Using Literacy Practices to Promote Positive Perspectives of African Languages

Dainess Maganda 
(Department of Comparative Literature, University of Georgia, USA)

Abstract: Through a participatory action research to address the need for reading materials while promoting the use of home languages in Tanzania, 119 sixth-grade students, 19 teachers and 19 parents in one primary school in Northwestern Tanzania worked together to create supplemental books for their school library using either English, Swahili and/or their home languages through a writing workshop. The patterns and themes from interviews and participant observations suggest the following happened: (1) teachers recalled home languages’ place in history, (2) teachers revealed home languages’ place in contemporary society, (3) parents reflected on the social and political value of home languages, and (4) students reflected on reasons for using home languages in their writing.

Key words: writing workshop, African languages, indigenous languages, literacy