Early Childhood Language Education and Literacy Practices in Ethiopia

This edited volume explores how indigenous knowledges and practices can be instrumental in improving literacy outcomes and teacher development practices in Ethiopia, aiding children's long-term reading, and learning outcomes. The chapters present research from a collaborative project between Ethiopia and Norway and demonstrate how students can be supported to think pragmatically, learn critically and be in possession of the citizenship skills necessary to thrive in a multilingual world. The authors celebrate multilingualism and bring indigenous traditions such as oracy, storytelling, folktales to the fore revealing their positive impact on educational attainment. Addressing issues of language diversity and systematic ignorance of indigenous literacy practices, the book plays a necessary role in introducing Ethiopia's cultural heritage to the West and, hence, bridges the cultural gaps between the global north and global south. Arguably contributing one of the first publications on early literacy in Ethiopian languages, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students studying the fields of early years literacy and language, indigenous knowledge and applied linguistics more broadly. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Kassahun Weldemariam is Senior Lecturer, PhD in pedagogical work, Department of Pedagogy, Curriculum and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Margareth Sandvik is Professor of Norwegian Didactics, Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. Moges Yigezu is Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Preface 1. Introduction: Context for Language Education in Ethiopia PART 1: Challenges associated with early reading competencey and teaching practices 2. Challenges of early grade reading competency in Ethiopia: A synthesis of research and experience 3. Induction of beginning teachers in Ethiopian schools with reference to multilingual pre-school programs 4. Early Grade Reading in Ethiopia: Phonological awareness in grade one textbook: the case of Koorete language PART 2: Indigenous Literacy Practices 5. Implications of Nibab-Bet (School of Reading) for Modern Schooling: the case of educated Ethiopians studied in the two school systems 6. Reading instructions in the traditional schools of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church 7. Teacher Training, Development and Mentorship Practices in the ETOC Schools PART 3: Language Development: Instructional and Pedagogical Relevance 8. Metaphor as a pedagogical tool in Anyuwa 9. Gendered Expressions in Some Ethiopian Languages 10. The Prevalence of Gender Bias in Early Years English and Amharic Textbooks Postscript