Questão de Língua Inglesa

Read the text below and answer the questions 21 to 23: 1 English is a colonial language that continued to be the official language after independence in virtually 2 all African countries that were under British rule. In some cases it was retained to avoid ethnic 3 tensions. But in all cases it was retained because of its prestige and association with power. In 4 contrast, the vernaculars were viewed as backward and inferior, and so were not developed. Students 5 have made to feel ashamed of their mother tongue and punished for speaking it. In Kenya, for 6 example, speaking in vernacular was forbidden and sanctioned in schools. One popular method of 7 punishment was to make pupils carry around a skull of some dead animal the whole day as a way of 8 embarrassing the pupil who dared speak in his mother tongue. Today it is difficult to use indigenous 9 languages because they have not developed, been codified and standardized. Hence there is a 10 shortage of teaching materials and trained teachers in the vernaculars. And this has often been used 11 as an excuse for not adopting the vernaculars in schools. (The Guardian Weekly)