From the account so far, it is clear that the various planners of language policies in Ghana over the years attempted to take care of the language needs of a multilingual population whose education must necessarily position them to be able to interact not only with people of different ethnic backgrounds in their local community but also with people from outside their local community in a world that is becoming increasingly globalised. More importantly, several of the various language in-education policies discussed above seem to have recognised the importance of mother tongue education to the overall personal and educational development of bilingual children (Cummins, [2000]; Baker, [2000]; Skutnabb-Kangas, [2000]). These notwithstanding, the policies appeared inadequate in addressing these language needs. In other words, Ghana has struggled (and may be still struggling) to implement language policies in education including bilingual education policies for a multi-ethnic/multilingual population over a period of more than 50 years. What may have caused or may be causing the struggle? Have there been problems with the policies themselves or with their implementation? Focusing on the 1974–2002 policy, the longest lasting language –in- education policy in Ghana, I shall suggest that while bilingual education is necessary in Ghana, the constant fluctuations of language in education policies over the years may be attributable to a failure in the implementation of these policies, which in turn may be attributable to the fact that the policies may have been inadequate in addressing the sociolinguistic realities of a highly multi-ethnic community where people have fluid multilingual identities rather than a mosaic of ethno-linguistic identities.
Making essentialists assumptions about/multicultural communities
According to Freeland ([2003]), very often the asymmetrical relations that exist between ethnic groups within multi-ethnic communities are reflected and reproduced through language. She, however, warns against using such asymmetrical relations as the basis for language policy and language planning, including language- in- education policy. This is because any language policy that is based on such relations will be inherently modeling essentialist assumptions about multilingual/multi-ethnic communities, which treat ethnic groups and cultures (with their languages) as clearly bounded and internally homogeneous. Indeed, recent research on highly multilingual/multicultural communities, e.g. Nicaragua (Freeland, [2003]) has shown that models of bilingual education that are based on such essentialists assumptions about multilingualism/multiculturalism are inadequate for language planning and language- in- education policy in ‘complex multilingual societies.
For instance, the 1974–2002 language policy in education espoused the benefits of mother tongue education in Ghana. However, the policy appeared inherently problematic. The first major problem was identifying the child’s mother tongue in certain instances within such linguistically heterogeneous contexts. Jespersen ([1922]) position on defining the mother tongue is that the child’s mother tongue refers to the initial language in which the child learns to communicate with peers and caregivers from early years:
The expression ‘mother tongue’ should not be understood too literally; the language which the child acquires naturally is not, or not always his mother’s language … but of those with whom the child comes into closest contact from the age of 3 or so, thus frequently servants but even more effectually playfellows of his own age or rather slightly older than himself… (Jespersen, [1922], pp.146-147).
However straightforward this definition may appear, it may not be entirely applicable in all linguistic contexts. In fact, recent research suggests that defining mother tongue in complex multilingual contexts is not a straightforward thing at all (Sebba, [2000]). For instance, what is the mother tongue of a Ghanaian child of Ewe-speaking parentage, who lives in an Akan speaking community in Accra but attends an English only medium private school in a predominantly Ga-speaking neighbourhood, and speaks all four languages fluently from an early age? Indeed, some researchers, for example, Le Page and Tabouret-Keller ([1985]), Skutnabb-Kangas ([1981]), and Pattanayak ([1981]) contend that in multilingual communities, it is possible to find people with more than one mother tongue.
This is the case for several children in Ghana. Thus, identifying the child’s mother tongue or even determining which of the child’s mother tongues should be used as a medium of instruction in education in Ghana could be problematic. In an on-going study by the current writer, 56 native Akan-English bilinguals of adult population were selected from urban Ghana to participate in focus group discussions. The analysis of the demographic information compiled on the participants reveals that 58.8% of the 56 participants indicated that they ethnically belonged to a Twi dialect of Akan, 19.7% were Fante while 10.7 were ethnic Bono. The remaining 10.7% said they were not ethnic Akans at all even though they indicated they were native speakers of Akan. However, 78% of the participants indicated the Twi dialect of Akan as their first language, Fante 7%, Bono 2%, English 2%, English and Akan 9% and others 2% showing that participants’ ethnic identities do not neatly correspond to their linguistic identities. Figures 4 and 5 below show ethnic group and first language distribution of the 56 native Akan participants respectively:
Figures 4 and 5 above show clearly that identifying or determining the mother tongue or first language of a child may be an extremely complex task, especially in multi-ethnic/multilingual communities where one’s mother tongue does not necessarily correspond to the language of their ethnic origin. Thus, any language in education policies that are based on assumptions that simply equate a child’s mother tongue to the language of the child’s ethnic origin in complex multi-ethnic/multilingual communities may fail to achieve their objectives.
The dominant group argument in language planning and language policy
Another shortcoming of the 1974–2002 language policy in education in Ghana is the selection of only 9 out of over 80 indigenous languages as representative languages of various ‘localities’. This is because assuming that all the languages have native speakers, including school-going children, the policy deprived several children of the benefits of mother tongue education it sought to achieve. Indeed, the lack of a clear definition of which language constituted the ‘language of a particular locality’ was even more problematic. Was it the native language of the child, its parents or was it the ethnic language of a given geographic/administrative region whether it was the dominant language of that area or not? The policy seemed to have assumed, at least that was how it was interpreted, that children living in a particular geographic region (locality) where a particular Ghanaian language is widely spoken automatically acquire that language as a mother tongue. In effect, what this policy said was that irrespective of the child’s mother tongue, the language of education was to be the dominant language in the locality where the child went to school irrespective of whether the child was positioned to receive instruction in that language or not.
