,HED4806 Assignment 3 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) 2025
- DUE 2025; 100% TRUSTED Complete, trusted
solutions and explanations.
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS
This assignment consists of two sections (A and B). You must answer
both.
SECTION A (10) [15]
Section A is an extract from chapter 14 of the prescribed textbook
(Seroto, Davids & Wolhuter, 2020). Read the extract and then answer
the questions that follow. Mother tongue as a medium for teaching and
learning in multicultural/multilingual societies. Decolonising previously
marginalised indigenous languages is, no doubt, one of the most
important tasks facing South Africa today. A people’s dignity and self-
esteem are restored, and identity and respect maintained, if they speak
and use their mother tongue. A people’s language is a heritage
bestowed upon them by their ancestors. However, the later
generations of our people dumped their languages and embraced the
foreign tongue (Sotashe 2017). Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) placed specific
emphasis on the use of the relevant local language to decolonise the
mind of the African people. In his discussion of the language of African
literature, 21 Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) posits that language be put at the
centre of people’s definition of themselves, in relation to their natural
and social environment and to the world at large. He, further, argues
that decolonisation has to start with language. This shows the
importance of a person’s language. Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) made an
important point about the language of indigenous people’s evening
, teachings (home teaching), and the language of their immediate and
wider community, as well as the language of their field of work. There
was harmony in the language used at home, in the community and in
their world of work. This harmony was broken by the start of colonial
schools. Wa Thiong’o (1986:11) indicates that when schools were still
run by Kenyan patriotic nationalists, their medium of teaching and
learning was Gĩkũyũ. After the declaration of a state of emergency in
Kenya in 1952, the colonial regime took over the administration of all
the schools that the nationalists had previously run. English became the
language of formal education. To show how the indigenous languages
were marginalised in the colonial classroom, Wade (2018) states that
the Alliance High School, which Wa Thiong’o attended, used English as
a medium of teaching and learning. Children who were found speaking
the local Gĩkũyũ language were beaten. On the other hand, any
achievement in spoken or written English was highly rewarded. In his
own words, Wa Thiong’o (1986:11) says: “One of the most humiliating
experiences was to be caught speaking Gĩkũyũ in the vicinity of the
school. The culprit was given corporal punishment – three to five
strokes of the cane on bare buttocks – or was made to carry a metal
plate around the neck with inscriptions such as ‘I am stupid’ or ‘I am a
donkey’. Sometimes culprits were fined money they could hardly
afford.” This demonstrates that the colonial classroom became an
instrument of psychological subjugation of people during the colonial
period. English was the language of power, rationality, and intelligence.
Gĩkũyũ, which Ngũgĩ would write, was considered backward, and had to
be forced out. This is how local languages were suppressed across all
colonies (Wade 2018:3). The relevant local language, as suggested by
Wa Thiong’o (1986:4), will be referred to as mother tongue in this
- DUE 2025; 100% TRUSTED Complete, trusted
solutions and explanations.
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS
This assignment consists of two sections (A and B). You must answer
both.
SECTION A (10) [15]
Section A is an extract from chapter 14 of the prescribed textbook
(Seroto, Davids & Wolhuter, 2020). Read the extract and then answer
the questions that follow. Mother tongue as a medium for teaching and
learning in multicultural/multilingual societies. Decolonising previously
marginalised indigenous languages is, no doubt, one of the most
important tasks facing South Africa today. A people’s dignity and self-
esteem are restored, and identity and respect maintained, if they speak
and use their mother tongue. A people’s language is a heritage
bestowed upon them by their ancestors. However, the later
generations of our people dumped their languages and embraced the
foreign tongue (Sotashe 2017). Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) placed specific
emphasis on the use of the relevant local language to decolonise the
mind of the African people. In his discussion of the language of African
literature, 21 Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) posits that language be put at the
centre of people’s definition of themselves, in relation to their natural
and social environment and to the world at large. He, further, argues
that decolonisation has to start with language. This shows the
importance of a person’s language. Wa Thiong’o (1986:4) made an
important point about the language of indigenous people’s evening
, teachings (home teaching), and the language of their immediate and
wider community, as well as the language of their field of work. There
was harmony in the language used at home, in the community and in
their world of work. This harmony was broken by the start of colonial
schools. Wa Thiong’o (1986:11) indicates that when schools were still
run by Kenyan patriotic nationalists, their medium of teaching and
learning was Gĩkũyũ. After the declaration of a state of emergency in
Kenya in 1952, the colonial regime took over the administration of all
the schools that the nationalists had previously run. English became the
language of formal education. To show how the indigenous languages
were marginalised in the colonial classroom, Wade (2018) states that
the Alliance High School, which Wa Thiong’o attended, used English as
a medium of teaching and learning. Children who were found speaking
the local Gĩkũyũ language were beaten. On the other hand, any
achievement in spoken or written English was highly rewarded. In his
own words, Wa Thiong’o (1986:11) says: “One of the most humiliating
experiences was to be caught speaking Gĩkũyũ in the vicinity of the
school. The culprit was given corporal punishment – three to five
strokes of the cane on bare buttocks – or was made to carry a metal
plate around the neck with inscriptions such as ‘I am stupid’ or ‘I am a
donkey’. Sometimes culprits were fined money they could hardly
afford.” This demonstrates that the colonial classroom became an
instrument of psychological subjugation of people during the colonial
period. English was the language of power, rationality, and intelligence.
Gĩkũyũ, which Ngũgĩ would write, was considered backward, and had to
be forced out. This is how local languages were suppressed across all
colonies (Wade 2018:3). The relevant local language, as suggested by
Wa Thiong’o (1986:4), will be referred to as mother tongue in this
