Triglossia in Transition: Language Choice, Identity, and Educational Mobility in Selected Ghanaian Senior High Schools

Abstract

This study examines how Senior High School (SHS) students in Ghana move between three linguistic codes: the mother tongue, Ghanaian Pidgin English, and Standard English, in relation to language choice, identity, and their perceptions on educational mobility. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, questionnaire and interview data were collected from 80 students in two Senior High Schools in the Ashanti Region. Findings show a broadly domain-based pattern of language choice: the mother tongue dominated home use (77.5%), English dominated formal domains (83.5–86.2%), and mixed code dominated peer domains (57.5%), while Pidgin remained a minority choice (?17.5%). Even so, mixed code was notable in the classroom (41.2%) and at assembly (23.8%), which complicates a strictly discrete triglossic account. Respondents rated their mother tongue as central to their identity (M = 4.65) while expressing pride in English proficiency (M = 4.56), and several reported institutional sanctions for using the mother tongue or Pidgin at school. Respondents moderately linked English fluency to exam performance (M = 3.64). The study concludes that language choice among this cohort reflects a flexible, triglossic-in-tendency rather than strictly compartmentalised repertoire, with implications for classroom practice and school language policy.