Emphasis on English in pre-school will kill our local languages

There is an ever growing global penchant for English as a language of instruction at early grade learning. This new found love with English is a function of the ever growing desire to fit and participate effectively in the global village.

In Africa, and East Africa to be precise, the desire to belong to the global and regional economies and trade blocks, though not directly an education affair, has had the indirect effect of tilting the arm of the education clock to point towards greater emphasis on English proficiency at earlier grades at the expense of Kiswahili and other indigenous languages.

When the limited learning capacity that is still under nurture for children within early grades is divided between learning a foreign language before they fully comprehend their mother tongues, it tends to limit their expressive capacity in the foreign language and makes them less fluent in both languages since the default fallback position is inadvertently missing and or inhibited by the immersion in English, which is likely a third language in the prevailing context.

We are in a global economy but the elevation of English at the household level and at the earliest point of literacy in school creates a quick fix false impression of the learning but a long-term wasted investment in a learners’ ability to express themselves creatively using their contexts and the language tools therein — like idioms and culture-specific phrases.

Linguists over the years have argued that fluency in local languages (read mother tongue) increases the currency and potency of the utilisation of the second or third language for a learner who acquires it for communicative and expressive functionality.

The use of English as a medium of instruction in early grades makes sense after children have acquired and learnt the structure of their mother tongue or the first language and are grounded to take on a second and or third language.

MYTHS BEING PEDDLED

The myths being peddled about early immersion for mastery are just myths and nothing more. The ability to learn a new language is inherently human and children and adults have capacity to learn a new language.

Many people perceive children as quick learners of new languages simply because they do not worry about structure and rules of grammar as adults when learning but that does not diminish the capacity of an adult willing to learn a new language.

Studies have shown that children taught in two or more languages surpass those who are only immersed in English.

Our children may not be learning according to the national learning assessments over the years due to our incessant pressure on the children to learn and perfect their English.

As we invest in early grades literacy, teacher capacity is a game changer. Pre-and in-service support and mentoring of teachers must by necessity shift from assessing vote learning to the communicative aspects of language learning.

Early grade literacy and immersion in English is a great crowd pleaser from a political perspective but teachers have difficulty when charged with the enviable responsibility to teach a language skill when they lack it or are not really capable and they lack a supporting environment.

We cannot keep questioning the societal functionality and usefulness of our children at the household and community level when all we teach them has nothing to do with their cultural orientation and contexts of operation.

The situation is getting out of hand in Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Lamu, Kilifi, Kwale, West Pokot, Baringo, Narok and Isiolo, where non-locals are taking over the teaching for early grades since locals are not taking up ECDE and primary education training to support their local schools. Most of these local languages are going to suffer irreparable damage if the trend is allowed to continue unchecked.

There are murmurs in the linguistic sector about the textbooks provided for Tusome under the leadership of RTI. Teachers of language have identified structural and syntax problems with the three guiding texts (pupil’s book, teacher’s guide and the attendant video). There questions about the level of local subject panel engagement and the role of local experts in publishing this material.

If the Ministry of Education does not step in to manage these concerns early, we may be ruining the next generation through incorrect content through direct instruction which is very difficult to undo.

Andrew Epiche is a graduate teacher of English and literature. [email protected]