A critique of the language of record in South African courts in relation to selected university language policies
- Authors: Docrat, Zakeera
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa , Forensic linguistics -- South Africa , Communication in law -- South Africa , Language planning -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Court interpreting and translating -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PHD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141394 , vital:37968
- Description: This interdisciplinary research located in the research area of forensic linguistics seeks to provide a critique of the monolingual language of record directive for courts in South Africa, while investigating how university language policies contribute the formulation of a monolingual language of record policy for courts, by graduating monolingual LLB students. The research commences with identifying the research problem, goals and objectives and how the language of record policy for courts is linked to university language planning. The research proceeds to an overview of scholarly literature concerning the historical developments of language planning in both the legal system and higher education in South Africa. The theoretical principles concerning the enacting of language legislation and policies is advanced in relation to the constitutional framework. This research furthermore provides a thorough critique of the constitutional framework where the language rights the other related language provisions are discussed in relation to the theory and the application thereof in case law. The research explicates that the language rights of African language speaking litigants is unfairly limited and that access to justice for these litigants is either unattainable or achieved to a lesser extent. The disparities between language, law and power are brought to the fore, where the relevant legislation and language policies fail to determine the language of record in courts as well as legislate the African language requirements for legal practitioners in giving meaning to the constitutional language rights. The language policies of six selected universities is discussed in relation to the legal system’s legislative and policy frameworks, outlining the need to transform the language of learning and teaching and develop the curriculum to support the legal system. In doing so, the shortcomings of the interpretation profession in South Africa are highlighted and the effects thereof on the language rights of litigants. This thesis advances seven African and international case studies, comprising Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Australia, Belgium, Canada and India. Each of the case studies provides an in-depth analysis of the language of record/proceedings in courts and the language competencies of legal practitioners and judicial officers in relation to their university education. The African case studies are illustrative that English on the African continent in courts and higher education is dominate and the resultant loss of indigenous languages marginalises people from mainstream society. The international case studies provide two models, Belgium and Canada, which South Africa can emulate, in enacting new legislation and policies and the amendment of current legislation, to ensure bilingual/ multilingual language policies are drafted for courts per province, where the language demographics present majority spoken languages alongside English. Furthermore, where courts interpret language rights and legislative and policy provisions in a purposive manner, where African language speakers are able to, fully realise their rights. Australia and India as multilingual models serve as important case studies where South Africa can learn from what to avoid, how to subvert challenges or adequately address these. These case studies highlight the dangers of a political elite who pursue an English only agenda at the expense of the indigenous languages and the speakers thereof. This thesis in conclusion provides interdisciplinary recommendations that need to be implemented in order to address the language question in South African courts and higher education.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Making South African tertiary education multilingual: the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SANTED Multilingualism Projects 2007 – 2010
- Authors: Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South Africa-Norway Tertiary Education Development Programme , Language policy -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PHD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140513 , vital:37895
- Description: This thesis focuses on multilingualism as it applies to education, particularly higher education in South Africa. The thesis suggests that language must be seen as critical in education (Obanya, 2004; Wolff, 2006). This thesis also suggests that there is a link between a person’s general competence in an educational environment, and that person’s language competence. In support of other scholars, this thesis also finds that learners from low social classes in society have a restricted linguistic code and therefore the learners from these social classes lack the ability to express themselves in an elaborative manner in a cognitive situation while learners from upper social class have an elaborate linguistic repertoire in the language of instruction, namely English. Even though general policy in South Africa and Africa as a whole recognises this relationship between language and education, this thesis finds that very little is being done to implement these well-meaning policies. The SANTED (South Africa-Norway-Tertiary-Education) programme, which forms the focus of this thesis, is seen as an exception. While there is an increase in the number of learners and students accessing centres of learning, especially those from historically-disadvantaged backgrounds (CHE Higher Education Monitor, 2008), there is at the same time rigorous debate in South Africa at the moment as to whether these learners and students benefit optimally from knowledge offered in centres of learning, and are therefore, not accomplishing success expected from them (Boughey, 2008). This thesis suggests that at the centre of this debate is the understanding that, while there are a variety of factors that might affect their success, for example social and economic status, schooling background in case of students in higher education, language plays a pivotal role. This thesis analyses the challenges and successes which faced the SANTED programme at a number of South African institutions where language issues were brought to the centre of the learning process. The thesis also assesses best practices in various African countries and makes recommendations regarding language-use in Higher Education, as part of a transformationprocess. The collaboration between the South African and Norwegian governments provided impetus to policy implementation. It also had other focus areas such as capacity building, access, success and retention and collaboration with Southern African Developing Countries (SADC). This thesis shows, through a critical analysis of SANTED, that it represented an important intervention regarding the promotion of multilingualism.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Analysis of the pre- to post- apartheid language in education policies: an investigation for multilingualism