Even then, the concepts of a dominant language and locality are very fuzzy. What were the boundaries of a particular locality, and what counted as a dominant language? For instance, under the 1974–2002 policy, the implementers decided only Akuapim Twi would be used as the medium of instruction for schools in Akan-speaking towns of the Eastern region. Children were therefore required to be able to at least read and write Akuapem Twi as it would be the expected language of examination at the lower primary. The problem is that for many of the Akyem, Kwahu and Asante speaking children in the Eastern region, Akuapem Twi was neither their mother tongue nor a dominant language. Thus, inherently, this policy was discriminatory, forcing children from minority language backgrounds living in majority language localities or children from an otherwise dominant language that is not supported by official legislation to adopt another language, dominant or not, as their mother tongue. For instance, as per this policy, Ga-speaking children whose parents are transferred to an Nzema- speaking community would be made to receive formal education in Nzema whether they understood it or not.
This language policy invariably made many Ghanaian children bilingual in other Ghanaian languages, as children whose mother tongues were not used as the language of education in the first three years of formal education had to learn one or more of the so called ‘languages of the locality’ in order to receive formal education. In other words, even though the letter of the policy espoused mother tongue education, the spirit of the policy encouraged mother tongue education for children from local majority language groups and second language education for children from minority language groups.
The selection of the nine ‘languages of the locality’ made the policy practically non implementable in another sense. Granted that materials for teaching all subjects from P1-P3 (except English) were prepared in all 9 selected Ghanaian languages of the locality (which may not have been the case), the policy implementers had to ensure, in addition, that every teacher posted to a particular locality could not only speak the language of the locality, but was competent enough in it to teach all subjects, including modern science and mathematics. For obvious reasons, this was not or could not be done. Both the teaching syllabuses and teaching materials for primary schools, apart from text books on Ghanaian languages as subjects, are always in English. This means that the teachers had to translate the lessons from English to the language of the locality. In effect, the policy potentially made teachers who neither had the knowledge of the language of the locality, nor the competence, unprepared to teach in the classrooms.
Unfortunately, this is the situation. Since there is no legislation (or any special effort) in Ghana that ties a teacher’s work location to the Ghanaian language(s) he/she speaks. There are teachers who do not speak the dominant languages in the locality where they teach. Indeed, in a national survey that was meant to inform school language policy decisions in Ghana, Andoh-Kumi ([1999]) reports of instances where P1-P3 teachers indicated that they did not speak the local language in which they were required to teach the children in. Thus, the policy’s inherent assumption that every teacher could speak the dominant language in the geographic region where they taught was wrong.
The sociolinguistic realities of highly linguistically diverse communities in Ghana
Again, this language policy discussed in 3.2 could not deal with Ghana’s urban population which is linguistically very diverse. For instance, the native language of the indigenous people in the capital city, Accra, is Ga. However, Ga is not the most widely spoken language in several parts of Accra. With a rather high rate of rural urban drift, large groups of native speakers of other Ghanaian languages have settled in Accra, the most urbanized city in Ghana. While there are areas in Accra where one can clearly identify a particular language as dominant, e.g. Nima –Hausa, Ga and Ewe; Chokor-Ga, Avenor-Ewe, Abeka- Twi/Akan, there are many other areas where the population is so mixed it is difficult to identify a dominant language. Thus, going by the 1974–2002 language policy, whichever way one interpreted what constituted the ‘language of the locality’ in Accra (and many other urban centres in Ghana), many children will be deprived of the benefits of mother tongue education the policy sought to provide.
Another sociolinguistic reality that the 1974-2002 policy could not address adequately is the complex sociolinguistic phenomenon (typically among urban populations) of Ghanaian children growing up in Ghana with English rather than an indigenous Ghanaian language as L1. Usually, such children are products of cross-ethnic marriages where couples do not speak each other’s L1, especially among educated Ghanaians (Ansah and Mensa, [2005]). It is important to emphasize, however, that this phenomenon is not widespread: possibly even non-existent in rural Ghana. To such people, the 2002 language- in- education policy was a proactive measure by the government to solve the problems inherent in the previous policy.
Nevertheless, even the 2002 policy could not solve the problems associated with language -in- education policy in Ghana. For instance, for the rural child or a child growing up in a relatively linguistically homogeneous community, the 2002 policy meant discouraging the use of the child’s mother tongue, dominant language or even the only (well) known language. However, as Cummins ([2000]) asserts, discouraging the use of the mother tongue may stagnate the child’s development of that language and consequently undermine the development of personal and conceptual foundations for learning. The current policy (2007) seems to have taken several of these factors into consideration in making room for the use of English or a Ghanaian language (where possible) as the medium of instruction in primary education.
Another thing the current policy does is that it includes pre-schoolers in the policy, something none of the previous policies did. As it stands, the current policy allows more opportunity for children to be taught in their L1 whichever that is. In other words, children who speak English as L1 get to be taught in English right from the pre-school stage (four years old). On the other hand, children who speak Ghanaian languages as L1 may get to be taught in their L1s, and also get to be familiar with the English language long before (from 4–9 years old) it becomes the sole medium of instruction in the classroom. However, one problem remains; the policy still emphasizes the use of the dominant Ghanaian language of a particular area, possibly discriminating against children from minority language backgrounds.