Die wisselwerking tussen teorie en praktyk in die ontwerp van ’n kurrikulum met transtaling as kernkomponent

In hierdie artikel word die praktyk van transtaling ondersoek binne die konteks van ’n akademiesegeletterdheidsmodule wat in 2016 in Engels aangebied is vir Afrikaanssprekende eerstejaarstudente in Konstruksie-ekonomie. Die navorsing is gedoen met die oog op ’n beskrywing van die sistematiek van die praktyke wat gevolg is, en die moontlike waarde van ’n beskrywende model vir toekomstige kurrikulumontwikkeling. Eerstens word ’n oorsig gegee oor linguistiese en toegepaste linguistiese teorieë wat die gebruik van die eerste taal in die tweedetaalklas ondersteun. Dit word gevolg deur ’n bespreking van die onderskeid tussen leerdergesentreerde en dosentgesentreerde transtaling, wat as vertrekpunt dien vir die ponering van ’n pedagogiese raamwerk vir transtaling. Die empiriese gedeelte van die artikel beskryf ’n gevallestudie van beperkte omvang, wat gerig was op die transtalingsvookeure en -praktyke van eerstejaarstudente in Konstruksie-ekonomie. Die data, wat deur middel van voor- en na-intervensie-vraelyste ingesamel is, is sowel kwantitatief as kwalitatief ontleed. Dit blyk dat die studente reeds voor die aanvang van die module positief ingestel was teenoor die gebruik van sistematiese transtaling, en dat hulle houding tydens die intervensie positief gebly het. Gedurende die intervensie is dosentgesentreerde transtaling gebruik vir funksies soos klasbestuur, verduideliking van grammatika en woordbetekenis, sowel as vir kommunikasie met individuele studente. Leerdergesentreerde transtaling het veral plaasgevind gedurende interpersoonlike kommunikasie met medestudente en die dosent, asook beplanning en onderhandeling in kleingroepe. Die ontleding van die data het twee aspekte van die pedagogiek van transtaling uitgelig wat nog nie voldoende aandag in die literatuur gekry het nie, naamlik die verskil en die onderlinge verband tussen transtaling en vertaling; en die soms eensydige fokus op transtaling in die rigting van die T1, teenoor die inverse: transtaling in die rigting van die T2. Op grond van die navorsingsbevindinge word ’n kurrikulummodel voorgestel wat as basis kan dien vir die beplanning van transtaling in kontekste waar nuwe vakkonsepte tesame met ’n tweede taal as akademiese taal aangeleer word. Hierdeur word die toegepaste linguistiek se fokus op sowel teorie as empirie in die ontwerp van oplossings vir praktiese taalprobleme beklemtoon.Trefwoorde: akademiese geletterdheid, konstruksie-ekonomie, toegepaste linguistiek, transtaling, tweetalighei

Science through Sepedi: Is Terminologisation a Worthwhile Venture?

The terminologisation of the African languages has been hotly debated for more than a decade, yet little progress has been made in devising strategies to guide this process. The following are among the indicators that the time is ripe to realise the ideal of terminologisation: the lack of success thus far achieved in facilitating scientific knowledge through non-mother-tongue education; the existence of a noteworthy stock of technical terms in the African languages; and the positive attitudes of educators towards the use of the mother tongue, especially in rural areas. These indicators are backed up by statistics on pass rates for Physical Science in the Northern Province; the results of an attitude/ opinion survey among teachers of Science in this region; lexical data obtained from an empirical survey as well as from an independent source. The results of the research seem to validate terminologisation of Sepedi from an educational point of view. It is, however, realised that the attitudes and perceptions of other stakeholders such as pupils and parents need to be taken into account when recommendations are made with regard to sensitive issues such as terminologisation and the language of scientific communication.Keywords: african languages, language development, language for special purposes, morner-tongue education, multilingualism, northern sorno, physical science, scientific language, sepedi, terminography, terminologisation, terminology

