The change of medium of instruction from Chichewa to English in primary schools in Malawi and its impact on pupils' academic performance
Malawi adopted a Free Primary Education Policy in 1994 with the ushering in of a multi-party system of government. Since then primary schools have been flooded with many pupils. The current language policy in Malawi. allows learners to be taught through local languages from Standards 1 to 4 and through English from Standard 5 upwards (Mtenje 2002). Teachers' guides for all subjects from STD 1 to 8 are written in English except for Chichewa as a subject. Teachers write their lesson plans for all subjects in English except those of Chichewa as a subject (Mchazime 1996). However, classroom observation suggests that teachers use Chichewa as a medium of instruction even in classes where they are expected to use English (Standard 5 onwards). Similarly. pupils fail to express themselves in English and they answer questions in Chichewa (Mtenje 2002). As a result. learners fail to participate and contribute fully during lessons. This scenario makes the teachers talk more than the learners: hence the lessons become teacher-centred. Pupils are largely passive in class. Many pupils are absent from school they fail examinations and some drop out from school mainly when they reach the upper classes (Standard 5 to 8) of primary education. This dissertation examines what effect the change of medium of instruction made in Standard 5 from Chichewa to English has on the academic achievement of the learners of Standard 5 pupils in primary schools in Malawi. Specifically. the study examines whether or not the use of English results in better academic performance of pupils and whether this change contributes to pupil attrition (the drop-out rate). To investigate how the change of language of instruction affects the academic performance of Standard 5 learners, I used a case study methodology, with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. Then data were collected through questionnaires administered to teachers and Standard 5 learners respectively: by comparing tests results in Mathematics and Social Studies of pupils who learnt through Chichewa in Standard 4 and through English in Standard 5. respectively; through classroom observations; and by interviewing teachers in two primary schools. This work is based on the theory developed by Jim Cummins (1991) which states that learners should acquire a conceptual foundation in their first language to facilitate the acquisition of the second language to positively achieve academic performance. The research came up with the following findings: Firstly, Standard 5 pupils in Malawi performed better in Mathematics and Social Studies when they learnt through the medium of Chichewa than through the medium of English. Secondly, Standard 5 learners lacked the necessary English proficiency to cope with the cognitive demands of Mathematics and Social Studies. As a result the lessons observed were teacher-centred and pupils became passive participants in the learning process. Teachers agreed that pupils participated less in class when they were learning through the medium of English than when the same pupils were learning through the medium of Chichewa. In addition, teachers and learners are not motivated to learn through the medium of English. Furthermore. teachers are not sufficiently trained in how to start teaching Standard 5 learners through English. As a consequence, Standard 5 pupils perform poorly in Mathematics and Social Studies. In comparison, Standard 5 pupils perform at a lower level in Mathematics than in Social Studies when they learnt through the medium of English. From these findings it was concluded that Standard 5 learners, who are taught through the medium of English, are not sufficiently proficient in English to cope with the cognitive academic demands of learning content subjects like Mathematics and Social Studies in Malawi. These results confirm my hypothesis. The results are also congruent with other studies already done in Malawi (Mchazime 2004, Kachaso 1988).
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