I recently attended a student’s debate session that left me enthralled to say the least. Kigali Interschool Debate Competitions attracted students from top secondary schools in Rwanda in a battle of tongues (or should I say wits) on the theme: "If Rwanda is to develop, schools should focus more on teaching sciences than arts.” The meticulously researched arguments aside, the level of linguistic expression was incredible.

At once I was teleported to England and was completely oblivious of the fact that I was in Rwanda. Who can doubt my skepticism? Having come from the outskirts of Kigali, I found this English level too advanced and far removed from the everyday communication levels elsewhere. While we applaud our achievements which are exceedingly beyond expectations, we should not become complacent with no notion to make it even better.

Undeniably, both students and teachers have acclimatised to the use of English as a medium of instruction.

Gauging by the REB national exams results for English at both primary and secondary levels as well as the illusion given by Kigali dwellers, it can be asserted that tremendous progress has been realised. Nonetheless, this glimmerof success should not be so overrated as to lure us into thinking that all is well. The situation is quite different outside Kigali and among university students. Behind the façade of the thrills of success, there are sinister misgivings waiting to blight the future. While the teaching of English has been improved and several factors appear to boost Rwandan people’s enthusiasm to learn English, the context is not yet favourable to the attainment of communicative competence especially as it is among university students. 

The truth is that the use of English in daily communication in Rwanda is still limited and the proficiency in English by many of those who claim the ability to use it is deficient.

In a bid to recreate itself as the IT hub of Africa and as a tourism and business destination, Rwanda — a francophone country — introduced English language as an official language in 1994. Indeed, commendable effort has been put in the training of teachers, provision of learning resources as well as in campaigns to promote the language. Twenty years down the line, we can easily look back and pride in the pockets of achievements realised so far. This situation is in spite of the many factors that have staked the advancement of the language.

Of course expecting (all) Rwandans to write and speak like native speakers is like trying to run on a broken leg — it seems thin and wishy washy considering the Francophone background. Even Kenyans and Ugandans who are considered Anglophones haven’t hit the sky yet.

What is the problem?

There is, indeed, a big discrepancy between what students are able to write on paper and applicability. This disparity can be attributed to many contextual factors like attitude, historical/ cultural background among others.This article however focuses on pedagogical factors, one of which is the fact that the teaching of English is exam based and has been watered down to lazy memorisation, especially in rural areas. Students are trained to pass the exam; not to attain communicative competence. Language is much more than memorised words. It involves our ability to recognise and use words and sentences. A friend of mine narrated how she got a rude shock once when a student she had taught English Grammar the entire semester came to claim her grade and could not construct a sentence beyond my name is so and so; and grade. Surprisingly, the students score in Grammar was 34/50. Evidently, her grammatical knowledge (linguistic competence) is not enough to help her participate effectively in communicative situation. 

If teaching methodology is the crux in the improvement of English language, then attitude is its second skin. It is one thing to take a camel to the well but it is another for the camel to drink. The agony of every teacher is to make the camel thirsty enough to drink. With English language stubbornly remaining in the downward trajectory, there is a great need to motivate the students to change their negative attitude towards it.

What then is the way forward?

If Rwanda is to have a sustainable human resource that is fluent in the English language, it must tackle the problem from the roots. There is need for Rwandan educationists to use the language teaching approaches and methods which may work better to teach English communicatively in the Rwandan context because it appears as though those that have been used so far have not been very effective. Interactive activities like debates, discussions, role-play, dramatisation, dialogue, class interviews, running dictation, hot seat among others should be used to encourage speaking and participation.

In addition, there is a need for an increase in teachers’ language pedagogic knowledge and proficiency in English both in formal and informal learning centres so as to make classrooms natural-like contexts of language use.

The writer is a lecturer at The Adventist University of Central Africa