EdData II: Data for Education Research and Programming (derp) in Africa

 ensure that learning assessments, including school leaving or entrance exams, 
are available and conducted in the languages that best allow children to show what they 
have learned.
Teacher training programs should also emphasize the need to continually assess 
pupils in the language they know best to avoid the problem of confusing L2/Lx ability with 
content knowledge. USAID can support teacher training colleges and ministry assessment units 
to align all assessment with the languages of instruction. 
3.6 
Align teacher training, recruitment, and placement with language policies 
and practice
As noted earlier in this report, teachers cannot effectively 
provide instruction if they do not speak the same language 
as their students, and if they do not have the skills 
necessary for teaching a language as a subject and/or 
teaching subject matter in the language. USAID can play a 
role in assisting the education sector to review, reflect, and 
revise teacher training content and recruitment and 
placement procedures to create an effective approach for 
language use in education. Key considerations and best 
practices to keep in mind include:
•
Being able to speak a language does not necessarily 
mean teachers will be able to teach the language as 
a subject, or even to teach 
in
the language, 
particularly if they did not learn in the language 
themselves, or they are not able to read it 
themselves. Pre- and in-service teacher training 
should be provided in the languages that teachers will be expected to teach 
in
so they gain 
the pedagogical vocabulary and literacy levels needed.
7
This is true even for instruction 
provided in L1. Additional opportunities may also be needed to help teachers develop 
their language proficiency so they feel comfortable teaching, reading, and writing in 
those languages.
•
Teachers need to be taught appropriate methodologies for teaching L1 as a language and 
for literacy development; for teaching L2/Lx language development; and for using 
6
See various studies conducted in several countries under the USAID Education Quality Improvement Program 
(EQUIP2), available from 
http://www.equip123.net/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=686&z=26
. 
7
Ethiopia, for example, mandates that teacher training be provided in the nationality language used for the area.