The influence of mother tongue and gender on the acquisition of English (L2). The case of Afrikaans in Windhoek schools, Namibia

Jacolynn Van Wyk,Maria Louise Mostert,Sammy King Fai Hui

doi:10.1080/2331186x.2016.1210997

Jacolynn Van Wyk, Maria Louise Mostert + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2016.1210997

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Abstract

This study investigated the effect of mother tongue instruction and gender on second language acquisition using a causal-comparative quantitative research design. The two distinguishing groups comp...

Highlights

This study aimed to shed some light on the ongoing debate, as to whether mother tongue instruction, or instruction in the second- or official language, is more beneficial for the child’s second language acquisition and competence
The present study investigated gender-based differences in ESL performance of grade-5 Namibian learners with Afrikaans as their mother tongue (MT)
Since Namibia is a multilingual country, several MTs can be used for instruction from grades 1 to 3, but English is the compulsory medium of instruction as from grade 4

Summary

Introduction

Contextual background Several countries in Africa adopted English as their official language for reasons such as that it is a global language and it has advantages in terms of business, commerce and general communication. Even though the Namibian Language policy clearly states that during the first three years of primary education, learners should be taught via the MT as medium of instruction Often a language that is considered “neutral” in the country is selected as the medium of instruction to ensure that no language group will be considered superior This is done to protect national unity (Makalela, 2005). Ministry of Basic Education Sport & Culture, 2003), whereby many learners do not have the opportunity to learn through their MT. This leads to the neglect of the MT during the first years of formal education

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