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Teaching and Learning Sign Language as a “Foreign” Language
Timothy Reagan
Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut
Abstract
In recent years, there has been a growing debate in the United States, Europe, and Australia about the nature of the Deaf community as a cultural community,1 and the recognition of signed languages as “real” or “legitimate” languages comparable in all meaningful ways to spoken languages. An important element of this debate has been the question of the status of signed languages as potential “foreign” languages in educational contexts and settings. In my presentation today, I would like to try to address a number of common confusions that characterise much of the debate about the status of sign language as a foreign language option. While, to the best of my knowledge, this is a debate that has not yet directly impacted foreign language educators in South Africa, it is one that is very likely to do so in the near future, and so my goal is really to provide a sort of advanced warning of an important educational controversy that is, or at the very least may be, just around the corner.
Keywords:
sign language; typology of signing; deaf world; ASL; SASL
Biki Lepota & Albert Weideman
Unit for Language Skills Development, University of Pretoria
Abstract
For the last decade or longer, applied linguists have paid increasing attention to learners’ strategies and styles of learning (Wenden & Rubin 1987; Oxford 1990, Chamot & O’Malley 1990; Cohen 1998). There is an historical reason for this interest, which is discussed in the final part of this paper. The concern that teachers have with learners’ beliefs may, however, also be based on at least four immediate, practical reasons. The various configurations of learners’ beliefs and teachers’ beliefs yield at least three conditions or states that intimately concern language teachers. This paper presents a pilot study of how an adaptation of an instrument designed earlier to identify learners’ beliefs about language learning was applied in the context of our own institution. Its results are discussed within the contours of five categories: learners’ motivations for learning language; their ideas about language learning aptitude; their opinions of the difficulty of learning English; their second language learning and communication strategies; and, finally, their views on the nature of language learning. The results not only show a remarkable congruence with those of the earlier study, but also that learners’ preconceived ideas about language learning may in fact impede their development. How these sometimes erroneous beliefs can best be challenged and changed is finally considered.
Keywords:
academic language proficiency; language learning
A university bridging course focusing on academic reading and writing skills
Arlys van Wyk
Department of English and Classical Culture, University of the Free State
Abstract
The University of the Free State, like all tertiary institutions in South Africa, is faced with the challenge of redressing inequalities in higher education and providing access to students from previously disadvantaged school systems. A bridging programme was created for this purpose. This paper describes and explains the English language course that is part of this bridging programme. The English course aims at addressing the low language proficiency as well as the immediate communicative needs of the target group, viz academic literacy. English is the chosen medium of instruction of this student group and for all of them English is their second or third language. The paper outlines the course objectives and components, explains the rationale behind the components, and provides specific practical information about implementation. The reading component of the course includes intensive reading, extensive reading (with graded readers), and vocabulary development. The writing component works towards the expository essay via developing students’ sentence control, clarity of expression, organisation, and awareness of audience. This article is adapted from a paper read at the 29th Annual SAALT Conference on 4–6 July 2001.
Keywords:
academic literacy; language development
Taalonderrig en die teorie van meervoudige intelligensie
Geesje van den Berg
Fakulteit Opvoedkunde, UNISA
Abstract
Language teaching and the theory of multiple intelligence. Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard’s School of Education, claims in his book Frames of Mind (1983) that we do not have a single, fixed intelligence that can be determined with a standardized IQ test. He theorizes that there are at least eight different intelligences, and every person has a different combination of these intelligences. This article focuses on the implications of the theory of multiple intelligence on language teaching. One of the consequences will be that educators have to present learning opportunities in a wide variety of ways (Armstrong 1994: 1) to give learners the opportunity to learn in different ways. Several methods and activities are proposed to develop the different intelligences in the language classroom. Assessment is also discussed. A classroom featuring MI instruction can focus on alternative assessment methods which can accommodate students’ different intelligences, their different levels of ability and their special needs (Seghers & Baker 2001). The fact that language is taught in the framework of outcomes-based education, gives language educators the ideal opportunity to develop the different intelligences of learners, therefore the connection between MI and outcomes-based education gets attention as well in this article.
