Innovation in Language Learning

As multilingualism became more visible across the globe, applied linguists are now challenging the efficiency of the LiEP which stipulates that a single named language should be used as medium of instruction (MOI), citing that this policy plays a significant role in enforcing linguistic hierarchies and the relegation of the marginalised native languages in the education system. This study presents findings from qualitative research conducted in a Grade 4 bilingual Natural Science in one Namibian public school offering English as a new language (also known as English as a second language), in which language education policy was monolingual in English. This study brings particular attention on how monolingual policy and language ideologies profoundly shape and constrain the use of linguistic resources purposefully as valuable assets for teaching and learning in multilingual school settings. The data revealed how the English-only policy can be detrimental to science content learning in a bilingual science class. It is the English MoI that was strongly was strongly imposed on the learners by explicit sanctions   that proved to be challenging for the learners to engage in science learning, turning them into passive recipients of the science knowledge. I take the position that restrictions on the use of multiple linguistic resources during classroom discourse may ultimately impede learners from understanding the science concepts. Therefore, in our attempts to redress the pervasive effects of the monolingual mindset in language classrooms, we need to adopt language education policies that are sensitive to the multilingualism while harnessing the linguistic recourses that learners brought to classroom.

Keywords: Language Education Policy; Monolingual; Multilingualism; Language Ideologies