Factors That Militate Against the Implementation of the Mother-Tongue Language Policy in Ghana

Abstract

The key to communication and understanding in the classroom is language. Language is the avenue through which information is shared between the learner and the teacher. It is therefore very necessary to use a language through which learners can easily understand the concept being taught by the teacher and also express themselves freely in the classroom. As a result, some countries have adopted the mother-tongue as the medium of instruction in their education sector and other sectors. Such countries have seen massive achievements and development as compared to other nations because learners are able to transfer concepts learnt in the mother-tongue easily. Ghana, as a multilingual nation with over seventy eight (78) languages (Owu-Ewie, 2006) has adopted a language policy which promotes the use of the mother-tongue as the mode of instruction from primary one to primary three while English is studied as a subject. English becomes the mode of instruction from primary four upwards and the L1 now becomes a subject of study. It is however sad to note that the mother-tongue policy continues to remain a policy on paper without it being practiced in the classroom. This paper was an attempt to identify some factors that militate against the implementation of the mother-tongue language policy in Ghana and gave some recommendations.