Patterns of Language Use among Immigrant Children from Anglophone African Countries Living in Botswana
Journal Title: Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 23
Abstract
This paper examines the patterns of language use among immigrant children from Anglophone African countries living in Botswana. The study reveals major differences in their patterns of language use when compared to that of their parents. Three distinct language use patterns were identified; namely, children who are monolingual in English; those who are bilingual in English and the mother tongue, English and Kiswahili, or English and Setswana; and a third group who are multilingual in the mother tongue, English, Kiswahili and/ or Setswana. The study also reveals that whereas majority of the immigrant parents do not speak Setswana, in spite of their length of residence in Botswana, a good percentage of their children speaks Setswana. Another interesting finding is that many of the immigrant children who cannot speak their mother tongues are fluent speakers of Setswana, the dominant language of the host community. Data for this study were collected using two instruments; namely, a questionnaire designed for parents and an interview schedule for children aged between 18- 25. The questionnaire was administered to 100 immigrant parents from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. Fifty immigrant children from these countries were interviewed to get more insightful data on the patterns of language use among this population. Convenience sampling was used to identify the participants. The theoretical framework of this study was based on the “opportunity versus motivation” argument on language maintenance and language shift. The researcher recommends that immigrant children should be given more exposure and opportunities to learn and speak their mother tongue languages, especially in the family domain
Authors and Affiliations
Ngozi Umunnakwe
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP330835
- DOI 10.14738/assrj.423.3794.
- Views 78
- Downloads 0
Adoption Attitude Towards The Usage Of Pusher Box Technology In The Rubber Industry
This study has investigated the relationship between the adoption attitude towards usage of automatic pusher box system in rubber plant industry. The study was conducted in a rubber factory under Felda Global Venture (FG...
Poetry and Ṣūfism: Ibn al-Rūmī, from Asceticism to an Attempt to Transcend Language
N/A
Does Community-based Forestry Management Approach Improve the Livelihoods of Local People? A Case of Sal-forest area in Bangladesh
Community-based forest management (CBFM) approach has been implementing in the degraded Sal forest areas since 1989 with an aim to eliminate the main causes of forest depletion as well as alleviate poverty through partic...
Influence of Work-Family Conflict and Work Stress on the Psychological Well-Being among Police Officers in Makurdi Metropolis.
This study investigated the influence of work-family conflict and work stress on the psychological well-being among police Officers in Makurdi metropolis. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, where three h...
Communication Barrier Encountered By Employees Working In Hotel Industry
Objective: Communication in English is an important antecedent for a noteworthy work performance in hospitality industry. English has been considered the universal language, an employee into hospitality sector is expecte...