Renowned Kenyan scholar, novelist and post-colonial theorist Ngugi wa thiongo , in his famous book, Decolonizing the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature, shows that language has a vital role in constructing and forming the national culture, history and identity. In the Rwandan setting, four languages – Kinyarwanda, French, English and Swahili – are officially approved as a medium of instruction. Some people, however, argue that this has brought with it significant issues, key among them being having a generation of students that are not fluent and cannot communicate effectively in any of the four languages. But is all lost, and how can the situation be salvaged?

Brenda Indekwe, a young writer and a poet based in Kigali, concurs that there is a serious problem in Rwandan schools with students neither being able to communicate fluently in English, French nor Kinyarwanda.

"This has far-reaching effects. That’s the reason we have so many graduates failing to express themselves during job interviews or even in daily interactions with others,” she says.

For Joseph Murari, a journalist working with the ‘Ugandan’, a Ugandan online news portal, language fluency goes beyond one speaking in the American or British accents to the ability to communicate in the language in such a way that listeners understand the message.

Experts’ advice

According to Gilbert Munyemana, the managing director Idembe Education Ltd, a company that promotes ICT in education and literacy, the first thing that is needed is to skill teachers with techniques relevant to language instruction.

"Schools are central in shaping the language skills of students and teachers are the primary players in implementing it. There is need to regularly assess the writing, listening and speaking skills of students if this dilemma is to be solved,” he says.

Munyemana notes that the situation is worse when it comes to the mother language (Kinyarwanda) which is no longer spoken or written well by the natives.

On the other hand, Fidelle Hategeka, a mathematics lecturer at the University of Adventist of Central Africa, official languages should only be used in offices, meetings, classrooms and public events, but in homes, children should use their mother tongue despite the growing mindset that foreign languages should be spoken most.

Dr Jack Nzabonimpa, the Director of Culture at Rwanda Academy of Languages and Culture (RALC), says there is need to find a solution to this language dilemma by either schools or other stakeholders.

"The young generation is the one who majorly make mistakes and errors in vernacular in their speech. That is why we introduced ‘Ntibavuga-Bavuga’ to improve their speaking skills,” he says.

Justin Gahota, a teacher of French, English and Swahili at Groupe Scolaire Mweya in Rubavu District, says language exercises through clubs and speech competitions are needed to improve speaking skills among students.

"Some teachers are also fond of teaching in Kinyarwanda even when it’s not a Kinyarwanda lesson. Students are examined in English or French, so perpetuating this habit only makes a bad situation worse for the learners,” he says.

Alex Nizeyimana, a teacher at Groupe Scolaire Gishisha, says listening to audio recordings could help students in as far as improving pronunciations of words is concerned.

"In addition, encouraging students to read many books would play an important role in enhancing speech eloquence among students,” he says.

For Richard Ruhumuriza, the managing director at Zari Company Limited in Kigali, the teachers themselves don’t know the languages they teach, so there is need to give them refresher courses more often to hone their skills.

Vitar Niyonteze, a parent whose child is in pre-school, says parents have the responsibility to teach their children languages when they return home, especially their mother tongue.Many parents think insisting on foreign languages like French and English is better and trendy, but research shows that children who use vernacular in lower levels are able to speak better other languages later in life,” he says.

Students speak out

According to Abdul Shema, a student at the University of Adventist of Central Africa, the learning environment matters a lot in shaping fluency of languages.

"Children who are city-born tend to speak English and French fluently, while those raised upcountry speak Kinyarwanda more fluently,” he says.

Edouje Isimbi, a student pursuing mass communication at Jomo Kenyatta University - Kigali, says there is a need to include compulsory language studies at university level.

Research findings on learning a new language

Various researchers agree that the earlier a child starts learning a second language, the better, for more reasons than one. Some researchers say that second language acquisition skills peak at or before the age of 6 or 7. Others claim that this window extends through puberty. But, they all agree that it’s much harder for a child beyond puberty to learn a new language.

Studies by Harvard University confirm that the creativity, critical thinking skills, and flexibility of the mind are significantly enhanced if children learn a second language at a younger age. Preschool years, especially the first three years of life, are believed to be a vital period in a child’s life. This is when the foundations for attitudes, thinking, and learning, among others, are laid down.

Additionally, a study conducted by a director of the cognitive neuroscience laboratory for language and child development at Dartmouth College (Hanover) has demonstrated that after the teen years, the brain changes and makes it extremely challenging (if possible at all) for an adult to learn a foreign language. This doesn’t mean that they can’t learn it; just that they won’t do so the same way as a child because the mechanisms that help language learning are not the same as they are at ages 2-5.