The Impact of Rayyan Dialectal Variations And Amharic on Medium of Instruction: The Case of Alamatan Primary Schools
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Date
2011-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This paper deals with the impact of the Rayyan Dialect (RD) variations and the influence of
Amharic on the Medium of Instruction (MOI), particularly in Alamatan primary schools. The
study is mainly concerned with the description of the linguistic disparities between the RD and
Standard Tigrinya (ST) and analysis of linguistic interferences of the RD and Amharic into the ST.
It is also aimed at pointing out the impacts of the linguistic disparities between the two varieties
and the influence of Amharic on the LOI, at assessing the attitudes of the students of Alamatan
primary schools towards ST as LOI, and at suggesting some measures which can possibly solve or
reduce the impacts.
In order to achieve these objectives, a questionnaire, interview, a writing test and personal
classroom observations have been used as the main data collection instruments. Six primary
schools have been selected using random and purposive sampling method. Grade seven students
and their Tigrinya teachers have also been selected as sample subjects of the study using random
sampling technique. The data, therefore, have been collected through the aforementioned methods
from these subjects during schooling time. Both quantitative and descriptive methods are used in
an integrated way to analyze the data.
The data have revealed that there is a gap between the RD and the MOI (ST). The linguistic
disparities between the two varieties mainly lie at phonological, grammatical and lexical levels.
The data have also shown that the linguistic aspects of the RD are mainly influenced by Amharic.
Moreover, it has also been found that there are innovations of linguistic elements in the RD.
It has been noticed that the disparity between the RD and the LOI as well as the influence of
Amharic bring about negative effect in classroom communication, on the implementation of the
ST as LOI, on the students’ academic success and on the general achievement of the instructional
objectives. The MOI in the primary education of Tigray is Tigrinya. However there are a large
number of students whose MT is entirely Amharic and face difficulty to reflect their ideas during
classroom instructional process. The data have also revealed that majority of the students have
developed a negative attitude towards using the ST as MOI.
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Keywords
RaRyyan Dialect, (RD) variations and the influence of Amharic