Language Use and Communication Strategies in Farmers Moblization for Sustainable Agricultural Development in a Selected Zone in Oromia National Regional State
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Date
2016-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Communication is a fundamental part in sustainable agricultural development programs and language
emerges as a key factor in effective communication and implementation of these programs. While it is evident
that social interactions are sustained by agreeable communicative principles, the role of language and the
different strategies of communication applied to agriculture and rural development interventions have
received very little attention from the parties concerned in the country in general and in Oromia Region in
particular. This has yielded detrimental effects in the quality of interaction at the grassroots level. More often
than not, it is assumed that once there is a common language, effective communication will take place and for
this reason language use and communication strategies are never given much thought in the field of
sustainable agricultural development interaction in the study area. This study was designed to critically
analyze how language is used and what communication strategies are employed in disseminating agricultural
development messages to farmers in a selected zone in Oromia National Regional State. This thesis argues
that the region has not achieved development dreams set by the Ethiopian Government due to inattention to
language use and communication strategies. In order to address the issue, this study investigated the
interactive process between the change agents and the farmers. Arguing from Critical Discourse Analysis
(CDA) theoretical position, this study sought to explain how the opaque and transparent structural
relationships of dominance and power are constituted, expressed and legitimized in the discourse practices as
observed in the interactions between the development agents and the farmers. In this way, the thesis explored
how discourse choices, communication strategies, power and ideology impact on meaning making and
dissemination of development information. This study is therefore situated within the Mixed Method Research
paradigm and used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collections, namely Questionnaire, Key
Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Document Analysis and Direct Observation, to gather data
that were used to advance the arguments in this thesis. While recognizing the fruitfulness of these tools in
exhaustive data collection, the study also used them to triangulate the data gathered thus verifying the data
and ensuring reliability and validity. The data were analyzed quantitatively using elementary descriptive
statistics and qualitatively using an analytical framework developed by Fairclough (2004) CDA models. The
analysis revealed that the three modes of communication (the phonic, the graphic and the multimodal)
commonly used in development communication in the study area are not common to the target community.
More often than not the modes are not sensitive to the cultural and situational contexts of the interaction, thus
ignoring the communities’ schemata, concerns and preferences. This results into disorder of discourse, which
in turn hampers interactive farmers’ participation that is deemed critical to agricultural development.
Furthermore, the language preferences of the change agents construct development as an elites’ exercise,
thereby stereotyping development as something disseminated by elites. The thesis also concluded that
language is a powerful capital that is used to construct and construe reality hence influencing change in
social structures and human relationships. Language reflects social status and the power imbalances among
participants involved in development interaction and this impact on the way development messages are
disseminated and interpreted. Ultimately, the thesis concluded that the language and communication
strategies used in development initiatives in the study area, do not aid effective communication and common
understanding of development objectives. Finally, based on the best practices observed from the field and the
analysis of some of the communication strategies used, this study recommended practically important points
that can be used to enhance communication in accelerating sustainable agricultural development
interactions.
Key words: Language use, Communication Strategies, Modes of Communication, and Sustainable
Agricultural Development
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Keywords
Language use, Communication Strategies, Modes of Communication, Sustainable