<div dir="ltr"><h1 class=""><strong>In South Africa, science should be taught in only one language — English</strong></h1>
<h4 class=""><strong>There's an ongoing debate about how
best to promote multilingualism in schools. But is this debate relevant
when it comes to teaching science?</strong></h4>
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Samuel Ouma Oyoo</div>
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<span>09 July 2015</span>
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<p><em>PICTURE: GALLO IMAGES</em></p>
<p>Mother tongue education has long been a political <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-10-17-forked-tongues-will-mother-tongue-education-lead-to-racial-division/#.VZF4Hfmqqko">hot potato</a> in South Africa. This started with the 1976 Soweto uprisings when <a href="http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=65-258-3">school children</a> staged protests after Afrikaans became the medium of instruction.</p>
<p>Today, the country’s policies <a href="http://www.salanguages.com/education.htm">promote</a> multilingualism. But its schools are <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/03/19/report-warns-of-looming-teacher-shortage">battling</a> with
a lack of African language teachers. Many teachers are not
multilingual. All the high-stakes examinations are also taken in only
English or Afrikaans. This means that most of South Africa’s <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/language.htm#.VZF7dfmqqkq">11 official languages</a> take a backseat to English and Afrikaans when it comes to formal school learning and teaching.</p>
<p>Language rights are <a href="http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/theconstitution/english-2013.pdf">enshrined</a> in
South Africa’s Constitution and there’s an ongoing debate about how
best to promote multilingualism in schools. But is this debate relevant
when it comes to teaching science? My answer is “no”. Instead, science
should be taught only in one language from Grade 4 onwards.</p>
<p><strong>What research tells us</strong></p>
<p>This is a conclusion reached from more than three decades as a school
physics teacher, a science teacher educator and through sustained
research about language for the effective learning of school science.</p>
<p>In the last five years, this research has been conducted as part of
the Language and Learning of Physical Science in South Africa project at
the University of the Witwatersrand’s Marang Centre for Mathematics and
Science Education.</p>
<p>It has involved about 3 500 physical science learners from 35 high
schools across Johannesburg and teaching students from the University of
the Witwatersrand. A total of 70 active physical science teachers have
also participated. Data has been collected through word tests and
structured interviews.</p>
<p>Science is certainly a practical subject, but it also has its <a href="https://theconversation.com/helping-learners-become-fluent-in-the-language-of-science-classrooms-41540">own language</a>.
Teachers must explain what they are doing when setting up an
experiment, for instance, and use everyday language to clarify complex
concepts.</p>
<p>In South African schools, a language’s appropriateness for learning
and teaching is judged mainly by whether it is the learners' mother
tongue, no matter what subject is being taught. Teachers assume that if a
learner is proficient in a language, they’ll be able to cope with the
subject matter.</p>
<p>So, in science, students who speak and are taught in English are
presumed to have an advantage. If that was the case, all first language
English speakers who are taught in English would excel in science — but
this is simply not true.</p>
<p>That’s because science classrooms have an entirely different
language. A learner who is fluent in English will know what “decay”
means in an English lesson or a biology text. In physics, the word means
something <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/decay">totally different</a>.</p>
<p>Our findings over the past five years have been nearly identical to those in other transnational studies and my <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-011-9228-3">earlier work</a>.
Teaching students and learners battle with the unique language of the
science classroom irrespective of gender, cultural or linguistic
backgrounds.</p>
<p>Proficiency in the language of the science classroom is key, though
it’s certainly not the only factor that will stop students from
performing well in the subject. Our research suggests that if all
students are at the same level of proficiency in a single language when
they start learning science, it removes a serious barrier to
performance.</p>
<p><strong>Why English?</strong></p>
<p>Many of South Africa’s children are still learning in a second or even <a href="http://www.salanguages.com/education.htm">third language</a>.
The shortage of qualified African language teachers referred to earlier
is a situation that seems unlikely to improve any time soon. While
debates about multilingualism continue, we cannot sit idle. So why not
level the playing field by using just one language for all learning
beyond Grade 3?</p>
<p>As to which language this should be: there is <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2013-10-04-wrest-power-from-english-tyranny">evidence</a> to
suggest that many South African parents want their children to be
taught and become proficient in English. English is considered useful
for future studies at tertiary institutions anywhere in the world and
also is the most widely spoken of the 11 official languages <a href="http://themindunleashed.org/2015/06/see-the-worlds-most-spoken-languages-in-one-eye-opening-infographic.html">globally</a>.</p>
<p>Once a language has been chosen, the education department can focus
aggressively on ensuring that learners are proficient in it, in much the
same way that schools foster computer literacy. Learners will then be
able to learn and perform in science according to their individual
capabilities to handle science concepts without language as an added
handicap.</p>
<p>A similar policy has been pursued elsewhere in <a href="http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/africasubsahara.html">sub-Saharan Africa</a>.
In Lusophone countries, Portuguese is the language of instruction;
Francophone countries often use French as the medium of instruction and
Anglophone countries favour English in the classroom.</p>
<p>These languages hark back to colonial times, which may make people
uncomfortable. But on a practical level they are similar to English —
far more widely spoken globally than any local languages.</p>
<p><strong>Multilingualism still relevant</strong></p>
<p>This is not to say that all other official languages as recognised in
the Constitution are irrelevant or that multilingualism shouldn’t have
any place in schools. Multilingualism fosters <a href="http://blogs.sun.ac.za/news/2013/04/11/promoting-african-languages-contributes-to-social-cohesion-and-economic-development/">social cohesion</a> and languages are a crucial part of people’s individual cultures.</p>
<p>When it comes to learning school science, however, the single
language policy is a sustainable one. One language for all school
learning will focus learner efforts to attain good proficiency levels in
it.</p>
<p>The single language policy therefore has the potential to enhance
learning outcomes and to speedily produce the science skills that South
Africa <a href="http://www.inseta.org.za/downloads/Top%20100%20scarce%20skill%20occupations%20in%20south%20africa.pdf">needs</a>.</p>
<p><em>Samuel Ouma Oyoo is a senior lecturer in Science Education at University of the Witwatersrand</em></p><p><em><a href="http://www.rdm.co.za/politics/2015/07/09/in-sa-science-should-be-taught-in-only-one-language--english">http://www.rdm.co.za/politics/2015/07/09/in-sa-science-should-be-taught-in-only-one-language--english</a><br></em></p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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