Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)

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A critical evaluation of the development of Rumanyo as a national language in Namibia
(University of the Western Cape, 2017) Haingura, Paulinus; Banda, Felix
Among others, the current study had been conceived due to the fact that, although Namibia is endowed with multiple languages, their development throughout the long colonial history, had been unequal. That is, some languages received more attention than others and some were hardly developed at all. After independence, Namibians had legitimate expectations that all their (different) languages would be developed equitably throughout all the regions, and among all ethnic groups or speech communities. In the post-apartheid era, however, Namibians have been subjected to a limited and unequal language and literacy development which encouraged me to conduct a research to critically evaluate the development of Rumanyo or lack of thereof. The focus of this study is on understanding the disparities in language and literacy development in Namibia with particular emphasis on ethno-regional disparities and what precipitates these inequalities. The reason for the emphasis on region and ethnicity in researching language and literacy development was due to Namibia's multi-ethnicity and the over-lapping of regions and ethnic groups.
A social semiotic analysis of the linguistic landscape of two rural district municipalities in the Northern Cape, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape) Mokwena, Philadelphia Lorato; Banda, Felix
Linguistic Landscape (LL) studies typically focus on public signage displayed in urban environments, therefore LL is associated with cityscapes. There is limited research related to the LL of non-urban environments or ruralscapes. Another limiting aspect of the conceptualisation of LL is its emphasis on language only as a resource used in the construction of the LL. This study explored the Northern Cape rural landscape, particularly the Frances Baard District Municipality and John Taolo Gaestewe District Municipality. The study analysed various semiotic resources drawn on in the creation, narration and negotiation of the rural landscape. This study employed a multimodal ecological approach towards theorising and analysing the rural linguistic landscape of the Northern Cape. Semiotic remediation as repurposing was used to account for the extended sign systems in rural areas, in which sign-making and consumption is not necessarily dependent of written or 'visible' signs. In turn therefore, the study focused on aspects (visible and invisible signage; scripted and unscripted sign-making and consumption) that contributed to the construction of the rural landscape as distinct from urban landscapes. Gramsci's notion of site of struggle was drawn on to account for how meaning and space is constantly contested, as illustrated through the commercial signage, linguistic and naming practices of tuckshops. Material culture of multilingualism was employed to account for how written signage is used collaboratively with other materialities for sense-making purposes. Additionally, the adoption of material culture of multilingualism approach allowed for the exploration of the transformative role of a multilingual written and oral environment. More significantly is the study's contribution to the development of a more comprehensive theoretical approach to LL, than is currently in place. The study also contributes to the data collection tools and analytical frameworks of multilingualism studies.
Academic writing as social practice: a critical discourse analysis of student writing in higher education in Tanzania
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Mohamed, Hashim Issa; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This thesis was a critical analysis of students academic second language writing at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Student writing in English as a second language in higher education has excited much interest in the English as a Second Language writing research and discussion in Tanzania. The interest was motivated by frequent criticisms from examiners regarding students literacy performance in the English as a Second Language writing in the post primary and higher education where the language of instruction is English as is configured in the Tanzanian language policy.
A comparative analysis of phonological and morpho-syntactic variations in Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga languages in Zambia
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Siame, Pethias; Banda, Felix
The study compares the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Lungu, Mambwe, and Namwanga (LuMaNa) languages which are less documented, and very little is known about their grammar. The purpose is to account for their linguistic structure to outline their grammar and design their orthographies. The study is informed by descriptive and comparative Bantu phonological and morpho-syntactic theories. Data were collected using comparative, elicitation, and document analysis methods to account for grammatical variations in the three languages. The study shows that LuMaNa languages have more phonological similarities than variations in terms of vowel quality. Regarding consonants, LuMaNa languages have twenty (20) consonantal segments which display minimal variations in terms of form. The nominal structure of the three languages also shows more similarities than differences.
Consequences of ideology and policy in the English second language classroom: The case of Oshiwambo-speaking students in Namibia
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Iipinge, Kristof; Dyers, Charlyn; Banda, Felix
At independence, Namibia chose English as its official language and therefore its language of learning and teaching (LOLT). This decision has been well supported and therefore there has been an expectation among Namibians that learning English as early as possible is important because it will open many doors to the future (Harris, 2011). However, since the introduction of English as LOLT, government documents and other relevant literature have revealed poor performance of learners and falling standards of teaching (Iipinge, 2013). Despite this revelation, no study has been done in Namibia to investigate the effects of the current Language in Education Policy (LEP) on the teaching and learning of different school subjects. Therefore, this study focuses on critical questions regarding the effects of the current Namibian LEP on the teaching and learning of English Second Language (ESL) in Northern Namibia, with a special focus on one of the most demanding skills in second language learning: essay writing. Besides this, the study looks at the writing problems of learners and the intervention strategies that teachers are using to help learners overcome or reduce writing problems.
