Thank you (belatedly) for sharing this. Indeed, it seems that every study on language of instruction shows the same thing: use of the first language of students is better for learning. It is possible to learn in a second or thitd languae, but for most people, the quality of understanding and internalization of knowledge are not optimal. For the kind of broad-based education pivotal for development, it there is a relationship to choice of language(s) and approaches to their use.
Don --- In AfricanLanguages@yahoogroups.com, "polyglute" <polygl...@...> wrote: > > I think this is a very interesting study into the use of African languages as > medium of instruction since Ethiopia is the African country with the longest > number of years of study in African languages by the children at this point. > Also, different language policy used in Ethiopia allow the comparison of the > different level of imported languages used (or not). > > The text is written with the objective of being a valuable source of > information for policy makers and people interested in the effectiveness of > the use of African languages in education in any country. > > Bacically, the conclusion is that the best model is the > multilingual/trilingual model where the number of years the children are > taught in their own mother tongue is maximized. > > The trilingual model is one that use: > > 1 - African languages (mother tongue/closest familiar local languages) as > language of instructions > 2 - Another local/national language as a second language > 3 - International (english, french) language as a second language > > So children learn in their mother tongue and learn 2 other languages as > subjects. In my opinion such policy should be used at all level from primary > to university. This study, among others, shows considerable advantage of > using it for at least 8 years (then use one international imported language > for teaching while the other 2 stays subjects). > > http://www.hsrc.ac.za/research/output/outputDocuments/4379_Heugh_Studyonmediumofinstruction.pdf > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: africanlanguages-dig...@yahoogroups.com africanlanguages-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: africanlanguages-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
