Comprehensive national surveys of primary schools were conducted in nine Francophone West African countries in 2014. These surveys include information on private tutoring which enables in-depth analysis to be undertaken of both the overall incidence of tutoring provision among primary school students and teachers. The main conclusion of this study…

This article has been excerpted from "Perspectives on the Sign Language Factor in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges of Sustainability" (Lutalo-Kiingi and De Clerck) in "Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities: Envisioning the Future for Deaf Students" (G. A. M. De Clerck and P. V. Paul (Eds.) 2016). In this…

Africa is a potentially rich continent due to its considerably rich resources endowment. It is believed that if there is a synergy between these resources, that is if these resources are properly harnessed with a clear vision on the part of our leaders, there is the prospect of growth leading to the development of the continent. The basis of any…

In studying language policy, it is not enough to look at central government management, but also at the influence of managers at levels ranging from the family to international organizations. Actual cases reveal that there are also non-linguistic forces such as demography, war, civil strife, and economic breakdowns which have major effects. This…

The May 2013 Report of the High Level Panel, established by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012 to advise on the global development framework beyond 2015 underscored that rising inequity is a growing worldwide concern. The high level panel refers to a study of 28 countries in Africa which found that more than one out of every three pupils…

Discourses of development, education, gender, feminism and critical linguistics arrive in Africa from usually well-meaning but often opportunistic agents from other contemporary socio-political and economic contexts. Each of these forms a new layer that veils the earlier discourses and practices. Simultaneously, people in Africa are…

This paper draws on data collected at the Kitengesa Community Library in Masaka District of Uganda to discuss some of the different literacies that are important in African environments. First, the literacies associated with different languages are analysed, these being classified as "supralanguages" (English in Uganda), "lingua…

While the HIV/AIDS epidemic has wrought havoc in the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, access to information about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of the disease remains a challenge for many, and particularly for young people. This article reports on an action research study undertaken in a rural Ugandan village in 2006.…

This study explores the language policy and practice of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an African regional economic organisation made up of 14 member states (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia…

My main contention in this article is that the nation-state paradigm for policies targeted at effecting development in sub-Saharan Africa is undermined by arbitrary colonial boundaries and porous borders and the challenges of transnationalism as part of the globalization phenomenon in late modernity. The nation-state paradigm is also the framework…

The International Corpus of English (ICE) was initiated to support study of the English used in countries where English is either a majority first language or an official additional language. The national or regional corpora are expected to conform to a specified common design. Software exists to facilitate the grammatical annotations of the…

It is argued that African countries need both local and foreign languages and that the roles of these languages are complementary. An African language can become official and national, and a medium of instruction; the choice is determined by political and socioeconomic factors. (21 references) (Author/LB)

Language choice (LC) for literacy must consider mother tongue, language of first sight, local lingua francas, and any readily accessible world language. Common but false assumptions regarding LC are noted: multilingualism as a barrier to development, the necessity of a world language, and the permanance of language patterns. (Contains four…

Notwithstanding the barriers posed by multiplicity of languages, inherited colonial policies, and negative state and citizen attitudes, West African experience supports a policy of using the mother tongue rather than a foreign language as the medium of instruction in schools at all levels. (Author/MJL)

Most East African nations have adopted the colonial languages of English or French as the medium of communication and education. One notable exception is Tanzania where, while each ethnic group has its own language, Kiswahili serves as an effective lingua franca. (RM)