An Effective Tool for Oshindonga Early Development Education: Lilonga-Nenyanyu Learning Application

Abstract

The Namibian official language is English, and that is what is mostly spoken by children because it is the medium of instruction in schools. Learning materials ranging from kids’ playbooks, TV programs, and most of the existing children's educational applications are all in English and other western languages, resulting in our native languages being rarely spoken and used, thus slowly dying out. This study aimed to investigate and explore the development of learning on an android mobile application in a Namibian language known as Oshindonga, an Oshiwambo dialect, spoken in Northern Namibia. Data has been primarily collected through an online survey from Oshindonga-speaking parents and caregivers, to understand what kind of features they would like to have in the application. Parents and guardians play a major role in their children’s education, and the results have indicated that most of them are deeply involved in their kids’ education. This will in a great deal assist the children in using the learning application as they can easily access their parents’ phones, and as results have indicated, that majority of the children can use and are familiar with smartphones.