language colloquium, Cape Town
31 July 2006
Prof Moleleki, Chairperson of the Pan South African Language Board
(PANSALB)
Mr E Sambo, Acting Chief Executive Officer of PANSALB
Mr Adama Samessekou, President of the Academy of Languages, Mali
Distinguished guests
Let me welcome you all here today. This mini-seminar is intended as an
opportunity to reflect on current practice and to begin to define a practical
approach to the practice of language in education policy, an approach that
supports quality of learning and teaching and reflects the best lessons of
education research.
Our language policy seeks to achieve a number of important imperatives.
First, it encourages use of the mother tongue as a clear departure from past
practice. Study in the mother tongue should introduce a diversity of learning
opportunities that have been unavailable in South Africa in the past. The
policy recognises that past policy and practice has disadvantaged millions of
children and it also promotes the effective learning and teaching of the
previously neglected indigenous languages of South Africa.
The policy adopted in 1997 has not been implemented convincingly up to this
point. Resources have not been made available in amounts that would give effect
to the policy. There has also been a poor response to fears that parents have
about a perceived imposition of old style apartheid education. Further, the
policy has not enjoyed a prominence similar to that given to other policy
shifts in education.
As always it is important to repeat that the policy does not, as some have
claimed, deny children the opportunity to acquire English or any other second
language. Rather it is empowering through the assertion that language-learning
opportunities must be made available in all the official languages of South
Africa.
Second, all young people should be able to speak and write in a language
other than their mother tongue.
Third, young people need to have the ability to communicate in a third
indigenous language.
But most importantly, the success of our policy depends on how we manage in
an efficient and beneficial manner in all provinces, the effective utilisation
of mother-tongue education and the acquisition of competence in the chosen
lingua franca.
We have agreed that our language in education policy and practice should be
shaped in a manner that promotes the achievement of these three important
imperatives:
* increased use of and competence in the mother tongue, as a medium of
instruction, at least in primary school
* improved ability in a second language, such as English, to support further
study and respond to the legitimate desires of parents and learners
* the development of communicative ability in at least one African language,
for all South African children.
The major obstacles we face in promoting mother-tongue learning are that the
many of parents still prefer their children to be taught through the medium of
the English language.
The obstacle that this preference creates is compounded by the fact that not
enough teachers have been adequately prepared to teach in English.
This language preference is clearly expressed in the recently published
Human Sciences Research Council (HRSC) survey of South African social
attitudes. Most South Africans prefer the use of English as the language of
instruction from grade one (with the exceptions of the Western Cape and the
Northern Cape). And the commitment to English grows stronger from grade six to
grade twelve.
The conclusion reached was the following: âEnglish is the language of
perceived potential upward educational mobility among almost all black
Africans; Afrikaans maintains some strengths at all levels and African
languages, even at the lowest levels in the system, are considered as having a
subsidiary role that diminishes yet further as the black child climbs through
the systemâ (p. 203).
How then does one reconcile such a view with our present policies? What can
educational policy makers do to prevent the neglect of African languages in the
education system? How do we achieve linguistic equality and also fully prepare
learners for economic competition in a global society?
The benefits that language diversity confers on any society far outstrip any
advantages that mono-lingualism may offer. All recent research confirms this
view.
It is also now conventional wisdom that a strong mother-tongue foundation
provides the best platform on which to base the learning of a second language;
it makes it easier and faster.
There is also mounting evidence that a correlation exists between
mother-tongue loss and the educational difficulties experienced by many
learners using another language for learning.
We have another dimension to confront in regard to language in our schools.
The advent of democracy has brought about greater population mobility than ever
before.
A consequence of this is the linguistic, âracialâ, and religious diversity
within schools.
Let me take one example. In one school in Pretoria, learners come from 14
nations and speak 16 different languages. At home only two out five of this
schoolâs children speak English to their parents and siblings. Yet the school
uses English as medium of instruction, teaches English First Language to all
the children, and Afrikaans as the second language. This indicates that though
the composition of the pupil body has changed significantly over the last ten
years, little has changed in coming to terms with linguistic diversity.
This sort of diversity has been commonplace in many other countries around
the world, but educational policies and practices vary widely between countries
and even within countries.
At times we as political actors have found ourselves caught between research
and social reality. It is vital that as education practitioners we should
implement our policies in a coherent and educationally sound manner.
I hope that today the people invited to this meeting will assist us in
evaluating initiatives, in learning from practice elsewhere, and support our
determination to give effect to the promise offered by recent policy. A diverse
mix of invitees has been brought together. The choice was based on our belief
that the persons in this room are the most helpful collective in the domain of
the interface between language and learning.
I hope the discussions will be constructive. South Africa has to move beyond
the old philosophies and positions on the use of languages, in all our schools,
in all our provinces. How do we best promote our languages and cultures? What
are the choices we want our educators, school managers and officials to make in
ensuring that the very essence of our âlanguage in education policyâ finds its
way to our learners through best practice and effective models?
These are the issues we hope to clarify through your contributions and
support.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
31 July 2006
