Editing Shona language (section)

==Instruction==
[[File:Wikipedia-logo-v2-sn.png|thumb|Wikipedia in the Shona language.]]
[[File:Iggy teaching Shona.jpg|thumb|Teacher Ignatio Chiyaka teaching the Shona language to U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in [[Zhombe]], Zimbabwe. The words on the [[blackboard]] are {{lang|sn|pfeka}} ("dress self") and {{lang|sn|hembe}} ("shirt").]]
Shona is a written standard language with an [[orthography]] and [[grammar]] that was codified during the early 20th century and fixed in the 1950s. In the 1920s, the Rhodesian administration was faced with the challenge of preparing schoolbooks and other materials in the various languages and dialects and requested the recommendation of South African linguist [[Clement Doke]]. The language is now described through monolingual and bilingual [[dictionary|dictionaries]] (chiefly Shona – English).

The first novel in Shona, [[Solomon Mutswairo]]'s ''Feso'', was published in 1957. Subsequently, hundreds of novels, short story collections and poetry volumes in Shona have appeared. Shona is taught in the schools, but after the first few grades it is not the general medium of instruction for subjects other than Shona grammar and literature.