Issues in the planning of a multilingual explanatory dictionary of chemistry for South African students

Developing human potential and actively promoting science and technology are among the priorities of the present South African government. Significant progress in these areas can only be made if relevant education and training are provided timeously. Surveys conducted by overseas as well as local researchers indicate that mother-tongue education is one of the measures to improve learning. While mother-tongue education at secondary and tertiary level is at present not provided to speakers of African languages, compromise solutions have to be offered, such as multilingual explanatory special-field dictionaries. By providing linguistic and encyclopedic information in English, Afrikaans and two or more of the African languages the concepts of the subject-field are made accessible via the language(s) of wider communication as well as via the mother tongue of the student. Although there are many difficulties and potential pitfalls awaiting terminographers and special-field experts who attempt a project of this nature, substantial preliminary work that has already been done with regard to a quadrilingual explanatory dictionary of chemistry indicated that this ideal is not out of reach. The compilers believe that successful completion of the project, as well as favourable results, will verify the hypotheses that served as points of departure for the project.Keywords: chemistry; explanatory dictionary; multilingual dictionary; terminography; pedagogical dictionary; special-field dictionary; science and technology; translatory dictionar

A heuristic framework for voice instruction at the doctoral level

The notion of voice as an integral aspect of language use has been extensively theorised in linguistics. However, empirical research and pedagogical models have not yet matched the sophistication of voice theories in linguistics, and little attention has been paid to advanced academic writing. This article attempts to address two pertinent gaps in the pedagogical and empirical literature: inadequate training of doctoral students to make an authentic contribution to knowledge creation in their respective fields, of which a distinctive authorial voice is a criterial feature; and bridging the gap between theory and practice. An account is given of two theoretical models of voice – both embedded in Systemic Functional Linguistics – that have served as the basis of the majority of instruments aimed at concretising the somewhat elusive notion of voice. An overview is given of existing heuristics of voice designed by other scholars, followed by the presentation and description of a self-developed and comprehensive heuristic framework for voice that may inform the development of instructional toolkits for doctoral students.Keywords: academic writing; doctoral writing; metadiscourse; pedagogy of voice; stance and engagemen

Theoretical grounding of writing centre practices: a foundation for tutor training

A variety of factors influence the strategies and practices of writing teachers and tutors, such as beliefs about writing and how writing can be learned; following mandates by educational authorities; uncritical adherence to the latest, most fashionable practice; and poor support of writing facilitators in the contexts in which they are employed. These factors increase the need for creating among facilitators of writing an awareness of the different theoretical approaches and traditions of writing and learning to write in applied linguistics and education, as well as the pedagogic practices in writing centres that are associated with them. This paper takes as its point of departure the three main educational theories underpinning writing centre work: The Current-traditional paradigm, Expressivism and Socio-constructionism. However, we argue that theories used to characterise and justify writing centre work need to be adapted to suit specific historical and local contexts. In particular, we propose that writing in South Africa should acknowledge the need to identify theoretical and analytical lenses that are appropriate to their specific institutional contexts. The discussion of the maintheories and pertinent sub-theories is followed by a tabulated summary of each theory, underlying beliefs, associated writing centre models, tutor roles that align with each approach, and the associated tutoring strategies. The article is concluded by outlining a broadframework to underpin tutor training, which draws on powerful theories that originated in the global North as well as theories that are particularly relevant to the global South and speak to its complexities. Keywords: tutor roles, tutor training, writing centre models, writing centre theory, writing centre pedagogy, writing centre practice

