or foreign language, widely perceived as the best way to equip the students with the linguistic resources and skills that will allow them to compete in national and global markets. Despite some discursive and policy shift in sub-Saharan Africa, from a multilingualism-as-problem to multilingualism-as-resource orientation, monolingualism in education is still the norm. This chapter describes typical language constellations and assumptions in sub-Saharan Africa, discusses their implications in language-in-education policies and practices and how these policies and practices influence personal attitudes and social relations. The chapter is based on a critical examination of past and current language planning and policy processes in sub-Saharan Africa, as presented and discussed in different documents. The analytical perspective adopted in this study takes account of the fact that discursive orientations to multilingualism and actual practices are crucially shaped by historical and sociopolitical processes at local, national, regional and global levels. The main message of the chapter is that multilingualism should be viewed as a resource in education and in the wider society rather than a threat to successful education and social integration or cohesion.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Historical and sociopolitical context
    • 2.1Language policies in the colonial era
    • 2.2Language policies in the post-colonial era
    • 2.3Language policies in the current global era
  • 3.Bi- and multilingual education in post-colonial Africa
  • 4.Discussion
  • References
References (53)
References
Alexander, N. 1999. An African renaissance without African languages. Social Dynamics 25(1): 1–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003. The African Renaissance and the Use of African Languages in Tertiary Education [PRAESA Occasional Papers 13]. Cape Town: Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alidou, H. 2004. Medium of instruction in post-colonial Africa. In Medium of Instruction Policies: Which Agenda? Whose Agenda?, J. Tollefson & A. Tsui (eds), 195–214. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alidou, H., Boly, A., Brock-Utne, B., Diallo, Y. S., Heugh, K. & Wolff, H. E. 2006. Optimizing learning and education in africa – The language factor: A stock-taking research on mother tongue and bilingual education in Sub-Saharan Africa. <[URL]> (17 October 2008).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alidou, H. & Jung, I. 2001. Education language policies in Francophone Africa: What have we learned from the field experiences? In Language Policy: Lessons from Global Models, S. Baker (ed.), 59–73. Monterey CA: Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ansre, G. 1978. The use of indigenous languages in education in sub-Saharan Africa: Presuppositions, lessons, and prospects. In Georgetown Round Table on Language and Linguistics, J. Alatis (ed.), 285–301. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, C. 2006. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3rd edn. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamgbose, A. 1991. Language and the Nation: The Language Question in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1999. African language development and language planning. Social Dynamics 25(1): 13–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2000. Language and Exclusion: The Consequences of Language Policies in Africa. Hamburg: Lit Verlag Munster.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2011. African languages today: The challenge of and prospects for empowerment under globalization. In Selected Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, E. G. Bokamba, R. K. Shosted & B. Tesfaw Ayalev (eds), 1–14. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banda, F. 2000. The dilemma of mother tongue: Prospects for bilingual education in South Africa. Language, Culture and Curriculum 13(1): 51–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Batibo, H. M. 2005. Language Decline and Death in Africa: Causes, Consequences and Challenges. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benrabbah, M. 2007. Language-in-education planning in Algeria: Historical development and current issues. Language Policy 6: 225–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benson, C. 2000. The primary bilingual education experiment in Mozambique, 1993 to 1997. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 3(3): 149–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bokamba, E .G. 1991. French colonial language policies and their legacies. In Language Planning: Focusschrift in Honor of Joshua A. Fishman, Vol. III, D. F. Marshall (ed.), 175–213. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bokamba, E. G. 2011. Ukolonia in African language policies and practices. In Selected Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, E. G. Bokamba, R. K. Shosted & B. Tesfaw Ayalev (eds), 146–167. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bunyi, G. 2008. Constructing elites in Kenya: Implications for classroom language practices in Africa. In Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 3: Discourse and Education, 2nd edn, M. Martin-Jones, A. M. de Mejia & N. H. Hornberger (eds), 147–157. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell-Makini, Z. M. R. 2000. The language of schooling: Deconstructing myths about African languages. In Language and Institutions in Africa, S. B. Makoni & N. Kamwangamalu (eds), 111–129. Cape Town: Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
CAPRA 2013. Evaluation of the Ministry of Education bilingual education pilot initiative in Mozambique. Unpublished manuscript, Maputo, Ministry of Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chimbutane, F. 2011. Rethinking Bilingual Education in Postcolonial Contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2012. Multilingualism in education in post-colonial contexts: With special reference to sub-Saharan African. In Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism, M. Martin-Jones, A. Creese & A. Blackladge (eds), 167–183. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013. Can sociocultural gains sustain bilingual education programs in postcolonial contexts? The case of Mozambique. In Bilingual Education and Language Policy in the Global South, J. Shoba & F. Chimbutane (eds), 124–145. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Djité, P. G. 2008. The Sociolinguistics of Development in Africa. London: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fafunwa, A. B. 1990. Using national languages in education: A challenge to African educators. In African Thoughts on the Prospects of Education for All, Dakar, 27–30 November 1989, UNESCO/UNICEF (eds), 97–110. Dakar: UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fasold, R. 1997. Motivations and attitudes influencing vernacular literacy: Four African assessments. In Vernacular Literacy: A Re-Evaluation, A. Tabouret-Keller, R. B. Le Page, P. Gardner-Chloros & G. Varro (eds), 246–270. