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Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) was issued with copyright registration Certificate No. Rw-C10000866 by the Office of the Registrar General in accordance to the Rwandan IPR Law No. 31/2009.
N.B.: KIE is now a College of Education, constituent of the University of Rwanda in accordance to the Rwandan Law No. 71/2013 of 10/09/2013 establishing the University of Rwanda (UR), and the College of Education as shown on its website: http://www.ce.ur.ac.rw/
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The acquisition of English as a second language in Rwanda: Challenges and promises
Abstract
The use of English in daily communication in Rwanda is very limited and the proficiency in English by many of those who claim the ability to use it has been questioned. This situation is in spite of a relatively long history of English as a school subject and a medium of instruction in Rwanda. Building on the factors which are believed to affect second language (L2) acquisition and learning, this article explores constraints, challenges, possibilities and promises regarding the acquisition of English in the Rwandan sociolinguistic context. The article suggests that while the teaching of English has been improved and several factors appear to increase Rwandan people’s motivation to learn English, the context is not yet favourable to the attainment of communicative competence in this language. In fact, given the limited use of English in daily communication, the opportunities for learners to receive and produce enough input and
output respectively are still very limited.
Key words: English, second language acquisition, proficiency, input, output, motivation
