SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

(vii)
(viii)
To establish whether there are other languages that can serve as media of
instruction in schools.
To make relevant recommendations to GTZ/MITEP, TDU, the Malawi
Institute of Education, and the Ministry of Education on teacher training and
learning/teaching materials.
5.4 STUDY DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
5.4.1 POPULATION
The survey involved 740 respondents, of which 357 were pupils, 240 were
parents/guardians; 29 were teachers; and 114 placed in the “other” category.
Respondents in all the categories were randomly selected and then interviewed by
research team.
5.4.2 PROCEDURE
Data were collected mainly through interactive interviews with 740 randomly selected
subjects in Mulanje, Thyolo and Phalombe districts. A questionnarie was admnistered to
each respondent by members of the research team. The questionnaire, which had both
open ended and closed items sought to find out the following, among other things:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
general information about the respondents – sex, age, marital status, level of
education, etc.
proficiency in Chilomwe and other languages.
views on the use of Chilomwe as a medium of instruction/subject for study.
teachers’ competence in using Chilomwe as a medium of instruction/subject
for study.
views on whether or not it is embarrassing to speak Chilomwe.
availability of learning/teaching materials written in Chilomwe.
The data collection procedure was as follows: researchers read out questions to which the
subjects responded. The answers were then recorded on the questionnaire by the
researchers. One of the items on the questionnaire was a 25 item wordlist in which
responjdets were asked to state whether they knew the Chilomwe words. This was
followed by a dialogue which was read out by the reasearchers. The respondents’ task
was to summarise the dialogue. The two tests were aimed at determining the
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