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<h1 class="">Linguistics expert sad with schools’ continued English language use<div style="" id="rsss_sidebar"><div class="">
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<div class="">Posted in <a href="https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?cat=75" title="View all posts in Gender" rel="category">Gender</a>, <a href="https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?cat=87" title="View all posts in Gender" rel="category">Gender</a> on September 16, 2015 by <span class=""><a class="" href="https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?author=3" title="View all posts by Online User">Online User</a></span></div>
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<img src="http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ZambiaSt.MarcellinsHighSchool-04_1.jpg" class="" alt="ZambiaSt.MarcellinsHighSchool-04_1" height="254" width="366"> </div>
<p>ARTHUR MWANSA, Lusaka<br>
DESPITE overwhelming evidence of the positive impact of using mother
tongue as the preferred language of instruction for primary <span id="more-43928"></span>school
learners, many African countries continue to use the colonial language
as the primary language for teaching and governance.</p><p>
University of South Australia (USA) associate Professor in applied
linguistics Kathleen Heugh said this in statement issued recently.</p><p>
Prof Heugh said “These languages are not even the second language for most children,”</p><p>
She said this when she presented a United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report co-edited by
Christine Glanz in a session hosted by Oxford University Press (OUP) at
the combined 9th Pan African Reading for All and the 10th Reading
Association of South Africa (RASA) conference recently.</p><p>
The report, which followed UNESCO Education for All framework, analysed
language policy, implementation and practices in 25 African countries.<br>
What emerged was a clear indication that a firm foundation in mother
tongue instruction, coupled with learning colonial language, is critical
for understanding new concepts and expressing what has been learned.</p><p>
“The quality of education and the level of learning depend on the
synergy of the curriculum with the social and cultural environment. But
the fact is that African realities are still largely ignored in the
development of policies and curricula.” Prof Heugh said.</p><p>
And a Ugandan based non-governmental organisation, Literacy and Adult
Basic Education (LABE) says Long periods of ‘colonialisation of the
mind’ have led people to believe that their home languages are worthless
in education, governance and legal matters.</p><p>
LABE representative Godfrey Sentumbwe says “There are also hurdles to putting research into practice.</p><p>
“We have many good policies on paper but the implementation is poor
because the research on which the policies are based is inaccessible and
incomprehensible to a wider audience”.</p>
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