Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2023)

Pre-service Teachers’ Epistemological Understanding of the Language of Instruction: Can Education Policy Stop Kiswahili in Tanzania’s Classrooms?

https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.340
John Biseko

Corresponding Author(s) : John Biseko

j2biseko@yahoo.com

Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), Vol. 12 No. 2 (2023)

Abstract

Language-in-education policies in Sub-Saharan Africa is a topic that has attracted
several researchers. The adoption of alien languages as legitimate languages of
instruction is a matter that has been seriously challenged. Since the 1960s, the debate
in Tanzania has been on which language qualifies for the status of LOI. The answers
have been favouring either the alien language (English) or the dominant language
(Kiswahili). In 2014 the government launched the education policy, which declares
both English and Kiswahili as LOI in post-primary education. In the 2023 edition, the
policy was changed to declare English as the sole LOI in post-primary education. This
study examined pre-service teachers’ epistemological understanding of using the two
languages as LOI. The epistemological understanding model proposed by Kuhn (1991)
was used as a conceptual framework. The data from interview revealed that the
participants had different epistemological understandings about the issue. The study,
therefore, provides a firm standing that pre-service teachers should be prepared and
assisted to attain evaluatism understanding for a reasonable selection of LOI in a
multilingual community like in Tanzania


 

Keywords

epistemological understanding, language of instruction, multilingual African societies, multilingual education, post-colonial language-in-education policies.
Pre-service Teachers’ Epistemological Understanding of the Language of Instruction: Can Education Policy Stop Kiswahili in Tanzania’s Classrooms?. (2024). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 12(2). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.340
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Pre-service Teachers’ Epistemological Understanding of the Language of Instruction: Can Education Policy Stop Kiswahili in Tanzania’s Classrooms?. (2024). Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS), 12(2). https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12i2.340
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