Browsing by Author "Dyers, Charlyn"

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    Additive Bilingualism or ‘Straight-for-English’? The linguistic and cultural impact of different approaches to the teaching of English on children in two Chinese schools
    (University of the Western Cape, 2005) Chunyan, Ma; Dyers, Charlyn; NULL; Faculty of Education
    This study examines the impact of two different models of teaching English to Chinese children, to see whether it meets learners’ needs. These two different approaches appear to lead to different result for children. The results of the analysis appear to show that this teaching programme is failing the children at Z’SL. Therefore, the course needs to be reviewed and improved. Four research tools were used in this study: interviews, questionnaires, classroom observation, and document analysis. Interviews and questionnaires were distributed to coordinators and teachers at both schools. Questionnaires were also distributed to the parents of students. Classroom observation was done during normal class time by the researcher. The document analysis dealt with the analysis of the textbooks. The results of the study appear to show that the teaching programme in English at Z’SL has failed to meet the children’s needs. The materials are not designed for young learner’s needs. They just emphasize the four skills of English in an English environment, but neglect the relatively unstable language situation of the children. The teaching methodology emphasized the direct method, but neglected children’s needs. Children should be taught to know how to use a language in the society they live in and to learn a second language effectively for actual use. This study concludes that two-way bilingual education and the cognitive developmental approach are most effective to develop dual language proficiency for Chinese children in their native language and English in order to bring up the children as members of Chinese society. Additive bilingualism education is also appropriate for Chinese children when the home language is a majority language and the school is adding a second minority or majority language. Another consideration is that collaboration between parents and teachers is more effective to provide opportunities for children to maintain their own language and culture while children acquire a second language
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    An investigation into current attitudes towards English at the University of the Western Cape
    (Stellenbosch University, 1997) Dyers, Charlyn
    This work-in-progess paper describes the writer's current research into the language attitudes, preferences and usage of the student speech community at the University of the Western Cape. It specifically looks at responses to questions on English which formed part of a larger survey questionnaire on South African languages, and attempts an analysis of these results.
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    Biliteracy and academic success: The experiences of selected Libyan students.
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Shibani, Fathia El; Dyers, Charlyn
    This study is an investigation into the biliteracy skills (in Arabic and English) employed by Libyan students at the University of the Western Cape to gain their academic success. Nowadays, international students form a significant number in every academic institution. The study attempts to show that there are literacy factors beyond basic editing of written tasks by biliterate students studying outside their country of origin that need to be acknowledged as contributing to their success in completing such tasks. Qualitative research methods - a questionnaire and interviews � were used in order to understand what strategies the participants rely on to first understand, then write their assignments, how they apply their biliteracy skills, and what biliterate resources they draw on in their writing in order to produce a successful assignment. Hornberger�s (1989) Biliteracy Model was adopted as a framework to map students� responses. This study may serve as a response to the question posed by Hornberger and Link (2012:243): �How should educators engage with students� linguistic and literacy diversity in order to facilitate successful school experiences and greater academic achievement for students from often minoritized backgrounds?� This study might also be one of a series of research studies exploring, as Creese and Blackledge (2010:113) recommend, �what �teachable� pedagogic resources are available in flexible, concurrent approaches to learning and teaching languages bilingually�. The findings of the research show that the Libyan students in this study used particular strategies whenever they faced academic barriers, and to compensate for their limited competence in English and the academic discourse in the foreign context of UWC. The most significant of these strategies were the use of the first language as a bridge to the second, oral discussions preceding written assignments, drawing on prior knowledge, and moving from reading to writing. Moreover, the findings revealed some of the factors behind the students� growing confidence in their writing and consequently, succeeding in writing their assignments. These were lecturers� feedback, oral discussions with a writing coach or friends, and drawing on contextualized content.