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freeman, R. 2006 [2004] . Reviewing the research on language education programs. In Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader, O. García & C. Baker (eds), 3–18. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hailemariam, C. 2002. Language and Education in Eritrea: A Case Study of Language Diversity, Policy and Practice. Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heugh, K. 2008. Language policy and education in Southern Africa. In Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 1: Language Policy and Political Issues in Education, 2nd edn, S. May & N. H. Hornberger (eds), 355–367. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2009. Into the cauldron: An interplay of indigenous and globalised knowledge with strong and weak notions of literacy and language education in Ethiopia and South Africa. Language Matters 40(2): 166–189. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heugh, K., Benson, C., Bogale, B. & Yohannes, M. A. G. 2007. Final report. Study on medium of instruction in primary schools in Ethiopia. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education, September 2006. <[URL]> (2 January 2018).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hornberger, N. H. 2006. Frameworks and models in language policy and planning. In An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method, T. Ricento (ed.), 24–41. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. 1992. Models for non-native Englishes. In The Other Tongue: English across Cultures, B. B. Kachru (ed.), 48–74. Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamwangamalu, N. 2009. Reflections on the language policy balance sheet in Africa. Language Matters 40(2): 133–144. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Küper, W. 2003. The necessity of introducing mother tongues in education systems of developing countries. In Towards a Multilingual Culture of Education, A. Ouane (ed.), 159–180. Paris: UNESCO Institute of Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mazrui, A. 2000. The World Bank, the language question and the future of African education. In A Thousand Flowers: Social Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities, S. Federici, G. Caffentzis & O. Alidou (eds), 43–59. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C. 1993. Elite closure as a powerful language strategy: The African case. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 103: 149–163. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ngunga, A., Nhongo, N., Moisés, L., Langa, J., Chirinze, H. & Mucavele, J. 2010. Educação Bilingue na Província de Gaza: Avaliação de um Modelo de Ensino. Maputo: CEA/UEM.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nyati-Ramahobo, L. 2000. Language situation in Botswana. Current Issues in Language Planning 1(2): 243–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Obanya, P. 1999. Popular fallacies on the use of African languages in education. Social Dynamics 25(1): 81–100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Obondo, M .A. 2008. Bilingual education in Africa: An overview. In Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 5: Bilingual Education, 2nd edn, J. Cummins & N. H. Hornberger (eds), 151–161. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pearson, P. 2014. Policy without plan: English as a medium of instruction in Rwanda. Current Issues in Language Planning 15(1): 39–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petzell, M. 2012. The linguistic situation in Tanzania. Moderna Språk 1: 136–144.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prah, K. K. 1995. African Languages for the Mass Education of Africans. Bonn: Education, Science and Documentation Center.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rubagumya, C. M. 2003. English medium primary schools in Tanzania: A new ‘linguistic market’ in education. In The Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa (LOITASA), B. Brock-Utne, Z. Desai & M. Qorro (eds), 149–169. Dar es Salaam: E&D Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruíz, R. 1984. Orientations in language planning. National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Journal 8(2): 15–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroud, C. 2001. African mother-tongue programmes and the politics of language: Linguistic citizenship versus linguistic human rights. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 22(4): 339–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shohamy,E.(2010).Cases of language policy resistance in Israel’s centralized education system.In Negotiating Language Policies in Schools: Educators as Policymakers, K. Menken&O. Garcia(eds),182–197.New York, NY:Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tadadjeu, M. & Chiatoh, B. A. 2005. Mother tongue-focused bilingual education in Cameroon. In Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education in Southern Africa: The Dynamics of Implementation, N. Alexander (ed.), 123–136. Cape Town: PRAESA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tollefson, J. W. 1991. Planning Language, Planning Inequality. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudell, B. & Piper, B. 2014. Whatever the law says: Language policy implementation and early-grade literacy achievement in Kenya. Current Issues in Language Planning 15(1): 4–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, E. 2014. English in African politics of education: Capital or capital illusion. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 225: 131–145.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Young, I. M. 1993. Together in difference: Transforming the logic of group political conflict. In Principled Positions: Postmodernism and the Rediscovery of Value, J. Squires (ed.), 121–150. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Bonnet, Andreas, Merle Hummrich, Thorsten Merl & Matthias Schierz
2025. Schule und Unterricht in der (post-)migrantischen Gesellschaft – Migration und Mehrsprachigkeit. Ein Basisbeitrag zur Einführung. ZISU – Zeitschrift für interpretative Schul- und Unterrichtsforschung 14:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Chimbutane, Feliciano, Johanna Ennser-Kananen & Sonja Kosunen
2023. The Socio-Material Value of Language Choices in Mozambique and Finland. In New Materialist Explorations into Language Education, ► pp. 111 ff. DOI logo
Chimbutane, Feliciano
2021. Afterword. Language Policy 20:1 ► pp. 125 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue