Research Interests:
In the South African educational domain, there are an increasing number of initiatives which attempt to address the inequities in the system by providing support in an African language at various levels. Many of these initiatives use... more
In the South African educational domain, there are an increasing number of initiatives which attempt to address the inequities in the system by providing support in an African language at various levels. Many of these initiatives use translation of texts in various subject areas as a major method of support which necessarily involves terminology development. This article puts forward the argument that although linguistic and conceptual development are inextricably linked, provision of translations, terms and word lists may not be sufficient to encourage 'deep' learning of the key concepts in the disciplinary content areas. The challenges arising out of the present educational context in South Africa require a more holistic approach, including language provision and management, professional translation and back translation, more inclusive methods of terminology development with richer contextualization and the enrichment of teachers' pedagogic content knowledge. The argument arises out of a re-examination of the findings from research into the development of two multilingual resource books for use by teachers of mathematics and science at secondary school level. These resources were developed in order to facilitate understanding of key concepts in the mathematics and science disciplines and will undergo a re-appraisal of the extent of their effectiveness in meeting these aims.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The aim of the research reported on in this article was to explore the effects on student learning and performance of the use of two languages of instruction, viz. isiZulu and English, in a course on the teaching of isiZulu as an... more
The aim of the research reported on in this article was to explore the effects on student learning and performance of the use of two languages of instruction, viz. isiZulu and English, in a course on the teaching of isiZulu as an additional language at school level. The course was for third year BA students considering a language teaching career. The content of the course came from the Applied Linguistics field and had not been translated from English into isiZulu. In addition, the discipline content was taught by a non-isiZulu speaking applied linguistics lecturer who had recently joined a three-year major course in isiZulu but was not fluent. The course was team taught by the Applied Linguist and an isiZulu lecturer who made the content accessible to the students through translation of difficult terms and concepts into isiZulu. Students were free to use either language. The research questions focused on how the two languages interacted naturally within a translanguaging framework in order to scaffold learning, and whether and how the use of isiZulu would facilitate understanding of key disciplinary concepts when the terminology had not yet been developed. Class sessions were recorded and transcribed with informed consent. Instances of translanguaging were analyzed in terms of the functions they were fulfilling within a broad discourse analysis framework. Findings revealed that what began as planned and systematic code-switching became, over time, translanguaging. Students appreciated the affordance for meaningful engagement with the subject content as they found it easier to challenge the lecturers and to present their own points of view in isiZulu. The experience also created rich affordances for building an academic discourse in isiZulu. Finally, teaching on the course created learning experiences for the lecturers who increased their knowledge of the languages concerned and the subject content respectively. Keywords: applied linguistics; codeswitching; isiZulu; language learning; languages of learning and teaching (LoLTs); language scaffolding; tertiary level; translanguaging
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article reviews the main issues surrounding applied linguistic work in Africa in the 21st century, moving from a consideration of the ideological positions underlying language policies, to the practical problems of implementation. It... more
This article reviews the main issues surrounding applied linguistic work in Africa in the 21st century, moving from a consideration of the ideological positions underlying language policies, to the practical problems of implementation. It examines multilingualism in relation to the role of the excolonial languages, and the implications this holds for African language development. It also considers various initiatives taken by African governments and organizations to foster language development. The article also considers the status quo in the learning and teaching of both African and Western languages, including the question of standards. This leads to a discussion of academic literacy at tertiary level, and, finally, to the crucial question of basic literacy.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In 2 vols.: for video tapes accompanying this thesis please apply to the issuing universitySIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX193253 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper reports on a study of the acquisition of Zulu morphology by non-Zulu learners. The study focused on the ease of acquisition of the identificative copulative and the noun class and agreement system across Grade 6 and 7 learners.... more
This paper reports on a study of the acquisition of Zulu morphology by non-Zulu learners. The study focused on the ease of acquisition of the identificative copulative and the noun class and agreement system across Grade 6 and 7 learners. Variability in the accurate production of these structures was examined in terms of both spoken and written language data. The research was motivated by findings from a study of Zulu first language acquisition (Suzman, 1991; 1995; 1999) which proposed that early acquisition of these structures by children was attributable to the pervasive and regular nature of the agreement system. The current study investigated these claims with reference to Zulu second language acquisition and found evidence of both overgeneralization and confusion of morphemes across tasks.
