Bots has over 26 ethnic languages

21st February 2022

Own Correspondent

The University of Botswana(UB) is harnessing modern technology to preserve indigenous languages in an effort to protect culture and various unique ways of life participants at the International Mother Languages Day were told Monday.

Professor Fidelis Nkomazana, Acting Dean, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Botswana(UB), said “In this world of technological advancement, the humanities are perhaps the last sanctuary for the preservation and expansion of indigenous languages. There are at least 26 ethnic languages spoken within Botswana’s borders.”

He said, “The Faculty of Humanities is the bedrock of language learning and development. Currently, the faculty offers fully fledged departments of English, Chinese, French, Portuguese and African languages in general. There is also a special programme that was established in 2019.”

Nkomazana revealed that there are also several proficiency courses such as Swahili, Ikalanga and Setswana that are available to the public. The Faculty of Humanities has aa state of the Art language lab that allows for an oral written digital interface in all matters that are language related. It is now possible to digitally archive indigenous languages and compute patterns relating how languages are affected by the presence of other languages.

But for Setswana, existence of web sites with blogs or loaded learning materials is a rarity at formal and personal levels. The matter becomes even unbelievable if we consider bringing together multilingual technological activities for Botswana languages.

Botswana is a multilingual and multicultural country with a total of at least 30 languages. However, only two languages are used in the school system; Setswana and English.

Subsequent to the approval of the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) by Cabinet in 2015, the education sector has since started the implementation of the recommendations stated in the Plan. One of the major recommendations is the introduction of local languages in the basic education curriculum, so as to foster social justice, pedagogical inclusivity, cultural diversity and curriculum enrichment.

The need to include other languages in the curriculum was further outlined in November 2019. Hence the Ministry of Basic Education has embarked to spearhead and coordinate this initiative in collaboration with some identified key players.

“Certainly, the introduction of local languages in pre-primary and early primary schools is a very significant step in Botswana’s educational system, as it will formally recognize the multilingual nature of the country,” said Professor Budzani Gabanamotse-Mogara, Department of African Languages and Literature at the University of Botswana(UB).

She said, “the home language becomes not only the first language of the child, but also the primary language, which associates the child with its home environment, culture, and first linguistic skills. Once, such a language is well mastered, it becomes easy for the child to transfer the relevant language skills and competence to other languages that the child will learn. Also, many children feel comfortable in a class which is taught in a language and cultural environment in which they are familiar than in a non-familiar language and cultural set-up.”

The language learning programmes assume a bilingual set-up where Setswana and English feature as school languages for media of instruction at different levels of the school curriculum. 

In this minimalist language programme, the following cis observed:

1. Often performance in class is hampered by the learners not being able to express themselves in a language which they did not master well, i.e. Setswana or English;
2. Students remain silent in class and become active only when allowed to reply in their local languages;
3. The uses of their local languages give them confidence and self- esteem.
4. The low performance by some children is not necessarily because of dullness or stupidity but because of language challenges.

“These foregoing observations call upon an urgent change of the school language curriculum to make it more inclusive of other languages, and importantly to afford learners better learning strategies at formative years,” said Professor Budzani Gabanamotse-Mogara.

The current situation can be best qualified as dire for learners, especially those who have no knowledge or mastery of the school languages. The consequences are tragic, and can be summed up by alluding to the following frustrations:

1. Some of the learners end up running away from school because of the language and culture barriers which do not promote a conducive learning environment.
2. The children find it difficult to express themselves in Setswana and would easily do so in their mother tongue.
3. Some of the pupils come to school having passed the reception age and this becomes difficult for them to breakthrough because of the language barrier. Most of them come only understanding their mother tongue and no knowledge of Setswana at all.
4. Generally, the pupils at the lower levels do not understand if taught in Setswana and English hence the need to have a transition stage from their mother tongues.
5. Most of the children who come to school without any knowledge of Setswana or English lack confidence and become very demotivated in learning.

In the ETSSP (2015 – 2020) programme the Ministry of Basic Education introduces local languages in the basic education curriculum, so as to try and solve some of these frustrations.

Except for the School Radio programme that presents Setswana and English as subjects through RB 1, there is no real technology activity that is used for teaching these two languages. 

Technology in teaching languages requires more resources and in Botswana there is still a lot to be done in this regard. Opportunities for language teaching and learning are as follows:

1. Online trilingual dictionaries for student u It assists students to check vocabulary in all three languages, namely the official, (e.g English), the national language (e.g. Setswana) and the minority (e.g. Shekgalagari). References are made for all three languages both easily and within short periods of time. This enhances learning;
2. Online frequency-based dictionary for early education. This device helps in identifying frequently used words in a language for inclusion in early education vocabulary. This facilitates teachers in preparing teaching materials and grading vocabulary, in short periods of time, hence enhancing teaching;
3. Online topic-based Reference Grammars, for easy checking of grammatical structures and usage. This helps learners in learning grammar, hence enhancing learning;
4. Error detecting devices, for identifying mistakes. This is usually used in texts for student learning. This enhances individual learning and practice;
5. Machine translation to facilitate translation from one language to another. This allows quick processing of texts for both learners and teachers, thus enhancing teaching and learning.