UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Bock, Zannie"

Browsing by Author "Bock, Zannie"

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Affective, cognitive and social factors affecting Japanese learners of English in Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Nitta, Takayo; Bock, Zannie; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This research used diary studies and interviews with five Japanese learners of English to investigate the different affective, cognitive and social factors that affected their learning of English in Cape Town between 2004 and 2005. The findings of this study corroborate arguments put forward by Gardner that factors such as learning goals, learning strategy, attitude, motivation, anxiety, self-confidence and cultural beliefs about communication affect the acquisition of a second language and correlate with one another.
Alternative perspectives on orality, literacy and education: a view from South Africa.
(Routledge, 2001) Bock, Zannie; Gough, David H.
The question of the 'great divide' between orality and literacy has been critically addressed by various scholars of literacy, including social literacy theorists. This paper uses the notions of primary and secondary discourse across both oral and literate contexts to examine this 'divide'. Using evidence from the oral tradition of the Xhosa, it is shown that 'traditional' societies have well-established primary and secondary discourse types. Against this understanding, the issue of 'access' to Western academic literacy is examined. It is argued that within the changing context of South African society and as a direct result of former apartheid policies, individuals may have failed to acquire the cultural capital of both oral secondary and literate secondary discourse types. The literate secondary discourse practices of Xhosa-speaking students at univer�sity are explored through an analysis of student writing. This paper then reports on several projects which attempt to address some of the concerns of academic staff with respect to student writing. In particular, this section argues for a broadening of the notion of 'academic literacy' and suggests some ways in which texts derived from the oral tradition may be used to develop awareness of secondary discourse types.
An analysis of what has been "lost" in the interpretation and transcription process of selected TRC testimonies
(Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, 2006) Bock, Zannie; Mazwi, Ngwanya; Metula, Sifundo; Mpolweni-Zantsi, Nosisi
The main aim of this research is to evaluate �what has been lost� in the simultaneous interpretation and transcription processes of selected Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) testimonies. The testimonies under consideration are those of two of the widows of the Cradock Four who were murdered by the South African Security Branch in 1985 for their work in mobilising resistance to apartheid. The widows testified in Xhosa at the East London Human Rights Violation hearings in 1996 and their testimonies were simultaneously interpreted into English on the day of the hearing. Using audiovisual copies of the testimonies on which one can hear the original soundtrack, as well as the English voice-over, we transcribed the testimonies in the source language (e.g. Xhosa). We then translated these into English and compared our translation with the official English versions which are published on the TRC website. Our analysis revealed that a significant number of meanings were lost under the pressures of simultaneous interpretation. These meanings related predominantly to the �emotional� content: for example, to aspects of narrative style expressed through gesture, intonation, repetition and the use of direct speech, particularly the verbatim quotes of the police in Afrikaans. We also noted that an understanding of the culture of the testifier was essential to understanding the testimony and that researchers who did not have access to the testimony in the source language and the cultural codes of the testifier would be significantly compromised when trying to understand the testimonies. In addition, we noted the loss of a number of factual meanings as a result of inaccuracies and omissions both during the interpretation and transcription process. We argued that these losses and omissions detracted primarily from what the TRC referred to as the �narrative truth� or subjective meanings of the testimonies, and, in some cases, the �factual truth�. We undertook this research because we are concerned that many researchers only have access to the official TRC record. This record, in our view, is in some cases compromised as the processes of simultaneous interpretation and transcription inevitably led to some loss of meaning due to the pressures and constraints under which the interpreters were working.
Applying linguistics: Developing cognitive skills through multimedia
(Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand, 2003) Gough, David H.; Bock, Zannie
This paper examines the effectiveness of linguistic analysis in developing scientific thinking skills and scientific attitudes. It reports on a project established at a South Africa university in South Africa which engaged students in the analysis of code-mixed data. Students who participated in the project showed gains in being able to analyze linguistic data using problem solving skills. While transfer of such skills to mainstream science teaching was not investigated, the study confirms the effectiveness of linguistic analysis in engaging students in the activities associated with the development of skills for science.