A contextual analysis of compound nouns in Shona lexicography
(University of the Western Cape, 2011) Mheta, Gift; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This research is in the area of lexicography and investigates the relationship between Shona terminology development and the culture of the language community for which the terminology is intended. It is a contextual analysis of compound nouns found in Shona terminological dictionaries. The study specifically explores how lexicographers together with health, music, language and literature specialists make use of their knowledge about Shona cultural contexts in the creation of compound nouns. Thus, this research foregrounds Shona socio-cultural contexts and meaning generation in terminology development. This study employs a quadruple conceptual framework. The four components of the framework that are utilised are the Traditional Descriptive Approach (TDA), Cognitive Approach (CG), Systemic Functional Approach (SFL), and Semiotic Remediation (SRM). TDA is used in the linguistic categorisation of Shona compound nouns. In addition, it provides the metalanguage with which to describe the constituent parts of Shona compound nouns. As TDA is mainly confined to the linguistic dimension, this research employs CG, SFL, and SRM to explore the cultural and socio-cognitive dimensions of terminology development.
A critical reflection on eclecticism in the teaching of English grammar at selected Zambian secondary schools
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Mwanza, David Sani; Dyers, Charlyn; Banda, Felix
English is the official language in Zambia and a compulsory subject from grade 1 to the final year of secondary education. Communicative competence in English is therefore critical to mobility in education and is also central to one�s job opportunities in the country. This implies that the teaching of English in schools is of paramount importance. Eclecticism is the recommended approach to teaching of English in Zambian secondary schools. However, no study had been done in Zambia on eclecticism in general, and on teachers� understanding and application of the eclectic approach to English grammar teaching in particular. Hence, this study was a critical reflection on Eclecticism in the teaching of English language grammar to Grade 11 learners in selected secondary schools in Zambia. The aim of the study was to establish how Eclecticism in English language teaching was understood and applied by Zambian teachers of English. The study employed a mixed research study design employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In this regard, questionnaires, classroom observations, interviews (one-on-one and focus groups) and document analysis were the main data sources. Purposeful sampling was used to delineate the primary population and to come up with teachers and lecturers. In total, 90 teachers and 18 lecturers participated in this study. The documentary analysis involved documents such as the senior secondary school English language syllabus and Teacher training institutions� English teaching methods course outlines. These documents were analysed to establish to what extent they supported or inhibited Eclecticism as an approach to English language teaching. Data was analysed using qualitative data analysis techniques looking for naturally occurring units and reducing them to natural meaning units to check for regular patterns of themes. Data from quantitative questionnaires were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) to generate frequencies and percentages. The documents provided information on the efficacy of using Eclecticism as an approach to English language teaching in the multilingual contexts of Zambia. Theoretically, the study drew on Bernstein�s Code Theory and Pedagogic Discourse with its notion of Recontextualisation. The Code theory was used to examine power relations in education while recontextualisation was used to explore the transfer of knowledge from one site to another. The study also used the constructivist theory which views teachers and learners as co-participants in the process of teaching and learning and treats learners� backgrounds as crucial to effective teaching. Considering recent developments in technology, the study also explored the extent of the use of multimodal tools in the teaching of English grammar, and the contestations around the �grammars� arising from the dialogicality between the so-called �British English Grammar� and home grown Zambian English grammar. The idea here was to explore how English was taught in the context of other English varieties and Zambian languages present in Zambian secondary school classrooms. The findings showed that while course outlines from teacher training institutions and the senior secondary school English language syllabus showed that teacher training was aimed at producing an eclectic teacher, teacher training was facing a lot of challenges such as inadequate peer teaching, short teaching practice and poor quality of student teachers. These were found to negatively affect the effective training of teachers into eclecticism. Further, while some teachers demonstrated understanding of the eclectic approach and held positive attitudes, others did not leading to poor application and sometimes non application of the approach. In terms of classroom application, of the five teachers whose lessons have been presented in this thesis, four of them used the eclectic approach while one did not, implying that while the policy was accepted by some, others contested it. In addition, teachers stated that grammar meant language rules and they further stated that they taught formal �Standard� English while holding negative attitudes towards Zambian languages and other varieties of English. The study observed that teachers held monolingual ideologies in which they used English exclusively during classroom interaction. Finally, teachers reported that they faced a number of challenges when using the eclectic approach such as limited time, lack of teaching materials and poor low English proficiency among some learners leading to limited to non use of communicative activities in the classroom. The study concludes that while the eclectic approach is practicable in Zambia, a lot has be to done especially in teacher training in order to equip teachers with necessary knowledge and skills to use the eclectic approach. Among other recommendations, the study recommends that there is need for teacher training institutions to improve the quality of teacher training and ensure that student teachers acquire skills of resemiotisation, semiotic remediation and translanguaging as a pedagogical practice. The study also recommends refresher courses to already serving teachers to acquaint them with how the eclectic approach can be recontextualised in different teaching contexts. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in the theoretical and practical understanding of the eclectic approach and how it is used in the Zambian context. The study also adds to literature on the eclectic approach. In addition, the findings act as a diagnostic tool among government education officials, teacher educators and teachers of English in Zambia in particular as they can now see where things are done right and where improvement is needed. Other countries where English is taught as a second language can also learn from the Zambian situation as they search for better ways of training eclectic teachers of English and how to teach English in their own respective contexts.
