Graduation Term
2023
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of English
Committee Chair
Lisya SL Seloni
Abstract
Ghana’s transitional bilingual education has received scholarly attention of policymakers and language educators. Despite the extensive scholarship on transitional bilingual education in Ghana, little has been done to examine the relationship between transitional bilingual policy: National Literacy Acceleration Program (NALAP) and language teaching materials (e.g., English Textbooks) to ascertain whether the two have a shared ideology in promoting multilingual education. Through the use of thematic analysis and discourse analysis tools, this thesis examines both linguistic and the rhetorical (specifically visual) features of Golden English. In this work, I emphasize the importance of storytelling as a language practice used to show local cultures and bilingual ideologies. Through linguistic features (words, sentences, and structures) and discourse makers in the NALAP report, I look at discourses that promote bilingual education with the aim of ascertaining whether such discourses of bilingual education are promoted in Golden English textbook, a textbook that is prevalent in Ghana’s primary (lower grade) education. The study’s findings show that while NALAP policy underlines the importance of multilingual language ideologies such as the inclusion of mother tongue and promotion of biliteracy instruction), language ideologies promoted in Golden English are centered around monolingual use of English, with Ghanaian language ideologies minimally integrated into images and names of local characters. Based on this study’s analysis and observations, I propose a number of innovation and approaches such as the integration of translingual approaches into the curriculum, effective representation of bilingual identities through localized contents, and teacher training that focuses on bilingual curricula and culturally sustained pedagogies to continually push for localized voice and identity of Ghanaian English learners.
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Kwawukumey, Gideon Kwashie, "Language Ideologies and Practices in Ghana's English Language Education: a Critical Analysis of Golden English and National Literacy Acceleration Program Formative Report" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 1757.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1757
DOI
https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2023.20231004061829250664.999960