Department of Linguistics, Language and Communication

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Affirming the biliteracy of university students: Current research on the provision of multilingual lecture resources at the University of the Western Cape
(Multilingual Matters, 2017) Antia, Bassey E.
Background: With lecture halls in South Africa and elsewhere becoming increasingly multilingual and multicultural, there is greater recognition of the challenges posed to teaching and learning by the linguistic diversity and literacy heterogeneity of students. Although the scholarship on reading and/or writing in multiple languages (severally referred to as biliteracy/biliteracies, multilingual literacies, pluriliteracies) has yielded useful insights, questions of strategy for responding to this challenge continue to exercise the minds of scholars. This chapter reports on an initiative at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, intended to affirm the academic biliteracy (i.e. multilingual literacies) of students. In the initiative, multilingual and multimodal learning resources were made available to students on an undergraduate course, and students’ reflections on the experience of using the resources were elicited. Hornberger’s continua of biliteracy model provided the design principles for the learning resources, and served as framework for discussing students’ responses
Analysing the discourse on corruption in presidential speeches in Nigeria, 1957- 2015: Systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis frameworks
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Ogunmuyiwa, Hakeem Olafemi; Antia, Bassey E.
Corruption as a concept is viewed differently by various disciplines, but there seems to be consensus that it relates to the misuse of public office for private gain. Studies in the social sciences, mainly political science, economics, sociology and law, have provided valuable insights into the subject, for example, its causes, manifestations and consequences. In a country such as Nigeria, corruption is said to have cost the country up to $20 trillion between 1960 and 2005, and it could cost up to 37% of its GDP by 2030 if the situation is not urgently addressed. The paradox, however, is that although all successive leaders of the country have consistently articulated their anti-corruption posture in national speeches, they get accused by their successors of not being tough on corruption both in word and in deed. Regrettably, there have been relatively few close textual analyses of presidential speeches carried out within analytical frameworks in linguistics that have the potential of revealing how presidents can simultaneously talk tough and soft on corruption, a contradiction that could well explain the putative anti-corruption posture of the country's leaders and the ever deepening corruption in the land. It is against this backdrop that this study draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in order to examine language choices related to the theme of corruption in speeches made by Nigerian presidents from 1957 to 2015. The objectives of the study are to (1) provide an overview of how the discourse on corruption has evolved in Nigerian presidential speeches from 1957-2015; (2) determine specific facets of the construal of corruption from the dominant choices made from the system of transitivity (process, participants, circumstance) in speeches by different presidents and at different time points in their tenure in office; (3) analyse how the interpersonal metafunction of language is enacted in the speeches by the presidents through the system of appraisal for a strategy of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation; (4) interrogate from a critical discourse analysis standpoint the interest, ideological, partisan or other bases for the choices made in the speeches from the systems associated with the experiential and interpersonal meta functions of language; and (5) to evaluate the different presidents in terms of how the above analyses position them in relation to combating corruption.
Analysing the spontaneous speech of children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Martin, Linique; Antia, Bassey E.
Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a global problem that affects various communities. FASD denotes a pattern of abnormalities intermittently seen in children born to women who consume huge quantities of alcohol during pregnancy (Church & Kaltenbach, 1997). Church and Kaltenbach (1997) suggest that FAS may be one of the primary causes of hearing, speech and other language problems in children. The two main approaches used to determine the effects of FASD on language are standardised language test (using a statistical approach to test some or all four domains of language, namely, phonology, syntax, morphology and semantics) applied to close-ended questionnaire answers and, to some extent, narrative analysis (in the course of which researchers use wordless picture books to analyse narratives in order to determine the social-communicative characteristics of individuals with FASD). Although the use of standardized measures of language might be helpful to determine problematic areas in relation to the different language domains (Wyper & Rasmussen, 2011), they do not show the difficulty with social-communicative functions which these children might be facing (Coggins, Friet, & Morgan, 1998). On the other hand, while narrative analysis addresses an important level of language (discourse level), it does not foreground the inherently interactive nature of language use and the problems that may be associated with communicative interactions. These shortcomings, in turn, suggest possible limitations in the interventions intended to address the language needs of children with FASD. There is, therefore, a need for complementary approaches that offer a more rounded picture of language impairment in children with FASD. In this study, three approaches are used in identifying features of the speech of children with FASD against the backdrop of comparisons with features in the speech of normally developing children. Firstly, conversational analysis (applied to spontaneous, open-ended speech) is introduced as a means to determine the more social-interactive aspects of speech impairment in children with FASD. Secondly, measures of linguistic aspects of speech (the mean length of utterance, Index of Productive Syntax and the number of different word roots) designed