Language Skills for Higher Education in Tanzania
Abstract
This paper examines the language proficiency problem in higher education in Tanzania and shows that this is a familiar problem in countries that use a foreign or second language in education. It argues that the much utilized ' University of Dar es Salaam Model ' of Communications Skills courses has not had the expected impact on this problem and calls for a radical departure from current practice. The paper proposes two policy options to the higher education establishment in Tanzania with regard to the issue of the languages of education. The first option requires the establishment of a strict filtering mechanism in order to exclude all applicants who do not possess the English language skills required in an English medium university. The second option seeks to develop a bilingual language policy for higher education. This would allow partial use of Kiswahili in the system e.g. in lectures,
seminar discussions and examinations, even while most literature has to be accessed in English.
Key words: language proficiency, English medium university, strict filtering mechanism, bilingual language policy for higher education, Kiswahili
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