Directiveness in tutor talk

The reigning orthodoxy in writing centres has been to avoid directive approaches and embrace non-directive approaches to tutoring. Although this ‘myth has been debunked by various writing centre scholars since the late 1990s, many guidebooks on tutoring still adhere to it. We believe that theory-led empirical research on tutor approaches and actions is necessary to demonstrate the situation-dependent efficacy of directive approaches, and thereby dispel the myth that a peer role is preferred to a teacherly role. This paper starts addressing the need for theory-led empirical research on directiveness by applying theories of linguistic pragmatics to analyze writing centre consultations, and assist writing centre tutors to develop a critical awareness of both their actions and students’ responses. First, an overview is given of the description of directiveness in the writing centre literature. This is followed by an overview of micro- and macropragmatic theories on speech acts in linguistics, and suggestions on how they may be applied to better understand the role of directiveness in writing centre consultations. This is followed by an overview of present research project, and an analysis of two excerpts (speech events) from a particular consultation. The article is concluded by a reflection on the findings, and suggestions are made on how to apply them towards improving writing centre pedagogy at the institution where the research was  conducted

Investigating literacy narratives among ethno-linguistically diverse South African students

This article reports on a study of pre-service teachers’ literacy narratives in a South African institution of higher learning. Literacy self-narratives of 57 students were collected and analysed for categories and themes under narrator and sponsor identities through the use of AtlasTi software. The results of the study show the role of historical, cultural and political contexts in shaping literacy identities of student teachers. The results also show huge disparities of literacy experiences among different racial and gender groupings, which highlight social and educational opportunities. Using New literacies and Multiliteracies frameworks, I consider how these literacy challenges may be transformed to facilitate a just and equitable society. Particular implications of the students’ constructions of literacy identities are considered at the end of the article.http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijsl2016-07-30am2016Unit for Academic Literac

Translanguaging as a vehicle for L2 acquisition and L1 development : students’ perceptions

The purpose of the article is to report on a project aimed at exploring the use of translanguaging as a strategy to support bi-/multilingual students in acquiring academic literacy in English while promoting the terminologisation of African languages through exploratory scientific talk. The topic is contextualised by juxtaposing multilingualism as a problem with multilingualism as a resource. This is followed by a discussion of translanguaging as an alternative to monolingual education. An overview is given of a number of empirical studies on translanguaging conducted in South Africa during the past 15 years. Subsequently, I discuss a research project that elicited students’ opinions about translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy. Speakers of eight African languages, including Afrikaans, experienced cognitive and affective benefits. Despite some reservations, they also considered translanguaging to be a useful platform for creating technical terms in African languages, and were positive about future usehttp://www.tandfonline.comtoc/rlms202018-01-31hb2017Unit for Academic Literac

The interplay between theory and praxis in developing a curriculum centred on translanguaging

