Teachers perception and awareness of Shona dialects vis-vis standard Shona in the Zimbabwean classroom

Shona is a heterogeneous language in that a number of tribes use different dialects namely Karanga, Ndau, Manyika, Zezuru and Korekore. However, in educational circles the Zezuru dialect is regarded as ‘the language’ while the other speech forms are erroneously seen as deviations from the norm, and are therefore stigmatised. This means that learners come to school with a win-lose package depending on the dialect or variety they speak and that impacts on the teaching-learning process. The basic aim of this paper is to show that language variation, especially in Shona, can be an interesting area of study for educationists in indigenous languages. If a learner is given the opportunity to study in a context where language diversity is either discouraged or encouraged, consequently the gap between home and school can be either widened or narrowed depending on which variety of Shona the learner speaks. In light of that, this paper examines the problems faced by, what the layman calls, ‘non-standard’ dialect speakers of Shona in the Zimbabwean classroom. The paper also explores ways that can improve dialect awareness amongst teachers of Shona. The paper then concludes by arguing that dialect diversity should not be seen as a problem but as a resource to be utilised in the language classroom.