ABSTRACT

The decision on which language(s) of instruction to use and how to use them in education is a persistent challenge in the development of quality education in multilingual countries like Ghana. This qualitative study of four public basic schools in the Ashanti region of Ghana explores teachers’ and pupils’ experience of the early-exit transitional education policy in Ghana to understand how it is implemented in the classroom and what its outcomes are for learning. It was discovered that linguistic heterogeneity within classrooms remains a challenge to effective communication despite bilingual instruction. This is exacerbated by the inadequate supply of teaching and learning resources and cognitive underdevelopment of the mother-tongue. The interaction of these factors makes only three years of bilingual instruction insufficient for children to develop adequate bilingual ability to advance intellectually after primary three with English-only instruction. This is more so the case for children at the primary level whose L1 is a marginal/non-dominant language linguistically different from the L1 of their classroom.

摘要

决定使用哪种教学语言以及如何在教育中使用这些语言是加纳等多语言国家发展优质教育的持续挑战。这项对加纳阿散蒂地区四所公立基础学校的定性研究探讨了加纳教师和学生对提前退出过渡教育政策的体验，以了解该政策如何在课堂中实施及其对学习的影响。研究发现，尽管双语教学，课堂内的语言异质性仍然是有效沟通的挑战。教与学资源供应不足和母语认知不发达，更是雪上加霜。这些因素的相互作用使得仅仅三年的双语教学不足以让孩子在小学三年级后通过纯英语教学培养足够的双语能力来提高智力。对于小学阶段的孩子来说，情况更是如此，他们的 L1 是一种边缘/非主导语言，在语言上与课堂的 L1 不同。