In Pursuit of Preserving Namibian Languages: The Development of

the Ndungika App, an Oshiwambo Children’s Android Application

Setson Penombili Vatilifa

, Victoria T. Hasheela-Mufeti

and Lukas Homateni Julius

Department of Computing, Statistical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Namibia,

340 Mandume Ndemufayo Street, Pioneerspark, Windhoek, Namibia

Department of Computing, Statistical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Namibia,

340 Mandume Ndemufayo, Namibia

Department of Language Development, University of Namibia, 340 Mandume Ndemufayo Street,

Pioneerspark, Windhoek, Namibia

Keywords: Oshiwambo, Ndungika, Language Preservation, Mother Tongue, Children, Mobile App.

Abstract: Indigenous languages are often at risk of extinction, especially if they are not well preserved, and when their

native speakers seldom practice it. Namibian indigenous languages are not spared from this risk, due to the

fact that the children are most often from various tribes, especially in cities, and they normally communicate

in English as the sole official language used in Namibia schools. As children grow, they tend to become

resistant to using home languages and exhibit an increasing desire to conform to the majority language

speakers. Many recent studies have focused on the importance of preserving languages through teaching of

children songs, poems and stories. The purpose of this research was to collect Oshiwambo language children’s

songs, poems and stories and to develop an android application to host them. This was a randomized study.

Children from 3 to 15 years of age, fluent in speaking any of the 13 Oshiwambo dialects were eligible for

participation. Participants were randomly selected and through structured interviews, they were asked to sing

any song in any of Oshiwambo languages or tell the story or a poem, and they were audio/video recorded.

The designed application is envisaged to help in the language’s preservation.

1 INTRODUCTION

Over the years, the practice of speaking countries’

official languages in Africa due to colonialization,

has negatively affected the usage of native languages.

After the countries gained independence, the

languages imposed by the colonizers continue to

dominate, eventually being recognized as the official

languages (Norro, 2022).

Namibia is a country of many languages, of which

13 have been recognized as national languages, and

Oshiwambo language, which consists of several

dialects, is spoken by close to 50% of the Namibian

population (MBESC, 2003).

The Namibia’s Language Policy states that

English is the country’s sole official language, but

instruction for primary school learners from Grades

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6680-8078

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6512-4712

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7083-0099

0-3 should be delivered in mother languages

(MBESC, 2003). However, this is hardly practiced in

heterogeneous classrooms, where learners are coming

from different language backgrounds, because the

policy is not supporting multilingualism (Ashton et

al., 2008). Therefore, many schools, especially those

in cities and towns, where children speak several

languages end up opting to instruct the learners in

English only from Grade 1 (Chavez, 2016).

This practice has especially affected the children,

who end up being denied the privilege of learning

their mother tongues. This can result in forthcoming

children finding little to no knowledge of their

languages, making them incapable to relate to the

cultural heritage, which puts the language and its

culture in danger to be labelled as extinct. Therefore,

it is important to make innovative ways that will

130

Vatilifa, S., Hasheela-Mufeti, V. and Julius, L.

In Pursuit of Preserving Namibian Languages: The Development of the Ndungika App, an Oshiwambo Children’s Android Application.

DOI: 10.5220/0011302900003280

In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Smart Business Technologies (ICSBT 2022), pages 130-136

ISBN: 978-989-758-587-6; ISSN: 2184-772X

enhance our language skills, as well as to preserve

them.

The adoption of technology for language teaching

and learning proved to be effective (Galla, 2018), and

mobile learning has become even more popular. Due

to the popularity of mobile devices, the young

generation are able to engage in learning activities on

mobile devices, both in formal and informal settings

(Kukulska-Hulme, 2009).

Interactive mobile applications have also gained

popularity over the years among children and young

adults. Some applications were developed for

learning, and others for fun.

In this research study, an Oshiwambo application

known as Ndungika App, was developed with a

purpose of connecting Oshiwambo speaking children

to their language, by being able to listen to old

Oshiwambo folklores, songs, as well as poems. As a

result, this would also help them complement their

language skills.

