Language match is fixed, language understanding can be built: Rethinking home language instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nine in ten children in Sub-Saharan Africa cannot read a simple text by the age of ten, and most are taught in a language they do not speak at home. The dominant policy response is home language instruction, yet the evidence that it improves reading is weaker than its adoption suggests. Using a unique dataset of 1,718 formerly out-of-school children in an accelerated learning programme in Ghana and Liberia, we compared matched pupils, who spoke the language of instruction at home, with mismatched pupils, who did not. Speaking the language of instruction at home provided a clear advantage in Ghana but not in Liberia—a puzzle we resolved with three findings. First, understanding of the language of instruction is a better predictor of reading progress across countries than language match. Second, reading is shaped by classroom characteristics: the more classmates shared a mismatched pupil’s home language, the worse that pupil read. Third, language understanding can be built: most mismatched pupils developed oral proficiency in the language of instruction within a single programme cycle, the classroom’s language mix predicted whether they did, and those who did read better. No language policy can match the home language of every child, but every child should be taught to understand the language of the classroom—and once they do, they can learn to read in it, whatever language they speak at home.