- Authors: Zumani, Nobesutu Faith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Multilingual education -- South Africa , Native language and education -- South Africa Language policy -- South Africa African languages -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44235 , vital:37140
- Description: The 1997 language policy in basic education promotes multilingualism in basic, education where there is under-utilisation of African languages. The main aim of this study is to investigate the reason for the under-utilisation of African languages in basic education. Transitional bilingual education is practised (TBE) instead of developmental maintenance bilingual education (MBE). The pre and post-apartheid language- in-education policies, including the Constitution, were collected, analysed and interpreted to find out why these languages are not used for education. It was discovered that the legacy of the previous policies has had an influence on the present policy. Also, the escape clauses on the present policy, such as “practicably reasonable,” and “choose,” have an impact on non-implementation of the post-apartheid language policy. The researcher recommends the development of an implementation plan and the revision of powers for SGBs to choose languages for their schools.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Code-switching as a pedagogical strategy in classroom settings: the case of township schools in a South African Metropolitan Municipality
- Authors: Marawu, Sithembele
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Code switching (Linguistics) , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Education, Bilingual -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Bilingual method , English language -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , Language and education -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62406 , vital:28173
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the use of code-switching as a pedagogical strategy in bi/multilingual classroom settings. It was prompted by the widespread use of codeswitching (CS) in classrooms, particularly in South African rural and township schools. This study highlighted that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle to learn through the medium of English but aspire to acquire it because of its association with socio-economic advancement. However, poor proficiency in English excludes them from being part of the country's economy. Research studies show that there is a shift from the old orthodoxy which perceived CS as undesirable in classrooms to a new orthodoxy that acknowledges its academic contribution in classrooms. Although more research on classroom CS has been done, this study identified the need for development of new strategies on how to use CS effectively in classrooms as a linguistic and pedagogical resource. In line with critical classroom ethnography, qualitative interpretation of data was used to understand the teachers' discourse behaviour. Additionally, non-probability sampling - specifically purposive sampling - was used to collect data. These methods and approaches assisted in the analysis of the discourse of the three teachers who served as units of analysis in this study. These teachers relied on CS to impart the content of their subjects to the learners. It transpired from data analysis that teachers use CS in classrooms to achieve various functions like social and pedagogical functions. Another finding is that the switches teachers make do not affect the syntactic structure of the matrix language. Moreover, CS enhances understanding of the subject matter. This study concludes by stating that as learners are emergent bilinguals, additive bilingualism would be more ideal in the South African situation than subtractive bilingualism which parents and learners seem to prefer. Lastly, there is a need to harness CS as a communicative and pedagogical resource in classrooms.
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- Date Issued: 2018
An investigation into English second language competence and performance of Shona and Ndebele first lanuage learners
- Authors: Nhongo, Raphael
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Applied linguistics -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12216 , vital:39198
- Description: The thrust of the study was to investigate the common ESL practices towards proficiency amongst O‟ level learners who are L1 speakers of either Shona or Ndebele and who are from either a rural or an urban setting. The aim of the study was to scrutinize how a learner‟s first language and the rural and urban environment influence ESL proficiency. The aim was to establish how rural and urban settings condition ESL proficiency and how ESL proficiency differs between these two settings. The other aim of the study was to establish the strategies that are used by teachers and learners in ESL teaching and learning and also to evaluate the effectiveness of such strategies. The study was qualitative in nature although a limited quantitative design was employed in the presentation of frequency tables. The study used a case study design. The information that was used in this study was gathered through the use of proficiency tests that were administered to forty O‟ level learners and through content analysis of learners‟ essays which were extracted from their essay exercise books. Sixteen O‟ level English language teachers, six English language examiners, one subject manager of English language and two curriculum developers were interviewed. The secondary data also played an important role in the study. The results of the study showed that teachers and learners use a number of strategies in the teaching and learning of ESL of which some of the strategies that they use have previously not been documented by other L2 researchers. It was also realized that learners in rural areas are at a disadvantage as compared to those in rural schools and such challenges include lack of exposure, inadequate reading materials, faulty instruction, unavailability of libraries and some other social issues. The major conclusion that was made in this study was that ESL learning and teaching strategies are of crucial importance to competence and performance in ESL proficiency.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Implementation of multilingualism in South African higher education : exploring the use of isiXhosa in teaching and learning at Rhodes University
