Impacts of Language Use in Conflict and Conflict Resolution among Senior and Junior Secondary School Principals in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to access the impacts of language use in conflict and conflict resolution among principals of senior and junior secondary schools in Ebonyi State. To guide the study, three research questions were formulated. Literatures by scholars that are relevant to the study were reviewed to close existing gap in scholarship. The design of the study was descriptive survey. The population consisted of all the principals in all the government-owned secondary schools in the education zones of the five South Eastern states. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 30% of the public secondary schools in the South Eastern States of Nigeria, and each state in the South East formed a stratum. All the principals (both senior and junior) from the schools selected were used. A 31-item researcher-developed questionnaire was constructed, validated, trial-tested and used to elicit data from the respondents. The administration of the instrument was done by the researchers and three research assistants in three education zones from each of the states. Data obtained were presented and analyzed using frequency and simple percentage to answer the research questions. The study revealed that principals in the study area do not show consideration for the feelings of their counterparts in interaction, although they converse calmly and amicably with their counterparts; majority of the respondents prefer to apply strategies for avoiding conflict instead of those for minimizing conflict after it has ensued. The researchers recommended, among other things that, in addition to conversing calmly and amicably with their counterparts, principals in the study area must begin to show consideration for the feelings of their counterparts in interaction