This study compares the English and Swahili language texts used in the primary grades in Kenya and Tanzania in order to ascertain the role of language in determining the content of instruction and to relate the content of these texts to significant characteristics of governmental educational policy and the values underlying them. The introductory section is a general discussion of the political implications of language policies in multilingual nations and the problems resulting from attempts to institute instruction in the mother tongue. The design of the ensuing study is based on two major assumptions: (1) that educational policy and school texts are good indicators of societal "core" values and future orientations; and (2) that salient policy features and values will likely be translated into school texts. Content analysis is used to examine data from four sets of instructional contexts: Kenya/English, Kenya/Swahili, Tanzania/English, and Tanzania/Swahili. The findings are organized around the following broad categories: daily life, Africanization, bases for legitimating knowledge, self-help, egalitarianism, value of education, work emphasis, national integration, rural development, African traditions, and cooperative behavior. The subsequent discussion focuses on cross-national contexts (that is, English medium and Swahili medium perspectives irrespective of national boundaries) and within-nation contexts (relating to salient policy features in each country. Six statistical tables are appended, along with footnotes and a list of government and party official documents and school texts from each country. (TE)