Research

Title of thesis

Multilingual Language Policies and Classroom Practices in Postcolonial Mozambique: Exploring Classroom Discourses and Teachers' Attitudes towards Bilingualism Using a Mixed Methods Approach

Description of thesis research

This mixed-methods study draws on interactional sociolinguistics and interpretive, critical paradigms (1) to investigate teacher attitudes towards Portuguese, indigenous languages, bilingualism/bilingual education and code-switching (CS) in Mozambique, (2) to examine the effect of socio-biographical variables (e.g. gender, age and multilingualism in schools) on language attitudes, and (3) to assess the manifestation of language attitudes in classroom discourses.

Using a convergent research design, the data were concurrently collected through an attitude questionnaire (N=201), semi-structured interviews (n=16) and audio-recordings (8 hours from two teachers), and analysed using SPSS and NVivo. The findings demonstrate that teachers hold more positive attitudes towards Portuguese than indigenous languages, suggesting the need to raise awareness of the historical, cultural and educational values of Mozambican indigenous languages in order to promote their use as the medium of instruction (MoI). Another finding is that the teachers hold favourable attitudes towards CS, bilingualism and bilingual education. The teachers, who work in multilingual schools and grew up in linguistically diverse environments, demonstrate their linguistic repertoires in everyday unwritten rules of communication depending on situational and environmental factors. These multilingual teachers reported using CS with friends, relatives, colleagues, strangers and students in the classroom as (1) an instructional and communication strategy, (2) a contextualization cue highlighting multilingual identities, and (3) a tool to reproduce or transform broader societal norms such as language education policies. Notably, the classroom data highlights the use of Portuguese/L2 as an instructional and communication strategy in Citewe/L1 lessons to accommodate students and teachers with limited proficiency in the L1.

These findings have significant implications, including the need to adopt more flexible language education policies, encourage multilingualism in schools and find innovative ways of using CS as a pedagogical strategy that goes beyond the traditional concept of switching between two distinct languages. Future studies in Mozambique could draw on more longitudinal data and involve teachers as researchers to systematically examine their classroom discourse in order to improve pedagogical practices.

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