Research Interests:
This introduction to the Special Edition provides a rationale for the inclusion of the selected articles. We begin with a consideration of various factors that led to the marginalisation of African languages, including the hegemony of... more
This introduction to the Special Edition provides a rationale for the inclusion of the selected articles. We begin with a consideration of various factors that led to the marginalisation of African languages, including the hegemony of English, colonialism and ensuing language policies that still hold today. Such policies proclaimed languages exogenous to the continent as official languages for formal public discourses, including the education domain. This led to the low visibility of indigenous languages in such domains. European missionaries also contributed to this by imposing Western linguistic frameworks on the continuum of African languages such that they became separate, named and bounded, which is counter-intuitive to the heteroglossic, multilingual realities of language use in African indigenous communities. We then examine the expanding role of African languages in response to technology, social media, globalisation and more responsive and dynamic language policies. The articles in this Special Edition cover language policy and language in education; language and identity negotiation in contexts of migration; language use on social media platforms; language and the workplace and language use in advertising. These contributions reveal that the multilingual reality of Africa’s language ecology is increasingly visible in many domains.
Research Interests: Sociology, Multilingualism, Sociology of Language, Postcolonial Studies, Orality-Literacy Studies, and 14 moreAfrican History, Linguistics, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, African languages, Language Policy, Africana Studies, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Public spaces, Languages and Cultures, Marginalisation, African Diasporas, Languages of Africa, Indigenous, and online private and public domains
This introduction to the Special Edition provides a rationale for the inclusion of the selected articles. We begin with a consideration of various factors that led to the marginalisation of African languages, including the hegemony of... more
This introduction to the Special Edition provides a rationale for the inclusion of the selected articles. We begin with a consideration of various factors that led to the marginalisation of African languages, including the hegemony of English, colonialism and ensuing language policies that still hold today. Such policies proclaimed languages exogenous to the continent as official languages for formal public discourses, including the education domain. This led to the low visibility of indigenous languages in such domains. European missionaries also contributed to this by imposing Western linguistic frameworks on the continuum of African languages such that they became separate, named and bounded, which is counter-intuitive to the heteroglossic, multilingual realities of language use in African indigenous communities. We then examine the expanding role of African languages in response to technology, social media, globalisation and more responsive and dynamic language policies. The articles in this Special Edition cover language policy and language in education; language and identity negotiation in contexts of migration; language use on social media platforms; language and the workplace and language use in advertising. These contributions reveal that the multilingual reality of Africa’s language ecology is increasingly visible in many domains.
Research Interests: Postcolonial Studies, Orality-Literacy Studies, African History, Linguistics, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, and 8 moreAfrican languages, Africana Studies, Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Public spaces, Languages and Cultures, Marginalisation, African Diasporas, and online private and public domains
The importance of meaningful classroom dialogue in the foundation and early intermediate levels of education in creating effective literacy skills is well documented. Despite comments in a recent paper that there is a dearth of research... more
The importance of meaningful classroom dialogue in the foundation and early intermediate levels of education in creating effective literacy skills is well documented. Despite comments in a recent paper that there is a dearth of research on classroom observations around print in South Africa since 1994 at foundation level, there have actually been several studies that have observed classroom practice in this area post-1994. This paper discusses three particularly important ones that spanned some three decades in South Africa and observed the role and practice of dialogue in classroom teaching around text at foundation and early intermediate schooling levels. All three studies indicate that teaching styles have changed very little to date, and that meaningful classroom interaction between teacher and learner remains largely absent. The Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of the participating teachers continues to restrict student agency in the area of classroom interaction. Althou...
Research Interests:
This article reviews the main issues surrounding applied linguistic work in Africa in the 21st century, moving from a consideration of the ideological positions underlying language policies, to the practical problems of implementation. It... more
This article reviews the main issues surrounding applied linguistic work in Africa in the 21st century, moving from a consideration of the ideological positions underlying language policies, to the practical problems of implementation. It examines multilingualism in relation to the role of the excolonial languages, and the implications this holds for African language development. It also considers various initiatives taken by African governments and organizations to foster language development. The article also considers the status quo in the learning and teaching of both African and Western languages, including the question of standards. This leads to a discussion of academic literacy at tertiary level, and, finally, to the crucial question of basic literacy.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This article describes the development of a university course for mother-tongue isiZulu students on the learning and teaching of isiZulu as an additional language at school level. The course was developed at a university in... more
ABSTRACT This article describes the development of a university course for mother-tongue isiZulu students on the learning and teaching of isiZulu as an additional language at school level. The course was developed at a university in KwaZulu-Natal for second and third year students in the general BA degree and was based on three fundamental principles: (i) that learning should be task and problem-based leading to reflection; (ii) that tasks and materials should include authentic and relevant content and data for problem-solving; and (iii) that the students would derive more from an instructional context that made use of their mother tongue as well as English. The course design and methodology draw on research into teacher thinking and cognition which lays emphasis on consciousness-raising and reflection while the course content conveyed in worksheets and seminar inputs draws on psycholinguistic theories of second language acquisition with emphasis on developmental processes. The course is described with the focus on the main research assignment as an example of the task-based, mediated approach used in the course. A case is made for the explicit focus on form encouraged by the worksheets because of the structural nature of the language in question and the challenges it poses for learners, and also for the use of complementary languages of instruction.
