Raising literacy levels in Mozambique: The challenges of bilingualeducation in a multilingual post-colonial society

Raising literacy levels in Mozambique: The challenges of bilingualeducation in a multilingual post-colonial society

A phenomenon that has been debated, for many years, by many education and language experts in Africa, and worldwide, is the continued use of language models which cannot offer students meaningful access to quality education. The present study was conducted among students, parents and teachers in two selected rural bilingual primary schools in central Mozambique. Through ethnographic interviews, the study explores the views of students, parents and teachers concerning language education as a means of developing attitudes, values and social capabilities that a child must acquire in order to be functional in the community. Using a bottom-up approach, the study aimed to come up with a proposed model of bilingual education for post-colonial Mozambique, taking into consideration the views and perceptions of students, parents and teachers and best bilingual education practices worldwide. The qualitative data, collected from the interviews, were separated by themes, which in turn were refined into broader categories, leading to systematic generalizations. Debriefing was fundamental for this study and it was used, with key participants, to check and evaluate the quality of data collected and researcher’s analyses and interpretations.

The findings of the present study are presented and discussed under two major themes: Views of students, parents and teachers, and the challenges of bilingual education: views from the field.