A discourse analysis of selected truth and reconciliation commission testimonies: appraisal and genre
(University of Western Cape, 2007) Bock, Zannie; Banda, Felix
This thesis is a discourse analysis of five testimonies from South Africa�s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The aim of the analysis is to explore the ways in which the testifiers perform their identities, construe their experiences of life under apartheid, and position themselves and their audiences in relation to these experiences. The shaping role of context � both local and historical � is also considered.
An exploration of texture in Ghanaian undergraduate students� essays
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Amoakohene, Benjamin; Banda, Felix
As an official and second language in Ghana, English is used as a medium of instruction in the Ghanaian educational setting, especially at the university level. Therefore, for Ghanaian students to go through their university education successfully, they should be able to demonstrate competence in the usage of English. However, time and again, there have been series of complaints from most English language teachers about the Ghanaian students� lack of dexterity in writing cohesive and coherent texts. The present study, therefore, has as its aim to explore texture in first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students' essays (GUSEs). This focus is achieved through four main specific objectives. Thus, the study accounts for (1) the types of cohesive devices (2) the cohesive errors (3) the disciplinary variation in the type of cohesive devices and cohesive errors and (4) the thematic progression patterns in the essays of these first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students. To achieve these objectives, I use the Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective to text analysis, specifically the metafunction of texture as projected by Halliday (1967, 1970, 1985, 1994, and 2004), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Martin and Rose (2003) and Martin (2015).
Exploring semiotic remediation in performances of stand-up comedians in post- apartheid South Africa and post-colonial Nigeria
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Adetomokun, Idowu Jacob; Banda, Felix
This research has been conducted by focusing on the trajectories of semiotic ensembles from various contexts that stand-up comedians exploited for aesthetic and communicative purposes. I apply the social semiotic theory of multimodality (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001, 2006), and the notions of semiotic remediation (Bolter and Grusin, 1996, 2000) and resemiotization (Iedema, 2003) to selected audiovisual recordings performances of Trevor Noah and Loyiso Gola from South Africa; and Atunyota Akporobomeriere (Ali Baba) and Bright Okpocha (Basket Mouth) from Nigeria. I explore the trajectories of semiotic resources that the comedians used across modes, contexts and practices. I also trace the translation and interpretation of socio-cultural and political materials by South African and Nigerian stand-up comedians� performances. The idea is also to examine the extent to which the socio-cultural and political contexts of both countries have differential effects on the choices in the semiotic resources used in the reconstruction of meanings, including cross socio-cultural taboos. The study reveals that combinations of various semiotic materials ranging from political, sociocultural, religious and personal lifestyles are remediated (repurposed) for comic and aesthetic effects. This involves translating and re-interpreting the semiotic resources across contexts and practices. In this regard, the study showed how the artists rework verbal language, images, socio-political discourses and other semiotic material for new meanings. It also reveals that although the choices of materials are similar, there is a tendency of localizing semiotic resources to particular localities and audiences, so that each artist�s performance comes out as unique to the person. The study concludes that language alone is not at the core of communication as other semiotic modes (in addition to languages) are integrated interweaving resources to make meaning. The direction of the modes or resources is multidimensional. All the spoken texts, all the non-linguistic modes: gestures, stance, movements, running on stage, postures, mimicking and others, perform vital roles to recontextualize meanings in stand-up comedy performance. Therefore, the study opens up new perspectives on social semiotic approaches to multimodality, as well as on language social semiotic and to theory and media studies. The contribution also answers the call to expand the understanding and research on the theory of �multimodality� and the various concepts such as semiotic remediation and resemiotization associated with it.
