Finally, it is recommended that group work can be an effective mental health intervention in the participant's community. Questions like these have led to a great deal of interest in the concept of resilience.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Protective factors in the larger community included dimensions such as an organized, coherent neighborhood (Grossman, Cook, Kepkep & Koenen, 1999). Much of the above-mentioned early adult resilience literature emphasizes the characteristics of the individual that must adapt to severe stress.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Data management
Informed consent forms were signed by the participant once the objectives of the study, and the research procedure and process, were thoroughly explained by the researcher. Likewise, consultation with all relevant parties took place during the research process to ensure that the research objectives were pursued, and that all those involved benefited from the study.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Religion
34; Ja, ons gaan na die man, of my ma - hulle behoort ook, my ma - hulle behoort almal aan een man.
Conclusions regarding Grace's resiliency
Gibson (cited in Sieber&Cairns, 1991) suggests that it is important that mental health professionals recognize the positive aspects of a woman's ethnicity, and that transculturation, rather than assimilation, should be encouraged. Following this discovery, however, I couldn't help but wonder if it might be precisely this lack of access to mental health services that fostered resilience in Grace, and other members of her community.
CONCLUSION
However, qualitative research involves the exploration of a large amount of complex material by the researcher, therefore inconsistencies and gaps in the analysis are inevitable. The researcher's role, beliefs and theories in the research process cannot be ignored either, as they may have influenced the way in which feelings and thoughts were expressed by the participants and interpreted by the researcher.
The Lomwe migration
When the Lomwe moved into southern Malawi they settled among the Yao and Nyanja. Both Yao and Nyanja disliked Lomwe and Chilomwe and therefore demonstrated their linguacentrism at every opportunity that arose.
Colonial language policy (Missionary contacts and their influences)
Missionary contacts and their influences
Lugard's principle of divide and rule, indigenous languages were also used as noted above as part of colonial policy. While the colonial powers believed they could administer Malawi if they ruled indirectly through indigenous local authorities who used selected indigenous languages in early education and administration, they still felt it necessary for a class of natives they governed to were educated in English, arguing that this was for ease of administration.
Language patterns in post-colonial Malawi
We can take Carol Eastman's (1990) argument that when a first language functions socially, it tends to become part of one's ethnic identity regardless of whether it is used at all, or only used in certain domains. It is possible from this that some Ngoni by origin may have claimed to use Chingoni as a means of identifying themselves socially, when in fact they may not speak the original Ngoni or Zulu language at all. It is not uncommon for those from the Mzimba district to recite their zithakazelo especially at social events, despite the fact that their original Ngoni or Zulu has now been absorbed by the use of Chitumbuka.
The Banda ideology vis-it-vis language policies
Changing the name of the declared national language from Chinyanja to Chichewa, Banda claimed that the word was introduced by Europeans into the country. Several arguments can be advanced in st/pport of the arguments presented in the above quotation.
The concepts of national identity and national integration Makoni (1993 :27) points out that in a bid to manufacture feelings of national identity
Considering all the political support in terms of language engineering, the data of Knappert (1989) and Morrison et al (1989) conducted in the same year show a difference of 23%. In one of his speeches, he claimed that the word for 'son-in-law' in standard Chichewa is 'mkhwenyana', which is now a word nativized in Chitumbuka throughout the northern region.
Language-in-education policy: English-Chichewa diglossia In Malawi the use of English and Chichewa fits into Ferguson's (1985) 'diglossia'
His language policy particularly favored English over Chicliewa in education and national life. Pupils at the academy take British '0' and 'A' level exams, while those at the national school take the local Malawi school.
The 1996 post-Banda education language policy
This is for the simple functional reason that there are no textbooks or other learning and teaching materials in any of the other local languages that have been elevated to the status of instructional media in early education. There is a total absence of programs for training teachers in the various vernaculars.
Summary
The argument was that this was in the interest of national unity to minimize linguistic diversity, which the government saw as an aspect that reinforced ethnolinguistic loyalties. Ethno-linguistic groups from the north were largely marginalized during the decline of their regional language, Chiturnbuka, as a primary language in media, radio and primary education as a language of instruction.