Keywords:
Multiple intelligence, Language teaching, Intelligence,Outcomes-based education
Sleutelwoorde:
Meervoudige intelligensie, Taalonderrig, Intelligensie, Uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig
“Die pad is lank en swaar.” Taalreise in Mangaung
Johanna J.E. Messerschmidt
Departement Kurrikulumstudie, Universiteit van die Vrystaat
Abstract
Linguistic journeys in Mangaung. It is argued that all learners, even if taught through medium of their mother tongue, have to undertake a linguistic journey to cover the distance between the language variety spoken at home and the more formal variety used in the school as social institution. Learners who are taught through medium of a foreign language, not related to their mother tongue, have to cover an extra distance. Against the background of the distance between home language and the language of the school, this article discusses some of the qualitative results of an international research project, called the Phaphamang Language Project. Phaphamang means “Wake up!”. The research took place at three school in Mangaung, a township near Bloemfontein, in the Free State. Classroom observations of the presentation of specially designed task-based lessons revealed how Gr. 4 learners used English and Southern Sotho while learning history. Although English is the official medium of instruction according to the policy of the schools, teachers had no choice but to switch to Southern Sotho to make the input comprehensible and to initiate the learning process. Co-operative learning and negotiating of meaning took place in Southern Sotho. The learners were not able to use English to bridge information gaps. Their productive skills in English were restricted to single words, a combination of two words and fixed patterns. A general perception exists that learners will acquire English by using it as the language of teaching and learning. The learners in Mangaung have thus embarked upon a linguistic journey, the destination of which is the control of the English language in its educational function: as a tool to think and reason, and to access, process and use information for learning. Some of the stumbling blocks on the road are the initial language skills of the learners when the switch to English is made, the teachers’ command of the language and the absence of the language in the environment. The conclusion is reached that the distance the learners have to cover, is too long and the road is too difficult to lead to academic success.
Keywords:
language of teaching and learning; language variety; school language policy; Mangaung schools; Southern Sotho
Sleutelwoorde:
taal van onderrig en leer; taalvariëteit; taalbeleid vir skole; Mangaung skole; Suid-Sotho
Shortcomings of the written survey questionnaire for discovering language learner perceptions: reflections of a researcher
Gary P. Barkhuizen
Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics, University of Auckland
Abstract
In this article I describe my reflections on using a written survey questionnaire to investigate, on a large-scale, students’ perceptions of studying Xhosa as a first language in high schools. I describe the aims of the project, how the questionnaire was designed, and the problems I encountered with the analysis of the data. The problems can be categorised as follows: poor survey design; not doing enough with the responses; questions which only scratch the surface; and, respondents not knowing how to answer questions appropriately. Example questions from the questionnaire are given to illustrate these shortcomings. Recommendations for avoiding similar problems are given. The focus in this article is on the problem questions only; most of the questions on the 80-item questionnaire were successful in capturing the desired responses. The study as a whole, therefore, was a success.
Keywords:
Learner perceptions; Xhosa learning; survey design
Teaching reading in an OBE framework
AC Lessing, Department of Educational Studies, University of South Africa
MW de Witt, Department of Primary School Teacher Education, University of South Africa
Abstract
According to survey research (Lessing & De Witt 2001), teachers currently teaching reading in the foundation phase, indicated a need for further training in this regard. The survey indicated that teachers feel unsure about what is expected from them in the new education system. With this in mind the authors presented a workshop in which the focus was on teaching reading in an outcomes-based Education (OBE) framework with the aim of empowering teachers to teach reading in the foundation phase. The workshop dealt with reading as an important aspect of the literacy learning area and suggestions were made to enhance the acquisition of vocabulary, sight reading words, decoding skills and comprehension. The importance of integration of the different aspects (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in the literacy learning area as well as integration of different learning areas (literacy, numeracy and life skills) was stressed. A questionnaire was used to determine teachers’ views of the workshop. Teachers’ views on the presentation of oral language, listening, communication, reading, spelling and writing as presented in the workshop were evaluated. The evaluation of teachers’ views of the workshop was compared with regard to different moderator variables, such as initial training and teaching experience, to determine if these significantly influenced their responses. In general the evaluation of the workshop was very positive and it was clear that the workshop contributed to equip teachers to teach reading in the new OBE framework.
Keywords:
Teachers’ training; teaching reading; integrated language programme; empowerment of teachers
Internal request modification by first and second language speakers
Joy Christine Lwanga-Lumu
Department of English, VISTA University – Soweto Campus
Abstract
Faersch & Kasper (1989) distinguish two main types of internal request modification, namely: syntactic down graders such as interrogative structures and lexical down graders such as the politeness marker please. This study focuses on the question of whether Luganda English speakers would negatively transfer into their English speech the use of syntactic and lexical down graders resulting in pragmatic failure. Data were collected from Luganda and Luganda English speakers by means of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) containing eight request situations. The analysis followed the speech act analytical framework developed for the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realisation Patterns (CCSARP) project. Results showed that Luganda English speakers overgeneralized the pragmatic function of please. They inappropriately used it in English as an attention-getter, hence risking situational inappropriateness and pragmatic failure in English. Findings from this study may have theoretical and pedagogical implications for linguists, language teachers, learners, multilingual speech communities, textbook writers, syllabus designers and researchers.
