Medium Of Instruction In Schools Research Articles

Contributions of Media Use and Media Literacy Education to School Innovation

Abstract This study will investigate the question as to what contributions media use and media literacy education can make to innovations in primary and secondary school education. In this context, media use and media literacy education are interpreted as being two interconnected facets of media education in school. To begin with, the media scene and the educational structure in the Federal Republic of Germany arc presented as reference points. This will be followed by an investigation of the functions of education and its relevance to the media. Bearing in mind the media situation, a future‐oriented view of education is presented. Such a view of education and its interaction with media issues will be discussed on three levels: the level of the objectives, the level of the forms of learning and working as well as the level of the subjects and the forms of organization.

Policy and experiment in mother tongue literacy in Nigeria

The advocacy for initial mother tongue literacy in elementary schools and in adult education has been intensified within the past three decades, reflecting new attitudes to cultural diversity, especially to multilingual and multicultural education. This paper assesses the efforts made in one country, Nigeria, to achieve mother tongue literacy for its citizens, through a comparative analysis of the national policy on mother tongue literacy and the Ife experimental project, whose major purpose was to test the effectiveness of the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction throughout the six years of primary education. Although, like the Ife project, many experimental projects on mother tongue literacy in other countries are shown to have succeeded in realizing their objectives, the findings highlight the mediating effects of several non-linguistic variables. The findings indicate that its use as the medium of instruction in schools cannot compensate for the deficiencies in the educational system, particularly poor quality instructional facilities, or the social barriers in the wider society which prevent certain groups of minority children from learning well in school. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Attitudes of Swazi teacher trainees towards first official language

Abstract This article is concerned with attitudes prospective teachers in Swaziland have towards the English language, the first official language and medium of instruction in schools. The study was based on the assumption that the attitudes teachers hold towards the second or foreign language they are teaching will filter down to their students—attitudes towards the language and culture, preparation for teaching the language, and general competencies in the language will either enhance and promote instruction or hinder it. Subjects evidenced positive attitudes towards English and were satisfied with English teaching methodology. Both integrative and instrumental orientations were important, but the former was weighted more heavily by the subjects.

Ethnicity and the Language Used as a Medium of Instruction in Schools

AbstractThis paper is based mainly on personal experiences in two very different areas. Between 1954 and 1956 I was employed as a teacher in Manipur State in India. I taught for one academic year at the Somdal Ningkhalen High School near Ukhrul in the Tangkhul Naga area and for three months at the Zeliangroung High School at Tamenglong. I was expelled from there in March 1956. Ten years later I spent ten months in field-work in Cambodia, mainly at Prek Por in Kompong Cham Province. And in 1972 I spent six months in two villages in Surin Province in Thailand. As I was not studying language policy or ethnicity this account will necessarily be sketchy and tentative. What interests me is the difference between the policies in India and in Southeast Asia; while all these states are trying hard to encourage the use of a national language, their emphasis and their policies towards ethnic minorities vary.