Code-switching: An appraisal resource in TRC testimonies
(John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2011) Bock, Zannie
This article analyses the function that code-switching plays in selected testimonies given at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which followed the country's transition to democracy in 1994. In a number of testimonies, victims of human rights abuse under Apartheid code-switched into Afrikaans when recalling particularly offensive uses of language by the police. Within the code-switching literature, it is well recognised that a speaker's choice of code, particularly for quoted speech, is a strategy for performing different kinds of local identities which index a range of social meanings and relationships (Alvarez-Caccamo 1996, Koven 2001). Thus code-switching may serve a complex evaluative function although the meanings it generates are very context- dependent. In order to explore this role in the testimonies in this paper, I use the appraisal theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Martin & White 2005). I argue that on a number of occasions, code-switching into a particular variety of Afrikaans is used by testifiers as a strategy to invoke negative judgement: it has the effect of associating the police with a particular racist ideology and positioning them for our sanction. Further, it works together with other engagement resources to insert a recognisable historical voice into the text, thereby expanding the heteroglossic nature of the discourse while simultaneously allowing the speakers to signal their rejection of that voice and the ideologies it represents. In the current SFL literature, however, code-switching has not been noted as an appraisal resource. In the light of the examples from the TRC testimonies, I argue that, in multilingual contexts, code-switching has the potential to invoke complex evaluative meanings and should be included in the appraisal framework as an evaluative resource.
Construals of agency in the testimony of Colin de Souza
(Academia Press, 2009) Bock, Zannie
In this paper, I analyse the testimony of Colin de Souza given before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the mid-1990s.1 My aim is to explore how De Souza projects an identity of himself as 'agentive', as an innovative and flexible individual who is capable of outwitting and outmaneuvering his opponents despite the fact that within the TRC context, he is positioned as a 'victim' of human rights abuse. To substantiate this argument, I use a number of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) tools to analyse the way in which this agency is encoded in the language of the testimony.
A cross-linguistic analysis of the writing of prospective first year students in Xhosa and English.
(University of Stellenbosch, 2002) Bock, Zannie; Dadlana, Phakamani
This article aims to characterize typical linguistic and discourse features of academic writing in Xhosa and English among prospective Xhosa-speaking students at the University of the Western Cape so as to account for strengths and weaknesses in the writing and provide possible �points� for pedagogic intervention. It presents an analysis of a sample of entrance essays written by these students in English and Xhosa. The analysis is in terms of a framework which considers aspects of argument, register and syntax. It aims to highlight strengths and weaknesses in student writing and to ascertain the extent to which these characteristics are language-specific or cross-linguistic. The results of the analysis suggest that the ability to argue coherently in an appropriate register is the defining mark of good writing in any language, and that control over the syntax of the language is particularly important for these students when writing in English. The ability to write well, like certain aspects of style, seems to be a generic ability and affects students� performance in both languages.
Cyber socialising: emerging genres and registers of intimacy
(UNISA Press, 2013) Bock, Zannie
The popularity of digital media networks for socialising among the youth is well documented. Much has been written on the emerging norms of textese, the global shorthand for chatting. However, becoming a proficient user involves more than simply mastering this code: it requires knowing the appropriate genres and registers for chatting. This article aims to explore these conventionalised genres and styles from a discourse analytical perspective. It analyses data collected by first-year students in the Linguistics Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) who use an application called MXit for chatting with their friends. The analysis shows how, despite the seemingly unrestrained and non-standard nature of MXit chatting, it is highly conventionalised and structured and requires a particular �register of intimacy� which relies heavily on evaluative language and affective markers. However, it is simultaneously fluid and innovative thereby enabling users to �style� for themselves identities which combine elements of global sophistication with local situatedness.
A discourse analysis of a personal narrative told by an adolescent boy in a Cape Town children's home.
(University of the Western Cape, 2009) Davids, Galeema; Bock, Zannie; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
Storytelling serves many purposes. People often tell stories as a coping mechanism, as a way of self-representation, and as a means for self-reflection. Through stories, narrators construct identities and gain perspective on events in their lives. This thesis is a discourse analysis of a single narrative told by a young man staying at a children's home in Cape Town. The study explores how life events are presented and evaluated in narrative and analyses the construction of identities. The objectives of the study are threefold. Firstly it aims to explore how the narrator draws on different social discourses in the telling of his narrative. Secondly, it analyses how, through the telling of these events, identities are constructed. Finally, the study assesses how the participant builds evaluation into his narrative. The study’s overall purpose is to gain an understanding of narrative identities. The analysis reveals that Lucas develops three Master Narratives relating to the themes of family, education and drugs. His attitudes towards all three are ambivalent and he weaves competing discourses into his narrative in relation to each. He seeks, through his story, to construct himself as a wise young man who - having experimented with drugs and dropped out of school - makes the decision to redeem himself by going back to school, rejecting drugs, and mending his ties with his family. In this sense, his narrative is like an archetypal Bildungsroman. The study takes a qualitative approach and is situated within the fields of Discourse Analysis, more specifically, narrative analysis. The main theoretical influences in the study include Tannen (1989/2007; 2008) and Labov (1972). The analysis of this study focuses on identifying the Master Narratives that shape Lucas's story as well as the discourses and competing ideologies which support these Master Narratives.
