English in language ideologies, attitudes, and educational practices in Kenya and South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this paper we discuss language‐in‐education practices, along with the ideologies and attitudes that undergird them, in the two countries. The focus is on the ideology of development, the essence of which is captured in the second epigraph: An education through the medium of English brings about employment, literacy, and development, personal success and upward social mobility. We discuss these presumed outcomes in the context of Kenya and South Africa, and argue that the language remains accessible only to a select few, the elite, and so do literacy and socioeconomic development.