Attitudes of youth towards television news broadcast in the indigenous african languages: the case of students at the University of Venda

Abstract

On average, youth in South Africa are more inclined to watch and listen to news broadcast in English language than in indigenous African languages. This trend is likely to contribute to underdevelopment, and extinction of the indigenous African languages in South Africa. However, these concerns are based on casual observations rather than scholarly investigations. This study explores attitudes of the youth towards news broadcast in indigenous African languages at the University of Venda in Limpopo Province, South Africa. An exploratory sequential mixed method was utilised to firstly establish trends in attitudes of youth towards news broadcast in African indigenous languages and later explain the underlying reasons for the language preferences. A self-administered questionnaire was used in the first phase and focus group discussions were used in the second phase to collect data from purposively selected students in the School of Human and Social Sciences at the University of Venda in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Quantitative data was analysed descriptively through Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26 while qualitative data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. The study revealed that most youth are inclined to watch news broadcast in the English language because of the perceived benefits and content richness. On the other hand, news broadcast in African languages were shunned due to limited socio-economic benefits associated with these languages. The study provides important insights into possible strategies for enhancing promotion of indigenous African languages in South Africa through further their development and incorporation into the socio-economic practices.