SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

Mzimba 72.4 27.6
Nkhata Bay 67.5 31.0
According to Table 45, the majority of the gaurdians believe that language contributes to
pupils’ failure in the infant classes.
4.5.2.2 SUMMARY OF SECTION
When a global view of the Northern Region is taken, the following salient facts present
themselves:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
that Rumphi Chitumbuka is considered to be the most appropriate variety for
use insxchols
that the best Chityumbuka is spoken in Rumphi which goes to confirm what is
claimed in the literature
that the majority of the parents/gaurdians recognise the importance of mother
tongue in education and that they would support the use of their Chichewa or
Chitubmka as medium of instruction.
That the majority of the parents/guardians, on the one hand, consider
Chitumbuka tobe the most appropriate language for use in other domains such
as the radio, the newspapers, government notices, etc, while in Nkhata Bay,
on the other hand, the majority prefer Chichewa in the said domains.
4.5.3 PUPILS’ RESPONSES
In all, the survey interviewed 1,105 pupils in the northern region. In this section, the
responses to various salient questions will be presented. Finally, a summary of the
findings will be presented.
The following is the breakdown of the number of pupils interviewed in the region.
Chitipa 132, Rumphi 87, Karonga 248, Mzimba 418, Nkhata Bay 220. The pupils were
first requested to indicate whether or not they could read and write in Chichewa and
Chitumbuka respectively. The following results were obtained;
Table 46:
Ability To Read And Write In Chitumbuka And In Chichewa
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