Motivation and first language learning in secondary school: the case of iteso students of kumi district- Uganda

×

Error message

User warning: The following theme is missing from the file system: journalijdr. For information about how to fix this, see the documentation page. in _drupal_trigger_error_with_delayed_logging() (line 1138 of /home2/journalijdr/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc).

International Journal of Development Research

Volume: 
7
Article ID: 
9600
6 pages
Research Article

Motivation and first language learning in secondary school: the case of iteso students of kumi district- Uganda

Karim Osuje and Dr. James Gwachi Mayaka

Abstract: 

One of the most popular concepts in the context of language teaching is motivation. In Uganda, the teaching of Ateso as a subject in secondary school curriculum is a relatively new concept, spanning from 2013.Accordingly, this study was carried out between 2014-2015 to establish Iteso students’ attitude and motivation towards learning mother tongue in Kumi district (Uganda). It had been realised that Ateso was not widely taught as it should have been; only eight schools out of 76 had embraced the teaching of Ateso. The main objective was to find out students’ attitude towards the Ateso language Kumi. The study then sought to find out what motivated the students to learn their mother tongue and the extent of this. The researchers used the qualitative research approach with a survey design. The Instruments of data collection were the questionnaire and interviews. Four schools were selected and a total of 320 respondents were sampled from 480 using simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. The study found out that students were strongly motivated to learn Ateso language mainly because of integrative reasons and the fact that it is easy to understand and pass both at local and national exams. It is recommended that language policy makers and other key stakeholders need to popularise the learning of Ateso in all schools in Teso sub region since learners regard it positively and are motivated. The study contributes to the knowledge bulk in the disciplines of language learning, sociolinguistics and social psychology of language, particularly in the field of attitude studies.

Download PDF: