Students' attitudes towards the use of source languages in the Turfloop campus, University of Limpopo : a case study.

Abstract

The study looks at the attitudes of students towards the use of their source languages at the Turfloop campus, University of Limpopo. The study is aimed at finding out the reasons why students have attitudes towards their source languages, whether these attitudes are negative or positive. More specifically, the research focuses on, among other things, the students‟ attitudes towards their mother tongue as compared to English and their options and beliefs about the use of importance of English is outlined. The survey methods used are questionnaire survey as well as follow-up interview, supplemented by on campus observation. The results are first analysed as a whole, and then split into different according to as set of background variables (gender, year of study, subject studied etc). This analysis indicates that, while English is recognised as the dominant language in South Africa and, more specifically, in the domain of education, some categories of respondents acknowledge the usefulness of their source languages. This is part of a growing set of surveys on the attitudes of university students towards the use of African languages in education, and can be fruitfully compared with similar research at other institutions. Moreover, the results of the present research can be used to inform future decisions regarding language policy in the University of Limpopo.