Language Ideologies and the Use of Mother Tongues as the Medium of Instruction and Learning in Junior Primary Schools: A Case Study of Parents and Teachers in a Namibian School

Abstract

In the Namibian education system, teaching in the junior primary is supposed to be done in the learners’ mother tongue. However, there is always controversy on adopting a language to be used as a medium of instruction (MoI) due to the multi-ethnic and multilingualism of the Namibian society. To make matters worse, parents equally cast doubt on enrolling their children in schools that uses mother tongue as an MoI. Framed within the qualitative case-study orientation, this research investigated: parents’ and teachers’ language ideologies and beliefs; the factors that informed the embodied and expressed language ideologies and beliefs of parents’ and teachers’; and how these dominant language ideologies and belief systems informed parents’ and teachers’ choice of language of instruction and the general implementation of the language policy in a Namibian school. The study found that both parents and teachers harbored monolingual ideological belief systems that did not only construct and perpetuate an “English-only” language zone but also banished all mother tongue languages from the school premises. Not only do the findings point to the hegemonic positioning of the English language in the minds of parents, teachers, and school principals as the only language that can lead to success, but its violation was punishable in a derogatory manner. The study concludes that, among others, parents, teachers, and school principals’ language ideologies and beliefs were shaped and informed by the prevailing English language hegemony. The liberal and duality stance of the Namibian language policy, and its decentralization, partly resulted in parents, teachers, and school principals’ neglect of the multilingualism and heterogeneity that the very same policy purports to advocate. The study recommends raising parents’ and teachers’ awareness of embracing the heteroglossia of language practices and for the ministry of education to consider a more inclusive language policy.

Exploring language practices on Namibian social media platforms

“…The language policy states that the mother tongue is the medium of instruction for grades 0-3, and English is only used from grade 4 onward (NCBE, 2016). In practice, many schools opt for English as the medium of instruction from grade 0, especially in multilingual communities where it is hard to decide whose first language to follow (Katukula et al, 2023). According to the Census of 2011, only 3.4% of the population speaks English as their first language.…”

“…In conclusion, English is the most visible language in Namibia both offline, as observed by Stell (2021), and online, as discovered in this study. People observe the benefits of knowing English above any other language because is the country's official language (Katukula, 2023). Therefore, there is a need to uplift the social position of Namibian indigenous languages in social interactions because it is in social interaction where people mostly become familiar with other people's languages.…”