'There Must Be Something Undiscovered Which Prevents Us From Doing Our Work Well': Botswana Primary Teachers' Views on Educational Language Policy

In a small-scale survey of Botswana primary teachers' views on educational language policy there was overwhelming support for English as the medium of instruction. The survey forms part of a wider research project (Arthur, 1995), in which classroom observation revealed classroom communication difficulties created by the use of English, which is effectively a foreign language for the majority of Botswana teachers and pupils. This paper discusses the apparent paradox of teachers' support for English medium, taking account both of the symbolic role of English as the language of educational achievement and its practical role in the national examination system. Parallels are drawn with the reasserted prestige of ex-colonial languages in other African countries over the last decade. Despite the clear overall support for English, the opinions of the teachers surveyed were by no means monolithic. There are variations in the findings which appear related to the language background of respondents. Speakers of minority languages, while acknowledging the prestige of English, apparently experience a conflicting need for access through the education system to Setswana, the politically dominant national language. There is also some evidence that younger teachers may be less in favour of English as the sole medium and more open-minded towards alternatives such as a language-by-subject option.