Exploring the link between literacy practices, the rural-urban dimension and academic performance of primary school learners in Uganda district, Uganda
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Kirunda, Rebecca Florence; Banda, Felix; NULL; Faculty of Arts
This study aimed at establishing and analysing the literacy practices in the rural and urban communities and their effect on the academic achievements of learners. It also aimed to establish the impact of other factors, such as the exposure to the language of examination, the level of parents formal education and the quality of parental mediation in the their children's academic work, which could be responsible for the imbalance between the rural and urban learners academic achievements. This study endeavours to established that the literacy practices in urban areas prepare learners for schooled and global literacies while the literacies in rural areas are to localised and thus impoverish the learners initial literacy development. This study also seek to determine the extent to which the current language policy in education in Uganda favours the urban learners at the expense of the rural learners as far as the acculturation into and acquisition of the schooled and global literacies are concerned.
Globalisation and higher education branding at three Western Cape universities in South Africa: A multi-semiotic analysis
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Mafofo, Lynn; Banda, Felix
This study investigates how the three selected Western Cape Province (WCP) institutions of higher education position their brand imageries and awareness in a localised global way. It explores the branding discourses and strategies used by three WCP universities namely: University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of Cape Town (UCT), and Stellenbosch University (SU). The study applies the qualitative-interpretative approach with multiple methods such as interviews, observation, and document analysis to collect the data. Using the framework of Critical multisemiotic discourse analysis (CMDA), which combines CDA, and multimodality, the researcher analyses how the universities construct and position unique brands to the world and how the students as stakeholders consume these brands. The study also explores how the universities deploy, manipulate, and circulate linguistic, visual and extra-visual semiosis across multiple modalities to create attractive brand imageries. The CMDA framework illuminates the ways in which language and other semiotics are used to construct social reality and ideologies, and negotiate meanings in the universities� branding practices. The study findings show that the universities are using different types of modalities to relay their institutional brand promotional messages to reach their target audience. These modalities include print media, word of mouth testimonials, alumni, social chatrooms such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and semiotic landscape to mention a few. Open days and orientation days are also used to showcase the brands and these events are resemiotised in different media and even posted on the universities websites so as to reach a wide audience from all over the world. In this case, the study demonstrates how the universities are able to promote their brands to their South African communities within their physical vicinity and reach the regional and international community online. This includes showing how some of the modes such as selected architecture and scenery, mission statements, branded goods, logos, historical artefacts together with particular semiotic materials and discourses are recirculated by means of being deterritorialised from the different contexts and reterritorialised into the universityscapes, to accentuate and sell the brands and create attractive brandscapes. Moreover, the study particularly demonstrates that the demise of apartheid and segregated universities in South Africa has prompted the universities to redefine, rebrand and realign themselves to the local, regional and international communities. This has necessitated new repositioning strategies in the post-apartheid South African universities under study. The universities have appropriated materialities of globalisation, commodified heritage and aesthetics of both their academic and social life as branding materials. The universities have adopted the social transformation agenda that tries to eliminate segregation in higher education institution. They all champion inclusive higher education that promotes internationalisation through quality education. Given their historical background, the seemingly effective drive towards transformation through redressing and internationalisation processes still mirrors apartheid inequalities among the HBUs and HWUs. These processes filter into these academic contexts differently. The relentless drive to commercialisation in the market economy from an unequal footing, places the HBUs in a weaker position, where they are always trying to catch up. In addition, the study demonstrates that the universities have adopted the culture of consumerism and the market economy that perpetuates an excessively materialistic and exploitative view of living. The traditional identities of universities, as sites of higher education, have been replaced by corporate-like brand identities, which ensure that they are well known for what they have, they do and lastly what they are. The ideological shift in brand identity is displayed in the imagery of the mission statements, logos, branded goods, buildings, historical artefacts, students, sports and academic resources, all of which are remediated in documentaries, social media, YouTube, television advertisements and other media. This ideological shift and a focus on brand identities, as icons of consumption, have resulted in practices that create unequal subject positions among the universities both at a local and international level, as it widens the competition gap between the HBUs and the HWUs. Through evaluating the students� brand perceptions and analysis of the brand materials, the study further highlights the undeniable problems in these universities� branding processes, such as the discrepancy of effective branding trajectories that adequately support the historically disadvantaged institutions to be on the same competitive ground with the historically white universities. The forces of