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    Challenges and opportunities/possibilities of implementing the Western Cape language policy
    (UWC, 2014) Nel, Jo-Mari Anne; Dyers, Charlyn
    The principle aim of this thesis is to investigate all the challenges and opportunities/possibilities involved in realising the implementation of the official Western Cape Language Policy (finalised in 2002). These challenges and opportunities/possibilities were investigated within various structures of the Western Cape Province of South Africa�s civil service environment in six major multilingual towns in the Western Cape. The historical and political context leading to the creation of this policy is provided in the following three paragraphs. Following the demise of Apartheid with South Africa�s first democratic elections in 1994, the New South Africa brought with it amongst other things the following changes: a new Constitution; new legislation; access and freedom within a system of inclusion; the creation of new provinces; the constitutional breakdown of social, geographical and linguistic barriers; the subsequent migration to different towns and cities of people speaking different languages and their integration there; the creation of district and regional municipalities; freedom of the press. All of these introduced a whole new platform of language interaction and association and therefore general communication (Constitution of the RSA, 1996). In addition, in contrast to the Apartheid policy of only two official languages � English and Afrikaans � eleven languages were declared official languages of the state. The declaration of 11 official languages in 1996 (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga) was an integral part of highlighting multilingualism in the newly designated nine provinces of SA. Each of the nine provinces � the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng, the Northwest Province, Northern Province (now called Limpopo), Mpumalanga, the Free State and Kwazulu-Natal - had to, in consultation with different provincial stakeholders, draft language policies according to the National Language Framework. In the Western Cape Province, three languages were identified as dominant, namely Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English. The Western Cape Language Policy (WCLP) was consequently drafted by the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC), a statutory body and a sub-committee of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), after the Westen Cape Provincial Languages Act, Act 31 of 1998, was accepted by Parliament in 1998. This WCLP was the first provincial language policy to be completed in the New SA. The policy was accepted and the draft was ready for implementation by 2002. This thesis presents a critical overview of previous and current strategies being used by all provincial government departments in the implementation of the WCLP. This includes a sample of general public knowledge of the existence of the terms and meaning of the WCLP, different outcomes of studies and language-related projects done by the WCLC, PanSALB, DCAS and the Central Language Unit (CLU) since 2000. It also focuses on the role that different private and public language implementation agencies are playing, or not, in their communication with the multilingual civil society of the Western Cape. Projections for and challenges facing the implementation of the WCLP since its acceptance in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) in 2004 were also researched carefully, together with an analysis of research already conducted on behalf of the provincial government. Document analysis therefore forms a core part of this methodology, together with fieldwork research conducted in six selected major multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was done in order to explore the challenges experienced by Afrikaans-, isiXhosa- and English-speaking people at grassroots level, since they needed to become more aware of their language rights as set out in the WCLP. Drawing on a theoretical and conceptual framework based on studies in Language and Power Relations, specifically studies on the role of Language Ideologies, Linguistic Citizenship, Agency and Voice and Language Ecology on effective Language Planning, Policy and Implementation, the thesis presents, through its document analysis, quantitative and qualitative data, an analysis of the limited or failed implementation of the WCLP in both government departments as well as the civilian populations in six selected multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was achieved by examining actual language practices at particular language policy implementation agencies such as the post office, the police station, the high school, households, the municipal office, the day hospital and the clinic in each of these towns. The thesis gathers together all this evidence to prove that the implementation of the WCLP has been hampered by a range of factors such as wide-spread ignorance of the policy, the dominance of particular languages in the province over others, power relations within government structures and relatively inflexible language ideologies held by those charged with policy implementation at different levels. It concludes by providing a number of practical recommendations on how more effective implementation can be achieved.
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    The conceptual evolution in Linguistics implications for the study of Kaaps
    (University of the Westen Cape, 2020) Dyers, Charlyn
    zaAbstractAs an academic discipline, Linguistics - the scientific study of language - is associated with a range of concepts. Students of Linguistics are traditionally introduced to these concepts in their first year of study, and everything that follows builds on knowledge of these concepts. But language, as Blommaert (2011) notes, is the most visible sign of social change. Currently, much critical thinking is said to be philosophical outflows of a late or post-modern era, characterized by an intensification of three characteristics that have been part of human history for some time: globalization, migration and the dominant position of English, accompanied by the growth of new hybrid languages in urban spaces.
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    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.
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    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)
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    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.
