Inextricable from articulation: Language-d science learning and epistemic justice

While an increasing number of children in sub-saharan Africa have access to schooling, experiences of attempting to ‘access learning’ remains unequal and elusive for many young people. While the complexity of the teaching... [ view full abstract ]

While an increasing number of children in sub-saharan Africa have access to schooling, experiences of attempting to ‘access learning’ remains unequal and elusive for many young people. While the complexity of the teaching and learning process mediates inequality, the form of this mediation is linguistic. It is not simply that learning takes place through the medium of language, learning itself is ‘language-d’, inextricable from its own articulation. This uniquely places langauge as one of the most critical systemic features that impacts the creation and maintenance of inequalities – Inequalities, as with learning are language-d.

The role of langauge in the production of inequality is particulary acute in the case of the Tanzanian education system where the transition from primary to secondary school marks a shift in the medium of instruction from Kiswahili to English. While primary school  learning is through and in Kiswahili, learning within secondary schools takes place literally ‘in translation’ between Kiswahili and English.

  This paper reflects on how the strategic use of ‘languages in translation’ is able to positively impact on the mediation of inequalities within the Language Supportive Teaching and textbooks (LSTT) project in Tanzania. This project, now in its second 3-year phase, has developed a language supportive pedagogy (LSP) to address linguistic inequalities and simultaneously support both language and subject learning within lower secondary science and maths education. Research from this project reveals not only the potential of LSP for improving the educational outcomes of educationally marginaised commuities, but also suggests the potential for wider epistemic justice. By promoting language-d science learning in both Kiswahili and English, research suggests that students are better able to take the role of cultural workers mediating ways of knowing between school and community, across generations and contributing to sustainable development.