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Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

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Rural-urban youth migration in rapidly expanding urban centers in Ethiopia: evidence from Hawassa city
(University of the Western Cape, 2026) Chuluke, Girma; Semela, Tesfaye; Matewos, Tafesse
This study explores the extent and impact of rural-urban migration in Ethiopia, focusing on the factors that drive young people to move to urban centers, their well-being in these urban destinations, and their ties to their rural origins. To gain deeper insights, the study employed a sequential mixed-methods design, combining a household survey of migrant families with qualitative, in-depth interviews conducted with purposively selected participants. The findings showed that the migration of youth and children to Hawassa City is attributed to a range of push and pull factors, whereby limited employment opportunities, land scarcity, and poverty emerged as critical reasons for driving them from their native villages. In contrast, the aspirations to attain industrial jobs, educational opportunities, and the allure of modern lifestyles were identified as strong magnets attracting them to the urban areas. Moreover, young people attributed their migration to prolonged illness or death of biological parents or caregivers, and family breakdown. The findings further showed that once migrants arrived in the cities, they faced multiple challenges in accessing public services and resources, including access to basic education and health care. Furthermore, children’s rights to protection from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were found to be largely unaddressed. Finally, the study proposes alternatives to inform the development of short- and long-term measures to address the challenges.
Enhancing the linguistic and instrumental competence of trainee interpreters in tertiary Institutions
(University of the Western Cape, 2026) Salasa, Gadeeja S
This corpus-based study aims to investigate the interpreting competence of Arabic-English interpreters through the design and analysis of a simultaneous interpretation corpus. The corpus is composed of some speeches that have been interpreted by interpreters of well-known Arabic channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. It is the contention of this study that the problems that interpreters encounter are not only linguistic, but they could be cultural, technical or psycho-physiological. The study analyses the parallel corpus with a view to finding the linguistic and extralinguistic (i.e., cultural, encyclopaedic, and subject-specific) problems (if any) that interpreters encountered while rendering these speeches from Arabic into English and vice versa as well as the strategies they employed in the process of interpreting. It relies on a qualitative approach to analyse the parallel interpreting corpus. In addition, it investigates psycho-physiological aspects of interpreting such as saturation and external pressures to ascertain the impact it has on the performance of interpreters, how this can be addressed during training and how Computer Aided/Assisted Interpreting (CAI)/Computer-assisted interpreter training (CAIT) tools can enhance the competence of the would be interpreters. The study uses an eclectic theoretical and conceptual framework that draws insight from the key models of interpreting competence (Beeby et al., 2009, 2011, NAATI, 2016) Gravitational Model of Language Availability (Gile, 2009), social constructivist learning theory and instructional design models (Ghani and Daud, 2018). The problems identified in the end-product, and the multidisciplinary inquiry guides the design of technology-mediated training materials or training prototype that can enhance the linguistic and extra-linguistic competence of interpreters.
A critique of emojis in isiXhosa language and expression with a focus on virtual modes of communication
(University of the Westeern Cape, 2025) Telibinza Aviwe; Kaschula Russell H.
This study is intended to investigate the impact of the internet on language use. The focus is on the use of emojis in the isiXhosa language and expression on virtual modes of communication. The challenges and adoption of emojis in the context of the isiXhosa language during virtual communication formed the central argument of this research. The history of emojis was explored, highlighting their evolution and origin. Emojis were defined and differentiated, providing a thorough explanation of what they are and how they can be distinguished from other modes of pictographs. Their functions were examined, highlighting their effectiveness in text-based communication. The various interpretations of emojis were explored. Their cultural connotations were also examined, and their ambiguity was described in detail. Virtual modes of communication were explained as well. The generative lexicon theory, employed as the theoretical framework of this research, was further discussed. The data was presented and analyzed through the qualitative approach (discourse content analysis) used in gathering the data. Lastly, the findings of the study were provided and the conclusion based on the results found.
Investigating English communication challenges experienced by African students at a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college in KwaZulu-Natal
(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Zungu, Nkosingiphile Innocentia Zama
South African higher education institutions are characterised by linguistic diversity, with students coming from a wide range of language backgrounds. However, within these institutions, English remains the dominant language of instruction for all students, even though many students use English exclusively within the confines of the institutional context. Therefore, this creates significant challenges for students when communicating in English, particularly as English serves as the global language of communication, and many students come from backgrounds and schooling experiences that offered limited exposure to English. Hence, this study focuses on the challenges experienced by Black non-English speakers when they reach higher education institutions, which are Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges, and the medium of instruction is English. The study investigates challenges these students face in communicating in English, examines how English was taught in high school and identifies strategies that can support improved communication at the higher education level. Bruner’s Instruction Theory frames the study, highlighting how mediated learning can enhance students’ ability to transform and transfer what they are learning. This study employed a qualitative research approach, making use of classroom observations, focus group discussions, and questionnaires for the collection of data to determine factors contributing to students experiencing communication challenges when it comes to the English language. Participants included the first and final year English students at a TVET college in KwaZulu-Natal and observed the teaching strategies used to teach English communication and the language barriers students encounter when speaking. Findings assisted in addressing the English language barrier problems that students experience at their entry level at the College. The following recommendations are made: Adequate teaching and learning contact sessions for English, a proper and well-monitored intervention programme for students who have an English language barrier, a revised TVET College minimum entry requirements system that caters for all students and introduce more English programmes like a book reading club, poetry sessions, and debates.
Jazz, education, and alternative culture in South Africa: Pedagogy and music in transgressive action
(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Koopman, Clio Ruth
My research focuses on the intersection of jazz and alternative education as forms of resistance within the context of South African defiance. I situate this focus within antiapartheid resistance that took place in the late 1980s, this period was shaped by heightened apartheid violence and repression. I focus on the movements of People’s Education for People’s Power and jazz which aligned with People’s Power ideology, extending to People’s Culture. I show how people responded to this energy of repression through radical innovation and creativity in jazz and pedagogy. The notion of creativity I reflect on is situated in a context of sustained and revolutionary activism, where people utilised and developed all the tools at their disposal for liberation. In this thesis I explore the history of values of learning in South Africa, informed by the contexts of both oppressive educational regimes and student movements of resistance to investigate the visible links between jazz and pedagogy. To do so, I lean on and further develop the concepts of sovereignty, heterotopia, and non-linear convergences that demonstrate the ideological, material, and temporal links between jazz and pedagogy. Through engaging with archives of resistance, pedagogy, and sound, I identify a shared thisness in both jazz and People’s Education: thisness being a quality and density of a specificity, expressed in the form of a time, an object, a person, a song, a collective or historical moment. Through identifying the shared characteristics of pedagogy and jazz in a South African context, I develop a curriculum that leans on the curriculum style of People’s Education for People’s Power, an education movement with political roots countering inferior education for Black 1students, prioritising community engagement and creative methods of teaching. I identify a learning quality in jazz, especially when played within a political awareness, which aligns with popular education movements. The ability of jazz to construct a culture and create and support political spaces, I argue, is found in pedagogy. Through noting the pedagogical possibilities of jazz, grounded in a transgressive sense, I investigate how jazz facilitates learning moments.