Research Interests: Linguistics and Routledge
This paper reports on a study of the acquisition of Zulu morphology by non-Zulu learners. The study focused on the ease of acquisition of the identificative copulative and the noun class and agreement system across Grade 6 and 7 learners.... more
This paper reports on a study of the acquisition of Zulu morphology by non-Zulu learners. The study focused on the ease of acquisition of the identificative copulative and the noun class and agreement system across Grade 6 and 7 learners. Variability in the accurate production of these structures was examined in terms of both spoken and written language data. The research was motivated by findings from a study of Zulu first language acquisition (Suzman, 1991; 1995; 1999) which proposed that early acquisition of these structures by children was attributable to the pervasive and regular nature of the agreement system. The current study investigated these claims with reference to Zulu second language acquisition and found evidence of both overgeneralization and confusion of morphemes across tasks.
Research Interests:
The aim of the one-day symposium was to bring together scholars in applied linguistics with an interest in the African languages for the launch of the new AILA Africa regional network. Contributions were in the form of invited research... more
The aim of the one-day symposium was to bring together scholars in applied linguistics with an interest in the African languages for the launch of the new AILA Africa regional network. Contributions were in the form of invited research papers from several African countries. This report focuses on the South African contribution, which highlighted current research into the use and development of the African languages for academic purposes in response to the South African National Language Education Policy (South Africa, DoE 2002) with its focus on the development of multilingualism in the country.
Research Interests:
The focus of this paper is on the effects of the use of the home language (i.e. isiZulu) on teachers' and learners' understanding and use of core concepts in mathematics and science at the senior phase, in contexts where the... more
The focus of this paper is on the effects of the use of the home language (i.e. isiZulu) on teachers' and learners' understanding and use of core concepts in mathematics and science at the senior phase, in contexts where the language of instruction is English. It reports on a national, collaborative, multilingual research project which attempts to address the challenge posed by the National Language Policy of South Africa, namely, that learners have a right to learn through their home language where feasible. The project involved four South African universities and four languages: isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English. The first phase of the research was the identification and translation of core concepts in the science and mathematics curriculum, which culminated in the development of a multilingual resource book. The second phase involved the evaluation of the book with in-service teachers by means of questionnaires, workshops and focus-group interviews for purposes of triangulation. These data were the basis on which teachers for the tracer study were selected. This part of the study involved classroom observation of mathematics and science lessons at intervals over a two-month period. Findings from the KwaZulu-Natal regional data revealed various complexities regarding the use of the home language for communicating scientific and mathematical knowledge. These included unfamiliar terms leading to the question of standardisation and an initial preference for the use of terminology in English with explanations in the home language.
Research Interests:
... They have been selected for their rele-vance to key concepts integral to the research, such as the learning of vocabulary and structure; language ... you?) and Ngizombiza (I will call her)consist of various affixes such as the NC... more
... They have been selected for their rele-vance to key concepts integral to the research, such as the learning of vocabulary and structure; language ... you?) and Ngizombiza (I will call her)consist of various affixes such as the NC prefix denoting first person singular (ngi-= I), modal ...
Research Interests:
South African National Language Education policy (South Africa, DoE 2002) enshrines multilingualism (ML) as one of its major goals. The implementation of such a policy is a slow process, however, particularly in the educational domain,... more
South African National Language Education policy (South Africa, DoE 2002) enshrines multilingualism (ML) as one of its major goals. The implementation of such a policy is a slow process, however, particularly in the educational domain, where parents, teachers and students favour the dominant, ex-colonial language (English) for both historic and instrumental reasons (Dalvit & de Klerk 2005). However, results of the National Benchmarking Test (NBMT Report 2009) conducted at selected South African universities show that most non-English speaking students in higher education have underdeveloped language and numeracy skills for study at this level, one of the main barriers to access being that of language (Council on Higher Education 2007: 2). Efforts have thus intensified in South African institutions to introduce the home languages of learners into the educational domain, either as learning support alongside the main medium of instruction or as alternative languages of instruction, wor...
Research Interests:
This paper discusses the organic development of a Sustainability Model for the implementation of an African language, viz.