Chapter Four
LANGUAGE ATTITUDES, PREFERENCES AND USAGE
Introduction
Research in this area should therefore be used as a tool to change static perceptions of those in power, which could have led a country to misguided policies in this regard. We start our discussion from more general observations about attitudes and then move on to more specific ones about the definition and nature of attitudes.
Relevance and importance of attitudes
Thus, a complex set of attitudes could be formed which could influence policy formulation and also influence the teaching of a given language in classroom situations. For a long time, the concept of language attitudes has proven to be a valuable construct both in theory and research and in politics and practice.
Attitudes and their nature
In the long run, policies will succeed that do not do one of three things: conform to the expressed views of those involved; persuade those who express negative views of the correctness of the policy; or attempt to remove the cause of the disagreement. In any case, knowledge of attitudes is fundamental to the design of a policy as well as to the success of its implementation.
The conceptualisation and definition of attitudes
A mentalist definition of attitudes
Our concern in this discussion is not only with people's dispositions; it has to do with people's attitudes towards one or more languages.
A behaviourist definition of attitudes
He notes that the status of any language will rise and fall depending on the importance of the symbolic functions a particular language serves. So it seems to the majority that they have succumbed to the use of Chichewa because of the socio-economic and political pressure it placed on the nation.
Language-oriented attitudes on methodological preferences
It is also important to distinguish between attitude and opimon: the former is part of the subconscious and would not usually be revealed by direct questions; the latter, on the other hand, is a conscious expression of what the individual believes and is often not a genuine reflection of the individual's attitude, as opinion is usually influenced by many situational factors. (Webb, 1979, in Roos, 1990).
The Commitment measure
Thus, it becomes a useful predictor of overt behavior if the research environment is unaffected by past actions unrelated to overt behavior, forcing the respondents to be consistent. The utility of the Commitment Measure as a measurement tool could be for studies on the implementation of attitudes related to different forms of language planning and maintenance.
The Matched Guise technique
The judge evaluation will therefore result in agreement or lack thereof between subject, speaker and a particular language or its dialect. This conformity or lack thereof is therefore obscured, ultimately leading to inaccurate judgments.
The Questionnaire
Studies that focus on either cognitive or affective components of attitudes or those that only define attitude as an effective dimension need subjective criteria. The implication here is that studies designed to measure the cognitive or affective views alone seem ineffective for predicting behavior or affective views alone are not sufficient as predictors of behavior.
A possible model of language attitudes
- Instrumental attitudes
- Integrative attitudes
- Language attitndes in educational contexts
Africans learning English, French or Portuguese do not necessarily want to be part of the target language community. In the ESL context, language will largely be used as part of everyday discourse (Schmied, 1991).
Summary
Instruments such as the Fishman Engagement Scale have also been used in studies which have been shown to be effective for normative views regarding the situational use of languages and their varieties. Therefore, languages or their varieties will reflect the awareness of their speech communities about the status and prestige attributed to the speakers of these languages and their varieties.
Chapter Five
- Introduction
- The concept of 'research methodology'
- Aims of the study
- Assumptions of the Study
- Choice of instruments
- The live questionnaire
- The observation measure (Analytic Technique)
- Rating Scales
- Problems envisaged in conducting research in the area of study
- Methodological Problems
- Conceptual Problems
- Psychological Problems
- Summary
The observation tool is used when a researcher observes and interacts in the field environment for the duration of the study. Given this psychological problem, the researcher had to be constantly aware of the reliability and validity of the data collected.
Chapter Six
EXPOSITION OF DATA, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
Procedure
In addition to this classification, other questions were asked to gain more insight into respondents' attitudes in general both at primary and secondary school level (see appendices for questionnaires). Following Kamil, et al (1985) in Williams (1996), the researcher therefore attempts to use logic or intuition to support the generalizations of the evidence gathered from the sample.
Research Findings
Almost all speakers of Chiyao and Chilomwe as their first language claimed to know Chinyanja proficiently for similar reasons: their home language had never been used as a language of instruction in the classroom. Speakers of minority languages such as Chisena, Chitonga, Chinkhonde and others also claimed to have a proficient knowledge of Chinyanja.
