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How do Ethnolinguistic Factors Impact English Language Proficiency in Sub-Saharan Nations?

  • Bridgette O. James
  • Feb 2, 2024
  • 1 min read

Updated: Jan 14




Abstract

Purpose:

To Study the Creative Use of English Language and Effect Attitudinal Change Towards Reading in Selected Communities.


Design/ Methodology/Approach:

Written and spoken pieces were collected  from creative writers in two sub-Saharan countries: English 001 and English 002 and were analysed from March 2022 to December 2023.


Findings:

Language by users in sub categories W and P was richer and adherence to norms in standard English were more prevalent. Respondents in subgroups in both Focus groups English 001 and English 002 who spent a proportionate amount of time reading current literature and watching Mainstream news channels such as the BBC and CNN did better in writing competitions. Additionally, it was found that local dialects in both communities may affect functional grammar and pronunciation of some English phonemes.

 
 
 

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A comparative analysis of English Language Use by creatives in two countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, by Bridgette James.

Hypothesis:

Any discussion of ethnolinguistic factors affecting language proficiency cannot be premised without examining the meaning of language. Cambridge Dictionary Online (2023) puts forward a concise definition that would be used in this paper: a system made up of phonemes, words, and grammar rules on how to use that particular language. An emphasis on maintaining a system of rules and standards in order to convey meaning in language is a persuasive argument (Open Learn, 2024).  The language under discussion here is the English used in two sub-Saharan countries, Sierra Leone, English 01 and Malawi, English 02.

Language had two of the meta functions first recognised by Thompson (2014 in Open Learn (2024)  in the creative pieces studied from March 2022 to December 2023: ideational and textual roles. In the poetry and stories analysed writers utilised English language to fictionally represent the world visualised in their imagination to convey written messages in textual forms.

In creative writing a speaker’s language is presumed to influence their thoughts and conceptualisation of ideas, validating the theory purported by German linguist Johann  Georg  Hamann (1905 cited in  De Gruyter Mouton 1968). Wilhelm von Humboldt discuss. Humboldt and Herder reportedly saw an alignment between language use and behavioural patterns affected by the speaker’s culture. Culture here is synonymous with how individuals from the same language community use the language under consideration based on recurrent themes and expressions in their writing. (Britannica, accessed 2023) This research concerns itself with factors affecting proficiency in English language based on common behaviours in aforenamed communities and from henceforth referred to as English 01 and English 02.

History of how English arrived in the chosen communities

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To give a historical overview, English was transported to Malawi via the similar route of colonisation by Britian and the establishment of English speaking mainly missionary schools on whose premises school age children in  both nations were  taught in English. (Matiki, 2001; accessed in 2024.) A notable feature of the way English arrived in Sierra Leone was through the deportation of freed slaves…

 

Miriam Conteh-Morgan (1997) highlighted the lack of extensive sociological research into the use of English language in Sierra Leone; she argued that it may be due to an [erroneous] perception that English is a native Sierra Leonean language spoken by the Krios. Conteh-Morgan distinguishes the English spoken in Sierra Leone from the native speaker variety- the variation spoken in Sierra Leone has been influenced by indigenous languages. My research unearthed the influence of the Krio language on English evidenced by the lack of subject-verb number coordination in the third person singular in the material of a large cohort of creative writers studied from March 2022 to December 2023.

Role English plays in Malawi

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To quote A. J. Matiki (2001), English was given official status in 1968 in Malawi when the government designated it as an official language. Mikiti has argues that assigning English such a high status has effectively led to the marginalisation of non-English speakers in the country. My contradictory argument centres on the need for Malawian creative writers to increase the frequency of English use in order to attain proficiency. This research shows a direct link between the use of the language for lengthy periods per day and a demonstration of level of proficiency required for writers.

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