Attitudes of Xhosa-speaking students at the University of Fort Hare towards the use of Xhosa as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT)
- Dalvit, Lorenzo, De Klerk, Vivian A
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6100 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008664
- Description: This article presents and discusses the results of a survey of a sample of Xhosa-speaking students at the University of Fort Hare regarding their attitudes towards the possible introduction of Xhosa as a medium of instruction at this institution. The research takes into account, among other things, the students' attitudes towards English and Xhosa and their opinions and beliefs about the introduction of dual-mediumship and its possible consequences. The survey was conducted with questionnaires and interviews and the results were first analysed as a whole, and then split into different categories according to gender, year of study, subject studied etc. This analysis indicates that while English is recognised as the dominant language in South Africa and, more specifically, in the domain of education, some categories of respondents acknowledge the usefulness of Xhosa as an additional medium of instruction. This survey clearly shows that it would make little sense to present Xhosa-speaking students at Fort Hare with a rigid choice between the existing English-medium and a dual-medium (English and Xhosa) policy and that more nuanced options would need to be offered. For example, respondents seem to consider the use of Xhosa as a medium of instruction more appropriate in the first years of study, for selected subjects and in some domains within the academic context rather than others. This study can be fruitfully compared with similar research carried out at other South African institutions. Moreover, the results of the present research can be used to inform future decisions regarding language policy at the University of Fort Hare.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6100 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008664
- Description: This article presents and discusses the results of a survey of a sample of Xhosa-speaking students at the University of Fort Hare regarding their attitudes towards the possible introduction of Xhosa as a medium of instruction at this institution. The research takes into account, among other things, the students' attitudes towards English and Xhosa and their opinions and beliefs about the introduction of dual-mediumship and its possible consequences. The survey was conducted with questionnaires and interviews and the results were first analysed as a whole, and then split into different categories according to gender, year of study, subject studied etc. This analysis indicates that while English is recognised as the dominant language in South Africa and, more specifically, in the domain of education, some categories of respondents acknowledge the usefulness of Xhosa as an additional medium of instruction. This survey clearly shows that it would make little sense to present Xhosa-speaking students at Fort Hare with a rigid choice between the existing English-medium and a dual-medium (English and Xhosa) policy and that more nuanced options would need to be offered. For example, respondents seem to consider the use of Xhosa as a medium of instruction more appropriate in the first years of study, for selected subjects and in some domains within the academic context rather than others. This study can be fruitfully compared with similar research carried out at other South African institutions. Moreover, the results of the present research can be used to inform future decisions regarding language policy at the University of Fort Hare.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Procedural meanings of well in a corpus of Xhosa English
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6128 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011579
- Description: This article explores the use of the pragmatic marker well in a large corpus of the discourse of non-mother tongue speakers of Xhosa English, which is a sub-variety of Black South African English. A brief overview of discourse markers in general and of well in particular is provided, and the problems they pose to linguists in terms of difficulties in defining their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties are examined. After a brief description of the nature of the corpus of Xhosa English on which the study is based, and of the methodological approach which was followed, the rest of the article focuses on a fairly detailed exposition of the overall trends in contextualised uses and procedural meanings of well in the corpus, along with examples. Some (limited) parallels are drawn between the use of well in XE and other English corpora, in order to highlight the problems experienced by L2 learners in acquiring discourse markers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6128 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011579
- Description: This article explores the use of the pragmatic marker well in a large corpus of the discourse of non-mother tongue speakers of Xhosa English, which is a sub-variety of Black South African English. A brief overview of discourse markers in general and of well in particular is provided, and the problems they pose to linguists in terms of difficulties in defining their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties are examined. After a brief description of the nature of the corpus of Xhosa English on which the study is based, and of the methodological approach which was followed, the rest of the article focuses on a fairly detailed exposition of the overall trends in contextualised uses and procedural meanings of well in the corpus, along with examples. Some (limited) parallels are drawn between the use of well in XE and other English corpora, in order to highlight the problems experienced by L2 learners in acquiring discourse markers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The use of actually in spoken Xhosa English : a corpus study
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6136 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011588
- Description: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mothertongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontaneous dialogue between Xhosa English speakers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6136 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011588
- Description: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mothertongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontaneous dialogue between Xhosa English speakers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
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