Competing scripts: the introduction of the Roman alphabet in Africa

Pasch, Helma

doi:10.1515/ijsl.2008.025

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Originally written in the Arabic script ajami, the Hausa orthography was changed to Latin script under the British colonial administration (Newman, 1997). Whereas a few Hausa speakers still prefer the ajami script, the Latin script is far more prevalent in Nigeria, a trend reinforced by technology and the internet (Pasch, 2008). Under RANA, both formal and integrated Qur'anic schools used the Latin script to teach Hausa literacy.…”

Section: Hausa-language Reading Instructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Story Read‐Aloud Lessons on Literacy Development in the Early Grades: Experimental Evidence From Nigeria

Moussa¹,

Koester²

2021

Reading Research Quarterly

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Research has indicated that reading aloud to young students can enhance their foundational reading skills and their reading motivation, but such research has been lacking in African contexts. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of story read-aloud lessons in improving students' foundational reading skills in Nigeria. The experiment took place in a cluster randomized trial of 199 schools in Northern Nigeria. In treatment schools, second-grade teachers conducted weekly read-aloud lessons as an addition to the core learning curriculum. In control schools, second-grade teachers implemented only the core curriculum, without weekly read-aloud lessons. We found that story read-alouds led to positive effects on listening comprehension, letter sound recognition, nonword decoding, and reading fluency, with effect sizes between 0.17 and 0.33 standard deviations. These outcomes suggest that enhanced student motivation from read-alouds may enhance text-based skills. To identify the effects of increased teacher experience on read-aloud effectiveness, we employed a two-period difference-in-differences approach. We found that increased teacher experience explained between 26% and 51% of the overall read-aloud effect, depending on the literacy subskill. We also found that the read-aloud effects coupled with increased teacher experience had an equalizing effect on the reading outcomes of students from divergent home literacy environments.I n recent decades, the international development community has increased its focus on learning outcomes generally and on literacy outcomes specifically (Bartlett, Dowd, & Jonason, 2015).

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Section: Hausa-language Reading Instructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Story Read‐Aloud Lessons on Literacy Development in the Early Grades: Experimental Evidence From Nigeria

Moussa¹,

Koester²

2021

Reading Research Quarterly

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“…From the first missionary activities resulting in the development of Latin-based alphabets for African languages (Pasch 2008) to the present day, African language development has centred on the creation of written materials. This written bias is tied to the main stakeholders of language development in Africa, who are in their majority members of faith-based NGOS such as SIL, missionary organizations such as the New Tribes Mission, or Western descriptive linguistics and only marginally involve African institutions (and if so, mainly organizations that incarnate Western monolingual standard culture).…”

Section: Language Development: a Dominant Focus On Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Vital Repertoires, Not Revitalizing Languages

Lüpke¹

2018

The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization

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“…Oromo is written with a modified Latin alphabet called Qubee, which was formally adopted in 1991. As Pasch (2008) notes, the introduction of the Latin or Roman alphabet in Africa was the first attempt of mass alphabetisation on the continent. However, the choice of the Latin alphabet as the basis for Oromo literacy has indeed ideological roots and may be interpreted as an assertion of linguistic and cultural identity in contrast with the dominating Amhara and Brought to you by | University of Oslo Norway Authenticated Download Date | 9/8/17 11:41 AM Ethiopic script.…”

Section: Oromia and Oromomentioning

confidence: 99%

Language contact, agency and power in the linguistic landscape of two regional capitals of Ethiopia

Woldemariam

Lanza

2014

International Journal of the Sociology of Language

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The issue of language contact in the linguistic landscape has been rarely addressed, especially in regards to issues of agency and power in this domain of multilingual practices. The linguistic landscape provides an arena for investigating agency as related to literacy, language rights and identity. In this article, we explore the linguistic landscape of two different regions in Ethiopia to provide an analysis of language contact that takes place between regional languages, which only recently have made the transition to literacy in the country as the result of a new language policy, and Amharic, the federal working language, which has a long and established history of literacy. The study is based on data collected through field work and participant observation from two federal regions in the country -Tigray and Oromia -two regions that have fought for the recognition of language rights, for Tigrinya and Oromo, the former a Semitic language like Amharic and the latter a Cushitic language. Results indicate ways in which speakers of the regional languages draw on their multilingual resources to create a new arena for language use and thereby assert their agency in developing new literacy practices.

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Competing scripts: the introduction of the Roman alphabet in Africa

Cited by 18 publications

References 15 publications

Effects of Story Read‐Aloud Lessons on Literacy Development in the Early Grades: Experimental Evidence From Nigeria

Effects of Story Read‐Aloud Lessons on Literacy Development in the Early Grades: Experimental Evidence From Nigeria

Supporting Vital Repertoires, Not Revitalizing Languages

Language contact, agency and power in the linguistic landscape of two regional capitals of Ethiopia

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