Resources

This analytical review consists of three sections. The first section lays the theoretical foundations and is covered by Ekkehard Wolff and Kathleen Heugh: 1) language politics and planning in the light of development and 2) theories of bi- and multilingual education models and their implementation in the African context. A second section analyses teaching practices and classroom interaction in schools in two chapters by Birgit Brock-Utne and Hassana Alidou. This is followed by a review of the use of African languages in literacy and non-formal education by Hassana Alidou1 . Next, a review study by Kathleen Heugh addresses the critical issue of costs by assessing the costs related to implementing mother tongue and strong bilingual education programmes. Finally, the third section explores the role of locally-based multilingual publishing in supporting and promoting African languages and developing the language industries and the creative sector. Here, Yaya Satina Diallo from Guinea and Peter Reiner2 from Namibia shed light on the promise and pitfalls of publishing in African languages.

Each of these sections focuses on theoretical frameworks and specific strategies designed to optimise learning and education in multilingual Africa. The language issue is dealt with at the levels of: policy and development; costing and financing; educational reform and governance; education models; classroom interaction; formal and non-formal education settings; literacy and publishing.