ipl-logo

Language And Pronunciation In Namibia

761 Words4 Pages

Namibia is made up of different communities where people speak different languages. However, the national language in this country is English, even though less than 1% of Namibian population has English as their first language (Wyk & Mostert, 2016). All indigenous languages for instance, Oshindonga, Silozi, Rumanyo, Otjiherero, Rukwangali, Setswana, Thimbukushu and Oshikwanyama Languages are ranked equally and are kept for the same purposes. Education is administered by educational policies of the Ministry of Education which also include a language policy (National Institute for Education Development, NIED, 2014).
The multi-lingual situation of Namibian schools consequently results in unproductive implementation of the language policy of Namibia, …show more content…

According to Collins (2013) least focus on pronunciation can negatively affect learners’ entirely speaking skills. A learner who regularly mispronounces a variety of phonemes would be hardly understood by a listener from the same language community (Encalada, 2017). Moreover, mispronunciation will result in poor reading skills which affect all area of teaching and learning and this has a serious impact on education in Namibia (Harris, 2011). Learners are expected to do reading aloud tasks as a good measure for accurate pronunciation, but some learners perform poorly in that activity because they mispronounced words (Hiser, …show more content…

Furthermore, in January 2012, Namibia piloted an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) project in L1 (mother tongue). A clear explanation was given by Money-Kekhani (2015) that “EGRA is one-on-one oral evaluation that assesses competence in phonemic awareness, phonic decoding skills, vocabulary knowledge, reading fluency and comprehension” (P.2). In this country, that test was conducted amongst Grades 2, 3 and 4 learners from the following regions: Oshikoto, Kavango and Hardap regions. The core results of the EGRA pilot project showed that numerous learners had difficulties in the areas of reading sounds, letter names, reading speed, pronunciation and reading comprehension. Unfortunately, Oshana region was not one of the regions were EGRA pilot was offered. Now this study research will be based in Oshana

Show More
Related

  • Disparities And Inequalities Within The St. Louis Public Education System

    1998 Words  | 8 Pages

    As a baseline, teachers should be trained to acknowledge the resources and backgrounds all children so that they may be able to recognize the strengths of non-native English speakers. A wholistic evaluation of minority groups is necessary for their successful integration in to the education system, if traditional practices are to continue in society. Many children in poorer areas are forced to “code-switch” between their home dialect and the dialect spoken in school. Teaching one “correct” way to speak and write can have major implications for a young person’s confidence and

    Read More

  • Dr. Louise Spear-Swerlings: Article Analysis

    334 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Dr. Louise Spear- Swerlings’ article, she stated that in Kindergarten through third grade, student should be taught five key elements for effective reading abilities, which are phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Dr. Spear- Swerling, continued by saying phonic awareness is well develop in normally achieving reader by the end of first grade and by the end of third grade they should have acquired basic phonics knowledge. In addition to children excelling to become good readers, the instructions should be explicit and systematic, following a logical sequence of instruction. For instance, reading a decodable text that’s consisting of words with one syllable before advancing to an authentic text.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Dakota And Lakot Siouan Language

    213 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Dakota and Lakota are known for Siouan languages of the Great Plains. These tribes are so close that most linguists consider them with a particular, but of the same language. It is consider the same as, but has its difference between the British and American English. Some pronunciation are very regular. These two tribes can sometimes have difficulty understanding each other.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Achievement Of Desire By Richard Rodriguez

    1571 Words  | 7 Pages

    In a country like America where people all over the world come to obtain a better future for themselves and their children there is a large diversity with culture and languages. Most immigrant families comes to American speaking a different language and have to adapt to the American language, English. However some people don’t learn English or have difficulty learning it. Usually older people have difficulty learning English or just don’t have time, on the other hand children are sent to school where they are taught English. In this situation children now have to learn a new language and keep their native language.

    Read More

  • African American Vernacular English Dialect Analysis

    1357 Words  | 6 Pages

    Phonological awareness is a vital skill to learning to read; however, a child’s dialect use can negatively impact their phonological awareness skills and makes it more difficult for children to learn to read (Mitri & Terry, 2014). To explain, in a study of 119 African American second graders, the children who used AAVE more frequently performed more poorly and chose more dialect sensitive responses, or words that contain features that vary depending on dialect use, on the phonemic awareness tasks than the children who used AAVE less frequently. For example, Mitri and Terry (2014) provided the children with a common word, such as bed, and asked the participants to select the word that resembled the initial word from three possible responses: a SAE match, such as red, a dialect sensitive match, such as net, and a neutral match, such as egg. In this instance, the children who spoke AAVE more frequently were more likely to choose “net” than their peers who used AAVE less frequently due to the common devoicing of final consonants. Additionally, the children with higher phonological awareness had increased reading ability (Mitri & Terry, 2014).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

    846 Words  | 4 Pages

    For numerous amounts of people, with English being their second language, they have been described as having "Broken English". " Broken English" refers to a poorly spoken or ill-written version of the English language. One article called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan discusses the effects of growing up with a Chinese mother who has "Broken English". In fact, Tan deliberates about the limitations and criticism of growing up with her mother. Although Tan speaks articulate English, she still can comprehend with her mother 's "Broken English".

