Perception and attitude towards the study of African languages in Zimbabwean high schools : implications for human resources development and management

Abstract

The study sought to explore perception and attitude towards the study of African \nlanguages in high schools and the resultant implications on human resources \ndevelopment and management. The research basically explored the diverse perception \nand attitude that prevail towards African languages in African countries in general and \nZimbabwe in particular. \nThe descriptive survey research design was used mainly for its effectiveness in \nexploratory research. Participants were drawn from selected high schools and \nuniversities in Zimbabwe. Questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and \ndocumentary analyses were used to collect data. Data gathered were then subjected to \nboth qualitative and quantitative analyses for triangulation purposes. \nMajor findings indicated that the perception and attitude towards the study of African \nlanguages in Zimbabwean high schools is generally negative. English language is \npreferred to and valued more than African languages. Such perception and attitude \ndetermine choices of programmes of study at tertiary level and the selective channeling \nof people into specific professional fields. Consequently, that impact on the \ndevelopment and management of potential human resources in professions related to \nAfrican languages. \nThe current language policy in Zimbabwe has no clear instrument that defines the place \nof African languages in the curriculum and work place as is the case with English. The \nchoice of language to study at high school is thus determined by fossilised perception \nand attitude towards languages in general, coupled with lack of career guidance on the link between African languages and related career opportunities, in the belief that \nEnglish is the gateway to success. The study clearly reveals that it is the Zimbabwean \neducation system that should realize the potential of schools as agents of change in \nimproving the status of African languages. Hence the study advocates restructuring of \nthe curriculum. \nProposals and recommendations to re-engineer the Zimbabwean curriculum so that \nindigenous African languages are made compulsory up to ‘A’ level were made. Such a \nbold move would uplift the status of African languages and at the same time improve \nperception and attitude towards their study as well as indirectly, but positively, impacting \non human resources development and management in related disciplines.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 2 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.