The influence of Pidgin English on writings of Senior High School students a study of Tempane Senior High School

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.