globalisation, technologisation and commodification do not make it easier either as these inherited inequalities on development, cause massive differences in wealth among the universities and citizens accessing resources in these universities. The analysis in this study clearly demonstrates how the universities are able to appropriate multiple semiosis and discourses between the reproduction of the racial social order through subtle traces of resistance or through trying to hold on to the past and branding themselves as inclusive university brands both at a national and a global level. This study brings to the fore that institutional branding is not simply a matter of explicit lexical self-description and attribution, but also pertains to an organisation�s use of semiotic features and patterns, such as particular metaphors or types of modalities. The study therefore contributes to the debates on post-apartheid socio-economic transformation in South African universities, and hints that pretending that the inherited inequality in these universities will correct itself, is futile as it is evident that cultural dialogue and communication based on equity, are necessary in order to avoid widening the gap between the contexts of higher learning in South Africa. Even in light of the latest 'Rhodes Must Fall' and 'Fees Must Fall' campaigns, this study provides information that can positively influence perspectives on access to higher education in South Africa. Against the backdrop of globalisation and internationalisation on these universities, the study recommends that the universities and stakeholders work and rethink new ways of university branding and collaboration that facilitate positive growth. The study thus undoubtedly contributes to the field of language and communication particularly in understanding the concepts of institutional brand identity and consumption as practices, which can be actively changed and negotiated for authentic transformation that is beneficial to both the institution and its stakeholders. This implies that institutional brand identity should not only put emphasis on the business world but on the social world as well how people interpret meanings in their lives. Ultimately, the study calls for an understanding and incorporation of the relatively new concepts of institutional branding and brand identity consumption in modernity practices where communication is characterised by many meaning-making semiotics other than the verbal aspects of human interaction.
Independent clause Sesotho personal names as texts in context: a systemic functional linguistics approach
(University of Western Cape, 2014) Mokhathi-Mbhele, Masechaba Mahloli M.L.; Banda, Felix
This study sought to examine independent clause Sesotho personal names as authentic social discourse using the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory. It sought to analyze their structure and map them to social functions to demonstrate that they are enacted messages in socio-cultural context of Basotho. It used a form-meaning approach to interpret Sesotho names in socio-cultural contexts of use (cf. Halliday 1994, 2001, Eggins, 1996, 2004 and Martin & Rose 2007) as an alternative to the current formalist approach to onomastica interpretation. The SFL analysis was compared and contrasted mainly with the formalist syntactic specific and semantic specific analyses currently in use by Guma, Sesotho Academy and subsequent authors of Sesotho grammar and other linguists. The purpose of displaying these names as texts in social context enfolded the intent to reflect a systemic interface of lexico-grammar and social activity. The study used the clause-text-culture paradigm to explore Sesotho names as texts or semantic units. The idea was to access their �meanings beyond the clause� (Martin & Rose 2007). Data was collected from national examinations pass lists, admission and employment roll lists from Public, Private, Tertiary, Orphanage institutions. Other data was identified in Telephone directories and Media. The purely linguistic lexico-grammatic analysis of the structure of names was supplemented by interview data from real interpretations from families, owners and senior citizens who have social and cultural knowledge of the meanings of some names. The study has established that Sesotho personal names can present as an independent clause feature. Sesotho personal names can also be described as lexico-grammatical properties and are meaningful in social contexts. They are used to exchange information as statements, demands and commands, and as questions and as exclamations. This means that these names can be categorized according to Halliday�s Mood types which make them function as declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives and exclamatives depending on the awarder�s evaluation. The study also finds that in negotiating attitudes, modality is highly incorporated. The study concludes that Sesotho names conform to the logical structures of the nominal group and the verbal group and these groups reciprocate in use. The verbal group is the core constituent in these names and it serves as a foundation for the nominal and verbal groups particularly because they function as reciprocating propositions. This includes the names with the sub-modification features. This extends the formalist description of Sesotho independent clause in that the identified sub-modifications which are opague and taken for granted by formalist analysts of Sesotho, are explicated as essential elements embedded in the formmeaning relation in SFL. The main contribution is that this is the only study on SFL and onomastica. There is no study that has been conducted using SFL to describe African names. It presents that Sesotho personal names are texts that have been negotiated in socio-cultural contexts. It provides a major departure from most studies that have used the Chomskian formulations or other sociolinguistic theories to describe the naming systems. It displays the art and importance of language use based on experience and culture in the naming system. The study also contributes to fields such as education, history, and others. Lastly, the study has established a new relation of onomastica and SFL theory and onomastica can now be added to the areas �being recognized as providing a very useful descriptive and interpretive framework for viewing language as a strategic, meaning-making resource.� (Eggins 1996:1).
