[lg policy] South Africa: Children don ’t learn best in their mother tongue!

[Harold Schiffman]

Children don’t learn best in their mother tongue!
*by The Linguist Chair
*16.12.2009 12:05:23 P

Mother tongue education is not synonymous with excellent education. Children
learn best when they are taught well and supported adequately. The argument
is repeated by many educated and smart people of our society.  It is simple
and appealing to the ear. Sweet as it may be to hear, it is based on a false
premise, bad syllogisms and impoverished analysis of the language patterns
of Botswana and other states, particularly that of South Africa. The
argument goes something like this: It would be attractive for the government
of Botswana to develop minority languages. Fair enough. One of the key ways
of achieving this would be to teach children in their early years in a
regional language.

For instance, in the North East, children would be served best by an early
education in Kalanga since that is their mother tongue and children learn
concepts best in their mother tongue. In Kgalagadi, children should be
taught in Sekgalagadi, and so on. One example that is frequently seized to
illustrate this supposedly brilliant idea is the South African model which
is brandished as progressive, unique and outstanding.  South Africa has 11
official languages which constitutionally are of equal status and esteem.
Nine of these are indigenous African languages and the additional two are
Afrikaans and English.

Afrikaans unfortunately has acquired the stereotypical badge of the language
of the oppressor, while English has become a lingua franca and a de facto
language of prestige and official discourse. Vic Webb has argued
convincingly that English though having a smaller number of native speakers,
has prestige and it is politically, economically, and educationally dominant
in South Africa.

On the other hand Bantu languages, although numerically in the majority,
lack prestige, economic and educational value. The South African
constitutional pronouncement binds the national and provisional governments
to use at least two official languages for government purposes. Webb however
criticizes what he calls the government’s “escape clauses” which may allow
the government to avoid the full and meaningful implementation of the
language policy.

One of these escape clauses states that policies should take into “account
usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances, and the balance of the
needs and preferences of the population”. The South African example actually
does not demonstrate that the provision of instruction in an African
language will cause native speakers of that language to gravitate towards
instruction in it. Instead learners and parents will always gravitate
towards a language with educational and economic value. Parents and learners
are sensible. Unless there is an economic or educational value in a
language, they will find such a language unattractive and useless.

The political and militant argument of the importance of a language is
actually unappealing and hollow to the native speaker, unless such a
language can be seen to lead to tangible benefits. We must however confront
another education claim – that children learn concepts better in their
native tongue. First, we need to peel the onion layers so that we are not
deceived. What is a mother tongue? It certainly is not the language spoken
by your mother, or by extension, your parents. Instead it is the language
learnt and spoken at home. In certain contexts this is fairly clear and
unambiguous. In Botswana however matters are not that simple.

I will give two examples to demonstrate the nature of the problem. I have a
3 year old son. His name is Lobopo-Tyrone. He attends a preschool where his
education is in English and he is taught almost exclusively by expatriates.
At home we speak to him in Setswana and English. He speaks to us in both
English and Setswana. He however doesn’t know this. He lacks the concept of
a language.  That is, if I said to him: “Son, speak to me in Setswana” he
would find the sentence incomprehensible since for him the concept of
bilingualism doesn’t exist – only speech does. I speak to him in the two
languages since I understand the economic and educational value of English
and the cultural relevance of Setswana to his future.

What is Lobopo’s mother tongue when he does not know that he is using two
distinct languages? Example number two: A child of Kalanga parents from
Masunga who work in Kanye, grows up speaking Kalanga and Setswana at home.
At school and at play he speaks Setswana with predominantly Bangwaketse
children. He learns the majority of his subjects in English. The child is
fairly competent in all three languages, particularly Kalanga and Setswana
since he uses them more often. What is this child’s mother tongue and in
which language would such a child best learn concepts? The idea of mother
tongue is much more complex than it is sometimes bounced around by
educationalists and language activists.

Next, we must deal with the claim of “learning concepts”. Some
educationalists claim that children learn concepts best in their mother
tongue. The statement begs the question: which concepts? If we are thinking
of knowledge that is readily available in a child’s vicinity, perhaps there
is some value in the argument. However as we know the larger part of what a
child learns is largely foreign. For instance, the concept of an alphabet is
not a traditionally Tswana one, so is distance in kilometers, or
measurements in centimeters, millimeters or kilograms? The shapes, such as
square, triangle and rectangle and the colours such as purple, pink, teal,
orange and others are largely not readily available in the mother tongue.

No, children don’t learn best in their mother tongue; otherwise Batswana
children instructed in English in private or government schools would fail
dismally. Mother tongue education is not synonymous with excellent
education. Children learn best when they are taught well and supported
adequately educationally by parents and the school.
http://sundaystandard.info/news/news_item.php?NewsID=6592&GroupID=5
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