Attending to the voice of people at all levels involved in mother tongue education – a case of two minority languages in Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative research study conducted to obtain opinions about mother tongue education from members of two minority language communities in Ethiopia and other stakeholders. The study sought the opinions of representatives from the Ministry of Education, lecturers at teacher training colleges, as well as parents, community members and teachers. Six major themes arose from the research, which provided insight into reasons why mother tongue education could be either successful or unsuccessful.