specifically for spontaneous speech are employed (they are applied to the same spontaneous data as the conversational analysis data). Thirdly, the more traditional standardized language test measures applied to non-spontaneous speech are used (covering the four domains of syntax, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics). The study�s objectives are to (1) compare patterns in the interactive speech of FASD children and normally developing children; (2) explore the relationship between FASD children and normally developing children in relation to both spontaneous speech measures and standardized measures of language; and (3) compare the impact of the primary caregiver's level of education on testing through spontaneous measures versus standardised measures. Using data from 14 children in the Bellville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, the study finds that, on the conversational analysis measures, children with FASD, in contrast to normally developing children, tend to obey fewer rules of turn-taking, to overlap less, to engage less in self-repair and to struggle with management and maintenance of topics. The study also finds that children whose scores on the standardized language tests (with non-spontaneous data) suggest they have no language difficulty, especially in terms of phonology, obtained scores in measures of spontaneous speech that indicated language difficulty. The study also found that the socio-economic status of caregivers was a credible explanation for certain features in the speech of children with FASD is very similar to features in the speech of normally developing children. This finding highlights the role of family setting in mitigating the effects of FASD.
Diagnostic assessment of academic reading: Peeping into students’ annotated texts
(MDPI, 2022) Antia, Bassey E.; Vogt, Karin
Text annotations are literacy practices that are not uncommon in the reading experience of university students. Annotations may be multilingual, monolingual, or multimodal. Despite their enormous diagnostic potentials, annotations have not been widely investigated for what they can reveal about the cognitive processes that are involved in academic reading. In other words, there has been limited exploration of the insights that signs (verbal and non-verbal) inscribed by students on texts offer for understanding and intervening in their academic reading practices. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the diagnostic assessment potentials of student-annotated texts. On the basis of text annotations obtained from teacher trainee students (n = 7) enrolled at a German university, we seek to understand what different students attend to while reading, what their problem-solving strategies are, what languages and other semiotic systems they deploy, what their level of engagement with text is, and, critically, how the foregoing provide a basis for intervening to validate, reinforce, correct, or teach certain reading skills and practices. Theoretically, the study is undergirded by the notion of text movability. Data suggestive of how students journey through text are argued to have implications for understanding and teaching how they manage attention, use dictionaries, own text meaning, and appraise text.
Diagnostic assessment of academic reading: Peeping into students� annotated texts
(MDPI, 2022) Antia, Bassey E.; Vogt, Karin
Text annotations are literacy practices that are not uncommon in the reading experience of university students. Annotations may be multilingual, monolingual, or multimodal. Despite their enormous diagnostic potentials, annotations have not been widely investigated for what they can reveal about the cognitive processes that are involved in academic reading. In other words, there has been limited exploration of the insights that signs (verbal and non-verbal) inscribed by students on texts offer for understanding and intervening in their academic reading practices. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the diagnostic assessment potentials of student-annotated texts. On the basis of text annotations obtained from teacher trainee students (n = 7) enrolled at a German university, we seek to understand what different students attend to while reading, what their problem-solving strategies are, what languages and other semiotic systems they deploy, what their level of engagement with text is, and, critically, how the foregoing provide a basis for intervening to validate, reinforce, correct, or teach certain reading skills and practices. Theoretically, the study is undergirded by the notion of text movability. Data suggestive of how students journey through text are argued to have implications for understanding and teaching how they manage attention, use dictionaries, own text meaning, and appraise text.
Enhancing an international perspective in public health teaching through formalized university partnerships
(Frontiers Media, 2017) Brzoska, Patrick; Akgun, Seval; Antia, Bassey E.; Thankappan, K. R.; Nayar, Kesavan Rajasekharan; Razum, Oliver
Teaching in the field of public health needs to employ a global perspective to account for the fact that public health problems and solutions have global determinants and implications as well. International university partnerships can promote such a perspective through the strengthening of cooperation, exchange, and communication between academic institutions across national boundaries. As an example for such an academic network in the field of public health, we introduce the International Public Health Partnership - a collaboration between a university in Germany and universities in India, Turkey, and Nigeria. Formed in 2005, it facilitated the exchange of information, fostered discussion about the transferability of public health concepts, contributed to the structural development of the universities involved, and promoted an intercultural dialog through a combination of local and distance learning activities. Although well accepted by students and staff, different obstacles were encountered; these included limited external funding, scarce own financial, time and personnel resources, and diverging regulations and structures of degree programs at the partnership sites. In the present article, we share several lessons that we learned during our joint collaboration and provide recommendations for other universities that are involved in partnerships with institutions of higher education or are interested to initiate such collaborations.
Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University
(Springer, 2016) Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
This paper seeks to address the ways in which ideology and literacy practices shape the responses of students to an ongoing initiative at the University of the Western Cape aimed at diversifying options for epistemological access, specifically the language varieties and the modes in which parts of the curriculum for a third year linguistics module are delivered. Students� responses to the materials in English and in two varieties of Afrikaans and isiXhosa (as mediated in writing vs orally) are determined, and used as basis to problematize decisions on language variety and mode in language diversification initiatives in Higher Education in South Africa. The findings of the paper are juxtaposed against particular group interests in the educational use of a language as well as differences in the affordances and impact of different modes of language use. The paper suggests that beyond the euphoria of using languages other than English in South African Higher Education, several issues (such as entrenched language practices, beliefs and language management orientations) require attention if the goals of transformation in this sector are to be attained.
Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
This paper seeks to address the ways in which ideology and literacy practices shape the responses of students to an ongoing initiative at the University of the Western Cape aimed at diversifying options for epistemological access, specifically the language varieties and the modes in which parts of the curriculum for a third year linguistics module are delivered. Students’ responses to the materials in English and in two varieties of Afrikaans and isiXhosa (as mediated in writing vs orally) are determined, and used as basis to problematize decisions on language variety and mode in language diversification initiatives in Higher Education in South Africa. The findings of the paper are juxtaposed against particular group interests in the educational use of a language as well as differences in the affordances and impact of different modes of language use. The paper suggests that beyond the euphoria of using languages other than English in South African Higher Education, several issues (such as entrenched language practices, beliefs and language management orientations) require attention if the goals of transformation in this sector are to be attained.
Foreword. In: BethAnne Paulsrud, Zhongfeng Tian, and Jeanette Toth (Eds.), At the crossroads of english-medium Instruction and translanguaging
(Multilingual Matters, 2021) Antia, Bassey E.
Exclusive English-medium instruction (EMI), especially one that also takes its norms for the ‘E’ exogenously, is an aberration in those countries that lie outside of the ‘inner circle’ of the UK, USA, Anglophone Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and parts of the Caribbean in Kachru’s (1992) World Englishes model. Aberration is also arguably apt as a description for the practice of EMI in certain communities in these inner circle countries. Exclusive EMI in ‘outer or expanding circle’ countries and communities is a cultural travesty, one that highlights the hegemonic slant and reach of either or both colonial cultural politics and contemporary political economy. On this view, then, EMI in content area pedagogy, even when it is initiated locally, is cut from the same ideological fabric of ‘linguistic imperialism’ as the ‘monolingual fallacy’ in the teaching of English in outer/ expanding circle environments which Phillipson (1992) criticises. In both content and English language pedagogy, EMI guarantees that the inner circle has a huge market for educational resources and services, as well as a cheap and readily usable workforce. Because language, as critical language awareness reminds us, is more than a means of communication, EMI in outer/expanding circle contexts is easily able to shape local aspirations and serve as a local system of social selection for a global marketplace that is tied to the apron strings of the inner circle. To take on the ‘E’ in EMI, as this collection does, is therefore much more than an exercise in documenting pedagogical practices.
A functional terminological analysis of a �Multilingual parliamentary/ Political terminology list� of the Department of Arts and Culture
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Majozi, Joyce Jabulile; Antia, Bassey E.
