Introduction: multilingualism and education: the critical nexus

Njoroge, Martin C.; Mwangi, Phyllis W; Ndung’u, Ruth W; Orwenjo, Daniel O

Introduction: multilingualism and education: the critical nexus

dc.contributor.author	Njoroge, Martin C.
dc.contributor.author	Mwangi, Phyllis W
dc.contributor.author	Ndung’u, Ruth W
dc.contributor.author	Orwenjo, Daniel O
dc.date.accessioned	2024-03-12T13:48:51Z
dc.date.available	2017-11-14T08:23:49Z
dc.date.available	2024-03-12T13:48:51Z
dc.date.issued	2014-08-19
dc.description	Journal article	en_US
dc.description.abstract	This article focuses on practices and challenges that relate to multilingualism and education in the African continent. It represents an array of selected but representative international scholarly discourse on the twin issues of multilingualism and education in Africa. The contributions are based on empirical studies, theoretical postulations and policy interrogations. Language is just one of the many factors that can contribute to the delivery of quality education. It is also a linguistic and societal reality that many developing countries are characterized by individual as well as societal multilingualism, yet a majority of multilingual societies in Africa continue to experience and even propagate a paradoxical situation in which a single foreign language is allowed to dominate in the education sector. In Kenya, for instance, the newly independent nation asserted the hegemony of English over other local languages in her first post-independence education commission (Republic of Kenya, 1964, p.24). For most African countries and other post-colonies all over the world, this has always been (ridiculously) blamed on the colonial legacy. The situation described above has often led to instruction through a language that learners do not speak. Compounded by chronic difficulties such as low levels of teacher education, poorly designed, inappropriate curricula and lack of adequate school facilities, submersion makes both learning and teaching extremely difficult, particularly when the language of instruction is also foreign to the teacher. This article therefore, presents a valuable resource for best practices. This is because the twin issues of multilingualism and education, especially with regard to basic and primary education, are so central to the development of the child that they transcend the educational context to other spheres of life, such as human rights.
dc.description.sponsorship	PAC University	en_US
dc.identifier.other	doi:10.1186/s13616-014-0010-5
dc.identifier.uri	https://repo.pacuniversity.ac.ke/handle/123456789/1416.2
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Multilingual Education	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Multilingual Education;Vol. 4 No. 10
dc.subject	multilingual education	en_US
dc.subject	African Nations	en_US
dc.subject	Human rights	en_US
dc.title	Introduction: multilingualism and education: the critical nexus	en_US
dc.type	Article