The Interplay between Students’ First/home Languages and School Culture on Students’ Learning of English in Tanzania

Dr Upendo P. Biswalo
St John’s University of Tanzania
upendopsix@yahoo.co.uk; ubiswalo@sjut.ac.tz

Abstract: Tanzania is a multilingual society with more than 120 spoken indigenous languages plus Kiswahili, which is the country’s national language. In Tanzania, while Kiswahili is the medium of instruction (the MOI) at the primary education level; English is the MOI at secondary education level. Although English is taught at the primary level, it appears that students do not learn enough to be able to use the language in secondary education for communication and learning purposes. This study explores English language teaching in the three secondary schools in Tanzania. Data were collected through interviews with teachers and classroom observations. The findings have revealed that students’ first languages and cultures were seen as obstacles in learning English, and were prohibited on the school premises. This implies that students were disconnected from their cultures in order to fit in the school culture. Also, teachers believed that students’ low proficiency in English was due to their educational background of using Kiswahili at primary education level. Studies suggest that students’ first languages and cultures are important in learning a second language, and therefore, this study recommends that students’ first languages and cultures should be regarded as resources and not as obstacles in learning English.