1.1 Background of the Study

In Oshiwambo culture, it’s a norm to tell stories and

teach children songs. This is normally done at night,

after dinner at family evening devotions, or during the

day when children are playing. These stories and

songs are more related to old age fairy tales and to

Oshiwambo culture and tradition. They help children

to know their culture and pass that knowledge to the

future generation, in order to preserve Oshiwambo

culture and the language. Conde (2019) explained the

importance of indigenous languages as the main form

of interaction with our environment. The study also

highlighted that indigenous languages represent the

legacy of our grandparents, and our obligation is to

take care of them because when an indigenous

language disappears, the indigenous traditional

knowledge also disappears.

Similarly, research by Trinidad (2019) explains

that language loss means that people cannot

communicate with certain family members or pass on

a vital piece of heritage to their own children. The loss

of indigenous language by the children has a great

impact on communication between adults and the

children, which might affect family relations. Many

recent studies have focused on the importance of

preserving indigenous languages through teaching of

children songs, poems or stories (Puthuval, 2017).

This helps in preventing language shifting. Language

shift happens when a group of people stops using one

language in favour of another, such that subsequent

generations no longer acquire the original language

(Puthuval, 2017).

However, as much as one can echo the virtues of

oracy in preserving culture and language, particularly

in the technologically semi-literate society. The fact

is that, many African indigenous languages in the

context of rapid development and modernisations

have been thrown into a world in which integrating

them with technology is an inevitable prerequisite.

This paper aims to contribute to such exercise.

1.2 Problem Statement

In modern days, most families spend their evenings

in front of televisions, and there is no time for

traditional storytelling or teaching of children songs.

And since most parents are employed, they spend

their days at work and when they come home, they

are tired and go straight to bed. According to Marsh

et al. (2016), children spend less time playing

physically, mixing with different generations,

creating imaginary games, and interacting with

parents.

In most cases when children begin school, they

know, to a large extent, what they have learned in

their mother tongue(s). Indeed, this is supposed to

be the actual starting point for all learning, however,

in multilingual settings, such as Namibia, this fact is

often ignored and hindered when the language of

teaching is different from the children's mother

tongue(s). In addition, many Oshiwambo speaking

children, for instance, start school at early ages. At

those schools, they mix up with children from

different tribes who speak different languages.

Because of this, they are taught all the stories and

songs in English since it’s the medium of instruction

and the official language, and they are not being

taught something in Oshiwambo that will help

preserve their indigenous language. As such,

English then begins to replace children’s home

language as the language of learning. According to

Cunningham, (2017) it has been observed that, as

children move up the school, they tend to become

resistant to using home languages and exhibit an

increasing desire to conform to the majority

language speakers.

Also, most children have mobile devices, they

spend their free time playing video games or

watching noneducational videos and movies. Marsh

et al., (2016) indicated that many children are

becoming socially isolated because their leisure time

is spent in front of a computer or television. They are

losing the ability to empathize, to communicate and

to read emotional language. This minimizes the

chance of physical interaction with other children and

In Pursuit of Preserving Namibian Languages: The Development of the Ndungika App, an Oshiwambo Children’s Android Application

131

learn new Oshiwambo language folklores, poems and

songs.

The objectives of this study are:

1. To develop an application that will help

Ovawambo to preserve their culture and

language.

2. To design and develop an application that will

teach Ovawambo children different

Oshiwambo language children’s folklores,

poems and songs.

The importance of this study is that, it will help in

preserving the Oshiwambo indigenous language

through the telling of their stories, poems and songs

to children who will pass them on to their children.

According to Puthuval (2017), a better

understanding of the long-term dynamics of language

shift would improve not only our understanding of the

language endangerment crisis, but also the

understanding of language ecology at earlier periods

in human history. Niland (2012) explored how new

songs could become part of the musical cultures of

young children.

Since most children do not spend most of their

time with their parents, there is no one to teach them

and no time for them to learn cultural children’s

stories, poems and songs. The application developed

in this research will help solve that problem since

most children have access to smart devices such as

tablets and cell phones, where the application can be

installed.

2 METHODOLOGY

The data collected for this research was obtained by

conducting face to face interviews with participants

from the northern part of Namibia, where the

Oshiwambo language is dominantly spoken. It

focused on children who are fluent in the language.

The main reason why children were deemed fit for the

study was because the App that is being developed is

for children, therefore, it would be more adaptable

and fun for the children if they are listening to voices

of fellow children.

The study population comprised of 50 inhabitants

from 5 villages located in Omusati and Ohangwena

regions (Ongungila, Oshivanda, Okambebe,

Omughete and Omungwelume) in the range of three

to fifteen years old. Participants were randomly

selected. As a result, a sample of 28 participants was

used.

