Education in Africa 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Language Choice in Education: A Politics of Persuasion |
| Author: | Albaugh, Ericka A. |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
| Volume: | 45 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | January |
| Pages: | 1-32 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Africa Cameroon Ghana Senegal |
| Subjects: | languages of instruction educational policy language policy Politics and Government Education and Oral Traditions |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/4486718 |
| Abstract: | The choice of indigenous versus European languages in education should be a hotly contested issue. Surprisingly, in much of Africa it is not. African States have dramatically increased their use of local languages in education over the last decade. This increase, however, has not proceeded from vocal demands on government by various language groups. Instead, it is the result of two more subtle factors: the changed attitude of a former colonizer (France) and the work of language NGOs on the ground. These two forces have altered governments' perceptions about the utility of African languages in their education strategies. Because this political process works through persuasion, rather than bargaining, it allows choices about language in education to be less contentious than popularly assumed, separating this process from the violent ethnolinguistic conflict that is so often associated with Africa. Focus in the article is on the push from below, challenging the bargaining explanation by tracing changed education policies through three countries in Africa: Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