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    Crossing linguistic and cultural barriers: an analysis of intercultural communication between Chinese traders and South Africans in Cape Town
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015) Thompson, Mich� Chanelle; Dyers, Charlyn
    In recent years South Africa has seen a significant growth in the number of migrants entering its borders. The country has opened its doors to not only migrants from the African continent, but also to immigrants from the People�s Republic of China (PRC) and the Indian subcontinent. The increasing number of Chinese businesses in South Africa means that South Africans are now coming into fairly regular contact with Chinese people from mainland China. This study addresses the issue of intercultural communication between Chinese store keepers and South African customers and seeks to investigate the ways in which the two juxtaposed cultures communicate effectively despite linguistic and cultural barriers. As a study on intercultural communication, the theoretical framework for this is globalisation, with a particular focus on concepts like intercultural communication, politeness and face theory. The study adopts a qualitative research design with an ethnographic methodological approach to examine and describe the linguistic practices of Chinese and South Africans in the city of Cape Town when they interact in the business contexts. The study relies largely on interviews with Chinese business owners and their South African clients, as well as observation of the interaction between these two groups. The research population consists of 8 Chinese interviewees, random interviews with 4 customers and 4 shop assistants, and observation at stores in a local China Town (a collection of Chinese shops and businesses). For research purposes and for the sake of informed consent, a Chinese research assistant and translator assisted the principal researcher. The major tool for analysis is a content analysis of the transcribed interviews. From these transcribed interviews, I describe the strategies used for effective intercultural communication between the two groups, and aim to draw conclusions on how these strategies have enabled Chinese businesses to flourish in Cape Town.
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    A discourse analysis of code-switching practices among Angolan migrants in Cape Town, South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2010) Da Costa, Dinis Fernando; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
    In this thesis, I explore the code-switching practices of long-term Angolans migrants in Cape Town when they interact with those who have been here for a much shorter period. In my Honours research essay, I revealed a tendency among those who have lived in Cape Town for some time to code-switch from Portuguese to English even in the presence of more recent migrants from Angola, who have little or no mastery of English. This thesis thus considers the effects of space, discourses of power, language ideologies and attitudes on the patterns of inter- and intra-sentential code-switching by these long-term migrants in interaction with each other as well as with the more recent �Angolan arrivals� in Cape Town. Twenty Angolan migrants participated in this study. Of these, ten were long-term migrants to South Africa, while a further ten were relative newcomers. While the long-term migrants could claim to be bilingual in Portuguese and English, the newcomers were largely limited to a few English words in their repertoire. However, both groups could speak one or more of the indigenous languages of Angola, like Kimbundu, Umbundu, Kikongo and even Lingala (which is an indigenous language from Republic Democratic of Congo). Some of the long-term migrants had even acquired South African indigenous language such as isiXhosa and Afrikaans. The study made use of qualitative ethnographic methodologies to collect the data. These included recorded conversations, individual and focus group interviews, both general observation and participant observation.
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    Emotion, voice and agency: exploring the written discourses of some township women in South Africa
    (Taylor & Francis, 2012) Dyers, Charlyn; Williams, Meggan; Barthus, Tatum
    This paper is an analysis of the discourses and attitudes that emerged from a set of daily journals kept by a particular group of township women during a training course for domestic workers in South Africa. The principal aim of the paper is to examine the ways in which the women express emotion, voice, and agency through the act of writing and reflecting on their experiences during the training course. A secondary aim is to uncover those recurrent discourses and attitudes that either empower or disempower these women from becoming effective agents capable of challenging their positions in their families and society. The theoretical and conceptual framework for this study draws on Appraisal Theory and studies on voice, agency and identity.
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    Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University
    (Taylor & Francis, 2016) Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
    This paper seeks to address the ways in which ideology and literacy practices shape the responses of students to an ongoing initiative at the University of the Western Cape aimed at diversifying options for epistemological access, specifically the language varieties and the modes in which parts of the curriculum for a third year linguistics module are delivered. Students� responses to the materials in English and in two varieties of Afrikaans and isiXhosa (as mediated in writing vs orally) are determined, and used as basis to problematize decisions on language variety and mode in language diversification initiatives in Higher Education in South Africa. The findings of the paper are juxtaposed against particular group interests in the educational use of a language as well as differences in the affordances and impact of different modes of language use. The paper suggests that beyond the euphoria of using languages other than English in South African Higher Education, several issues (such as entrenched language practices, beliefs and language management orientations) require attention if the goals of transformation in this sector are to be attained.
