Publishing for mother tongue-based bilingual education in Ghana: politics and consequences

Through the Lenses of Culture: A diasporic sisters dialogue on power struggles informing African women’s representations in Ghanaian and Canadian contexts.

“…Few of the dialects are used by the larger society in Ghana. The estimated number of indigenous languages spoken in Ghana varies from 30 to 81 (Opoku-Amankwa et al, 2015). So how does a country with heterogeneity in language maintain an inclusive national identity?…”

“…Even with indigenous languages in Ghana, a hierarchy exists and has privileged certain ethnic groups over others. During the colonial era, the Basel mission schools and the Wesleyan Church translated the English Bible into Twi, Ewe, and Ga (Opoku-Amankwa et al, 2015). European missionaries' use of indigenous languages (Twi, Ewe, and Ga) resulted in some ethnic groups gaining linguistic dominance in Ghana.…”

“…European missionaries' use of indigenous languages (Twi, Ewe, and Ga) resulted in some ethnic groups gaining linguistic dominance in Ghana. After Ghana's independence from colonial rule, the government included Twi, Ga, Ewe, and Dagbani (an indigenous language used by groups in the northern region) in the language policy for education (Opoku-Amankwa et al, 2015). This language policy is evident in the selected languages (Dagbani, Twi, Ga, and Ewe) offered by the University of Ghana as compulsory courses for all students, in order to promote inter-linguistic competency.…”

Factors Influencing Ghanaian Public Junior High School Students’ Performance in English Language, Mathematics and Science and its Implications on the National Policy on Progression

“…As with the other Sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria, educational policy implementation in Ghana is often fraught with challenges. For instance, several studies focusing on the medium of instruction policy in Ghana have revealed some challenges associated with its implementation (Davis & Agbenyega, 2012;Opoku-Amankwa et al, 2015). Studies suggest that often, there is a dichotomy between the medium of instruction policy and its implementation at the basic school level (Davis & Agbenyega, 2012;Owu-Ewie & Eshun, 2019).…”

The African Storybook and Language Teacher Identity in Digital Times

“…Books found in African schools and libraries are often donated (sometimes discarded) from Western countries, reflecting foreign curricula, themes, and imagery (Dent & Yannotta, 2005;Rubagumya, 2009;Waruingi, 2009). However, the market for children's storybooks in Africa, particularly in African languages, is small, partly for economic and political reasons (Opoku-Amankwa, Edu-Buandoh, & Brew-Hammond, 2014;Parry, Andema, & Tumusiime, 2005), and partly because many languages have few speakers. Such reading challenges are well known in the Ugandan context, the site of our research, where there is a drastic shortage of appropriate stories for early reading in languages familiar to young children (Abiria, Early, & Kendrick, 2013;Ssentanda, 2014).…”