Indigenous musical play games as cultural resources for the cognitive development promotion in Zambian children: the case of western province.
Date
2022
Authors
Mukela, Reuben Mashebe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore the substantive themes, values and practices underlying the
Lozi children’s indigenous musical play games in order to understand their cognitive,
socioemotional and educational implications. Conducted in seven districts of Western Province,
the study was undertaken because of the realisation that indigenous musical play games as
educational resources were given the least attention in the school curriculum. In order to generate
data, an ethnographic study with a purposive sample of 144 participants mostly school children,
music teachers, college students and music lecturers and expert village musicians, was
undertaken. A follow up one day teachers’ workshop was also conducted. Data for the study was
coded into themes and analysed using Braun and Clarke thematic approach. The results obtained
revealed that indigenous play games were potentially relevant for promoting the nurturance of
the most prized Lozi sociocultural core values such as respect and social responsibility. The
cultivation and nurturance of these values in the socialisation process of children was an
important intellectual milestone in the development of the philosophy of ‘butu’ or being human
and was seen as a means of preparing children for fitness in the adult Lozi society. Indigenous
play games were also found to be beneficial for promoting the acquisition of survival skills
deemed necessary to live and protect the ecocultural environment of the Lozi people. Apart from
their social and ecocultural values, indigenous play games were found to be rich educational
resources that were underpinned by various intellectual and academic benefits potentially
relevant for enhancing children’s acquisition of emergent literacy and numeracy skills of
counting. Participation in story and riddle activities had the potential to promote the acquisition
of literacy skills of listening and speaking while playing various indigenous board games
involving the movement of seeds or stones in dug out holes had the potential to bolster children’s
numeracy skills. Notwithstanding their educational benefits, indigenous musical play games
remained largely neglected in the school curriculum while most teachers expressed a negative
attitude towards them.
The implications of the study outcomes revealed that, although these rich cultural resources were
educationally valuable, and could be used as entry points to the teaching and learning of various
subjects in the school curriculum, they were under utilised. Teachers lacked knowledge of these
teaching resources, while the contents of such materials were largely lacking in the school text
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books. The study challenges the Zambian school curriculum that has ignored and neglected
children’s indigenous musical play games in preference for borrowed Western games, and
recommends for the inclusion of indigenous ones. The study recommends for further research
undertakings to establish how such valuable materials could be adapted to yield more positive
results, and ensure their preservation from extinction.
Description
Master thesis
Keywords
Lozi language , Lozi -- Games , Musical plays-- Lozi