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.
The discursive construction of Kenyan ethnicities in online political talk
(UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE, 2019) Ondigi, Evans Anyona; Bock, Zannie
Multi-paradigmatically qualitative, and largely in the fashion of the critical theory, this study seeks to explore how a selection of Kenyans construct, manipulate and negotiate ethnic categories in a discussion of national politics on two Facebook sites over a period of fourteen and a half months, at the time of the 2013 national elections. Kenya has at least 42 ethnic communities, and has been described as a hotbed of ethnic polarisation. The study is interested in how the participants use language to position themselves and others in relation to ethnicity, as well as to draw on or make reference to notions of Kenyan nationalism. The data for this study is drawn from Facebook discussions on two different groups: one �open� and one �closed�. The data also includes participants from different ethnic groups and political leanings. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Engagement and Face-work are used as theoretical frameworks to explore how participants draw on different discourses to construct their ethnicities and position themselves as Kenyan nationals. The analysis also explores how informants expand and contract the dialogic space, as well as how they perform face-work during these interactions. CDA is important since the study examines ways in which participants participate in societal struggles through discourse, as either effectively supporting, sustaining, reproducing or challenging the status quo or power imbalances, especially as members of particular ethnic groups. The theory of Engagement is also important for the study since it helps explain how participants source their value positions and align each other as they open up or close down the dialogic space in their arguments or discussions. The notion of Face-work is used as an important complement to Engagement to further explore the nature of interaction between participants. The data has been analysed in two main ways: linguistically and thematically. The linguistic analysis generally reveals that the participants in the closed group paid much more attention to face-work, and used both expansive and contractive resources of Engagement almost in equal measure, while their open group counterparts tended more towards contractive resources and paid less attention to face-work. The interactions of both groups, however, point to the existing ethno-political mobilisation and polarisation in the country. The study also teases out several extra discursive strategies which it proposes for consideration as possible add-ons to the Engagement framework. Lastly, the thematic analysis reveals new important ways through which participants conceive ethnicity, especially as constituting interethnic relations.
Doing friendship: storytelling and playfulness in casual conversational discourse
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu; Bock, Zannie
This study explores the linguistic construction of interpersonal relationships, specifically friendship. Although we have no control over which families we are born into, we can choose who can be our friend and unlike relationships formed within the workplace, there is no specific institutional context within which friendships can develop. There is also no legally binding agreement between friends as between married people, and there are no conventionalized roles that friends must play as is the case in parent-child relations. Nevertheless, friendship remains one of the most important relationships in people�s lives. Researchers have even argued that within a globalizing and increasingly mediatized world, friendships have gained more significance as more flexible and diverse ways of constructing one�s personal life become available (Spencer & Pahl 2006; Rawlins, 2017; Byron, 2021; Allan & Adams, 2007). This makes the study of the dynamics and processes of friendship within contemporary society fertile ground for harvesting insights into the ways in which the social fabric of the world is being (re)constituted.
Exercising linguistic citizenship through Coloured narratives
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Van Niekerk, Lauren; Bock, Zannie; Stroud, Christopher
This project explores the negotiation of shifting racial identities within a transforming post-Apartheid context, in particular, the negotiation of what it means to be �coloured�. Twenty-seven years into South Africa�s democracy, the power and influence that race and language hold over many South Africans� are still prominent within this country. Because race is historically intersected with language and social class, language is used as an instrument of racialization. Therefore, this project seeks to understand how coloured racial and linguistic identities, which are steeped in complexity and ambiguity, are navigated by participants. It will focus, in particular, on how participants engage with Afrikaans and Kaaps to navigate these complexities and signal alignments and ambivalences. Additionally, this research aims to explore the potential of multilingualism to be a dynamic factor in the inclusive transformation of historical positions. Its central aim is to contribute to the notion of Linguistic Citizenship (Stroud, 2001, 2015, 2018, 2021) by capturing how linguistic encounters and interactions can go beyond the defined subjectivities of race and ethnicity, and how people use language to challenge and subvert historical and more contemporary identities. The data draws on focus group discussions with UWC students and the narratives produced within these spaces. It will draw on contemporary scholarship in Sociolinguistics, Discourse and Narrative Analysis and Linguistic Citizenship to explore how participants perform acts of Linguistic Citizenship to showcase their agency and voice as language and narratives become a site where identity juxtapositions are laid bare, and participants and their (racial and linguistic) identities are reimagined.
