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Estimating the impact of language of instruction in South African primary schools: A fixed effects approach

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Taylor

    (Department of Basic Education)

  • Marisa Coetzee

    (Departement Ekonomie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch)

Abstract

For many children around the world, access to higher education and the labour market depends on becoming fluent in a second language. This presents a challenge to education policy: when and how in the school programme should a transition to the second language occur? While a large theoretical literature exists, empirical evidence is limited by the difficulties inherent to measuring the causal effect of language of instruction. In South Africa, the majority of children do not speak English as their first language but are required to undertake their final school-leaving examinations in English. Most schools offer mother-tongue instruction in the first three grades of school and then transition to English as the language of instruction in the fourth grade. Some schools use English as the language of instruction from the first grade. In recent years a number of schools have changed their policy, thus creating within-school, cross-grade variation in the language of instruction received in the early grades. We use longitudinal data on school characteristics including language of instruction by grade, and student test score data for the population of South African primary schools. Simple OLS estimates suggest a positive correlation between English instruction in the first three grades and English performance in grades 4, 5 and 6. After including school fixed effects, which removes the confounding effects of selection into schools with different language policies, we find that mother tongue instruction in the early grades significantly improves English acquisition, as measured in grades 4, 5 and 6. The significance of this study is twofold. Firstly, it illustrates the power of school-fixed effects to estimate causal impacts of educational interventions. Secondly, it is the first South African study (and one of a very few international studies) to bring robust empirical evidence to the policy debate around language of instruction.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Taylor & Marisa Coetzee, 2013. "Estimating the impact of language of instruction in South African primary schools: A fixed effects approach," Working Papers 21/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers197
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Spaull, Nicholas & Kotze, Janeli, 2015. "Starting behind and staying behind in South Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 13-24.
    3. Rajesh Ramachandran & Christopher Rauh, 2016. "Discriminatory attitudes and indigenous language promotion: Challenges and solutions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Ramachandran, Rajesh, 2017. "Language use in education and human capital formation: Evidence from the Ethiopian educational reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 195-213.
    5. Parinduri, Rasyad & Ong, Kian, 2018. "The effects of mediums of instruction on educational- and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Malaysia," MPRA Paper 87560, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Chicoine, Luke, 2019. "Schooling with learning: The effect of free primary education and mother tongue instruction reforms in Ethiopia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 94-107.
    7. Nicholas Spaull, 2016. "Disentangling the language effect in South African schools: Measuring the impact of ‘language of assessment’ in grade 3 literacy and numeracy," Working Papers 19/2016, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    8. Hahm, Sabrina & Gazzola, Michele, 2022. "The Value of Foreign Language Skills in the German Labor Market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Rajesh Ramachandran & Christopher Rauh, 2023. "The Imperium of the Colonial Tongue? Evidence on Language Policy Preferences in Zambia," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(1), pages 52-80.
    10. Pooja Nakamura & Adria Molotsky & Rosa Castro Zarzur & Varsha Ranjit & Yasmina Haddad & Thomas De Hoop, 2023. "Language of instruction in schools in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), December.
    11. Leighton, Margaret, 2022. "Mother tongue reading materials as a bridge to literacy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Opare-Kumi, Jennifer, 2024. "English medium instruction in multilingual contexts: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    13. Bethlehem A. Argaw, 2016. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of mother tongue-based education on reading skills and early labour market outcomes," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-4, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Johnston, Jamie & Ksoll, Christopher, 2022. "Effectiveness of interactive satellite-transmitted instruction: Experimental evidence from Ghanaian primary schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Argaw, Bethlehem A., 2016. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of mother tongue-based education on reading skills and early labour market outcomes," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Cao, Yihui & Sickles, Robin C. & Triebs, Thomas P. & Tumlinson, Justin, 2024. "Linguistic distance to English impedes research performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    17. Mauro Mediavilla & María-Jesús Mancebón & José-María Gómez-Sancho & Luis Pires Jiménez, 2019. "Bilingual education and school choice: a case study of public secondary schools in the Spanish region of Madrid," Working Papers 2019/01, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    18. Adelaide Baronchelli & Alessandra Foresta & Roberto Ricciuti, 2020. "The Words That Keep People Apart. Official Language, Accountability and Fiscal Capacity," CESifo Working Paper Series 8437, CESifo.
    19. Alkateb-Chami, Maya, 2024. "Learning Poverty when schools do not teach in children’s home language: A comparative perspective," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    20. Piper, Benjamin & Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons & Kwayumba, Dunston & Oyanga, Arbogast, 2018. "Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 110-127.
    21. Argaw, Bethlehem A., 2016. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of mother tongue-based education on reading skills and early labour market outcomes," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    22. Margaret Leighton, 2021. "Mother Tongue Reading Materials as a Bridge to Literacy," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 202101, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; language of learning and teaching; South Africa; fixed effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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