Countering linguistic imperialism with stories in the languages of Africa: The African Storybook initiative as a model for enabling in and out of school literacies

Yvonne Reed

doi:10.4102/sajce.v9i1.637

Abstract

Background: In South Africa, and in many other African countries, official language-in-education policy supports the use of learners’ primary language(s) in early schooling. In reality, texts in the language(s) of the former colonial power are dominant, with high-interest texts in languages familiar to young learners in short supply or non-existent. Where government education departments have begun to address this shortage, it is mainly by producing graded readers in the ‘standard’ variety of a language. Aim: The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how quality texts can be provided in a wide range of African languages to stimulate children’s interest in reading, across the African continent and beyond. Setting: The African Storybook (ASb) initiative of the South African Institute of Distance Education (Saide) aims to provide illustrated texts in local languages and language varieties that enable children to read for pleasure and for learning. This is done through a publishing model that makes these texts available, cost-effectively, as needed, by teachers, librarians and caregivers. Methods: Internal reports, external evaluations, two interviews with the initiative’s co-ordinator and a review of selected texts on the ASb website provided data for analysis. Results: The analysis enabled reflection on the challenges faced and the successes achieved, identification of factors that have enabled many of the challenges to be addressed and finally consideration of what the initiative offers as a model for supporting literacy development in local languages. Conclusion: While the paper tells a story that includes elements of a cautionary tale, it is primarily a story that offers inspiration and guidance to other organisations already involved in, or wishing to embark on, the important project of providing texts for young readers in a wide range of languages.

Highlights

In South Africa, and in many other African countries, the recasting of the languages of children’s homes and communities as ‘a problem’ for schooling and the lack of reading materials in these languages are legacies of colonial discourses which constructed the languages of the colonial powers (English, French and Portuguese) as superior to local languages (Alexander 2009; Pennycook 1998; Philipson 1996)
After a 2-year investigation of African language publishing for children in South Africa, Edwards and Ngwaru concluded that the quantity of material published was ‘limited, even in the more widely spoken languages’ and that there was a ‘dearth of materials for very young children’ (2010:iii)
In Moller’s subsequent investigation of the state of multilingual publishing in South Africa, the hegemonic position of English is evident in her finding that ‘mother tongue speakers of African languages prefer to write in English in order to get published and to ensure a wider audience’ (2013:4) and in her finding that ‘many publishers show no http://www.sajce.co.za

Summary

Background

In South Africa, and in many other African countries, official language-ineducation policy supports the use of learners’ primary language(s) in early schooling. Aim: The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how quality texts can be provided in a wide range of African languages to stimulate children’s interest in reading, across the African continent and beyond. Setting: The African Storybook (ASb) initiative of the South African Institute of Distance Education (Saide) aims to provide illustrated texts in local languages and language varieties that enable children to read for pleasure and for learning. This is done through a publishing model that makes these texts available, cost-effectively, as needed, by teachers, librarians and caregivers

Results

Conclusion

Introduction