Impact of Culture on Communication Interactions: Case of Mixed Ethnic Secondary Schools in Botswana
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine the circumstances under which differences in cultures among students at Community Junior Secondary School level in Botswana influence or do not influence communication patterns in their social interactions. Despite the increasing ethnic plurality in student population in many urban and rural schools research on cross-cultural communicational interactions remain scanty. In order to assess this hypothesis, this research relies on theoretical and empirical data from a survey conducted among more than 26 students from three Community Junior Secondary Schools in Botswana. Summative evaluation results based on students from rural Community Junior Secondary Schools in the country revealed that 96.2% of the participants maintained social interactions and communication with schoolmates of cultural background other than their own.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Adeyemi, D. (2008). Bilingual education: Meeting the challenges of diversity in Botswana. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 17(1): 20-33.
Botswana Education (2012). Botswana Education System - Classbase
Braber, N. (2003). Language and Intercultural Communication Problems. Online. Available url: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/linguistics/WPL/WP2005/Braber.pdf. January 2013.
Durham, D. (2001). Botswana. New York: Macmillan.
Glaser, B.G., & Strauss, A. L. (1982). Building Theories from Case Study Research - iacmr www.iacmr.org/Conferences/.../PDW/Eisenhardt%20cases%20amr89.pdf‎
The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct., 1989), (pp. 532-550).
Glaser, B.G., & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine, Chicago.
Gudykunst, W.B., Kim, Y. Y. (1992). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication. New York: McGraw-Hill
Hays, J. (2002). Education and the San of Southern Africa: The search for alternatives. In I. Mazonde (Ed.). Minorities in the millennium: Perspectives from Botswana (pp. 73-87). Gaborone: Lightbooks.
http://www.classbase.com/…ntries/Botswana/Education-System
Jeremiah, K. (2008). The use of Setswana as a medium of instruction, a core subject and a national language: Is it not negation of affirmative action? A study of Botswana linguistic situation. Language in India, 8(11), 399-415. Retrieved April 23, 2009, from www.languageinindia.com
Jotia, A. L., & Pansiri, N. O. (2013). Multicultural Education: The missing link in Botswana
education policy. European journal of educational studies 5 (1), 2013
Kim, M.S. (2005). Culture based conventional constraint theory: Individual and culture-
level analyses. In W.B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (PP.93-117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kim. Y. Y. (1986). Intercultural Communication: Current research. Beverly Hills, CA. Sage. Publications
Martin, J.N., Nakayama, T.K., & Flores, L.A. (2002). A dialectical approach to intercultural
communication. In J.N. Martin, T.K. Nakayama, & L.A. Flores (Eds.), Readings in intercultural communication: Experiences and contexts (2nd ed., PP. 3 – 13). Boston: McGraw – Hill.
Molosiwa, A. (2009). Monocultural education in a multicultural society: The case of teacher preparation in Botswana. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 11(2): 1-13.
Nyati-Ramahobo, L & Chebanne, A. (2003). The Development of Minority Languages for Adult Literacy in Botswana: Towards Cultural Diversity. Online. Available url: www.geocities.com/reteng_we_are_here/.../Adult_Literacy_paper.doc‎. Accessed January 2013.
Nyati-Ramahobo, L. (2005). Towards multicultural education for Khoesan people of Botswana: Breaking barriers, expanding opportunities and exploring possibilities. Paper presented at the Regional Mother Tongue Conference on Multiculturalism in Southern African Education. Gaborone, Botswana.
Nyati-Ramahobo, L. (2006). The long road to multilingual schools in Botswana. In O. Garcia, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, & M. Torres-Guzman (Eds.).Imagining multicultural schools: Languages in education and globalisation (pp.200-222). Clevedon: Multicultural Matters.
Nyati-Saleshando, L. (2011). An advocacy project for multicultural education: the case of the Shiyeyi language in Botswana. International Review in Education, 43(1) 1 – 24.
Orbe, M. P., & Harris, T. M. (2007). Intercultural communication: Theory into practice. Sage Publications
Pinnock, H. (2012). Mother tongue key to world education growth. Online. Available url:http://www.save
Republic of Botswana. (1994). The Revised National Policy on Education. Ministry of Education. Gaborone: Government Printer.
Republic of Botswana. (2005). Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2005. Gaborone. Government Printers.
RETENG: The Multicultural coalition of Botswana (2007) www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/RETENG_MCB.pd
Singh, S., & Rampersal, R. (2010). Communication challenges in a multicultural learning environment. Journal of intercultural communication. Online, Available url:http://www.immi.se/intercultural/.
Strauss, A. (1982). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press. thechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library.languagemagazine.com/?page_id=3164
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
e-ISSN: 1694-2116
p-ISSN: 1694-2493