Face-work and identities in a discussion about xenophobia
(University of the Western Cape, 2011) Anyona, Ondigi Evans; Bock, Zannie
International students arriving at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) from other African countries find themselves in a position of having to negotiate their identities and positions with their South African counterparts. The local students too are faced with the prospect of doing the same since they have to coexist with the former. This study aims to investigate how, in a discussion about xenophobia, a selection of UWC students perform face-work and negotiate or construct their identities as well as those of their coparticipants and position themselves in relation to each other. I was interested in exploring how the participants, who were representative of the two groups that clashed in the xenophobic attacks of 2008, would engage with each other while discussing this sensitive topic.The data was gathered during an open-ended discussion among four UWC postgraduate students in a casual, relaxed setting (my room on campus). The transcribed data was then analyzed using a combination of theoretical frameworks from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Discourse Analysis. In particular, the SFL theory of modality(Halliday 1994) and Engagement (Martin and White 2005) and Goffman�s (1999[1967]) notion of face were used as tools of analysis.The analysis reveals that participants use a variety of linguistic choices and discourse strategies to maintain face during the discussion of this sensitive topic of xenophobia. The participants make an effort to take care of each other�s face (desires to be appreciated and left free of any imposition) and keep conflicts to a minimum even when they at times disagree and give incriminatory information about each other. It also reveals that the participants, in addition to maintaining face, also construct and negotiate identities which in turn help build in-group solidarity and provide a sense of belonging to them.
Gendered positions in a church youth group: a discourse analysis
(2012) De Vos, Grace Afton; Bock, Zannie
This research is a discourse analysis of a Christian ‗coloured‘ youth group, from the area of Mitchell‘s Plain, Cape Town. The aim of the analysis is to explore the ways in which the interlocutors construct their identities and gender positions and how they are able to affirm, challenge and perpetuate dominant discourses. The role of this context, namely the social and religious context is pivotal to shaping this interaction.The analysis of the data uses the Appraisal framework particularly the attitudinal and engagement systems to analyse how the interlocutors strategically communicate their attitudes,evaluations, feelings and judgements. Ultimately, this research shows how the males and females use language to negotiate identities and socially position themselves.In addition, the research indicates that the male interlocutors in most instances exert a strong influence on the discussions, which result in females showing tendencies to allow for the male ideologies to dictate, thus perpetuating the dominant ideologies about male and female behaviour.
Gendered positions in a church youth group: a discourse analysis
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) De Vos, Grace Afton; Bock, Zannie
This research is a discourse analysis of a christian �coloured� youth group, from the area of Mitchell�s Plain, Cape Town. The aim of the analysis is to explore the ways in which the interlocutors construct their identities and gender positions and how they are able to affirm, challenge and perpetuate dominant discourses. The role of this context, namely the social and religious context is pivotal to shaping this interaction. The analysis of the data uses the appraisal framework particularly the attitudinal and engagement systems to analyse how the interlocutors strategically communicate their attitudes, evaluations, feelings and judgements. Ultimately, this research shows how the males and females use language to negotiate identities and socially position themselves. In addition, the research indicates that the male interlocutors in most instances exert a strong influence on the discussions, which result in females showing tendencies to allow for the male ideologies to dictate, thus perpetuating the dominant ideologies about male and female behaviour
�I am a queen�: (Re)fashioning African female identities in everyday storytelling
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu; Bock, Zannie
This study aims to add to the rich body of work which explores our understanding of identity performances in narratives. It explores how a close knit group of five female friends use narrative structure and strategies to fashion alternative gender identities for themselves as black women who are agentive, and who actively push back against the stereotypes used to judge and evaluate their behavior. Using an interactional approach to narrative and identity (De Fina, 2003; De Fina and Georgakopoulou, 2008, 2012), this study explores how participants, in their everyday conversations, exploit story form and narrative strategies to orient to, constitute, legitimize or resist gender ideologies. Drawing on data which consist of twenty-one hours of naturally occurring casual conversation between the five friends, I identify and group the stories in their conversations, and propose generic structures to describe them: reports, hypothetical stories and projections. With a flexible approach to structure, I show how these stories create a space for the negotiation of difference or for constructing presentations of �self� versus �the other�. I argue that through structure and other evaluative devices, praise and blame are ascribed within stories, allowing participants to take certain positions in relation to the themes explored and relevant identity options. I also show the ways in which stories enable the participants to quite literally imagine possibilities for self and others within circumstances that have not and and may never happen. This creates a space for the affirmation of dreams and ambitions, and an exploration of the type of women they see themselves becoming: successful, rich, famous, strong, and admired African women.
