The outcome of the study

(click on the links to open the files)

To begin with, here is a general profile of my informants. I have already mentioned that the number of filled-in questionnaires was 19 (so far!). It is important to know who is making statements and what background they come from. It would be great to receive more replies in order to examine, for example, whether attitudes are changing for people living abroad as opposed to those who live in Botswana. It is also crucial to know which languages are considered to be first, second etc. and what other languages the participants are familiar with at all. Needless to say that the linguistic background will heavily influence the attitudes towards the use of Setswana and English.

Speaking of linguistic background, very revealing results are the ones from the question as to which language the respondents would use in certain domains. I have deliberately chosen very private domains, for I believe they tell us a lot about one's attachment to either one language or the other.

A very controversial term is that of so-called "Botswana English". In many sociolinguistic studies the coining of such a word goes back to the people's feeling that they have actually created their own variety of the English language - or adapted it to their needs to such an extent that it bears a lot of traces of their native language(s). (This is the case, for instance, in several former colonial states of the British Empire.) It often goes along with a certain pride or cultural awareness - in other words, the desire to ascertain one's position as an independent nation, no longer defining its identity by means of the British. But on the other hand, many people associate such a naming with a sense of inferiority, in the way that what they speak is not "proper English", but an impoverished variety of the "model". I have added some of the comments that my participants gave to this issue, to give an impression of how it is viewed in the case of Botswana.

The motivating fact behind my study is that the schooling in Botswana from standard 4 onwards is entirely in English. The only subject that is taught in Setswana, the national language, is the teaching of this language itself. To find out what people think about this fact, which can be seen both as an advantage AND a disadvantage, I have suggested a number of statements, to which the respondents were asked to comment whether they agree with them or not. This seems to be a very controversial issue and the responses vary considerably. However, I detected some tendencies and I leave it up to you to decide whether such tendencies were predictable or not.

The teaching situation in a bilingual school system is undoubtedly very particular. I was therefore interested in what qualities people would expect from a teacher, especially with regard to languages. Given that the language of instruction is English, the level of its mastery is highly important. But quality teaching is not restricted to the language. Yet, this is exactly the field where there might be a conflict between the necessity of learning it and the wish to preserve one's own culture and language. And how much of a different culture is attached to a foreign teacher? In fact, numerous questions are attached to this issue and from the responses of my informants it becomes obvious that it is difficult to decide what is really necessary or important for teachers. (This might also explain a high rate of invalid answers, for many respondents simply did not tick anything.) Still, there are clear preferences for both teachers of English and teachers of other subjects.

What is your opinion? Leave a comment and enter the discussion!