ABSTRACT
Graffiti takes the form of written language whose authorship always remains anonymous. It precisely refers to any wall writing, pictures and symbols or markings of any kind on any surface anywhere no matter what motivates the writer. Most graffiti are viewed as illegal or vandalism of property by those in authority. Secondary school students use graffiti as a form of communication when they feel other channels to express themselves, have been blocked by those in authority. This study investigated, identified and described the types of graffiti used for communication by the students. The study also aimed at identifying the communicative strategies employed in graffiti writing and the influence of graffiti on learning of English language and classroom learning environment in our schools. Graffiti texts were collected in ten secondary schools purposively sampled in the Larger Laikipia East District in Laikipia County. Out of one thousand graffiti texts collected, two hundred were randomly sampled for analysis. Twenty English teachers were purposively sampled to take part in an interview. One hundred students were randomly sampled to fill in questionnaires. A Focused Group Discussion (FGD) was carried out with another group of five students randomly sampled across the classes in each school. The data collected from this exercise were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to arrive at inferences and conclusions. The research leaned on sociolinguistic approach to the study of graffiti. The study was guided by General System Theory. The findings of the study were that students used varied communicative strategies like humour, symbolism, irony, short forms, acronyms and abbreviations in their graffiti writings. Some school administrators viewed graffiti as a nuisance while others viewed it as an important mode of communication. There was striking gender difference in graffiti writing as far as language use is concerned. It was also established that teachers expressed varied opinions that graffiti influenced learning of English language and classroom learning environment in secondary schools. The findings of this research may contribute to the study of sociolinguistics in general and communication in schools in particular. It has been established that students use graffiti to communicate a lot of information that would be beneficial to the headteachers, quality assurance officers, students‟ counsellors, policy makers and other stakeholders. Classroom teachers may also use graffiti to establish the unspoken students problems and behaviour and thus prevent entropy of the school system.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study and objective of the study. It also looks at research questions of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study and finally, assumptions of the study.
Background to the Study
Graffiti (singular, graffito) refer to writings or drawings scribbled, scratched or sprayed on a wall or a public space. Graffiti are any type of public markings or written words that appear on walls of buildings. Graffiti have existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Greece and Roman Empire. In the modern era graffiti have been used as a mode to pass socio-political messages in an artistic form. Its growth into urban culture has been fuelled by the evolution of hip- hop and other urban cultures. Though celebrated by many, graffiti is a constant point of disagreement between the artists and law enforcement officers.
Elsewhere in the world, graffiti have been used to pass radical political and social change messages. For instance, during the Arab Spring, Egyptian graffiti artists played a huge role in expressing the mood of the country through their caricature of former president Hosni Mubarak.
In most countries, defacing property with graffiti without the property owner‟s consent is considered vandalism and is punishable by law. Most times graffiti is employed as a medium of communication to communicate social, economic and political messages in society. The study of graffiti in secondary schools could help to establish the strategies students use to communicate among themselves and with the administration. There are a lot of writings on the walls of most schools and there could be reasons why the students opt to write instead of communicating verbally. Graffiti in secondary schools could also help to explain some behaviour manifested by the students as they try to express their needs, wishes and grievances.
The study of graffiti in schools could also help to explain the influence of graffiti written in classrooms have on learning environment. Students could have unique ways that they use to summarize what teachers teach their classrooms in graffiti. Graffiti written by students in classrooms that depicts violence and use vulgar language could give a negative impression to the teachers about that particular class. This could affect teaching as the teacher would not feel safe and would have a very low opinion on the class. This may most probably affect his/her content delivery.
The population of secondary schools is made up of adolescents who crave for self identity. They are people who are teenagers and rebellious to any form of system that is put in place for them to follow. To avoid falling victims to the system if they complained, they resort to writing graffiti to express their discontent with the system. They feel they have been oppressed and avenues for expressing their opinions blocked. The Larger Laikipia East District is in Laikipia County and is a semi-arid
region. It is classified as an ASAL region. Due to this reason students undergo various hardships both at home and in schools which could be explained by the graffiti they write.
In most secondary schools in this region there had been persistent writing of graffiti on the walls of classrooms, toilets, libraries, dormitories and laboratories. Students sometimes used various coded and complex graffiti to communicate among themselves and understanding these codes could help to understand what transpires amongst them and also help in understanding them. The problems expressed through graffiti if not addressed could have an effect on learning in schools.
Graffiti is treated as a challenge to authority especially in contexts where one group exerts pressure or control on the other. Graffiti is also viewed as a form of informal communication that marginalized, oppressed or neglected groups resort to express their discontent, needs and grievances to those in authority. This usually happens after they feel other channels of communication have been blocked or they are not involved in decision making on issues that affect them. People will always look for alternative ways of expressing their opinions on matters affecting them especially when they feel oppressed. They may write graffiti using pens, chalk, human faeces, can sprays or even blood.
There has been existence of graffiti in churches, hospitals, prisons, schools and even in institutions of higher learning.
According to Nwoye (1993), wall writings and drawings have been used for a long time by various groups of people in the society who in one way or another feel oppressed. Such groups of people who are prohibited from, or denied avenues of public space for expression seek other avenues and often graffiti on the walls of public places becomes a favoured option.
Nwoye (1993) points out that student population in most parts of the world is one such group that feels it does not enjoy the privilege of public self-expression. Many students opposing the school system may not come out openly but may express their anger in graffiti for fear of the consequences. In writing graffiti students may use codes that are uniquely understood by the writer and the targeted audience. (Ferrell 1993) claims that Graffiti can naturally be viewed as a contemporary type of expressive opposition to authority; though each graffito contains a complex message of its own, there is the simple implicit assumption that every graffito opposes authority.
School is taken to be a social institution with students being the inferior and voiceless group and the authority as the dominant one. Students feel that the rules and regulation are imposed on them yet avenues for expressing their grievances blocked. This leads to the young students feeling neglected and oppressed by those who are in the administration, teachers, prefects and sometimes school workers. According to Rothman (2002) adolescence is the stage of growth and development that most of the secondary schools students are in, and is mostly a time of resistance to authority. In their effort to express their wishes the students are generally
misunderstood and dismissed. The adults dominate the scene and the adolescents feel oppressed when they lack chances to express their opinion. This brings discontent to the adolescents who try to look for other ways to make themselves be heard.
Phillips (1999) claims that graffiti is viewed traditionally as the product of people who have little representation within the traditional mass media. This is also supported by Nwoye (1993) who says that graffiti is perceived as sheer expression of youthful exuberance, a manifestation of vandalism. Most students use their energies to make sure that they are heard through the use of graffiti because of hidden identity of the graffiti author.
Students in secondary schools react and respond to the school authority in a similar way. They rarely use legitimate avenues for self expression and may often not be involved in decisions making by those in authority. Students always view their parents, teachers, prefects and administrators as people who do not understand their thoughts, fears, attitudes, wishes, needs and opinions regarding the world around them. So they find graffiti as the only avenue that can provide privacy and anonymity necessary to express themselves for fear of the consequences of being noted. So writing graffiti therefore provides the author with the opportunity, safety and unlimited freedom to express himself/herself on a matter of interest and or concern .In this way, graffiti can be studied in terms of their being a portrayal of current social issues. Graffiti has its own special language and can therefore be studied as forms of language in context.
Statement of the Problem
There has been persistent graffiti writing in secondary schools in the Larger Laikipia East District. This has been coupled with various forms of indiscipline in these schools. There is no documented information on the study of these complex graffiti codes used by students to communicate and their influence on classroom language learning. This study attempted to fill this gap.