Keywords
Internal request modification; cross-cultural speech act realisation patterns; politeness and interlanguage phenomena; pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge; pragmatic failure
Patterns of value: Systemic Functional Grammar and evaluation in texts
Diana Kilpert
Grahamstown
Abstract
In two recent articles in this journal (Kilpert, 2001a;b) I argued that ‘method of development’, a concept from Systemic Functional Grammar (sfg, associated with M.A.K. Halliday), is useful for teaching tertiary students to write coherent paragraphs. This follow-up article develops a related topic, explaining how the management of the evaluative stance, an aspect of the interpersonal function of language, might be taught by linking it to the management of structure. I draw on the concept of phase (Gregory, 1988), and include some detail from appraisal theory (Martin, 2000a; White, 2001). I suggest that text analysis can make teachers aware of the expected patterns and ‘voice’ of specific genres and provide a technical language for talking clearly about them. I argue that this knowledge is essential for properly informed language teaching and that approaching writing as a teachable skill rather than guesswork will give all students a fair chance, regardless of background.
Keywords:
Academic writing; authorial voice; evaluative stance; Systemic Functional Grammar; Appraisal
Die interpretasie en onderrig van hulpwerk-woorde in Noord-Sotho: klassifisering en basiese grammatiese kenmerke
W.J. Pretorius
Departement Afrikatale, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit
Abstract
In this article the grammatical classification of auxiliary verbs as a subcategory of the word class verb in Northern Sotho is discussed. The grammatical features that distinguish the various groups from each other are highlighted. Although some suggestions for the classification of auxiliary verbs in Northern Sotho have been made by previous researchers, the mere features that serve to distinguish between the groups on grammatical grounds have not been satisfactorily investigated. This article is an attempt to fill that gap to a certain extent. This situation has a negative effect on the teaching of this word class at primary, secondary as well as tertiary level. Popular grammars used as teaching aids by schools and universities contain insufficient or even faulty information concerning auxiliary verbs as a sub-category of the word class verb. Hopefully the content of this article will contribute to facilitate the task of language tutors at school or university level to deal meaningfully with this sub-category of verbs.
Key words: Auxiliary verb groups: Northern Sotho; rank shifting; classification
Kernbegrippe: Hulpwerkwoordgroepe: Noord-Sotho; rangverskuiwing; klassifisering
A Critique of the Dokean approach towards the lexical classes ‘adjective’, ‘relative’ and ‘enumerative’ in Zulu
Rachélle Gauton
Department of African Languages, University of Pretoria
Abstract
In Doke’s word class classification, so-called ‘adjective’, ‘relative’ and ‘enumerative’ stems can belong to any of three different word classes, depending on the way in which they are used. Doke regards only qualificatively used adjective, relative and enumerative stems as belonging to the word classes ‘adjective’, ‘relative’ and ‘enumerative’ respectively. When these word stems are used in so-called ‘copulative’/‘attributive’ constructions, they are relegated to the word class ‘copulative’ and are therefore no longer regarded as adjectives, relatives and enumeratives, but as copulatives. When ‘adjectives’, ‘relatives’ and ‘enumeratives’ precede their noun antecedents, or when they are used without their antecedents, Doke regards them as ‘qualificative pronouns’. What is clear, however, is that all of these categories contain a number of word stemsthat are found as the complements of (frequently underlying) copulatives, and which can either be used in embedded (relative) constructions, or in ‘copulative’/‘predicative’ constructions as the predicate of the sentence/clause. It is also concluded that the basic function of these forms remains that of noun modification, even though they can at times function pronominally.
Keywords:
Dokean approach; enumerative; qualificative; copulative; noun modification.
