Abstract:
The use of pidgin among senior high school students has engaged the attention of different
classes of people, especially educationists, linguists, parents and policy makers in education. The
study aims at ascertaining the validity of the perception that pidgin is the cause of deviant
Standard English usage among students at the senior high school. It also investigates the domain
in which pidgin operates, the purpose for which it is used, whether it is used predominant and
influenced by geographical or social factors. Data for the study were collected through students’
participation, interviews, observations and documentation. The study is based on data collected
from a total of sixty (60) student respondents and twenty (20) teachers, as well as interviews and
review of documents. The instrument used for the collection of data was a questionnaire which
was pilot-tested for validity and reliability. The responses from both students and teacher
respondents were 100%. The data collected were analyzed through a tabular representation using
percentages. The main findings were that the use of pidgin is a secondary school culture which is
age-related, gender biased and an urban phenomenon. Pidgin is used in different domains for
purposes that have no adverse effect on senior high school students’ performance in Standard
English usage. Since school pidgin is not found to be the main cause of poor performance of
secondary school students in Standard English, it has been suggested that a more pragmatic
methods be employed to address the problem of poor performance.
Description:
A Dissertation In The Department Of Applied Linguistics, Faculty Of Foreign Languages Education And Communication, Submitted To The School Of Graduate Studies, University Of Education, Winneba In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement For The Award Of Master Of Education In Teaching English As A Second Language
AUGUST, 2018.
