Prof Gregory Kamwendo is a full professor of Language Education. He has since 2nd May 2012 been Dean and Head of the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Prior to joining UKZN, Professor Kamwendo worked in the Department of Languages and Social Sciences Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Botswana (2004 to 2012) where he served as Head of Department for two terms of office. Before joining the University of Botswana, Prof Kamwendo worked at the University of Malawi. At the University of Malawi, he served as Head of the Department of English; and for 6 years, i.e. 1996-2002, he served as Deputy Director of the Centre for Language Studies. Whilst in Malawi, he also held an adjunct teaching position at Mzuzu University.
Voices of ignorance vs voices of knowledge: Debates in Malawian mass media on English as language of instruction.
Gregory Kamwendo, School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2014, Malawi unveiled a new language-in-education policy. As per the new policy, English becomes the medium of instruction in the first class of primary education. Previously, Chichewa (the national language and national lingua franca) used to be the medium of instruction from Grade 1 up to Grade 4. From Grade 5 onwards, English would take over as the medium of instruction. Whilst in sociolinguistic discourses Malawi is classified as an Anglophone country (English-speaking African country), the reality on the ground points to the opposite direction since it is Chichewa and other indigenous languages that predominantly serve as home languages. The bottom line is that Malawi is not an English-dominant context. To this end, the new language policy has ignited intense debate in the mass media and other public spaces. Out of these debates, two positions have emerged: (a) those arguing from a position of knowledge (backed by empirical pedagogical evidence) and (b) those arguing from ignorance. The paper aims at unpacking these two positions.