An examination of classroom practices for the development of writing in English as a second language in a Malawian primary school

Abstract

This study arises out of an awareness of the history of Malawi' s language in education policy from the era of British colonialism to the present multilingual era. English is given a high status in schools despite the fact that many more teachers and pupils speak local languages. Malawi's new language in education model stipulates that "English should be offered as a subject from Standards 1 to 3; English should be offered as medium of instruction from Standards 4 to 8" (MOE. 1996). The Malawi in education bilingual model is thus subtractive, which impacts negatively on second language learning. I discuss various theories that underpin the teaching of literacy in a second language. namely bilingualism and cognition, social learning, and theories with an educational or classroom orientation to establish a framework for my empirical investigation.