South Africa’s National Language Policy Framework was formulated in 2003. The framework was designed to create an enabling environment for the development of instruments and initiatives intended to promote multilingualism in the country. Following the formulation of the National Language Policy Framework, National Parliament, in collaboration with the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape Legislatures, commissioned a project of developing a Terminology List of terminology that is used in these settings. This Terminology List was taken over and expanded in 2005. According to the Terminology List’s preface, “stakeholders embarked on the enlarged terminology project in order to ensure that multilingualism was possible in this field. The Multilingual Parliamentary/Political Terminology List will promote multilingualism in Parliament and elsewhere, and will facilitate effective communication between parliamentarians, politicians, national and provincial language offices, provincial legislatures and Hansard offices” (DAC (2005: iii-iv). With perhaps one exception (Rondganger, 2012) focusing on the English-Afrikaans language pair, there are no known studies evaluating the Multilingual Parliamentary/Political Terminology List. As a result, it is not known to what extent envisaged target users (e.g. language practitioners) in National and Provincial Legislatures are even aware of its existence. It is also not known to what extent the terminology resource is able to support target users in the typical usage situations envisaged in the preface. More generally, there has also been no determination of how the Multilingual Parliamentary/Political Terminology List has contributed to language development, specifically, making possible the use of the nine indigenous African languages for parliamentary-related discourse. As a consequence of the above dearth of knowledge around the Multilingual Parliamentary/Political Terminology List, there also is no empirical database upon which suggestions can be made for improving it; that is, responding to the call in the preface for suggestions: “the compilers acknowledge that it might be useful to expand the collection, and any suggestions in this regard will be welcomed” (DAC (2005: iv). This research draws on the sociology of dictionary use (Kahn 1989, Flinz 2010) and on a knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) approach to terminology evaluation (Antia 2000, Antia & Clas 2003; Rubin 1977, Kummer 1983) to analyse the Multilingual Parliamentary Terminology List.
Incorporating indigenous African languages in higher education: Student attitudes towards learning materials in isiXhosa at the University of the Western Cape
(The University of the Western Cape, 2017) Sawula, Sabelo; Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
There have been extensive studies conducted on the language attitudes of students or their parents at primary, secondary as well as tertiary levels of education in South Africa. Many scholars have found that African language speakers hold negative attitudes towards their own languages (De Klerk, 2000; Barkhuizen, 2002; Dyers, 1999; and Conduah, 2003). This is rather unfortunate, given the several constitutional and other policy provisions in South Africa promoting multilingual education (see Constitution, 1996; Language-in-education policy, 1997; Higher education language policy, 2002; UWC language policy, 2003). These negative attitudes have been attributed to a number of factors by scholars (see Kamwangamalu, 2000; Somhlahlo, 2009; Alexander 2004).
The interaction of text and visual in specialized dictionary definitions
(John Benjamins Publishing, 2013) Antia, Bassey E.; Ivo, Njuasi
Although visuals have been co-deployed with text in specialized dictionaries as far back as the European Renaissance, the interaction of both representational modalities is relatively under-researched. As a consequence, available knowledge is relatively limited with respect to the kinds of visuals employed in specialized dictionaries, the kinds of definiendum that elicit specific types of visuals, the functions of visuals relative to text in definitions, and the association between particular visuals and visual-text functions. This study sheds light on these questions from the perspective of specialized dictionaries in two fields (Biology and Mechanical Engineering). Significantly, the study underscores how the ontology or nature of Biology and Mechanical Engineering appear to determine both the selections made of visual types and the dominant text-visual relationships. The study further makes a contribution to cleaning up the Augean clutter that is the terminology of visuals.
The language factor in students� experience of assessments: A case study from the University of the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Mndende, Athenkosi; Antia, Bassey E.
Recent statistics show that 25% of university students in South Africa drop out in their first year of study (Stats SA, 2018). This figure is all the more worrisome when older but still relevant statistics are considered, e.g., that only 21% of students graduate within the regulation time (Scott et al., 2007). High drop-out rates and low throughput rates in higher education have been discussed in terms of such factors as funding, student support, race and gender. Although several factors contribute to high dropout rates and low throughput rates in higher education, there is not much research that analyses the problem from the language standpoint in assessment.
Language policy and terminology in South Africa
(John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015) Antia, Bassey E.
This chapter describes the development of the language policy programme of post-apartheid South Africa. It highlights both the place of terminology in this policy programme and some of its achievements. As the fortunes of terminology are inevitably bound up with the fate of the policy on multilingualism, the chapter draws attention to difficulties that have arisen in the course of implementing the policy and suggests three sociolinguistic paradigms that offer explanatory frameworks for these challenges. It concludes by describing on-going terminology initiatives at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) that attempt to respond to some of the implications of the sociolinguistic paradigms.
A multi-theoretical analysis of the dynamics and effects of terminology in Nigerian and South African high school textbooks on life sciences
(The University of the Western Cape, 2018) Kamai, Richard Awoshiri; Antia, Bassey E.
