The Language Match Index as a Tool for Multilingual Education Programming

Implementing mother-tongue education policies in complex multilingual environments presents policymakers with a range of challenges and requires a deep understanding of the socio-linguistic environment. In Ghana, over 80... [ view full abstract ]

Implementing mother-tongue education policies in complex multilingual environments presents policymakers with a range of challenges and requires a deep understanding of the socio-linguistic environment. In Ghana, over 80 languages are spoken, and 11 are featured as official languages of instruction (LOI). To better understand Ghana's socio-linguistic characteristics, in 2016/17, USAID/Ghana’s Learning activity, implemented by FHI360, carried out a sequential mixed-methods study to support government decision-making. The first phase included an in-depth qualitative study of language conditions in 30 schools around the country, leading to an understanding of language match conditions between students and teachers at the school level and the development of reliable structured survey tools. In the second phase, all schools in Learning’s 100 districts were surveyed using these tools and the data resulted in the construction of a Language Match Index (LMI). The LMI examines the degree to which the official LOI for each school aligns with the language(s) of the teachers, the students, and the available teaching and learning materials and can be applied to multilingual contexts beyond Ghana. The LMI provides a score for each school between 0 and 100, where 0 indicates a perfect mismatch between the official LOI and the language(s) of the teachers, students, and materials; and 100 refers to a perfect match along these same dimensions. Once the LMI is calculated for each school, schools are divided into high, medium, and low match groups, using a cluster analysis technique that employs an iterative algorithm to empirically determine the optimal allocation of schools with similar language match conditions—the individual schools are then mapped and classified accordingly. The LMI highlights language match conditions in every school surveyed, making it a powerful tool by which governments can identify specific schools/districts requiring additional reinforcement to ultimately support the implementation of the mother-tongue language policy successfully.