An ethnographic inquiry into the implementation of the Kenyan language-in-education policy : (mother tongue as subject and medium of instruction) in the Sabaot language group

Abstract

As part of a local initiative, efforts were made to implement the Kenyan language-in-education policy so that Sabaot children would have the opportunity to learn to read and write their language during daily Mother Tongue lessons. The policy supports the use of mother tongue or the language of the so-called "catchment area" during Mother Tongue subject lessons and content subject lessons during the early years of education. A number of local stakeholders and expatriates spearheaded efforts to implement the policy (Mother Tongue as subject) which saw Sabaot teaching/learning materials developed, teachers in pilot schools trained, and community members informed about the benefits of mother tongue education. As one of the expatriates involved, I observed that Sabaot teachers had varying responses to teaching their mother tongue as a subject: at one extreme were those who were very wholehearted in their participation and at the other were those who were completely unenthusiastic. It was my desire to understand what lay beneath their differing responses that prompted me to carry out this study. My research looked at the teachers' responses to the language-in-education policy and their participation in its implementation, focusing both on the place given to the mother tongue as subject and as medium of instruction. Data were collected as part of a school ethnography over a six month period in 2007 in the Mt Elgon District of Kenya where the majority of Sabaot people live. Methods included analysing documents, observing and interviewing the five pre- and primary school teachers who were the main focus of my study; a wide range of other stakeholders were interviewed as well. The study was carried out during a period of significant change in the Sabaot community; language shift was occurring and there was significant intra-tribal unrest. The investigation revealed the complexity of mother tongue policy implementation in a context which was both multilingual and multiethnic, where resources were limited, and where the majority of stakeholders were anxious to see learners moved as quickly as possible to the languages of wider communication, English and Kiswahih. In such a setting, teachers were caught in the middle of conflicting aspirations and left having to balance their ideals for language teaching with the complex reality of their teaching context. It was through managing these tensions that teachers had such varied responses to the policy and the process of its implementation.