An investigation into English second language academic writing strategies for black students at the Eastern Cape technikon
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Tshotsho, Baba Primrose; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This study has been prompted by the negative remarks that lecturers make concerning the academic performance of students and the number of years they spend at the Eastern Cape Technikon before completing their diplomas. The aim of this study was to identify the kinds of strategies that English Second Language (ESL) students use to cope with English language writing tasks. Academic writing requires a conscious effort and much practice in composing, developing, and analyzing ideas. Black students at tertiary institutions in South Africa face additional difficulty, especially when they have to deal with writing in English which is an unfamiliar language to them. This presents them with social and cognitive challenges related to second language acquisition. Since the black students do not often consider the social contexts in which L2 academic writing takes place, models of L1 writing instruction and research on composing processes are often found wanting in their L2 writing pedagogy. In this study, I argue that language proficiency and competence is the cornerstone of the ability to write in the L2 in a fundamental way. L2 writing instructors should take into account both strategy development and language skill development when working with black students. This is critical in South Africa considering the apartheid legacy and the deprived social conditions under which black students often live and acquire their education. Therefore, using critical discourse analysis and aspects of systemic functional linguistics, this study explores errors in written cohesion and coherence in relation to L2 writing strategies used by black students at the Eastern Cape Technikon. The study focuses on errors in the form of cohesive devices of referring expressions using topic development used by students. The aim was to explore the strategies used by black students to write coherent academic texts. Further, the study intends to scrutinize the grammatical devices of reference, through analyzing the forms of cohesive devices and theme development. A focus on the writing process as a pedagogical tool enables me to explore the relationship between the quality of students‟ academic writing and coping strategies used, and come up with a model of L2 writing (coping) strategies for academic writing at the Eastern Cape Technikon. I investigate the L2 writing process adopted by competent and non-competent black students in the process of producing coherent academic texts by comparing strategies that the two groups of students adopt.
Language use and mode of communication in community development projects in Nyanza province, Kenya
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Oketch, Omondi; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
The concept of community development is founded on the premise that changes in the living conditions of people are best effected by the people themselves. The term community evokes the idea of a homogeneous social group who can recognise their common interests and work together harmoniously for their common good. The concerns of the leading development agents and donors in the past two decades have been on empowering communities to participate in their own development by taking control of decisions and initiatives that seek to improve their living conditions. The zeal to address these concerns has in the past decade been pushed with such resounding statements that people’s participation in development projects has not only been seen as a basic human right, but also as an imperative condition for human survival. It has been strongly argued in the UNDP reports that the overall development strategy is to enable people to gain access to a much broader range of opportunities.From this perspective, development as a social activity seeks to ensconce economic liberalisation, freedom of association, good governance and access to free market economy as the guiding tenets of an improved life in all communities in the world. The realization of this dream posed a major challenge to many governments in the Third World and the 1980s saw the emergence of ‘associational revolution’ – the proliferation of small-scale non governmental organizations (NGOs) with relative autonomy from the state. The mainstream development agencies perceived the NGOs as the best instruments to instigate changes in the living conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged people. For this reason, NGOs became increasingly instrumental in implementing development objectives in the rural and disadvantaged communities. Development in this sense consists of processes in which various groups are stimulated to improve aspects of their lives particularly by people from outside their community. This has drawn attention to how these outsider- development agents communicate development information particularly due to the sociolinguistic situation in many rural African communities. The real concern is with is that the target majority of the people in the rural areas are not speakers of the dominant languages of the development discourse, in most cases this is the official foreign languages taught in schools.Communication is a fundamental part in community development programmes and language emerges as a key factor in effective communication and implementation of these programmes. While it is evident that social interactions are sustained by agreeable communicative principles, the role of language and the different mode of communication applied to development interventions have received very little attention from the parties concerned. This has yielded detrimental repercussions in the quality of interaction at the grassroots level. More often than not, it is assumed that once there is a common language, effective communication will take place and for this reason language use and mode of communication are never given much thought in the field of development interaction.
