Chapter 6: Dominant English-Centered Language Policies in Education Marginalize Ghanaian Languages and Literacies

We examine the effect of Ghana’s English-dominant language-in-education policy on students of Ghanaian languages as they navigate an educational system that silences and deprivileges Ghanaian languages. Our subjects are young Ghanaian language literary writers who are uniquely positioned to add to the scholarship on understanding how the language-in-education policy impacts Ghanaian languages, cultures, identities and educational achievement among students. Through semi-structured interviews we learned about their experiences as lovers of their native languages in a system that also devalues Ghanaian languages. Our findings suggest Ghanaian languages improve learning outcomes and educational experiences of students, but at the same time, Ghanaian languages are systematically inferiorized by educational and social practices. However, when students see a future in Ghanaian languages and are provided enough support in learning Ghanaian languages, they are inspired to create using Ghanaian languages more so than when English is the only language championed in education. These creative works inspire others and provide a resource for further development of these languages. Our perspective is shaped by Flores and Rosa’s (2015) raciolinguistic theory and Muiu and Martin’s (2009)Fundi wa Afrika, arguing that Africa can reach its full developmental capacity only when it champions African values, languages and institutions.