English Language Dominance and Native Language Sustainability: A Quantitative Analysis of Sindhi Speakers’ Perceptions

Abstract

The English language dominance in the world has altered the linguistic landscape of the multilingual societies, and this is a subject of concern regarding the sustainability of the regional and native languages. This paper quantitatively analyses the perception of the Sindhi speakers regarding English language dominance and how it affects the survival of Sindhi language. The survey method was used, and 65 undergraduate students in four departments, namely English, Education, Business, and Economics were surveyed at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad. The questionnaire was designed using 15 close-ended items whose measures were on the five-point Likert scale between Strongly Agree and Strongly Disagree. The descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to evaluate the perception of the participants and to analyze the associations between the dominance of the English language and the native language sustainability. The results have shown that the dominance of English, although viewed as a prerequisite to academic achievement, career development, and communication in the international context, has influence on the usage, transmission, and the value attached to the Sindhi language. The participants also re-emphasized the relevance of mother-tongue learning in order to learn and preserve the language. These findings indicate that English serves as both an opportunity and a potential threat to the regional languages and therefore there is need to have educational and policy measures that would help in ensuring the maintenance of the native language and at the same time English proficiency.