Language, identity and nationhood: language use and attitudes among Xhosa students at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2000) Dyers, Charlyn; Charlyn, Dyers; Ridge, S.G.M.; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This thesis is a study of patterns of language attitudes and use among Xhosa home language speakers at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Speakers of Xhosa, according to Statistics South Africa 2000, form the second largest speech community in South Africa (17.9% of the total population), second only to speakers of Zulu (22.9% of the total population). The University of the Western Cape, which is situated just outside Cape Town, was originally intended to serve only the Coloured (mixed-race) population of South Africa. Coloureds form the majority group in the population of the Western Cape, one of the nine provinces of South Africa. In 1982, the university took the bold step of defying the apartheid regime, by opening its doors to students of all races. Students from all over South Africa now attend the university, but Xhosa students, drawn mainly from the provinces of the Eastern and Western Cape, form the largest language group or speech community on the campus. The thesis presents a study of the patterns of language attitudes and use with which Xhosa students enter the university, as well as patterns of change in language attitudes and use revealed by a longitudinal study of a smaller group of Xhosa students.
Language, migration and identity: Exploring the trajectories and linguistic identities of some African migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Doreen, Nchang; Dyers, Charlyn; Banda, Felix
This study is an exploration of the different trajectories of a selected number of African migrants into and around South Africa, focusing on the effects of these different trajectories on their language use patterns and linguistic identities. Informed by the interpretive paradigm, the study was done in order to show the effects of space, migration, trauma and ethno-linguistic tensions such as xenophobia on people's language use. Ultimately, the study is an analysis of a number of migrants' language biographies. South Africa is a multilingual and multicultural country with eleven official languages and many migrant languages, resulting from the flow of people from other countries, especially from highly multilingual and multicultural African countries, to this major economic hub on the continent. New trends in globalization witnessed across the globe and socio-political and economic instabilities witnessed in some countries, have prompted some of these migrants to move to South Africa, they see as more economically and politically stable than their home countries. Among those who have migrated to Cape Town South Africa are Cameroonian migrants whose living conditions will never be the same again. The study was conducted because there is a need for a better understanding of the strategies multilingual people employ to negotiate language and cultural differences in a globalized world, often under very trying conditions (as is the case in South Africa). The study critically explores the language biographies, the full repertoire of communicative resources of selected Cameroonian migrants in Cape Town as well as making visible their polylingual repertoires and associated attitudes and beliefs in the research domain. The theoretical framework for this study is shaped by theories of late modernity with reference to traditional sociolinguistics, globalization and migration. A multi-dimensional analytical approach is employed in this study, incorporating Discourse Analysis (DA), Narrative Analysis (NA), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Thematic Analysis (TA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) that incorporates the Multimodal Biographic Approach.
A Linguistic and textual analysis of classroom english interaction at Al-thadi University in Libya
(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Eldokali, Elsanosi Mohamed; Banda, Felix; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This study uses an interdisciplinary approach in the analytical framework combining Systemic Functional Linguuistic theoty (SFL) (Martin 1992; Halliday 19994) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) (Wodak 7 meyer 2001; Fairclough 1989, 1993, 1995, 2001). Further, the study draws on christie's (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005) work on classroom discourse analysis, which in turn builds on Bernstein's (1990, 1996, 2000) model on pedagogic practice and interaction, to examine dominanceand power relationsin the classroom. The interdisciplinary approach enabled this study to evaluate Al-Thadi university students' English language competence, linguistically and textually.
Mobility, identity and localization of language in multilingual contexts of urban Lusaka
(University of Western Cape, 2014) Mambwe, Kelvin; Banda, Felix
This study explores Mobility, Identity and Localization of Language in Multilingual Contexts of Urban Lusaka. By examining data from different sites of language practices of Lusaka urbanites, that include, casual and formal conversations, Zambian popular music, computer mediated discourses and advertisements; the study shows how interlocutors creatively draw on their extended communicative repertoire to make meaning, transform social structures/roles and stylize modern identities. Accordingly, the study consolidates the recent sociolinguistic theoretical position that views language as social practice and privileges speakers as social actors in shaping and recreating language. In this regard, the study foregrounds language as localized social practice and argues against the idea that language is homogenous and a bounded system. In doing so, the study adds to recent sociolinguistic theorizing calling for a paradigm shift to language studies. Therefore, the main research question that the study addresses, relates to how Lusaka urban dwellers achieve their mediated agency, voice and actorhood through linguistic choices during interactions in various social contexts of modern Lusaka. In turn, the question relates to how urbanites use language as localized social practice to maintain, transform and reproduce social structures/roles and identities in modern Lusaka. Owing to the type of data the study collected, a multifaceted methodological and analytical approach was employed for both data collection and analysis. Informed by a descriptive research design, the study used focus group discussions and individual key-informant interviews to collect data from casual and formal conversations. Data from Zambian popular music were purposively sampled from Youtube.com and music CDs. In