In hierdie artikel word die praktyk van transtaling ondersoek binne die konteks van ’n akademiesegeletterdheidsmodule wat in 2016 in Engels aangebied is vir Afrikaanssprekende eerstejaarstudente in Konstruksie-ekonomie. Die navorsing is gedoen met die oog op ’n beskrywing van die sistematiek van die praktyke wat gevolg is, en die moontlike waarde van ’n beskrywende model vir toekomstige kurrikulumontwikkeling. Eerstens word ’n oorsig gegee oor linguistiese en toegepaste linguistiese teorieë wat die gebruik van die eerste taal in die tweedetaalklas ondersteun. Dit word gevolg deur ’n bespreking van die onderskeid tussen leerdergesentreerde en dosentgesentreerde transtaling, wat as vertrekpunt dien vir die ponering van ’n pedagogiese raamwerk vir transtaling. Die empiriese gedeelte van die artikel beskryf ’n gevallestudie van beperkte omvang, wat gerig was op die transtalingsvookeure en -praktyke van eerstejaarstudente in Konstruksie-ekonomie. Die data, wat deur middel van voor- en na-intervensie-vraelyste ingesamel is, is sowel kwantitatief as kwalitatief ontleed. Dit blyk dat die studente reeds voor die aanvang van die module positief ingestel was teenoor die gebruik van sistematiese transtaling, en dat hulle houding tydens die intervensie positief gebly het. Gedurende die intervensie is dosentgesentreerde transtaling gebruik vir funksies soos klasbestuur, verduideliking van grammatika en woordbetekenis, sowel as vir kommunikasie met individuele studente. Leerdergesentreerde transtaling het veral plaasgevind gedurende interpersoonlike kommunikasie met medestudente en die dosent, asook beplanning en onderhandeling in kleingroepe. Die ontleding van die data het twee aspekte van die pedagogiek van transtaling uitgelig wat nog nie voldoende aandag in die literatuur gekry het nie, naamlik die verskil en die onderlinge verband tussen transtaling en vertaling; en die soms eensydige fokus op transtaling in die rigting van die T1, teenoor die inverse: transtaling in die rigting van die T2. Op grond van die navorsingsbevindinge word ’n kurrikulummodel voorgestel wat as basis kan dien vir die beplanning van transtaling in kontekste waar nuwe vakkonsepte tesame met ’n tweede taal as akademiese taal aangeleer word. Hierdeur word die toegepaste linguistiek se fokus op sowel teorie as empirie in die ontwerp van oplossings vir praktiese taalprobleme beklemtoon.This article investigates the practice of translanguaging in the context of a group of Afrikaans-speaking first-year Construction Economics students enrolled for an academic literacy module in English, in 2016. The research was conducted with a view to describe the systematics of the practices followed, and the possible value of a descriptive model for future curriculum development. First, an overview is provided of linguistic and applied linguistic theories that support first-language usage in a second-language classroom. This is followed by a discussion of the difference between learner-centred and lecturer-centred translanguaging, which serves as a departure point for advancing a pedagogic framework for translanguaging. The empirical part of the article describes a case study of limited scope aimed at the translanguaging preferences and practices of first-year Construction Economics students. The data collected through pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It would seem that even prior to the commencement of the module, students were positively inclined towards using systematic translanguaging, and their attitude towards the intervention remained positive. During the intervention, lecturer-centred translanguaging was used for functions such as classroom management, clarifying grammar and vocabulary, and communicating with individual students. Learner-centred translanguaging took place particularly during interpersonal communication with fellow students and the lecturer, and for planning and discussions in small groups. Analysing the data highlighted two aspects of the pedagogics of translanguaging that previously did not receive adequate attention in the literature, namely the difference and interrelationship between translanguaging and translation; and the sometimes unilateral focus on translanguaging in the direction of the L1, compared to the inverse, translanguaging in the direction of the L2. Based on the research findings, a curriculum model is proposed, which could serve as a basis for planning translanguaging in contexts where new subject concepts are acquired together with the acquisition of a second language as academic language. This highlights the fact that applied linguistics focuses both on theoretical and on empirical methods in designing solutions to practical language problems.http://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/indexam2018Unit for Academic Literac

Literacy self-narratives as mirror for the motivation roles of significant others

During recent years the reading and writing of literacy self-narratives has received renewed attention in Higher Education. Of particular interest are the ways in which these narratives reflect the literacy identities that students construe for themselves and significant others, and how this knowledge may assist lecturers of academic literacy in curriculum reform. This contribution reports on research that was aimed at exploring the roles that Afrikaans mother-tongue first-year BEd students construe for significant others in terms of their support or suppression of literacy development. The New Literacies served as a theoretical vantage point for the pedagogy of the module in question, whereas a model combining insights from the New Literacies and Self-determination Theory was used to analyse 15 narratives qualitatively. A main finding is that the students demonstrate a strong need to feel competent at performing literacy activities, and that teachers are the primary sponsors of such feelings. Parents and other primary caregivers are the second most salient category of significant others who contribute feelings of competence. Parents’ influence start in early childhood, when they initiate early literacy acitivies with their children. These activities create feelings of relatedness, leading to the development of feelings of mastery in the children, and then later in the school career culminate in autonomous literacy-acquisition behaviours. The article is concluded by suggestions to lecturers on how to enhance students’ feelings of competence through classroom interaction and classroom activities.http://www.letterkunde.up.ac.za/am201