Ethical considerations in this study were taken

into account in relation to permission, informed

consent and anonymity. Everyone directly involved

in the research was informed about the aims and

nature of the study before participation. Since the

participants were still minors and still under the

guidance of their parents, informed consent letters

were sent to the participants’ parents explaining the

purpose of the research and requesting permission for

their children to be part of the research. In these letters

it was also explained to the participants and their

parents how the recordings will be anonymised and

used. Parents were asked to read, sign and return the

letters as an indication that they had agreed for their

children to be part of the research. The participants

and their parents were made aware that the data will

be distributed publicly. Furthermore, copyrights and

other forms of intellectual property were honoured,

and the use of unpublished data or results without

permission was avoided.

The actual collection of data collection in the

form of unstructured interviews were carried out at

different places. In many occasions, the researchers

visited the participants at their houses or the

participant(s) and the researchers would meet at an

agreed place free from unwanted noises or

disturbance. The participants were interviewed

openly and asked to tell any children’s story, poem or

sing any children’s song they know. The interviews

were audio recorded with a smartphone. Data was

stored in audio forms. As a result of these interviews,

eighteen (18) children’s songs were recorded from 16

participants. Seven (7) stories from five (5)

participants and four (4) poems from 4 participants.

In addition, secondary data was also collected

from previously published work, such as Oshiwambo

literature books that are related to the research.

The researchers got hold of the book titled

Omatevelo 4 (Nghifikua, 2011), and three poems

from the book were used in an application (Owambo,

Omahangu and Fimbi). The researchers made some

participants to read out these poems and they were

recorded.

This research yielded mainly unstructured data. In

order to present the most relevant data, all the data

collected was analysed.

With this research, since the interviews have been

audio recorded, there was a need for cropping. Some

audio recordings were cropped in order to remove

unwanted conversations, as well as time lapses. This

was also done to remove anything that would unveil

or compromise the participants’ identities.

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After cropping audio recordings, the next stage

performed was to categorize the data. All the data

were subdivided and assigned into categories. This

process was done manually by the researchers.

The data collected was divided into 3 categories:

poems, songs and stories. There were three folders

created on a computer, one for each category, and

data belonging to each category would be placed in a

corresponding folder.

The next stage after categorizing data was

identifying of themes, patterns and relationships

between data in each category. In qualitative data

analysis, applicable techniques that can be applied to

generate findings and analytics are not universal,

therefore critical thinking skills of researcher plays a

significant role in data analysis in qualitative studies

(Lester et al., 2020).

In the stage of identifying themes, relationships

and patterns, data went through three analysis steps.

The first step is content repetition. The researcher

went through each category and look for any

repetitive or similar content. If any repetitive content

was found, the duplicate was to be deleted and only

one will be left. The second step was primary and

secondary data comparison. The findings of

interviews were compared with the findings of

literature review and the differences between them

were discussed. The ones of poor quality were

removed. The last step in identifying patterns and

relationships was searching for missing information,

finding which research issues that were not

mentioned although they were expected to be

mentioned or covered.

The last stage in data analysis was: summarizing

the data. In this stage the researcher compared and

linked the research findings with the research

objectives. This included removing content which

contained verbal languages, content with poor audio

quality and all contents which expose participants

identity. The themes that were identified were:

poems, songs, and folklores/stories.

For the development of an application, Android

studio software was used for all coding and

compiling. For image manipulation, editing and free-

form drawing, the GNU Image Manipulation

Program (GIMP), was used. The final animated

videos were created using a trial version of Mango

Animate animation Maker.

As a result, the application that was developed in

this research has three separate parts. One part hosts

the songs, the second part hosts stories and the third

part hosts poems. The next section offered the

detailed description of the application and its

implementation.

3 APPLICATION DESIGN AND

IMPLEMENTATION

This research study followed the waterfall model,

which has four phases, namely: Requirements

gathering and analysis, Design, Implementation and

Testing (Sommerville, 2016). One of the advantages

of the waterfall model is that, it is very easy to

understand and use, and the phases do not overlap,

one has to be completed, before the next phase is

started. It was deemed suitable for this research,

because all requirements were clear from the

beginning, and it was unlikely to change them during

the implementation.