addition, group/individual interviews with musicians were conducted in order to supplement data collected from music CDs and video sources. Data from online discourses were collected from the Facebook platform and from two Zambian based online news blogs, while data from print advertisements were collected through the capturing of images on billboards around Lusaka city as well as advertisements from newspapers and internet sites. Television and radio advertisements were recorded from the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation TV and radio channels. All the data collected from these sources were generally analyzed using Conversational Analysis, Facework Negotiation Theory, Multimodal Discourse Analysis and its cognate analytical tools such as Resemiotisation, Semiotic Remediation, Intertextuality, Multivocality and Dialogism. The study shows that message consumption is not a function of isolated semiotic resource but a combination of semiotic material drawn from semiotics that people are familiar with. The study thus argues that social meaning is steeped into social and cultural experiences of the speakers and that any study of language practices in such contexts should take into account the multifaceted nature of human communication. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that given the advancements in communication technology and mobility of semiotic resources across modes which have largely contributed to a reconceptualization of the nature of human language, any study of language in social contexts ought to account for other meaning making semiosis in both methodological and approaches to data collection and analysis, respectively. The study further shows how interactants in late modern settings of Lusaka stylize their multiple identities by dissolving the traditional linguistic boundaries through use of the extended linguistic repertoire. In this vein, the study demonstrates that social identity is a dynamic aspect of social life which is actively negotiated and performed through speakers' linguistic choices. In this respect, the study finds that speakers simultaneously stylize translocal hybrid identities which include urban versus rural, modern versus traditional, African versus Christian (Western fused) as well as gendered ones, through their use of different linguistic choices. Furthermore, the study finds that language borders and domains of language use are permeable. In this regard, the study demonstrates how Lusaka urban speakers use localized language forms to colonize the formal spaces thereby challenging the dominant ideologies about language as a fixed, impermeable and a bounded system. In the process of colonizing formal spaces using localized language forms, the study shows how speakers perform acts of humour, role play, face saving, identity and meaning enhancement. In turn these localized repertoires are drawn upon as resources to accomplish different tasks which would not be accomplished if only a 'single' language were to be used. In this regard, the study views language as a resource that transcends the role of meaning making. In addition, the study shows how, through the use of localized repertoires in formal spaces, speakers transform traditions and modernity into a hybrid space which identifies them as having multiple identities. This demonstrates that speakers in such modern settings use language as a resource to accomplish several things at once. It also highlights speakers� agency in recreating language as well as transforming their social spaces. The findings of the study entail contributions to recent arguments on language that view it not as an autonomous system but rather as embedded in people�s social interactions. It demonstrates that languages have no clear-cut borders.The study also contributes to methodological and analytical approaches to the study of language in recent times. In addition, the study adds new knowledge to our understanding of identity as a performative act which is actively negotiated for as people interact in different social contexts. This implies that identity is not a fixed thing as traditionally conceived. Ultimately, the study calls for a rethinking of our conception of language and identity considering modernity practices.
Modes and resemiotisation of HIV and aids messages in the eastern region of Malawi
(2013) Kunkeyani, Thokozani Eunice; Banda, Felix
This study explores how HIV and AIDS discourse is differently constituted and evaluated across different modes by different communities of speakers in Malawi. Particularly, the study explores how different languages and other social semiotics are used as resources across the different modes. Among other things, it further investigates the implications of the unequal social distribution of modes of communication and semiotic resources in Malawi (eastern region in particular) for the fight against HIV and AIDS. The study employed the Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) approach, the notions of Resemiotisation (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006, Norris 2004, Martin and Rose 2004) and semiotic remediation (Prior and Hengst 2010) in analysing the data. This approach is necessary as the study focuses on HIV and AIDS communication which is essentially multimodal in nature. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies involving questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis and observation of television programs, traditional dances and other modes such as music videos. The study found that different practices have been semiotically remediated and reformulated for health palatability. As a result, taboos have been de-tabooed and technical terms have been ?untechnicalised� so that even ordinary people are able to use health technical terms. The study also shows how cultural practices (such as having ?live� sexual contact with the widow) have been semiotically remediated with the usage of condoms or herbs for cleansing rituals. The study further finds that literacy is not a major challenge for the consumption of HIV and AIDS messages. However the study also shows that wrongly presented messages such as textual overcrowding, usage of proverbs and depiction of western culture in HIV and AIDS messages obscure consumption. In addition the study reveals that proverbs can hardly iv be understood by all consumers and in turn led to division between mostly the older generation and rural who understand and the younger and urban people who have difficulty comprehending the proverbs. Lastly the study finds that some modes of communication did not prove effective, for instance, SMS, television and radio as these do not benefit all consumers as they are socioeconomically determined.

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