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Ethiopia's Mother Tongue Instructional Language Policy: A Methodological Discourse

Author : Easaw Alemayehu Assefa

Abstract :

During Haile Selase's presidency, a formal language policy was created for the first time. And while the Dergu's language strategy was expected to result in the growth of multiple Ethiopian languages, it instead focused on the use of just one. Following the demise of the Dergue, our country has experienced a change toward a mother tongue instructional language policy since 1994, when the previous EPRDF was in power. The goal of this study is to explain and demonstrate Ethiopian mother tongue instructional language development, implementation, and outcomes. A contextual discourse analysis was used to bring the study to life. To that end, after providing a brief background on Ethiopia's present mother tongue instructional language policy, an examination of the policy's creation and execution, as well as its issues, was examined through document inspection and analysis. Finally, the findings revealed that the author of this study valued the benefits of a mother tongue instructional policy for students; however, the researcher contends that making a hasty decision to formulate and implement a mother tongue instructional language policy without taking into account the existing unbalanced stage of development among different regions and the lack of or insufficient readiness to provide education in the mother tongue instructional language appears to be more threatening. An in-depth feasibility study focusing on students' pedagogical demands and the country's population distribution pattern is suggested as a way to ensure that a real and suitable mother tongue instructional language policy is properly monitored.

Keywords :

Instructional language, mother tongue, and policy