‘Kinyarwanda doesn’t have a place in communication at our schools’: linguistic, psychosocial and educational effects of banning one’s mother tongue

Abstract

This article entitled “Kinyarwanda doesn‟t have a place in communication at our school: linguistic, psychosocial and educational effects of banning one‟s mother tongue” has been published in Rwanda Journal Series B, Volume 3, Number 1, 2016 and can be accessed online from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/rj/article/view/145353 However, due to a technical error, Mr.Emmanuel Uwambayinema‘s name does not appear on the manuscript that is available on Google scholar.

French and English have the status of official languages in Rwanda alongside Kinyarwanda and have been taught and used as media of instruction for relatively long time in this country. However, the proficiency in these languages by educated people in Rwanda has been found limited. This situation resulted in a variety of official and unofficial decisions and strategies aimed at enhancing Rwandan learners' proficiency in these languages. With a particular focus on English, some of the official decisions include, but not limited to, increasing the time for the English subject on school and university curriculum and using this language as a medium of instruction straight from nursery school. The most prominent ‘unofficial’ decisions has been the 'English only at school' micro-policy which prevents learners, teachers and other school staff from using Kinyarwanda at school. This micro-policy received support in speeches by some officials in the Rwandan Ministry of Education. One reason for this ‘micro policy’ is the belief that the use of Kinyarwanda will interfere with the development of proficiency in English. In this article we explore the possible linguistic, psychological, pedagogical and social effects of the move to ban the use of learners’ and most teachers’ mother tongue, Kinyarwanda, in Rwandan schools. We argue for Kinyarwanda to be given the place it deserves in education and in communication at school as a national language and a mother tongue to virtually all Rwandans: it should be taught adequately and used as a medium of communication like any other language. Instead of having a negative effect on proficiency in English, such a move will enhance learners’ school performance in all subjects including English.

Key words: Language, identity, language proficiency, medium of instruction, language acquisition, code switching, code mixing