Imagined Futures and New Technology: Youths’ Language Attitudes in Songea, Tanzania

IF 0.5 3区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS Language Matters Pub Date : 2021-01-02 DOI:10.1080/10228195.2021.1876157

Gastor Mapunda, Tove Rosendal

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract Building on investment theory, this study analyses the language attitudes of secondary school students in Songea, Tanzania, with a focus on identity and access to digital technology. The study involved 467 secondary school students aged 14–21 years. The data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Less than half of the students had access to digital technology. Most of them lacked the required linguistic resources. English, a challenge to most students, and, to some extent, even Swahili, are seen as tools for future possibilities and success. Students invest in learning English and want to go abroad. Lack of resources notwithstanding, students’ decisions to invest in learning a particular language is mostly influenced by imagined possibilities. Structural inequalities and socioeconomic differences impact both language skills and the use of digital tools. Consequently, digital resources using mainly English and difficult Swahili terminology become an exclusion mechanism for many Tanzanian secondary school students.

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想象的未来与新技术：坦桑尼亚Songea年轻人的语言态度

摘要基于投资理论，本研究分析了坦桑尼亚Songea中学生的语言态度，重点关注身份和数字技术的获取。这项研究涉及467名年龄在14-21岁之间的中学生。数据是通过问卷调查和访谈收集的。只有不到一半的学生能够接触到数字技术。他们中的大多数人缺乏所需的语言资源。英语是对大多数学生的挑战，在某种程度上，甚至是斯瓦希里语，都被视为未来可能性和成功的工具。学生们投资学习英语，并想出国。尽管缺乏资源，但学生投资学习特定语言的决定主要受想象中的可能性的影响。结构性不平等和社会经济差异影响语言技能和数字工具的使用。因此，主要使用英语和难以理解的斯瓦希里语术语的数字资源成为许多坦桑尼亚中学生的排斥机制。

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来源期刊

Language Matters Multiple-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The purpose of Language Matters is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour focusing on multilingualism in Africa. Although the journal contributes to the language debate on all African languages, sub-Saharan Africa and issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context are the journal’s specific domains. The journal seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of African languages, providing a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa. The journal endorses a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcomes contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts, engineers or scholars with a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language. All contributions are critically reviewed by at least two referees. Although the general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, one of the three issues of Language Matters published each year is a special thematic edition on Language Politics in Africa. These special issues embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.