Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10566/9827

Browse

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

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 critical analysis of colonial and postcolonial discourses and representations of the people of Mozambique in the Portuguese newspaper �O S�culo de Joanesburgo� from 1970-1980
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Da Costa, Dinis Fernando; Dyers, Charlyn; Stroud, Christopher
The aim of this thesis is to probe how Mozambican people were represented or constructed in the colonial and post-colonial periods through the columns of the Portuguese newspaper, �O S�culo de Joanesburgo�. The study examines a corpus of 58, 070 tokens (consisting of 100 articles, 50 for colonial and 50 for postcolonial periods), which were systematically selected from the political, sport, letters to the reader and editorial domains published from 1970 to 1980. The analytical framework for this study is threefold. It is informed by corpus linguistics (CL) as described by, amongst others, McEnery and Wilson (1996/2001) and Bennett (2010); critical discourse analysis (CDA), in particular the work of Van Dijk (1996; 2003), Wodak (1995; 2011) and Wodak and Meyer (2009) and multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) as used by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996; 1998; 2006), Kress (2010) and Machin and Mayr (2012)
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.
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.
Transcending disadvantage: life-histories of learners at a township school in South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2008) Ntete, Susan; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
This is a study of the discourses of empowerment and disempowerment that emerge from the critical discourse analysis (CDA) of life-histories written by two classes of Grade 11 high school learners in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa. The line of argument presented by this thesis is that there are political, socio-economic, familial and institutional factors and the discourses that construct them which affect learners’ resilience.

Browse

Browsing by Author "Dyers, Charlyn"

Results Per Page

Sort Options