- Authors: Gambushe, Wanga
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Language and education -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Native language and education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Language policy -- South Africa , Cytology -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education (Higher)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3649 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017890
- Description: This study explores the implementation of multilingualism at Rhodes University (RU), by examining the teaching and learning practices of lecturers, demonstrators and students within the Cell Biology module, offered by the Biological Sciences and Botany departments at RU. This examination is in line with RU’s Language Policy (2005/2014), which recognises multilingualism and the development of isiXhosa as an academic/scientific language. The study and the choice for the location of the study within RU was motivated by what seemed to be a pattern of under achievement of LOTE speaking students studying Cell Biology. This pattern necessitated a further inquiry into the language aspect of the teaching and learning of Cell Biology. The goals of this research were to investigate spaces where LOTE students use their home languages and the motivations behind their usage of those languages. Due to the varying proficiencies of LOTE students in their mother tongue, this study sought to investigate the language capabilities of LOTE students in their home languages. The perceptions of the main role players in the Cell Biology module were sought, in order to get an idea of what students, lecturers and demonstrators thought about multilingualism in teaching and learning practices in the Cell Biology module. This study has discovered that there is a disparity in achievement between LOTE and English speaking students, with English students outperforming LOTE students consistently in the period investigated. On the language capabilities of LOTE students in their mother tongue, it was discovered that they have enough linguistic capital for a mother tongue intervention to succeed. There were mixed views about the use of LOTE in HE, but students were mostly in favour of the use of LOTE. A number of recommendations are made as to how multilingualism can be implemented in Cell Biology. In this study I argue that there is a need to use the mother tongue of LOTE students in order to support learning, the mother tongue intervention is supported by scholars such as Paxton (2007, 2009; Madiba 2011, 2012, 2014). The use of the mother tongue to support learning should be a short-term measure while the process of the development of African languages is underway, because languages develop as they are used, and form follows function (Madiba 2008). Ultimately, African languages should be developed and use as academic languages in HE not only in order to fulfil the legislative imperatives such as the Constitution and the Language Policy Higher Education but also to increase access and success among LOTE students.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Implementation of the national language policy at institutions of higher education
- Authors: Ownhouse, Aileen Lucia
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Curricula -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/3415 , vital:20428
- Description: This study investigated the implementation progress of the National Language Policy (NLP) of South Africa (SA) by reviewing pertinent research related to Language Policy (LP) initiatives. In particular, the study explored the implications of the NLP implementation on multilingual teaching and learning practices, especially practices aimed at developing proficiency in the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT). In particular, the LP implementation initiatives to support a multilingual practice community at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) were overviewed. The study focused on and assessed the AHZ Project multilingual initiative in the Department of Applied Language Studies (DALS) at NMMU. The AHZ Project multilingual initiative included text translation and multilingual tutorial strategies to assist isiXhosa-speaking students understand grammatical concepts. As a result, an aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the AHZ Project by assessing the perceptions of English Language Studies (LES111) students and lecturers who were responsible for implementing the initiative. Finally, the research aimed to determine reasons for the apparent slow progress of implementing multilingualism as a teaching and learning practice as well as the underlying constraints of implementing the NLP at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). A mixed-method approach was selected to explore the aims of the research study as both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were used. As the AHZ Project initiative was the study’s data sample, data was collected by conducting three face-to-face semi-structured interviews with two LES111 lecturers and a tutor as well as one focus-group interview with eight student participants. In addition, a LEC online assessment and 284 LES111 reflective paragraphs were analysed. NVivo 10 qualitative software was used for the coding of the data and a descriptive analysis of the interviews as well as the LEC online assessment was employed. To code and analyse the face-to-face semi-structured and focus-group interview transcripts, dominant themes from the study’s literature review, for example, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Mother Tongue (MT) transfer were used. The reflective paragraphs were analysed manually using a quantitative coding approach. From the data coding, the study’s findings were determined and interpreted. The LEC assessment confirmed that the students were not coping with the LOLT. By taking cognisance of the AHZ Project strategies and investigating the perceptions of the participants towards the initiative, conclusions were drawn. These conclusions indicated positive attitudes towards the multilingual language practices as implemented by the AHZ Project initiative. In addition, the perceptions towards identity, language status, mother tongue education and language transfer were articulated. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made to promote the use of African Languages as LOLTs in teaching and learning classroom practices. Recommendations were also made for future research relating to the teaching of African Languages (ALs) in the schooling sector.
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- Date Issued: 2015