SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

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accept the introduction of mother tongue instruction. Some of the questions were similar to those also asked in the other sections of the questionnaire such as the respondents’ knowledge of other varieties of Chilomwe and the areas the varieties were spoken. Out of all the 29 teachers interviewed, the survey found out that 11 (37.9%) spoke Chilomwe whereas 18 (62.1%) claimed that they did not. Asked whether they spoke other lnguages, Chichewa, English and Chiyao were cited predominantly. Some of the respondents went on to enumerate the varieties of Chilomwe they spoke as follows: Chikokhola, Chimihavani, Chimwinyamwero, Chitakhwani, Chimeeto, Chimarenje and Chimanyawa. The question on attitude was intended to find out whether or not the teachers found it embarrasing to speak Chilomwe. 13 (44.8%) of the respondents who said they spoke the language said they were not embarrassed while 3.4% said they were. 15 (51.7%) of the respondents were undecided, hence they gave no response. The following question aimed at getting respondents’ reaction to their being Lomwes. 16 (55.2%) said they were not embarrassed to belong to the Lomwe ethnic group whereas 3.4% said they were. 12 (41.4%) did not give any response to the question. The following responses impinge directly on the main aim and specific goals of the survey. The first question asked the teachers whether they would accept Chilomwe in schools. 12 (41.4%) accepted Chilomwe in schools; with 4% rejecting the language. 16 (55.2%) were undecided, hence no responses were given. Asked whether or not they would accept Chilomwe as a medium of instruction, 7 (24.1%) said YES while 6 (20.7%) said NO. The remaining 16 respondents (55.6%) did not give any answer. Another question sought to find out what languages the teachers were trained to teach. 12 respondents (41.4%) said they were trained to teach Chichewa and English. The remaining 17 respondents (58.6%) did not give any response because they were temporary teachers who never received formal teacher training. The respondents were then asked which variety of Chilomwe would be the most appropriate for teaching in schools. Chimihavani topped the list with 17.2% of the respondents citing it, while Chitakhwani and Chikokhola tied at 6.9% each. 3.4% said Chimanyawa would be most appropriate. The majority of the respondents were unable to provide an answer to this question. See Table 79. Table 79: Chilomwe Variety Most Appropriate for Teaching Variety Frequency % 84
Chitakhwani 2 6.9 Chikokhola 2 6.9 Chimihavani 5 17.2 Chimanyawa 2 3.4 Don’t know 19 65.5 5.5.3.1 DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY It is pertinent to point out from the onset that the number of respondents of the above portion of the questionnaire is small in comparison to the number of respondents in the other categories. The reason for this is straightforward. The survey, as pointed out earlier, was carried out during the school holidays and although a number of schools were visited it was not possible to interview a greater and perhaps more representative number of teachers. It is hoped, however, that the trend that was set by the earlier surveys on Chiyao and Chitumbuka will be reflected here as well. The initial observation that need to be made is that although the survey was made in a largely Chilomwe speaking area, 62.1% of the teachers said they did not speak the language. There are two reasons for this. The first is that teachers in Malawi in the majority of cases can be posted to teach any where in the country. This accounts for the presence of nonChilomwe speakers in areas which are otherwise predominantly Chilomwe speaking areas. The second reason has been cited in the literature, i.e.later generations of Lomwe children have shown tendencies towards language shift for factors which need not concern us here (Kayambazinthu 1998/90, Matiki 1996/97). It is interesting to note that there appears to be marked change in the attitude of Chilomwe speakers towards their language. 13 (44.8%) of the teachers indicated that they were not embarrased to speak Chilomwe. This is in itself very important. If a mother tongue has to be introduced as a medium of instruction or as a subject, it is imperative that the potential personnel that will deliver the service should not have negative attitudes towards the language. A follow up observation from the above has to do with the acceptability at least in principle, of the introduction of Chilomwe in schools. 41.3% of the teachers, it should be recalled, said they would welcome the introduction of Chilomwe in schools. Success of the policy for mother tongue instruction would parlty be determined by the acceptance of such policy by the teachers themselves. 85
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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
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Chilomwe Chisena Chinkhonde English
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50. It has been observed that those
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Chichewa. This has arisen from the
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the most crucial informants because
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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 and 74: (vii) (viii) To establish whether t
Page 75 and 76: the villagers would also ask the re
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: On the question of whether the resp
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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