I came across the following material in research not long ago and
scanned it with the thought that it may be of interest to others.
(Reference at end.) DZO
"The need to study African languages as school subjects, i.e. as part
of the syllabus, is not obvious to many primary teachers and
prospective teachers. This hesitancy, which has to do essentially with
the teaching of grammar, may be explained in two ways. For many
teachers the way European languages work represents perfection. Hence
similarities between African languages and European languages are
regarded as positive factors, whereas differences are seen as
deficiencies (e.g. the lack of an article is regarded as a serious
defect; the same is true of sequence of tenses etc.). The educational
value of teaching based on an African language is also called into
question because teachers mostly start off with the idea that the way
this type of language works is too anarchical and too simplistic to
warrant serious study."
...
"There are no languages afflicted with a congenital defect that makes
them unsuitable for development and educational experiment. All
languages are potentially able to adapt to any communicable human
experience. Historical and economic circumstances (liable to great
fluctuations) are what give rise to cultural habits and determine the
degree to which a tongue develops its potential in one field or another.
"Some sub-Saharan African languages are already on the way to becoming
real literary and scientific languages, because those who speak them
are willing to write them and use them to give an account of their
research, their work and their societal concerns.
"A few centuries ago the European languages which are now so powerful
were looked upon as rudimentary, primitive dialects barely usable to
express the ordinary needs of everyday life, while Latin, subtle and
complicated, was regarded as the language of art, science and law. The
interplay of social and political structures, and also the emergence
of teachers, men of letters, scientists and lawyers determined to
express themselves in the vernacular, gave these languages the
universal resources they possess today.
"African languages should also benefit nowadays from the enormous
opportunities for enrichment opened up by modern means of
communication and dissemination. Thus over and above primary education
which they are already largely able to provide, they can expect
gradually to become a favoured medium of instruction in secondary and
higher education.
"Furthermore they are not hampered by a millstone of spelling
inherited from the past. European languages such as English and French
use complex spelling, the learning of which is a shocking waste of
energy that could be better used to acquire other subjects and skills.
"African languages recently promoted to the status of written
languages do not suffer from this handicap. Their spelling, both
economical and efficient (being based on sound phonetic principles),
saves children tiresome and pointless drudgery of no educational value
(pupils are obliged to `learn by heart' for at their educational level
it is impossible to go back to Latin, for example, to explain the
origin of spellings). Economical and efficient spelling is
unquestionably a great asset in the competition between languages, and
most African languages now possess this asset."
National languages and teacher training in Africa : a methodological
guide for the use of teacher training institutes / by Joseph Poth.
UNESCO, Paris, (1990)1988
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