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    Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University
    (Springer, 2016) Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
    This paper seeks to address the ways in which ideology and literacy practices shape the responses of students to an ongoing initiative at the University of the Western Cape aimed at diversifying options for epistemological access, specifically the language varieties and the modes in which parts of the curriculum for a third year linguistics module are delivered. Students� responses to the materials in English and in two varieties of Afrikaans and isiXhosa (as mediated in writing vs orally) are determined, and used as basis to problematize decisions on language variety and mode in language diversification initiatives in Higher Education in South Africa. The findings of the paper are juxtaposed against particular group interests in the educational use of a language as well as differences in the affordances and impact of different modes of language use. The paper suggests that beyond the euphoria of using languages other than English in South African Higher Education, several issues (such as entrenched language practices, beliefs and language management orientations) require attention if the goals of transformation in this sector are to be attained.
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    An ethnographic study of the barriers to intercultural communication in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town
    (University of the Western Cape, 2009) Wankah, Foncha John; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
    Intercultural communication (ICC) is one of the most relevant fields for investigation in post-colonial Africa and post-apartheid South Africa, given the movements between people from African countries and the wide range of attractions, both economic and social, that South Africa holds for people from other African countries. This study reports on intercultural communication in post-democratic South Africa in an era marked by what Appadurai (1990) calls 'flows'. Greenmarket Square in the heart of Cape Town, well known as a hub for informal traders, local people and tourists, was chosen as the site for this study, because of the rich cultural diversity of the role-players. The principal aim of this research is to examine how people from different cultural backgrounds in this particular space of Greenmarket Square communicate with one another, and where the'intercultural fault-lines' (Olahan, 2000) occur, keeping in mind how ICC could be improved in such a space. My position as a trader in the market placed me in an ideal 'insider' position to do the research. The theory of spatiality (Vigouroux, 2005; Blommaert et al. 2005) was used to show how the space of Greenmarket Square affected intercultural communication. Discourse analysis was also applied to the data to show how the various roleplayers were socially constructed by others. Saville-Troike's (1989) ethnography of communicative events was also used to bring out other barriers that were not identified by spatiality and discourse analysis. Aspects like scene, key, message form and content, the observed rules for interaction and where these rules were broken and to what effect as well as the norms for interpretation were considered during the analysis of this qualitative data. The analysis showed that spatiality, social constructions of 'the other' and other factors like nonverbal communication and differences between communicative styles in high and low context cultures (LCC/HCC), had a major impact on intercultural communication at Greenmarket Square, frequently leading to complete breakdowns in communication. Many of the traders interviewed acknowledged that they needed to improve their competence in intercultural communication. The study concludes with a number of recommendations on how people can become more 'interculturally competent' (Katan, 2004) in a globalized world.
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    An exploration of the link between selected women�s discourses and literacy resources in the working class township settlement of Wesbank, South Africa
    (2010) Slemming, Fatima; Dyers, Charlyn
    South Africa became a globally recognised democratic country in need of a development agenda after its first democratic elections were held in 1994. Democratising South Africa, however, requires rigorous attempts to open up spaces for and by the previously silenced and marginalised segments of society to become active and participatory citizens. Within the framework of New Literacy Studies and a �sociolinguistics of mobility� (Blommaert 2010), this study explored the link between selected discourses and literacy resources used by three groups of Coloured women in the working class township of Wesbank in Cape Town, South Africa. The study was framed as ethnographic, qualitative research and Appraisal Theory (a branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics) was applied to analyse the identified discourses. Based on the research findings, I also identified what literacy resources these women used for the purposes of empowering one another and the broader space of Wesbank. In addition, I proceeded to label several �transportable literacies� that my research participants from this hybrid community � where everyone ��is a migrant from elsewhere� (Dyers 2008) - appeared to be sharing in order to co-create the spaces which they use in Wesbank.