�I felt like the words became a part of me�: South African feminist live poetry and the affective encounter
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) McKenzie, Jenah E; Bock, Zannie
Live poetry exists as a powerful channel through which to protest against oppressive mechanisms prevalent in society. The platform � a safe space for the voices that are often silenced in other discursive spaces � has grown in popularity as a powerful avenue for feminists to share personal narratives, provoke discussions on gender-based violence (GBV), discursively resist against dominating patriarchal power, and empower women through the sense of community that is created during, and following, a live poetry event. By sharing deeply personal narratives of lived-experiences, a poet has the power to connect with an audience in profound ways. Therefore, live poetry, due to the compelling discursive mechanisms and embodiment used, has the ability to bring about powerful instances of affect, where audience members feel connected with the poets� narratives. Over time, these affective encounters could result in deeper empathic abilities for understanding the stories of others and could lead to changes in attitudes, with positive implications for the fight for women empowerment.
Imagining multilingual spaces through scripted 'codeswitching' in multilingual performance: a case study of '7de Laan'
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Bhatch, Michael Shakib; Bock, Zannie; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
This thesis examines how multilingual spaces in South Africa are imagined and reconstructed through the use of scripted codeswitching in 7de Laan. It explores how the socio-political discourses and other ideologies from the broader South African context shape and influence the ways in which the soap reconstructs multilingual spaces and the identities that exist within these spaces through language and language practices. In the literature presented in this study I explore various theories and case studies that examine Afrikaans and its indexicality in our contemporary society, the conventions of soap opera in representing reality to society, the role of codeswitching in multilingual mass communication, the policies and ideologies that govern post apartheid television and finally the link between ideology, the media, language and imagined identities.. These five overarching themes often overlap throughout this thesis. My investigation of the main questions set in this thesis is based on a triangulated analysis of (a) a five episode transcript of the soap, (b) solicited viewer perceptions gleaned from questionnaires and (c) unsolicited social media commentaries. This analysis is framed by a poststructuralist critical analysis with a specific focus on how social practices and contemporary ideologies manifest in the discourse of the soap. This approach views discourse as the juncture where identity, stereotypes and power are negotiated, enforced, imagined and challenged. In this thesis I argue that the conspicuous absence of indigenous African languages and the use of standard white Afrikaans as the lingua franca in the soap creates an unrealistic utopian portrayal of the new South Africa that naturalises white Afrikaans culture and marginalises other indigenous cultures and languages. I argue that the soap puts middle class white Afrikaners at the epicentre of South African society thus enforcing the idea that non-whites still need to conform to white Afrikaans standards and norms at the expense of their own culture and languages despite the inception of democracy. The soap offers no depictions of resistance to this dominant white Afrikaans culture, thus misleadingly portraying it as the uncontested dominant culture of the new South Africa.
Introduction and decolonial pedagogies, multilingualism and literacies
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Bock, Zannie; Stroud, Christopher
This Special Issue of Multilingual Margins brings together a number of creative, reflective and academic writings and artefacts that emerged from a new interinstitutional postgraduate module, Re-imagining Multilingualisms, hosted by the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and the Department of Linguistics at Stellenbosch University (SU) in 2018. The module has as its central focus the notion of �multilingualism� and how this can be �re-imagined� as a �transformative tool� within a higher education context. It emerged out of a Mellon-funded research project which seeks to respond to the current calls for broadened epistemic access, decolonised curricula and transformed institutions. The module engages with this challenge by exploring how pedagogic approaches, which centre multilingualism and diversity, and which use a variety of creative writing and arts-based pedagogies, can facilitate access to knowledge, and deepen our understanding of how higher education can become more inclusive and democratic. By encouraging student participants to imagine and engage with their linguistic resources and histories in different ways, it aimed to help students re-think their notions of language and multilingualism, and the historical power relations which legitimate and amplify, or silence and mute, particular voices, identities and �ways of seeing�. In this introduction, we first discuss why we need to re-think (or re-conceptualise) multilingualism, and then reflect on the module as a way to understand more deeply how language and multilingualism can become a transformative tool in both teaching and learning, and in building a more integrated, just society.

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