Some considerations when teaching the tense of Northern Sotho
L.C. Posthumus
Department of African Languages, Rand Afrikaans University
M.S. Mabule
Department of African Languages, Vista University, Mamelodi Campus
Abstract
A shortcoming in standard grammars and other discussions of tense in Northern Sotho (and the other Bantu languages) is that very little or no attention is given to the role that temporal adverbials play in the interpretation of time reference. No discussion on tense in Northern Sotho is complete without a proper account of the role that temporal adverbials play in the interpretation of time and tense yet a systematic account of this influence of temporal adverbials is absent in all treatment of tense in Northern Sotho. The aim of this article is to disclose the importance of temporal adverbials in the interpretation of time reference in Northern Sotho. Every scholar of Northern Sotho (or any other Bantu language) should take proper cognisance of the prominent role that temporal adverbials play in establishing time reference. A clear distinction is drawn between tense and time. While tense is defined as the verb form that marks the relation between event time and speech/coding time, time is defined as an expression of the relation between event time and coding time which is superimposed on tense. The factors that have an influence on time interpretation are temporal adverbials, the semantic verb phrase categorization, tense, aspect and the text and/or context. The major time-establishing device is the interrelation between tense forms and time adverbials.
Opsomming
’n Tekortkoming in die standaard grammatikas en ander besprekings van grammatiese tyd in Noord-Sotho (en die ander Bantutale) is dat geen of weinig aandag gegee word aan die rol wat temporeel adverbiale bepalings speel in die interpretasie van tyd. Geen bespreking van tyd in Noord-Sotho is volledig sonder ’n behoorlike verantwoording van die rol wat temporeel adverbiale bepalings speel in die interpretasie van (grammatiese) tyd en tempus nie. Nogtans ontbreek ’n sistematiese analise van die invloed van temporele adverbiale bepalings op tyd en tempus in alle besprekings van tyd in Noord-Sotho. Elkeen wat Noord-Sotho (of enige ander Bantutaal) bestudeer, behoort deeglik kennis te neem van die belangrike rol wat temporele adverbiale bepalings speel met betrekking tot tydverwysing. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om die belangrike rol te ondersoek wat die temporele adverbiale bepalings ten opsigte van tydinterpretasie in Noord-Sotho speel. ’n Duidelike onderskeid word getref tussen grammatiese tyd en tempus. Grammatiese tyd word gedefinieer as die werkwoordvorm wat die verhouding tussen gebeuretyd en spreek-/koderingstyd markeer terwyl tempus gedefinieer word as die uitdrukking van die verhouding tussen gebeuretyd en spreek-/koderingstyd ongeag die vorm van die werkwoord. Die faktore wat ’n invloed uitoefen op die interpretasie van tyd is: temporele adverbiale bepalings, die semantiese kategorisering van die werkwoordstuk, grammatiese tyd, aspek en die teks/konteks. Die deurslaggewende tempus-bepalende faktor is die interrelasie tussen tydvorme en temporele adverbiale bepalings.
Keywords: Time reference; time interpretation; temporal adverbials; tense and time
Die 2002-AWS en grammatikale subkategorieë
Anna Coetzee
Departement Afrikaans, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit
Abstract
The 2002 Afrikaans Vocabulary List and Spelling Rules and grammatical sub-categories. Since 1909 the South African Academy for Science and Arts (Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns) commissioned its Spelling Committee (Spelling-Komitee), later the Language Commission (Taalkommissie), to standardise Afrikaans spelling. Within this vernacular language form, without any governmental officiality at the beginning of the 20th century, there was naturally a considerable amount of orthographical and lexical variability. The perception exists that the acknowledgement of too many variants signifies that a standard form has not yet come into being. Although the Language Commission was supposed to standardise Afrikaans spelling, it often determined what had to be spelled and not only how it had to be spelled. With each new issue of the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS) (= Afrikaans Vocabulary List and Spelling Rules) it was attempted to lessen the variants by recording the use of certain forms by sources that play significant roles in standardising issues. Because actual language usage was recorded, the consecutive issues of the AWS display the natural tendency of lessening variation and decreasing remaining variants. In addition certain former variable grammatical groups of words were standardised to a definable morphological category without exceptions in the standard form of the language. In this paper this is illustrated specifically with reference to Chapter 17 of the 2002 AWS. Contrary to the aim of the rest of the book, this chapter does not offer spelling rules. It mainly exhibits a grammar of word categories. The “rules” in this chapter can therefore not be seen as ordinary spelling rules, but as descriptions of the choices language users have in some instances and of the morphological categories where choices only exist in a few cases with e.g. varying stress patterns. While the AWS is not essentially a book of grammatical descriptions, this paper offers an overview of the historical development behind the inclusion of such a chapter, and it offers an exploratory and contemplative view of these “rules.
Key words:
Afrikaans Vocabulary List and Spelling Rules; variants; grammatical sub-categories