Research Interests:
This article reports on work-in-progress as part of a larger research study into issues around multilingualism in clinical and classroom learning settings in a nursing context. Students in the caring professions in South Africa are... more
This article reports on work-in-progress as part of a larger research study into issues around multilingualism in clinical and classroom learning settings in a nursing context. Students in the caring professions in South Africa are increasingly faced with language barriers in the clinical setting. In South Africa, English and Afrikaans were previously used for language services in the public arena as well as in the private sector in a country where the majority of citizens speak an indigenous African language as their home language. Today, fifteen years after the advent of democracy, indigenous languages and knowledge are still marginalized in daily living spheres which can seriously affect efficacy in the workplace. This situation pertains in spite of the decree by the South African Constitution (1996) that multilingualism should be perceived as a national resource. In this article we explore the issues of multilingualism and cultural diversity in a nursing context, in both clinica...
Research Interests:
Comment mieux prendre en compte, de maniere pratique et reflexive, les notions d'alterite et de pluralite en formation, sachant qu'a son demarrage, les (futurs) enseignants ont deja legitime certains univers culturels associes a... more
Comment mieux prendre en compte, de maniere pratique et reflexive, les notions d'alterite et de pluralite en formation, sachant qu'a son demarrage, les (futurs) enseignants ont deja legitime certains univers culturels associes a l'enseignement/apprentissage d'une langue ? Comment remettre en mouvement des representations ancrees de l'enseignement/apprentissage d'une langue (ou des langues) ? Quelles pratiques didactiques favoriser, pour quelles raisons, dans quels buts ?
Research Interests:
This paper discusses the organic development of a Sustainability Model for the implementation of an African language, viz. Zulu, as a language of learning and teaching (LoLT) at tertiary level in a South African University. The model... more
This paper discusses the organic development of a Sustainability Model for the implementation of an African language, viz. Zulu, as a language of learning and teaching (LoLT) at tertiary level in a South African University. The model created the conceptual framework for research into and implementation of Zulu as a medium of instruction in selected subject areas at University level. The aim of this project is to promote multilingualism in higher education. It has been funded by the South Africa-Norway Tertiary Education Development (SANTED) programme. This article traces the initial development of this model, which drew on the findings of various research studies over a period of ten years, culminating in its application to the development of specialist discourse and terminology in Zulu in specific subject areas in the Social Sciences, Health Sciences and Humanities curricula. The project involved the collaboration of various subject specialists in Psychology, Nursing, Dentistry and...
Research Interests:
In the South African educational domain, there are an increasing number of initiatives which attempt to address the inequities in the system by providing support in an African language at various levels. Many of these initiatives use... more
In the South African educational domain, there are an increasing number of initiatives which attempt to address the inequities in the system by providing support in an African language at various levels. Many of these initiatives use translation of texts in various subject areas as a major method of support which necessarily involves terminology development. This article puts forward the argument that although linguistic and conceptual development are inextricably linked, provision of translations, terms and word lists may not be sufficient to encourage 'deep' learning of the key concepts in the disciplinary content areas. The challenges arising out of the present educational context in South Africa require a more holistic approach, including language provision and management, professional translation and back translation, more inclusive methods of terminology development with richer contextualization and the enrichment of teachers' pedagogic content knowledge. The argument arises out of a re-examination of the findings from research into the development of two multilingual resource books for use by teachers of mathematics and science at secondary school level. These resources were developed in order to facilitate understanding of key concepts in the mathematics and science disciplines and will undergo a re-appraisal of the extent of their effectiveness in meeting these aims.
Research Interests:
South Africa's history of segregation and the privileging of English and Afrikaans as the only languages of teaching and learning beyond primary schooling, make the post-apartheid period a complex one, especially in light of the... more
South Africa's history of segregation and the privileging of English and Afrikaans as the only languages of teaching and learning beyond primary schooling, make the post-apartheid period a complex one, especially in light of the Constitutional commitment to multilingualism in the 11 official languages. Research on literacy and language teaching contextualises the impact of curriculum and language policy initiatives aimed at improving learner performance. We review research concerning the transition from the study of first additional language (FAL) as subject, to the use of FAL as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT). Also considered are major studies on learner performance nationally and South Africa's comparability globally. The impact of home language (HL) literacy development on performance in English as the LoLT links to research on language development in teacher education programmes, and shows connections between the capacity of teachers to develop languages fo...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This report describes ongoing research on reading in African languages. It draws mainly on contributions from two British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) ‘Language in Africa’ (LiA) Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings: the LiA... more
This report describes ongoing research on reading in African languages. It draws mainly on contributions from two British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) ‘Language in Africa’ (LiA) Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings: the LiA SIG strand at BAAL 2013 and the seminar on Reading Methodologies in African Languages held at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in January 2014. This report will only cover contributions that focused on reading research and practice.