About The Projects:
In many parts of Africa, the role of the home languages in supporting learning the classrooms has been removed - so called subtractive transitions - resulting in failures and early drop-outs. The network aims to address this problem by bringing practitioners, policy makers and researchers together with the aim of furthering knowledge of additive multilingual education (MLE). Additive MLE maintains use of the first or familiar language as the second language is introduced as the language of learning and teaching.
Understanding Understanding
The Understanding project addresses the problem of subtractive transitions by furthering knowledge of additive multilingual education (MLE), i.e. models where use of the L1 is maintained to support learning after the L2 is introduced as the language of learning and teaching. More specifically, the project seeks to gain a better and systematic understanding of the guiding principles behind language-in-education policies, and how steering documents and curricula in various L2 MoI transition systems in SSA acknowledge (or not) the realities and challenges involved in learning and teaching through a second language. Through interviews and observations, the project also explores of how language-in-education policy directives and recommendations translate into practice in the field. Four transition systems are explored under the project: immersion, early transition, mid-transition and late transition.

Professor Mats Deutschmann
Mats Deutschmann is Professor in English at Örebro University, Sweden and also works as a research consultant at the Education and Socio-Economic Research Institute, University of Seychelles. His main fields of interest lie in sociolinguistics and language-in-education policies in post-colonial contexts with special focus on English medium of instruction (EMI). He is Principal Investigator for the current projects.
Professor Angeline M. Barrett
Angeline M. Barrett is a Professor in Education at the University of Bristol, UK. Her main research interests are teacher professionalism, curriculum and pedagogy for secondary education that contributes to sustainability and social justice. She has led a series of research projects on language supportive pedagogy in East Africa.
Eliakimu Sane (PhD)
Eliakimu Sane is a senior lecturer at the University of Dodoma, Tanzania. Sane’s research focus is on the field of language education, integrating language-supportive teaching methods into the teaching as well as teaching English as a second language. He has also studied communication in Maasai community.
Justin Zelime (PhD)
Justin Zelime is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Development at the University of Seychelles. He has over 25 years of experience in the education field. His main research interests fall within several overlapping fields, such as language policy, language didactics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and language support pedagogy.
Maryam Ismail (PhD)
Maryam Jaffar Ismail is a senior lecturer at the School of Education (SoE) of the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) with over 30 years of experience in education. Her research broadly spans on language education, language-in-education policies, language of teaching, learning and assessment.
MLE in SSA
The project Networking for MLE in SSA is aimed at connecting researchers with an interest in multilingual education (MLE) in SSA for knowledge exchange and construction. We also aim to connect the research community with teachers in the field in order to exchange close-to-practice knowledge on MLE and the challenges teachers and learners face. Research questions focus primarily on gaining a better understanding of the impact of current L2 MoI instruction policies on the every-day activities in schools in the region, but also on how teachers deal with these challenges using various strategies including language supportive pedagogy using multilingual strategies. These include but are not limited to aspects such as:
*What are the greatest language challenges in the classroom?
*Do learners master the L2 MoI vocabulary needed to grasp different subjects?
*How, if at all, are learning materials adapted for an L2 MoI context?
*How can modern learning technology help in the pursuit of inclusive education?
*What strategies do teachers employ to meet the language demands in class?
*How, if at all, do subject and L2 teachers support each other and communicate their needs?
The idea of the project is thus to bring together researchers, teachers and policy makers in the region to discuss and exchange experiences on issues such as those listed above with the ultimate aim to bring about change for the better.
Understanding Understanding
The project seeks to bridge the gap between language policies on the intended/stated (textual) level versus the implemented praxis level in the classroom. A key question here is how/whether steering documents and curricula in various L2 MoI transition systems in SSA acknowledge the realities and challenges involved in learning and teaching through a second language. Language ideologies that guide policies on all levels are also of central interest. Tasks include the development of a systematic analytical framework that specifically targets language praxis aspects (or lack thereof) on different policy levels. As one of our deliverables, we envisage an analytical framework which can be adapted for different transition contexts in SSA.
We use a mixed methods approach which allows for various purposes, but also triangulation. The Understanding Understanding project is split into two phases.
In Phase 1, we employ documentary analysis and interviews to gain a thorough understanding of policy intentions and how different parts of language-in-education policies interplay (or not as the case may be) to give requisites for all learners to gain access to knowledge.
In Phase 2, we do field research consisting of observations, interviews and diagnostic testing in order to see how teachers and learners cope with challenges related to learning and teaching in a second language.
The synthesis of these two levels of analysis, and cross-contextual comparisons of different systems of transitions aim to work towards a more generic approach to challenges and solutions associated with learning and teaching in a second language in SSA.
Publications & Presentations
Associated Networks
Contact:
Prof. Mats Deutschmann (PI)
Universitetsgatan 1
123 45 Örebro
Sweden
+46 72 345 67 89
networking for additive multilingual education in subsaharan africa