The performance of students in science subjects continues to be a source of concern in many African countries. In Nigeria and South Africa, one explanation frequently given has to do with students� proficiency levels in the medium of instruction and textbook publishing. Although several studies have been conducted from these standpoints, the issue of terminology variation within and across textbooks, and between textbooks and assessment tasks in English-language science textbooks, seems to be understudied. As a consequence, we do not know how terminological variation manifests, its effects on learners� achievement and the strategies learners can use to respond to it. Against this background, this study uses a multi-theoretical framework to examine the dynamics of terminology in Life Sciences textbooks in the context of learner�s engagement with written science.
Multilingual assessment: Levelling the cognition–emotion playing field at the University of the Western Cape
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2021) Antia, Bassey E.
This article examines the relatively understudied question of how cognition and emotion (as induced by language) interact in assessment situations in higher education contexts. It does so against the backdrop of different outcomes for students with varying forms of linguistic cultural capital in South African higher education. Applying phenomenology as methodology, we unpack the ways in which students at the University of the Western Cape experience both monolingual and multilingual assessment from the standpoint of the cognition– emotion interface. The findings show that while monolingual assessment created affective barriers to cognition, a far more enabling environment was created by the provision of alternative multilingual linguistic arrangements. The article reflects on the implications of the analysis both for levelling the playing field in a context where language is a major source of inequality and for scholarship on language in assessment.
Multilingual electronic glossing: Implementing and evaluating an alternative reading aid for students at the University of the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Pute, Mlondolozi; Antia, Bassey E.
Vocabulary knowledge is an indicator of language competence. There is a positive relationship between literacy levels and the medium of instruction. Research has shown that reading comprehension is largely dependent on the reader’s vocabulary knowledge in the language in which the text is written (Kieffer & Lesaux, 2007; Nation, 2001; Sutarsyah, Nation, and Kennedy, 1994). The lack of vocabulary knowledge is normally one of the major challenges for many university students struggling with their academic work, especially those for whom the language of tuition is not a first language. African (and Afrikaans mother tongue) students are unable to access information in their home languages because of the lack of terminology and texts in African languages (Edward and Ngwaru, 2011). There is research in South Africa showing that vocabulary is a challenge for university students, especially at first-year level (Butler & van Dyk, 2004, Manik, 2015: 236, Nkomo & Madiba, 2011). Vocabulary, being such a problem, ultimately affects the academic performance of many students. Although some universities have provided multilingual online glossaries (and other resources) in an effort to accommodate multilingual students struggling with comprehension in the medium of instruction, these modes of delivering glossaries are associated with a few problems. Consulting traditional glossaries/dictionaries disrupts the reading process and affects the flow of ideas. It is also possible that the reader will forget the term in question (or its context) right after consulting the dictionary/glossary, therefore readers have to look-up the same term in the dictionary/glossary several times to ensure that they match it with its definition accurately. In some dictionaries/glossary lists, readers will not find the desired term, or the term they find will not provide an adequate definition � which ends up frustrating the reader. Sometimes the list of definitions for one term that readers find in dictionaries/glossary lists is difficult to comprehend. Instead of providing clarity, the definitions can confuse readers even further. The comprehension of some definitions provided in dictionaries/glossary lists depend on prior understanding of several other terms.
Multilingual examinations: Towards a schema of politicization of language in end of high school examinations in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Antia, Bassey E.
In many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, the release of each year’s results for the end of high school examinations heralds an annual ritual of public commentary on the poor state of national education systems. However, the exoglossic/monolingual language regime for these examinations is infrequently acknowledged as contributing to the dismal performance of students. Even less attended to is the manner in which the language of examinations, through shaping students’ performances, may be exacerbating social inequalities. This article politicizes the language of examinations in the region in the hope of generating policy and research interest in what is arguably an insidious source of inequality. The article makes three arguments. Firstly, it is argued that current exoglossic/monolingual practices in these examinations constitute a set of sociolinguistic aberrations, with demonstrable negative effects on students’ performance. Secondly, it is argued that the gravity of these paradoxical sociolinguistic disarticulations is better appreciated when their social ramifications are viewed in terms of structural violence and social inequality. Thirdly, in considering how to evolve a more socially equitable examination language regime, it is argued that the notion of consequential validity in testing positions translanguaging as a more ecologically valid model of language use in examinations.
Multilingual teacher-talk in secondary school classrooms in Yola, North-East Nigeria: Exploring the interface of language and knowledge using legitimation code theory and terminology theory
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Bassi, Madu Musa; Antia, Bassey E.
