Safaliba is an Indigenous Ghanaian language spoken by 7-9,000 Ghanaians in a nation-state of 29 million people with 73 indigenous languages, none of which are spoken by a majority of Ghanaians. Government schools in Safaliba towns and villages are mandated to utilize Gonja and English instructional reading materials from the Ghana Education…

The present study investigated the perceptions of parents and teachers on the use of the mother tongue and their preferred medium of communication and instruction for preschool children at home and in school. The sample was made up of a cross-section of parents and teachers (N=120, Female=80% for teachers and 55% for parents) of children (between…

This article discusses the impact of literacy programmes on those who learned to read and write in their own African languages. It draws on adult learners' reflections on the significance of literacy and numeracy in their everyday lives as evidenced in interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015 in rural sites in five African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya,…

Technological innovation is only as powerful as the willingness of the people of a particular place to embrace it. Ghana's multilingual landscape has recently been repositioned as a source for early childhood literacy development in order to enfranchise more children in public education. One of the innovative technologies in this new multilingual…

The study was conducted in two Colleges of Education in the Western and Central Regions of Ghana to find out how Colleges of Education students and tutors perceive the study of Ghanaian Languages. The target population comprised all staff and students of the Colleges of Education but the accessible population comprised students and tutors of the…

Sociocultural and socio-economic conditions (e.g. subsistence family farming needs) as well as the absence of nearby public schools result in Ghanaian youth, primarily from rural areas, not receiving formal schooling. Because of this, children may never learn to read and write. One solution is a complementary education programme (CEP) that…

How do teachers define literacy, and how do their perceptions influence their approach to the teaching and learning of literacy? These and other questions relating to literacy generally formed the focus of this ethnographic case study in two urban public primary schools in Ghana. The paper also considers teachers' views on mother tongue literacy.…

This paper, based on the findings of a qualitative study, discusses the influence of Ghana's recently introduced English-only language-in-education policy on pupils' classroom communicative practices and learning generally. It highlights how the use of English--an unfamiliar language--creates anxiety among students and stalls effective classroom…

Over the years, the author has observed the vicious cycle that undermines the effectiveness of and access to good basic education in her own village and family, and in poor rural areas in general. Located in one of the most deprived areas of rural Ghana, there is a huge "reality gap" between school and children's everyday lives. The weak…

The four issues of the journal, dated fall 1993 through summer 1994, contain articles on a variety of issues in literacy education. The first focuses on the role of literacy education in international economic development, and contains descriptions of a number of programs and strategies in both developing and industrialized nations. The second…