The Usage of English Language as a Challenge for Students to Access and Succeed in Zambian Higher Education

Abstract

The usage of English as the official language of Zambia has disadvantaged a lot of people to access and succeed in higher education. The educational system that was inherited from the colonizers has not radically changed to accommodate students who have struggled to engage and express themselves in English. As a result, many students have dropped out of education of their inability to express themselves sufficiently. This is aggravated by the fact that local languages are only taught at primary school level. Secondary and tertiary level use English as a medium of instruction. Those students who have attempted to reach higher levels of education had to quickly master the language of English. There has been instances where those who are incapable of expressing themselves were laugh at in secondary schools; this discouraged them from proceeding any further. Worse still, if they failed to qualify from Grade 9 to Grade 10, that was the end of their education. Therefore, this chapter argues the need for Zambia to reform, restructure, and introduce local languages as medium of instruction. This way many students may be able to cope. Moreover, the government needs to construct more universities to accommodate the influx of student leaving Grade 12 every year. Central to this is the provision of bursary to the poor and disadvantaged students. Furthermore, the objective of this chapter is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of using either English language or local languages in Zambian higher education for students to access and succeed.