SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

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espondents’ level of competence in Chilomwe. It has to be mentioned that some data were collected through observation and literature survey. The researchers were equipped with notepads in which they recorded any relevant sociolinguistic observations. These observations were done during both official working and off duty hours. 5.4.3 DATA COLLECTORS The data collection exercise was done by a team comprising four principal researchers and eight research assistants. The eight research assistants, whose minimum qualification was a Malawi School Certificate of Education, were trained in the use of the questionnnaire. They were briefed adequately on the survey’s aims and objectives. Each of thr research assistant were native speakers of Chilomwe. 5.4.4 DATA ANALYSIS The data were edited, coded and then entered in a computer. The SPSS was used tio analyse the dta. Frequencies, percentages and cross tabulations were done for all the categories of respondents, namely pupils, teachers, parents/guardians, and the “others”. 5.4.5 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED DURING THE SURVEY The major problem was that the survey was conducted at a time when schools were closed for the long vacation. Getting teachers was a problem since not all teachers live nearby schools. The majority of the teachers live in rented houses far away from schools. Getting parents/guardians and pupils as respondents was, however, not difficult. The second problem was that since the survey was conducted during a crop growing season, some responents were reluctant to temporarily abandon their garden tasks and talk to the researchers. A related problem is that given that the survey was conducted in the rain season, some earth roads proved to be impassable, even with the availability of 4 wheeel drive vehicles. A case in point is Chiringa area in Phalombe which was never surveyed due to heavy rains which rendered the roads impassable. Related to this is the presence of bad terrain which made travelling difficult. One example is that of Molere and Thekerani areas which were not fully covered due to inaccessibility of certain parts. In some cases, the research team was mistakenly identified as a government group responsible for distrributing free seed and fertiliser to local communities. In such a case, 74
the villagers would also ask the research team to convey to government their problems e.g. lack of social amenities like hospitals and boreholes. In more extreme cases, some respondents were unwiling to be interviewed once thet realized that the tem was not working for the government. Due to the problems cited above, it became impossible for the research team to achieve its targets of interviewing 1,000 respondents. Instead, 740 were interviewed. This figure is still adequate for the purposes of the survey and has enabled the principal researchers to make meaningful generalizations and conclusions in relation to the objectives of the survey. 5.4.6 SOME DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS In this section, we provide information on the sex, age and levels of education of the respondents. As stated earlier the survey had four types of respondents, namely parents/guardians, pupils, teachers, and others. The total population was 740. Out of the 740 respondents, 357 (48.2%) were pupils; 240 (32.4%) were parents/guardians, 114 (15.4%) were in the ‘Other category; whiklst 29 (3.9%) were teachers. The distribution of the respondents per district was as follows: Thyolo – 366 (49.5%); Mulanje – 191 (25.8%) and Phalombe – 180 (24.3%). In terms of age, the age range 15 19 years constituted the largest group with 234 (31.6%). The second largest age group was 10 14 years old with 152 respondents (20.5%). The third largest age group was 2024 years with 119 respondents 916.1%). The age groups 21 29 came fourth with 61 (8.2%) respondents. Other age ranges above 29 years were in lower percentages. The distribution of the respondents according to sex is as follows: males 48 (58.1%) and females 290 (39.2%). 20 questionnaires (2.7%) were inadvertently left unmarked in terms of sex. Of the 740 respondents, 299 (40.4%) claimed that they were able to speak Chilomwe. 439 (59.3%) of the respondents stated that they were not speakersof Chilomwe. 2 (0.3%) of the respondents were not identified in terms of whether they spoke Chilomwe or not. The majority of the respondents (40%) had primary education below the Primary School Leaving Certificate Level. 15.8% of the respondents indicated that they had no formal education whilst 10.0% had a Junior Cerificate. 9.3% of the respondents had Primary School Leaving Cerrtificate. 75
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SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS OF FOUR M
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4.5.1 TEACHER’S RESPONSES 23 4.5.
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A Note from the Director on Socioli
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1 INTRODUCTION The availability of
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instance, a mother tongue literacy
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level of understanding, whether the
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In relation to religions affiliatio
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there is l and w are repalced by d
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the survey that people from outside
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Above form 4 1 3 0.5 Other 3 0.3 Th
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REASONS GIVEN Easy communication Mo
Page 23 and 24: Chilomwe Chisena Chinkhonde English
Page 25 and 26: 50. It has been observed that those
Page 27 and 28: Chichewa. This has arisen from the
Page 29 and 30: the most crucial informants because
Page 31 and 32: and pressing issues to handle e.g.
Page 33 and 34: Table 13: District Acceptance Of Ch
Page 35 and 36: The figures above clearly indicate
Page 37 and 38: Teachers were also requested to ind
Page 39 and 40: Rumphi 75.0 25.0 Mzimba 84.7 11.1 N
Page 41 and 42: Bay Table 24 shows that English is
Page 43 and 44: preferred language is Chilambia (17
Page 45 and 46: Rumphi 17.3 Pure Tumbuka 6.7 Henga
Page 47 and 48: Pure 1.5 Mmbelwa 1.5 Euthini 1.5 Ka
Page 49 and 50: Chichewa is the most favoured langu
Page 51 and 52: Respondents were also requested to
Page 53 and 54: Table 43: Whether To Be Taught In C
Page 55 and 56: % Resdpondentys District Chichewa C
Page 57 and 58: N/A 19.5 On the corollary question
Page 59 and 60: Table 53 shows that most pupils pre
Page 61 and 62: TRA = Translation NMT = Not mother
Page 63 and 64: Table 60: Language To Be Used In Ne
Page 65 and 66: Rumphi 41. 4 Mzimba 23. 9 Nkhata Ba
Page 67 and 68: case for Nkhata Bay is that Chitong
Page 69 and 70: Table 68 reveals that there is an i
Page 71 and 72: Chitumbuka, the same cannot be said
Page 73: (vii) (viii) To establish whether t
Page 77 and 78: Chiradzulu 1 0.3 Mozambique 22 6.2
Page 79 and 80: Undecided 1 0.3 The results present
Page 81 and 82: There were 19 cases of respondents
Page 83 and 84: On the question of whether the resp
Page 85 and 86: Chitakhwani 2 6.9 Chikokhola 2 6.9
Page 87 and 88: 5.5.4.1 SUMMARY Although this categ
Page 89 and 90: 6 CHISENA SURVEY 6.1 BACKGROUND TO
Page 91 and 92: ii) proficiency in Chisena and othe
Page 93 and 94: Table 80: Age Groups Age Group Freq
Page 95 and 96: Age Group Frequency % 09 20 4.9 1
Page 97 and 98: Tengani 11 2.7 Nsanje 35 8.6 Phodzo
Page 99 and 100: The majority of the pupils have cle
Page 101 and 102: 6.5.2.3 VARIETIES Asked bout where
Page 103 and 104: mentioned the Nsanje variety, anoth
Page 105 and 106: 6.5.4 “OTHER” RESPONDENTS’ RE
Page 107 and 108: grammars and dictionaries. (iv) The
Page 109: 109
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