Mother tongue as medium of instruction

The use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction at the lower level of education is a subject of endless debate in Ghana and other educational jurisdictions in Africa. However, research is conclusive on the view that mother tongue at that level enhances comprehension and helps prepare children to become adult critical thinkers. This is because naturally, it is assumed that humanbeings think better in their mother tongues. To actualize this assumption, the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service (GES) have initiated the National Literacy Acceleration Program (NALAP). The initiative is meant to enhance comprehension and promote literacy and numeracy among the pupils of Kindergarten and lower primary - Primary One to Primary Three - through the use of local dialects.

Viewpoints

Proponents of mother tongue as an effective medium of instruction cite countries which do not use English or any Second Language at all but have become tigers in science, technology, and other areas of education. Among these countries are Japan, China and other Eastern Technological Giants. Turkey is a country of technological wonder. But education there is generally NOT conducted in English at the lower level and largely NOT at the tertiary level. Iran and Malaysia have maintained native languages as media of instruction, but have attained glories in transformational education.

Opponents of the use of mother tongue as a language of instruction argue that it brings English language proficiency to the nosedive. This way, it creates confusion among learners as they progress to the higher level where English is the only medium of instruction at least in our case. The cumulative effect of this situation is that students do not have proper linguistic capacities to think critically in English. And even if they are naturally endowed with a sense of critical thinking, they still lack the competence of articulation and translating this endowment into English for serious academic work.

Suggestions

If you weigh the arguments of proponents and opponents, you need to contextualize the issue under review before you draw a reasonable conclusion. In our context, therefore, I am of the view that the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction should be conditioned on the following:

* If the need arises, it should be used at all levels of education to ensure uniformity and to avoid what I call "Linguistic Clash."

* One mother tongue could be developed to a level acceptable to all Ghanaians as the language of instruction at all levels of education.

* Alternatively, as much as possible, a number of local languages should be developed as media of instruction in relevant areas. Examples are Dagbani for Mole Dagbon areas, Twi for Akan areas and Ga for Ga - Adangbe areas.

* Whatever mother tongue is adopted should be used to teach English, French, and other foreign languages, since these languages are still major media of communication in international trade and other affairs.

* Our curricula should be tailored to suit the demands of the local languages adopted as media of instruction at all levels of education.

Conclusion

If the above suggestions are considered, the confusion associated with the use of mother tongue as a language of instruction could be avoided. Also, we would not have a potential language conflict or dialectical pyrotechnics to resolve. I am for the mother tongue as a language of instruction, but a strong foundation should be laid to make it a realistic tool of achieving our educational goals.