Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy

Zimbabwe is a multilingual country with a less complex multicultural society than other African nations, but the country's national language policy continues to marginalize indigenous African languages at all levels of the country's education system. The aim of this paper is to argue stron...

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Main Author: Magwa, Wiseman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2021
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915?journalCode=rmmd20
https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4289
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author Magwa, Wiseman
author_facet Magwa, Wiseman
author_sort Magwa, Wiseman
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description Zimbabwe is a multilingual country with a less complex multicultural society than other African nations, but the country's national language policy continues to marginalize indigenous African languages at all levels of the country's education system. The aim of this paper is to argue strongly for the recognition and use of all indigenous African languages spoken in the country in both the private and public spheres. The discussion confirms the assertion that when minority linguistic rights are acknowledged, the full participation of minority groups in all national activities is guaranteed. It is again made very clear in the debate that Zimbabwe inherited from Rhodesia a racially structured system of education in which two parallel systems existed. As a way forward, the paper proposes a language policy framework code-named ITEM (Integrated Trilingual Education Model) that could be adopted to enable the country's citizens to actively participate in national development.
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spelling ir-11408-42892022-06-27T13:49:06Z Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy Magwa, Wiseman Indigenous languages Private/public spheres Minority rights Zimbabwe Development Zimbabwe is a multilingual country with a less complex multicultural society than other African nations, but the country's national language policy continues to marginalize indigenous African languages at all levels of the country's education system. The aim of this paper is to argue strongly for the recognition and use of all indigenous African languages spoken in the country in both the private and public spheres. The discussion confirms the assertion that when minority linguistic rights are acknowledged, the full participation of minority groups in all national activities is guaranteed. It is again made very clear in the debate that Zimbabwe inherited from Rhodesia a racially structured system of education in which two parallel systems existed. As a way forward, the paper proposes a language policy framework code-named ITEM (Integrated Trilingual Education Model) that could be adopted to enable the country's citizens to actively participate in national development. 2021-05-31T11:07:18Z 2021-05-31T11:07:18Z 2010 Article 1744-7143 1747-6615 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915?journalCode=rmmd20 https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4289 en Journal of Multicultural Discourses;Vol. 5; No. 2: p. 157-168 open Routledge
spellingShingle Indigenous languages
Private/public spheres
Minority rights
Zimbabwe
Development
Magwa, Wiseman
Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title_full Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title_fullStr Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title_short Revisiting the language question in Zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
title_sort revisiting the language question in zimbabwe: a multilingual approach to the language in education policy
topic Indigenous languages
Private/public spheres
Minority rights
Zimbabwe
Development
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915?journalCode=rmmd20
https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2010.491915
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4289
work_keys_str_mv AT magwawiseman revisitingthelanguagequestioninzimbabweamultilingualapproachtothelanguageineducationpolicy