Education language policy and bilingual education: The impact of French language policy in primary education in Niger

The study analyses language policies and their effects on pupils' academic achievement in two types of primary education programs in Niger. A Hausa and French bilingual school, called Ecole Experimentale, and a French monolingual school called Ecole Lazaret Deux. The study uses the bilingual proficiency framework developed by Cummins (1979) and McNab's (1989) education language planning model to analyze, respectively, the students' performance on selected language tasks (dictation, composition and reading comprehension) and content area tests (mathematics, social studies) tests administered in French and the sociolinguistic situation in Niger in general and in the schools in particular.;The research findings show that language policy advocating the use of mother tongue (in this case Hausa) in primary education is not detrimental to pupils' French learning and their academic performance in language. They also indicate that in the case of primary education in Niger, longer exposure to instruction in French does not trigger appropriate proficiency in it. Both schools' pupils performed poorly on the achievement and proficiency tests administered during the experiment. That result suggests that there are serious problems related to the teaching and testing methods utilize currently in the Nigerian education system.;The sociolinguistic analysis indicates that at the advent of its political independence and up to now, Niger has mostly continued its colonial language policy both in education and administration by maintaining French as the exclusive media in formal domains (education and administration). In non-formal education (literacy and adult education), five national languages (Hausa, Zarma-Sonrai, Fulfulde, Kanuri and Tamajeq) are used as means of instruction. In formal education, these national languages have been used in only 40 schools for an experiment which has begun in 1973. The positive report on the experiment and the various recommendations from scholars and the national education conferences have not materialized in a language policy which advocates the use of national languages in at least the primary education system.;Using our research findings and taking into account Niger' sociopolitical profile and its organizational context, we recommend a careful implementation of a bilingual education program which advocates the use of regional languages (Hausa, Zarma-Songhai, Fulfulde, Kanuri and Tamajeq) along with French in primary education. The regional languages must serve first as means of instruction from first up to fourth grade, while French is taught as a subject; and in fifth and sixth grade French must become the language of instruction and the regional languages must be taught as subjects. The promotion of French and national languages throughout the primary education system is argued to be more advantageous pedagogically than a transitional bilingual education program which ends the use of mother tongue in the child's education. It is suggested that such proposal be implemented progressively while the extensive teacher training and language development activities are undertaken by government and private institutions which are in favor of the use of national languages in education and the finding of long-term solutions to the education language problems in Niger.