Language-in-Education Policies in Africa: Perspectives, Practices, and Implications

In an attempt to match the pace of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and Education for All, the focus of this chapter is language-in-education policies in Africa where countries are characterized by the multiplicity of ethnic groupings and languages spoken. This chapter reviews the sundry perspectives, practices, and implications for social, economic, and national development—but specifically personal cognitive and educational development. Arguments and counter-arguments for language-in-education policies are premised on the colonial backdrop of foreign language institutionalization as well as the best practices for bilingual and multilingual settings. There is a potential adverse impact on the African child’s learning when the teaching-learning process is in an unfamiliar language; yet, the former colonial masters’ languages still hold high prestige in African societies. We conclude that there is a need to invest and strengthen the teaching of second languages so that African children acquire the functional proficiency to enable them to better use these languages with facility. However, we also recommend that high-quality teaching of second languages should be done alongside the development of indigenous languages so that children can learn through languages that they understand better.