How important is the mother tongue?

Gideon Lasu ba Nyo morosu

For about 16 or 17 years of our lives, we are in pursuit for academic excellence. Unlike in the past, most of us have grown up speaking and studying in English.

Parents do not seem to be as stringent as their folks were when it comes to ensuring that the children learn their mother tongue. Some believe their children will learn it in due course. “That is why I am sending them to school, to learn those local languages,” says one father.

Other father assume that the mother will take it upon herself to teach the children.

What is the mother tongue?
The term ‘mother tongue’ harks back to the notion that linguistic skills of a child are honed by the mother and, therefore, the language spoken by the mother would be the primary language that the child would learn. This was/is quite possible if the couple are from the same tribe.

The mother tongue, native or first language, is what a person has learned from birth or within a critical period, where the ability to acquire a language is biologically linked to age, and thus becomes the basis for social identity.

Christine Senfuma, a wife and mother of one, says: “The mother tongue is the language a person has learned as a child at home, usually from the parents.” She adds that children groomed in bilingual homes can have more than one mother tongue.

Allen Kaziro, a secondary school teacher and mother of two, says: “The mother tongue may indicate a language that a person is as proficient in as any other local person who speaks the same language and the language is common to that community, for example, Luganda.”

Significance
The mother tongue is part of a child’s personal, social and cultural identity. It is this identification we get from speaking our mother tongue that enforces successful social patterns of acting and speaking. Our diverse social backgrounds make us unique and appealing in society.

The mother tongue is an indispensable instrument for the development of intellectual, physical and moral aspects of education. Habits, conducts, values, virtues, customs and beliefs are all shaped through the mother tongue. Needless to say, weakness in the mother tongue means a paralysis of all thought and power of expression.

Mother tongue and a child's education
Early Childhood Care and Education, UNESCO (2007) points out the overlooked advantages of multilingual education in the early years. When children are offered opportunities to learn in their mother tongue, they are more likely to enroll and succeed in school and their parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate in their children’s learning.

Mother tongue-based education, especially benefits disadvantaged groups, including children from rural communities and girls, who tend to have less exposure to an official language. They tend to stay in school longer, achieve
better and repeat grades less often when they are taught in their mother tongue.

Most children speak a home language that differs from the language of instruction in education programmes. Research also confirms that children learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of bilingual and multilingual education. Whether children successfully retain their mother tongue while acquiring additional languages, depends on several interacting factors.

Mother tongue influence on second language?
Studies show that six to eight years of education in a language are necessary to develop the level of literacy and verbal proficiency required for academic achievement in secondary school. To retain their mother tongue, children whose first language is not the medium of instruction must have:

Continued interaction with their family and community in their first language on increasingly complex topics that go beyond household matters;

l Ongoing formal instruction in their first language to develop reading and writing skills; and

Exposure to positive parental attitudes to maintaining the mother tongue, both as a marker of cultural identity and for certain instrumental purposes (eg, success in the local economy or global trade).

In addition, research increasingly shows that children’s ability to learn a second or additional local language and an international language such as English, French, or German, does not suffer when their mother tongue is the primary language of instruction throughout primary school.

Fluency and literacy in the mother tongue lay a cognitive and linguistic foundation for learning additional languages.

When children receive formal instruction in their first language throughout primary school and then gradually transition to academic learning in the second language, they learn the second language quickly. If they continue to have opportunities to develop their first language skills in secondary school, they emerge as fully bilingual (or multilingual) learners.

If, however, children are forced to switch abruptly or transition too soon from learning in their mother tongue to schooling in a second language, their first language acquisition may be weakened or even lost. Even more importantly, their self-confidence as learners and their interest in what they are learning may decline, leading to lack of motivation, school failure and early school drop-out.

Paul Kato, a life skills trainer, once joked that in the past, if one was to make a statement in English, they would first interpret the statement to their mother tongue. No wonder the term “broken English” was quite common then. What is unfortunate about too many Ugandans in this generation is that we look and treat our local tongues with spite and distaste.

Others perceive some languages as superior over others. We even stoop so low as to classify what kind of tribes do certain jobs; we fear to compete with others for jobs and prejudice others every time we are not successful. It is not uncommon to hear some parents tell their children: “Do not ever make the mistake of bringing such and such a tribe here for a spouse?”

In spite of the fact that the world is a global village, we ought to harness our virtuous customs and beliefs; they define us and establish our rightful belonging. As much as it is important to teach our children international languages, they ought to learn and appreciate their local dialects, too.

What language do you use at home?
Fahad Kibirige, 12 My parents are Badru Lukenge (Muganda) and Monica Kataire from Kabale. When my father is not around, my mother talks to us in Rukiga. We understand her, but we reply in Luganda.

Hamid Bwamiki, 11 My mother is from Pakwach district. When daddy is not around, I use Luo with my mum. Other times, we use Luganda and English.

Beatrice Akinyi, 9 My dad, David Gadi, is Congolese and my mother, Joyce Jante, is Kenyan. We use Swahili at home.

Eunice Kitimbo, 8 My father, George Kirunda, is a Musoga, my mum Roy Nabagojja is a Muganda. At home, we use Luganda because of my mother.

Stella Akech, 5 My dad, Charles Olowo, is Sudanese, my mother, Harriet Nalubwama, is from central region. At home, I use Luganda. I do not know my father’s language, although my father understands Luganda.

Moses Kimera, 6 My father is Musa Kimera (Muganda) and my mother, Patricia Akello, from Gulu. At home I speak Acholi, my mother's language. Some days, though, I use English

Hiba Faris, 12 My dad, Faris Mohammed, is from South Sudan. My mother, Maneno Mabuuka, is from Koboko. At home, we use my mum’s language, Kakwa.

Dorcus Magdalene, P6 My mother, Susan Dorcus Kembabazi, is a Munyankole and my dad, Moses Lubale Yovani Adram, is a Musoga. At home, we use Runyankole and English as a second language. I practice my Lusoga when I visit dad’s village in Kamuli.