Language and education: the missing link

26 November 2009

Language of education in Tanzania, Ghana and on Zanzibar Island

John Clegg and Oksana Afitska

With acknowledgements to L&L and SPINE colleagues

2 The EdQual Language and Literacy project

Edqual is a DfID-funded research project consortium consisting of institutions in the UK and Africa

Research projects on: school effectiveness, curriculum change, ICT, leadership and management, language and literacy

The Language and Literacy project investigates effective practice in teaching science, maths and basic literacy through the medium of first and second languages in Ghana and Tanzania

Data includes: video lesson observation, interviews, language tests

3 Project objectives

• Characteristics of classroom interaction• Teachers’ language competence• Learners’ language competence• Differences in classroom interaction between

boys and girls• Perceptions of stakeholders with regard to the

use of L1 and L2 in education• Accessibility of L2-medium textbooks

4 Context (Ghana)

• Dates: 2008-9

• Schools: three schools; one private school in an urban setting, one

public school in an urban setting and one public school in a rural

setting. 

• Classes: Years three and four

• Data collected:

– characteristics of classroom interactions were observed and video-recorded.

– Interviews with class teachers, school heads, six pupils from each of the two classes (P3 & P4) in the three schools; parents of pupils in the schools, teacher educators in a teacher college and an education officer.

Preliminary findingsCharacteristics of Classroom Interactions

• L2 (English) was used as the main medium of instruction in the urban private school.  Code switching and code mixing were mostly done in the public urban and rural schools.

• Pupils were given more opportunities for writing than for reading during the lessons.

• Learners rarely asked questions during the lessons especially in the rural school.

Teacher Competence in teaching through L1 and L2

• Generally teachers had a good command of L2 with limited errors in pronunciation of L2 words.

• While teaching in L2 medium, the teachers occasionally used L1 to explain new concepts and to encourage learner participation.

• Teachers had some obvious difficulty in explaining technical terms in L1. 

• Generally, the teachers demonstrated competence in teaching through both L1 and L2.

5

Preliminary findingsLearner Competence in Learning through L1 and L2

• Particularly in the urban private school, learners demonstrated much competence in learning in L2.  They made longer utterances in L2 than learners in the public schools, especially the rural school.

• Very limited use of L1 was noticed among pupils in the urban private school.

• On the other hand, learners in the public schools, especially in the rural school, made longer utterances in L1 than in L2.  They were found to exhibit greater competence in learning through L1 than in L2.

Respondents’ Perceptions on Roles of L1 and  L2 in Education

• Except for teachers and heads in the urban private school who showed a particular preference for the use of L2, all the other respondents indicated a general preference for use of both L1 and L2 to bring about more meaningful learning among learners particularly at the lower primary with a dominance of L2 at the upper primary.

6

7 Context (Tanzania)

• Dates: 2008-9

• Schools: four schools; two urban schools, two rural

schools 

• Classes: Years primary year 6 and secondary year 1

• Data collected: – Characteristics of classroom interactions were

observed and video-recorded. – Interviews with class teachers, school heads,

pupils, parents, teacher educators and education officers

FindingsTeachers’ command of L2

• In L2 medium lessons that only above a quarter of the observed teachers (28.57%) exhibit a strong command of English. Majority of them (66.67%) are only fairly fluent in English. This low competence in English can have an impact on subject delivery in many ways.

Teachers’ choice of language

• In L2 medium lessons some use of Kiswahili language (29.58%) by the teachers was observed. These are instances of code switching that take place despite the existence of the language policy in place.

Teachers presenting and explaining concepts

• In all observed cases teachers present concepts clearly when Kiswahili is used compared to only a third (33.3%) of the times when English is used.

8

FindingsTeachers checking comprehension

• When L1 is used there is generally more (83.3%) checking of comprehension by the teacher than when English is used (61.9%).

Teacher feedback and range of feedback

• For most of the lessons observed there are generally few cases of wide rage of feedback provided whether in English (4.8%) or Kiswahili (16.7%). However when Kiswahili is used, teachers provide wider feedback (66.7%) than when English is used (38.7%).

Teachers providing L2 support

• When English is used, teachers only provide language support sometimes (47.6%) or rarely (33.3%).

9

10 What is SPINE?• Student Performance in National Examinations: the

dynamics of language in school achievement (SPINE) www.bristol.ac.uk/spine (ESRC/DfID RES-167-25-0263)

• Bristol team: Rea-Dickins, Yu, Afitska, Sutherland, Olivero, Erduran, Ingram, Goldstein

• Zanzibar team: Z. Khamis, Mohammed, A. Khamis, Abeid, Said, Mwevura

• LTA = high stakes; > 50% of school aged children leave school at the end of Basic Education as unsuccessful

• Switch of medium from primary to secondary school• English = medium of instruction & examinations

Findings

Teachers’ choice of language

• Overall, teachers were observed using L1 during the lessons in 49% of cases.

Teachers checking comprehension

• In 42% of cases observed, teachers rarely probed pupils’ comprehension. They did not

probe pupils’ comprehension at all (24%). Teachers frequently probed pupils’ comprehension (8%); and sometimes probed pupils’ comprehension (24%).

Pupils extended responses

• In 83% of cases, learners rarely (28%), almost never or never (55%) provided extended

responses; 16% pupils provided extended responses some of the time; only 2% learners

were observed providing extended responses most of the time.

11

12

12

Findings12

13 Summary

• Few potential opportunities for L2 development and support

were provided across all contexts;

• English-Kiswahili lessons seemed to provide more potential

opportunities for learners’ L2 development than English

(mostly) lessons, regardless of whether these lessons were

taught by teachers with high or low English language

proficiency;

• Most attention seemed to be paid to vocabulary issues (leaving

focus on grammar, pronunciation, comprehension through

paraphrasing or translation behind)

14 Summary

• Of the four major language skills, students spent

considerably more time listening to the teacher than on other

skills (speaking, reading and writing);

• Learners never used English language to talk to their peers

and the teacher during group work activities;

• Reading in L2 was practiced very rarely and only through

chorus reading from books.

1515 Student performance on exam items

English Reading Comprehension Question:

How whales resemble man

45 students took this item:

• 35.6% = no answer

• 26.7% = wrong answer

• 28.9% = partially correct answer

• 8.8% = correct answer

1616Interview: D1 who didn’t answer Q3 explains

D1: “because I did not understand by this this … resemble” (lines 115-117)

Int: “If I tell you that resemble means ‘to look like’ … can you do the question now?

D1: “Yes”Int: OK so what’s the answer?D1: “Man … is warm blooded … and

whales also … whales have lungs and man also have lungs …” (122-133)

1717 Results

• Original item– Only 32.6% of students wrote an answer – Just under 11% gave a partially correct or

correct answer

• Modified item– 100% responded to this item– 42% gave a partially correct answer to Part A– 53% gave a partially correct answer to Part B

Summary

• Students DO have language problems when processing

examination questions

• Restructuring & modifying items (e.g. use of visuals,

context, linguistic simplification) impacts on: – overall response rates– number of partially correct or correct responses– depth of insights into learning that has taken place

• Significant threats to reliability & validity: students

struggle with the construct of English Language in

order to access constructs of Maths & Science

18

19 Conclusion

• The classroom data suggest that learners could potentially benefit from schooling more if they are provided with more opportunities for English language development and support during the lessons.

• Language support and opportunities for English language development may be best provided when teaching and learning in the classrooms are conducted through non-restricted and collaborative use of learners’ first language and English language, where both languages are seen as crucial and equally important for effective facilitation of successful learning and higher achievement.