It has been noted by Lin (2013) that studies on multilingual talk, as illustrated by code switching in the classroom, have been repetitive and descriptive, and have for a while not been underpinned by substantially new or different questions (Lin, 2013:15). First, many of the studies in the literature have, for instance, concluded that there is a functional allocation of languages (FAL) in multilingual classroom teacher talk (e.g. Baker, 2012; Martin, 1996; Probyn, 2006, 2014; Jegede, 2012; Modupeola, 2013; Salami, 2008), such that language �a? is used for presentational knowledge, and language �b? is used for explanatory knowledge, and these claims have not been subjected to sustained scrutiny. Secondly, codeswtiching and translanguaging increasingly have been the dominant and exclusive frameworks used, and this has limited the kinds of insights that can be obtained or the kinds of questions that can be posed.
Problematising the construct of 'definitions' within academic literacy: An analysis of students' knowledge of definitions in isiXhosa and English language textbooks at the University of the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Cl�mence, Ingabire; Antia, Bassey E.
Instructional verbs (such as analyse, summarise, apply, evaluate) have been referred to as performatives and have become the object of initiatives around developing and assessing students' academic literacy competencies. Although there are extensive studies on developing and evaluating performatives such as analyse, apply, create, there is one instructional verb that has not received much attention. It is the verb 'define'. The neglect of 'defining' as a performative in the relevant research on academic literacies may be explained by the low value attributed to this performative in different taxonomies of educational outcomes where it is placed along with verbs such as 'list', 'identify', 'recall' identified as lower-order thinking skills. As a result of the dearth of studies of definition in academic literacy contexts, there are a number of questions that have not been addressed. We do not know the extent to which definitional knowledge may be central to efforts at developing the overall academic literacy of students. We do not know if the language in which students read academic texts (home language or second/third language) affects their ability to differentiate definitions from non-definitions, or to formulate definitions of concepts. This point is especially important as it is all too often assumed that (even without attention to relevant academic literacy development) the use of the home language of students necessarily enhances academic performance. Also, our knowledge is rather limited with respect to how different definitional structures affect the ability of students to recognize definitions in their study materials. It is also not clear how to intervene in order to make it explicit to students what may be expected of them in terms of defining in their academic work. Given the foregoing, this research analyses the notion of �definition� as an integral component of the academic literacy of university students, with the focus being on determining the knowledge around definitions possessed by students in the Linguistics and Xhosa departments of the University of the Western Cape. Specifically, the study assesses the following: the structure of definitions in selected textbooks; students' awareness of the existence of different definitional structures in their textbooks; their ability to identify the concepts being defined in specific passages; their ability to define concepts; their ability to distinguish definitions from non-definitions; and their awareness of how definitions may be introduced. The study also investigates how the language of the textbook (home language versus second/third language of the students) may impact on the performance of students in assessments of definitional knowledge. In terms of theoretical framing, the study is informed by an approach to definitions taken in the field of terminology and by the academic literacy framework which stipulates that students' academic literacy practices are inextricably shaped by different factors such as basic skills possessed by them, institutional ideologies, contexts and issues of power. The research uses a mixed-method paradigm. A total of 100 definitions excerpted from English and isiXhosa textbooks were analysed qualitatively to describe the structure of definitions (in the textbooks), using as parameters the following: definiendum (item to be defined), definiens (meaning) and definitor (link between definiendum and definiens). Quantitative data on students' knowledge of different aspects of the notion 'definition' were collected by means of questionnaires completed by 50 students from each of the Linguistics and Xhosa departments of the University of the Western Cape. While the former have English as their major language of academic literacy, the latter have isiXhosa. Chi-square tests were administered to examine whether or not there was a significant relationship between the language of the questionnaire and students' performance. Overall, the research findings suggest that definition writing is not an autonomous phenomenon; rather, it is socioculturally (e.g. language, discipline) shaped. In this respect, the way definitions are structured in English (in a linguistics textbook) is in many respects different from the way they are constructed in isiXhosa (in books on cultural studies). With regard to students' performance on a range of definition tasks in the questionnaires administered, the findings reveal that the major language of academic literacy (also home language in the case of Xhosa students) may have a positive impact on how students perform tasks requiring them to, for instance, identify definienda (concepts being defined) and definientia (meanings), and/or to spot a definition within a passage. Unlike with these datasets, other findings show that the main language of academic literacy is not a significant explanation of students' underperformance in tasks requiring them to identify a definition that is wrongly introduced and also to produce definitions of their own. The findings underscore the need for explicit teaching as recommended by the academic literacies model. A pedagogical guide outlining how a course on definition could be structured is proposed.

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