    Read More

  • Multi-Tiered Intervention Paper

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    Readings is the most fundamental skills taught in schools today. According to Weber (2012), reading unlocks information, provides the tools to problem solve, builds vocabulary and refunds comprehension skills. Subsequently, high expectations are translated into literary standards that have been developed to promote proficiency for early learning. Key components of successful reading instruction, as suggested by Weber (2012) including, explicit instruction, guided practice, on going assessment and diagnosing reading difficulties early.

    Read More

  • Literature Review On Dyslexia

    3441 Words  | 14 Pages

    In addition, interventions to improve phonological awareness abilities lead to significantly improved reading abilities. As Sam & Rojian (2013) added, the relationship between phonological awareness and reading abilities changes over time. All levels of phonemic awareness ability (syllable, onset-rhyme, and phoneme) contribute to reading abilities through early grades. The relationship between phonological awareness and literacy is often explained in terms of its role in decoding and encoding.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    Summary of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan In "Mother Tongue, Amy Tan writes about how her mother 's broken English affects her life. She begins this narrative essay by talking about the day she became aware of the different forms of English that she was using at home and during formal events. Amy says, "The talk was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her" (Tan 1).

    Read More

  • Describe The Differences Between Zambians And Americans

    671 Words  | 3 Pages

    I was seven years old when I heard the news that my family was going to serve as missionaries in Africa. The news startled me to say the least, but I did not realize how drastically my life was going to change. As a child the experience shocked, exhilarated, and frightened me all at once. Once my family arrived in Zambia, Africa, we slowly began adjusting to life there. We quickly fell in love with the Africans and their culture; however, soon our time was finished and we came back to America.

    Read More

  • Cosmetic Surgery Disadvantages

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    2.0 Procedure A few secondary resources were used in the research process. These sources range from newspapers articles, news website (BBC) and online databases which were accessed via the Internet. These sources were chosen based on direct relation to the topic and its scope. Moreover, these sources were referred to gain better understanding about the topic and explore expert opinions and research done in order to fulfil the criteria of each objective

    Read More

  • Language Development In Multicultural Education

    9762 Words  | 40 Pages

    Questions of abandoning or maintaining one’s home language affects education policy in all immigrant receiving nations. Because of the consequences of colonisation, migration, nation-formation, traditions of exogamy, and modernisation, some degree of bilingualism is typical of most people in the world.” Today the most advanced nations realise that they can no longer be ignorant of the languages and cultures of other people on this planet. This is why bilingual-multicultural education was initiated. It was believed that this approach will build closer ties between the students’ community, their language background, and the educational plan of the school.

    Read More

  • Essay On Phonemic Awareness

    786 Words  | 4 Pages

    Phonemic Awareness and Phonics As a ESL student, I learned a lot information to teach young students to read, pronounce letters and words. “English is an alphabetic language, and children learn crack this code as they learn about phonemes (sound), graphemes (letters), and graph phonemic (letter-sound) relationship (Tompkins, p.103). My first language`s letters sounds never changed, but in English it changes when different letters come together for example “sh”, “ch” and words are cat and cent. When you read these word, sound is changing first letter of words even same letter.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Learning Foreign Language Essay

    1736 Words  | 7 Pages

    It is encouraged for students to learn foreign languages as it has numerous benefits. Most countries have introduced foreign language starting from the early age. Today, the high school graduates are required to study foreign language in schools as it becomes a requirement for them to graduate from certain college with minimum of two years of learning foreign languages. Hence, the students are encouraged to learn on other language. Basically, foreign language is a native to another country and it is also a language which is not spoken in the native country of the person referred to.

    Read More

  • Essay On Language Culture And Society

    2096 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Language Culture and Society programme provides us with strong theoretical and interdisciplinary foundation for the study of a range of educational practices across the human lifespan and in a range of theoretical and methodological perspective is brought to bear on studies that explore the nature of literate practices, democracy and civic engagement and participation in social life. The programme focuses on relationships between education school and the dynamics and changing structures of language, culture, and society. It examines connection between broader, social, cultural, linguistic, historical, aesthetic and political factors in education and the local context in which these issues take place. It has long been recognized that language is an essential and important part of a given culture and that the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensible. Language is a social phenomenon.

    Read More

More about Language And Pronunciation In Namibia

Open Document