Respondents' proficiency in mother tongues or first languages
Use of mother tongue as ideal and beneficial to all as an instructionallanguage(s) in standards 1 - 4
Responden s' preference for English as an ins ruc ional language from s andards one 0 four
The choice of instructional language(s) from standard five into higher education up to tertiary level
Respondents· proficiency in another indigenous language
- Attitudes toward English
- Discussion of respondents· proficiency in mother tongues
- Use of mother tongues as instructional languages: Standards 1-4 The result indicates that only a small number of learners (33%) and parents (30%)
- Preference for English as an instructionallanguage:Standards 1-4 The response to the use of English as an instructional medium in both early education and
- Attitudes towards other Malawian languages, their speakers and the use of language on the radio, TV and in print media for mass
- Attitudes towards English
Learners generally have no inhibitions and developed ideas for the use of other languages in the media, especially in early education. They expressed the view that learners should achieve high proficiency in the use of these additional indigenous languages.
Chapter Seven
ISSUES IN THE NATIONAL AND EDUCATION LANGUAGE POLICIES
Ideologies of ethnicity and regionalism versus language practice
One could analyze the rise of the quoted languages to official status as simply representing the power brokers within the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) under President Bakili Muluzi. Since voting was based on ethnicity, this was also a ploy to have one of the languages in the north, from which the party.
Evidence of regionalistic and ethnolinguistic practices It has been observed that the use of Chichewa has not narrowed socio-political
The Life Chairman said that when planning development projects in the country, such officials prioritized the northern region and at times tried to seek development assistance to go to the north. Nor has the current government attempted to develop teaching and learning materials in the language of the students in early education. It's a case of "old wine in new bottles": the old policies still apply.
Evidence of regionalistic and ethnolinguistic practices from 1994 elections
This would go a long way in preventing the manipulation of parish identities for social, economic and political benefits, which is dangerous for the country's democratic future. What seems wrong is the politicization of ethnicity and regionalism to achieve personal gains without attending to state affairs such as planning and implementing policies based on justice and the interests of the country as a whole.
Problems in the education language policy and in the national language policy
Problems in the implementation of the education language policy
Many blacks saw the use of indigenous languages in early education as part of the general oppression through Bantu education, which was seen by the oppressed people as another ploy by the government to limit opportunities for them. As in South Africa, parents in Malawi regard English as the language of liberation and it was difficult to convince them to accept the cognitive and psychosocial benefits of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction.
Examples of parental resistance to the use of mother tongues in early education
As a result, the connotations of the development of African languages and their use, particularly the use of Chichewa in Malawi, was widely resented as a means of indoctrinating others into Chewa culture and its dominance. As a result of both the neglect of the development of the indigenous languages and the 'right to English' policy in some private schools in Malawi, semi-lingualism has developed significantly.
Problems in the language in education policy
Many teachers are needed as a result of the introduction of free primary school education after 1996. One of the root causes, if not the only one, is the lack of clearly stated policy.
Lessons from interactional studies
The problem in the case of Malawi would be that the use of local languages in institutions of higher education, in particular, would require the development of these local languages: they should be codified and dictionaries and grammar books developed to be equal to Chinyanja Once this is achieved, if financial resources permit, the suggestion would be worth experimenting with. In the process, other languages remain dysfunctional beyond tribal enslavement, while they can easily develop equally.
Suggestions for policy intervention
We therefore suggest that effective implementation programs should be drawn up to improve the current situation. These can also be seen as the exercise of power and control and how values are distributed between different groups.
The analysis of policies
- Implementation strategies: top-down vis-a-vis bottom-up approaches
- The backward mapping approach
- Evaluation of education restructuring policies
- Textbook writing and materials development in the promotion of indigenous languages
- The use of English in literary production
This is a process that requires careful conceptualization because of the unequal and uneven power relations in the different parts of the constituencies (Humpreys and Reitzes, 1995, in de Clercq 1997). During the colonial period, a significant number of textbooks and other materials tended to serve the state's policy of turning students into mere functionaries of the state.
