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18/04/11

CHALLENGING THE ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSE(EAP) CHALLENGES IN DEMOCRATIC

REPUBLIC OF CONGO, UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA

byRaymond SANGABAU M, M A

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CHALLENGING THE ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSE(EAP) CHALLENGES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO,

UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA

• I’d like to open this presentation by a word of thanks and gratitude to the British Council for accepting to fund my trip to the UK for a second time. My gratitude is addressed to the British Council delegates in Kinshasa and to the ones in this room. I must acknowledge that my participation in the Harrogate conference was a positive experience from which I learned a lot and changed my views of EAP.

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• This presentation is a result of both my first participation in the IATEFL conference in Harrogate and my three years of teaching EAP at the University of Kinshasa.

• The Teaching of English in general and the teaching of EAP in particular is challenging in DRC; a developing country having particular teaching circumstances.

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1. The Linguistic Context of DRC

• DRC is located in central Africa and it shares borders with nine countries four of which are English speaking countries namely Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Linguistically speaking, DRC is a scandal. About 200 or 250 languages are spoken within the DRC borders throughout 453 tribes.( Kamwangamalu K. 1997).

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DRC is located in central Africa and It shares borders with nine countries four of which are English speaking countries namely Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Linguistically speaking, DRC is a scandal. About 200 or 250 languages are spoken within the DRC borders throughout 453 tribes.( Kamwangamalu K. 1997).

The Linguistic Context of DRC

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Province Orientale-

Nord Kivu-

Sud Kivu-

Maniema-Katanga :

Swahili

Democratic Republic of Congo and The Linguistic Context of DRC

Equateur- Kinshasa :

Lingala

Bas-Congo Bandundu:

KikongoKasaï-oriental-

Kasaï occidental: Ciluba (Mampangi, A 2009: 101)

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French has the status of official Language, while Ciluba, Lingala, Swahili and Kikongo have the status of National languages. It’s worth mentioning at this stage that the attempt to replace French by English as the official language was observed as the AFDL forces got the political power in Kinshasa.

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English has been taught in schools as a second European Language since 1958, two years before the political independence .The feeling of frustration and revolt against colonization was the cause of change from Flemish to English.(Prof.YABA,2010) However, the teaching /learning takes place in difficult circumstances: Lack of text books, lack of up dated class curriculum, late start, lack of technology, written oriented exams……In spite of this state of affairs, to day, English joins French as a second official language with an amount of prestige linked to the elites.  

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2 0 0 – 2 5 0 L a n g u a g e s

Ciluba, lingala,Swahili,

Kikongo (04 National Languages)

FrenchOthers

English

eg. Kiyansi

Kikongo

French

Portuguese

English

The linguistic situation can be pictured as follows:

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A student then meets English after having mastered one or two of the 200-2500 indigenous languages, one or two of the four National Languages and French as a Language of instruction. Eg: Kiyansi – Kikongo – French - English

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Hours of instruction in selected faculties

Faculty Level Number of hours

Sciences and Communication

1st year 30 hours

Law 1st year 45 hours

Economics 1st and 2nd year

60 hours

UNIKIN is the biggest of the country . It has got ten faculties and a student get a degree after Five years

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Between thirty and 60 hours are devoted to the teaching of EAP in the first year of University studies in faculties such as Law, Journalism, Economics and Sciences, where I teach in the department of Sciences of earth . The teacher then meets the first challenge to select the materials that can meet both the social needs of the students and the academic needs that cover students expectations related to their subject area. Richards 1994 speaks of interactional listening which aims at the social communication and transactional listening for the subject information. The social need corresponds to basics that help the students to adjust if not to complete his background for social communication.

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The above described needs make the difference between faculty materials which are related to subdivisions of EAP such as English for Development purpose (EDP) in the faculty such as rural development, English for Art (EA) in music and art, English for business and Economics (EBE) in Economics, English for Legal purpose (ELP) in Law and political sciences, English for sciences and Technology(EST) in polytechnics and computing Maths…

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Challenges of EAP in University of Kinshasa

As described above, EAP challenges in my environment may be summarized as follows:Selecting materials and Lecture organization (No or little resources)Lack of text books (teacher’s and student’s text books)Lack of equipment such as computer, data projector… Black board writing (doesn’t fit the size of the classroomThe size of class (350-400 students) and the amount of students’ participation. (Many students have insufficient background) mostly in the first year.

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Hours of instructions (30-60 hours) and frequency (once a week)Students’ lack of motivation or interest in the English languageThe layout of the classrooms ( see picture)

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Challenging strategies:

Behavioural strategiesSpeak English whenever I meet my students on the Campus Explain the benefit of the English language in their field of studies and in their life during the first meeting and whenever necessary.

Marking strictness (not accepting to change the student’s marks under any condition)Check the attendance at the end of every class Regular assessment and render the corrected sheets at next class

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Methodological strategies

Course content and arrangement (Everyday English 10hours, Grammar structures 4hours and reading scientific text 16hours). The texts are highly motivating in that they respond to the academic needs of the students. This challenge is solved by my supervisor who selects the materials.Use of pair work (right hand and left hand partner) and group work.Interactive approach (individual and team interactions) Eg: Split the class in two groups named V. Club and T.P Mazembe (two opposing teams in the country) . Then start the class discussion.

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To sum up this presentation, I would like to underline that teaching EAP in my environment is challenging due to the linguistic context of the country ( multilingualism ), language policy( English is the second foreign language), poor teaching/learning environment, insufficient instruction number of hours…. But a behavioural and methodological teaching strategies serve to meet these challenges.

Thanks so much for attetion !