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    Factors influencing the sustainability of university centres promoting multilingualism in South Africa
    (HESA; Unisa Press, 2004) Dyers, Charlyn
    The main question addressed by this article is: How can multilingual language centres based at universities ensure their long term sustainability? Research was carried out at three centres in the Western Cape to find the answers to this question. Several factors, such as funding, staff structures and support by the parent universities, appear to influence the sustainability of these centres.
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    Ideology, policy and implementation: Comparative perspectives from two African universities
    (Stellenbosch University, 2014) Dyers, Charlyn; Abongdia, Jane-Francis
    This paper provides an exposition and interpretation of the language policies of two African universities, namely the University of Yaound in Cameroon and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. It does so against the background of the socio-historical and political factors that led to the creation of both universities and their respective language policies. The authors main argument is that well-intended, liberal language policies are often impossible to implement as a result of the powerful influence of political and linguistic ideologies shaped, on the one hand, by many years of colonisation and the resulting marginalisation of the indigenous languages in both countries, and, on the other, by ideologies of nation-building and assimilation in the post-colonial era. The paper also attempts to find greater conceptual clarity between the concepts of language attitudes and language ideologies.
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    Incorporating indigenous African languages in higher education: Student attitudes towards learning materials in isiXhosa at the University of the Western Cape
    (The University of the Western Cape, 2017) Sawula, Sabelo; Antia, Bassey E.; Dyers, Charlyn
    There have been extensive studies conducted on the language attitudes of students or their parents at primary, secondary as well as tertiary levels of education in South Africa. Many scholars have found that African language speakers hold negative attitudes towards their own languages (De Klerk, 2000; Barkhuizen, 2002; Dyers, 1999; and Conduah, 2003). This is rather unfortunate, given the several constitutional and other policy provisions in South Africa promoting multilingual education (see Constitution, 1996; Language-in-education policy, 1997; Higher education language policy, 2002; UWC language policy, 2003). These negative attitudes have been attributed to a number of factors by scholars (see Kamwangamalu, 2000; Somhlahlo, 2009; Alexander 2004).
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    Language ideologies and attitudes of Francophone learners towards English in Yaoundo, Cameroon
    (University of the Western Cape, 2009) Abongdia, Jane-Francis Afungmeyu; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
    English is the most widely spoken language in the world and for this reason it would be of advantage for everyone to learn it. This thesis reports on the language ideologies and attitudes of Francophone learners towards English in the Central Province of Cameroon, a central African country. It offers a critical examination of the different attitudes and motivations of Francophone learners towards English as a third language at secondary schools in the city of Yaound�. It also presents the most important factors that appear to play a role in shaping their attitudes towards English, a language that many of the respondents appear to find hard to learn. Central to these factors are the prevailing language ideologies in Cameroon.
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    A language in decline ? :a constrastive study of the use of, and motivation and de-motivation for, learning Afrikaans among two groups of learners at an English medium high school in Cape Town, South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2010) Govender, Manisha; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of Linguistics, Language and Communication; Faculty of Arts
    Afrikaans in practice replaced Dutch and became one of South Africa's official languages (along with English) from 1925. It reached the apex of its development and influence during the years of Nationalist party rule and the apartheid regime as a language of officialdom, of the judiciary and education. However, in 1994 nine African languages were afforded official status along with English and Afrikaans in South Africa. Presently, Afrikaans is still taught in the majority of schools in the Western Cape as either a first or second language. This thesis compares and contrasts the language attitudes and motivation towards Afrikaans in two groups of secondary school learners - grade eight and grade eleven learners - at the same school, viz. the Settlers' High School in Parow, a northern suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. At this English medium school, Afrikaans as a second language is a compulsory subject. The thesis also examines the dominant ideologies held towards Afrikaans by the learners and by the school in question which contributes towards shaping their attitudes and motivations for learning the language as well as their actual use of the language. The study finds a correlation between the learners' attitudes towards Afrikaans and their actual patterns of use of the language, which indicates that the use of Afrikaans may be in decline among especially the younger, grade eight, learners.