Vignette: Changing language-in-education policies in Malawi - Consultation and implementation

Citation

Reilly C, Chavula JJ, Kamtukule V & Chetty R (2023) Vignette: Changing language-in-education policies in Malawi - Consultation and implementation. In: Multilingual Learning: Assessment, Ideologies and Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003311553

Abstract
This vignette describes how recent changes to Malawi's language-in-education policy have moved away from supporting the use of learners' mother tongues at the lower primary level, clearly going against a wealth of international evidence suggesting this. It also presents the findings from an emergent research study consisting in part of interviews with various stakeholders in education, exploring how the English-only approach came into being and its current state of implementation.

People

Dr Colin Reilly

Lecturer in Linguistics, English Studies