3.1 Research Gathering and Analysis

In this phase, the requirements were identified and

analysed. The main functional requirements

identified were:

a) The application should be able to run on

Android

b) It should be able to host songs, poems and

stories in audio and video format.

c) The application should be a one-tier

application, and all the data should be

contained in the application.

3.2 Design

In this phase, the system was designed, which

included the conceptual design, as well as paper

prototypes. The software used for the design and

development of an application was an open-source

Android studio. For the application architecture

design, the Model View Presenter (MVP) architecture

was used. “The MVP design pattern is set of

guidelines that should follow for better code

reusability and testability” (Morris, 2019). It

contained three layers:

The first layer is a view layer. This layer contains

the user interface, where the user interacts with the

server, in order to request a specific content from the

application. The home page of an application

contained three buttons, directing to songs, poems

and stories. The stories home page contains the grid

layout with clickable content. These contents are the

displays or thumbnails of stories. The user is able to

click on any story and direct it to the page hosting that

specific story. The poems homepage contains the

video view and the list view. The user is able to press

on any content on the list view and the corresponding

In Pursuit of Preserving Namibian Languages: The Development of the Ndungika App, an Oshiwambo Children’s Android Application

133

content will be displayed in the video view. The songs

home page/activity contains the video view for

playing videos and the grid layout.

The second layer is the presenter layer. These are

the codes connecting the view layer to the requested

content.

The third layer is the model layer which contained

the data/videos to be presented to the user on a

request.

3.3 Implementation

Using the inputs from system design, four separate

modules were developed, namely: the home page,

stories, poems and songs. Each module was coded

and tested separately in the Android studio emulator

for its functionality. All the system design ideas in

corresponding requirements were converted into

source codes and user interfaces.

3.4 Integration and Testing

After successfully testing all the modules in the

implementation stage, they were integrated together.

modules, the entire system was tested in the emulator

and all modules were corresponding. The system was

further tested on two mobile phones (Lenovo TB-

73051(Figure 1) and Samsung J3) and all

functionalities were working.

4 RESULTS

By analysing the data from interviews and secondary

data, ten (10) songs, seven (7) stories and seven (7)

poems qualified to be included in the application. The

application was successfully developed and tested. It

has a home page from where a user can choose one of

three options, by clicking the corresponding button,

first option takes the user to the songs (button written

“ouimbilo”), second option is for poems (button

written “outevo”) and the third option is for stories

(button written “ouhokololo”). The songs content

page or fragment has a video view and ten image

buttons where a user can click, and the corresponding

song visuals would display in a video view. The user

can use media controllers to play, pause or rewind the

songs.

The poems fragment has a video view and list

view containing poems, which plays when clicked.

Whereas, the stories section also has a stories home

page with clickable images and texts. Once any image

is clicked, it will display the corresponding fragment,

with a video view displaying that animated story and

buttons to play, pause, play the next story or the

previous one. For the songs, poems and stories

fragments, there are four image buttons at the top

which directly take the user either to any of the

sections. Figure 1, 2, 3, and 4 below show the

Application home page, the songs section, the stories

section and the poems section respectively.

Figure 1: Ndungika Homepage.

Figure 2: Songs Section.

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Figure 3: Stories Section.

Figure 4: Poems Section.

5 LIMITATIONS

The first limitation was the lack of enough previous

research studies on the topic. Due to this, the current

research had to start from scratch, which was time

consuming.

The second limitation was the limited access to

data. Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, it

was risky to get in close contact with many people

when collecting data.

6 CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

The primary purpose of this research study was to

develop an Oshiwambo Android application for

children, where they will be able to listen to poems,

songs and stories. This research involved designing

and developing an application and collecting data to

be presented by the application. The data collection

was a success, although there were some limitations

such as limitation to data and cultural bias. In total,

10 songs, 7 stories and 7 poems are hosted in the

application. Both the application and the content

hosted will help in the preservation of Oshiwambo

language.

The application design and development followed

a waterfall model architecture and the open-source

Android studio software was used for coding and

units testing.

In addition, the research has contributed to the

body of knowledge concerning the utilization of

technology to enhance the Oshiwambo learning

experience. The study recommends that the

application should be turned into a multilingual

application, considering that Namibia is a country

with many languages. Therefore, it will be very

beneficial to be able to host other Namibian

languages on the App.

Furthermore, currently the Ndungika App only

runs on Android, it is recommended that it should be

developed further, in order to enable it to run on other

platforms.

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