Implementation of the government of the Republic of Namibia’s language policy for schools in selected primary schools in Windhoek

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Date
2008
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Namibian Educational Research Association (NERA)
Abstract
This study investigated the implementation of Namibia’s Language Policy in Grades 1-4 in selected schools in the Windhoek area. Thirty-six teachers of Grades 1-4 in nine schools were individually interviewed. Seven principals were also interviewed. Namibia’s Language Policy states that English is the official language of the country and that instruction for primary learners Grades 1-3 be delivered in the mother language. The issues investigated in this study were: 1) how does this mother tongue implementation occur in a heterogeneous classroom where there are learners with a variety of mother languages and where the teacher’s mother tongue may not be that of the learner? 2) What are the social dynamics in a school where the learners and the teachers are from different ethnic groups? The findings indicate that only eight of the 36 teachers had a medium of instruction in one of Namibia’s native languages (six in Afrikaans, one in Khoe-Khoe and one in Oshiwambo). English supersedes mother language teaching as the default medium of instruction in many heterogeneous classrooms even though it is not a mother language. Furthermore, parents are requesting that their children be enrolled in the English medium of instruction streams as opposed to the mother language streams.
Description
Journal in the library Call No. SCP 370.96881 NER
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Citation
Ashton, D., Iijambo, T. , Matengu, M.,& Kalenga, E. (2008). Implementation of the Government of the Republic of Namibia’s Language Policy for Schools in Selected Primary Schools in Windhoek. NERA Journal A Journal for the Namibian Research Association, 17-29.