Language attitudes in relation to language functions: An investigation of the attitudes of the Botswana Cambridge \u27O\u27 Level Senior Certificate (COSC) students

This research study attempts to assess the language attitudes among Botswana Cambridge \u270\u27 level Senior Certificate (COSC) students in relation to the official functions of Setswana and English. The study assumes that: (1) there is a general positive attitude towards English and Setswana and that allows for bilingualism; (2) the students are instrumentally motivated to learn English because of the socio-economic gains associated with it; (3) the students are integratively motivated symbol of nationhood to learn Setswana because Setswana is a and attitudes among L2 learners political independence; (4) in Botswana arc influenced language by the functions the language is perceived to perform at least as much as by the identification of the learners with the speakers. Subjects\u27 attitudes were evaluated using a questionnaire in which some statements of social and political attitudes were included since they have direct influence on language. The subjects consisted of 240 Form V students randomly selected from four different senior secondary government schools. Four other Form V subjects were interviewed from the fifth government senior secondary school. The schools were randomly selected from urban and rural areas within Botswana. In addition, two lecturers from University of Botswana were interviewed

Language learning strategies of Botswana students : An exploratory study

The purpose of this research is to explore the learning strategies used by Botswana students acquiring English as a second language. It also examines whether the choice of strategies is affected by the factors of different age/level of education, proficiency and gender. The research also explores whether the students’ self-efficacy beliefs correlated with their use of language learning strategies. Specifically this research examined the types of strategies used by primary, secondary and tertiary students. It also examined the types of strategies used by the students deemed by their teachers to have good, fair or poor levels of English proficiency. The research also compared the strategies used by females and males. Next, this study explored the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs, the factors of age/level of education, proficiency and gender, and use of language learning strategies

Perceptions of Students and Self- assessment of Lecturers on Written Essay Error Feedback: the Case of the University of Botswana

This study sought to compare the perceptions of students with the self-assessments of lecturers on written essay error feedback. Overall 153 University of Botswana students and 20 lecturers participated in this study. All the students and 12 lecturers completed different but related questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions. Of the 153 students, 6 were interviewed; and of the 20 lecturers 8 were also interviewed to supplement the findings of the questionnaire. The findings of the study showed that the both students and lecturers appreciate the usefulness of error feedback. However, in terms of type and amount of feedback there was a difference of opinion. The lecturers claimed that they emphasized all aspects of writing particularly ‘organisation’ (global feedback), whereas the students thought they did not. This study recommends collaboration between lecturers, departments and students to ensure the effectiveness of giving essay writing error feedback

Developing Student-Writers’ Self-efficacy Beliefs

Based on Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura 1986) research in academic writing and self-efficacy has shown that there is a relationship between students’ performance and their belief in their writing abilities (Matoti and Shumba 2011, Shah et al. 2011, Prat-Sala and Redford 2012). Using questionnaires, interviews and an assessed written task, this study seeks to contribute to this research by exploring the relationship between writing proficiency and self-efficacy beliefs of undergraduate students taking an Advanced Writing Skills course. The aims of the study were to find out a) what the writing proficiency self-ratings of students doing the Advanced Writing Skills course are like b) their writing self-efficacy beliefs c) what they perceive to be problems related to their writing skills and d) whether there is any relationship between performance level of the students and their self-efficacy beliefs. An analysis of the results reveals that although students’ self-rating was high, their efficacy beliefs were moderate. The results of the present study also reveal that there was no relationship between students’ essay writing performance and their self-efficacy beliefs in the context of this study. This article argues that although self-efficacy beliefs need not be high for students to be motivated to perform better, boosting these beliefs can add to students’ tools for developing their writing competence

Riding on the "Crescendo" of Political Personas: Engendering a Female Political Icon

this study was premised on the observation that the construction and presentation of the self is a prominent feature of the life of every politician. That conbstruction of the self, is even more blatant with female politicians who in their political journeys have to contend with the turbulence of cultural beliefs that have led to politics being a male dominated vocation. Using the idea of persona, a concept that explains the presentation of the self and "masks" that people wear to construct themselves, this study explored the personas that Margaret Nasha adopted in order to overcome male chauvinism, cultural huddles, and struggle for women empowerment that were inherent in Botswana politics. Specifically, this paper explored the construction of the self by Margaret Nasha in order to identify what personas she negotiated and constructed , and how she deployed and employed those personas in her political engagements to be able to become: a Member of Parliament (MP), Assistant Minister, Minister, and finally the Speaker of the Botswana Parliament. Using Document Analysis and Semi-Structured Interviewing methods, this study has unearthed that Margaret Nasha adopted multiple personas that enabled her to navigate the rough, too demanding and male dominated political terrain. Those personas enabled her to become one of the most decorated female politicians in Botswana. This study has also established that Margaret Nasha benefitted immensely from the political personas that were espoused by her political counterparts, most predominantly her male political colleagues

The Influence of School on the Choice of Language Learning Strategies in Botswana

This research seeks to examine the role that context or learning situation plays in strategy choice by comparing the strategy patterns of a private English medium secondary and a government secondary school in Botswana. More specifically, the main objectives of this study are to, firstly, investigate whether the ‘type of school' influences the choice of language learning strategies of its students: secondly, to find out whether private English medium secondary school students use more strategies than government secondary school students in Botswana; and, thirdly, to explore the role played by gender on the choice of language learning strategies. Form four students from one private English medium senior secondary school and one government senior secondary completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SIILL). The data was analysed using descriptive statistics to calculate means and standard deviations of strategies and inferential statistics such as ANOVA to establish the relationships between group and individual strategies. The findings of this study showed that the choice of strategies was not greatly influenced by the type of school from which the student came. However, this study found that government school students relied more on the use of dictionaries. On the other hand, private English medium students volunteered to look for conversation partners in order to get practice in speaking English. In relation to gender, the findings of this study confirmed other previous findings that female students use more language learning strategies than do male students. Keywords: language, learning, context, strategies, gender, influence MARANG Vol. 18 2008 pp. 15-2

The relationship between proficiency and self-efficacy beliefs of the University of Botswana students learning ELS

No Abstract. MARANG: Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 16 2006: pp. 121-13

Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies of University of Botswana English as Second Language students of different academic reading proficiencies

This study explored metacognitive awareness level of University of Botswana students in the Faculty of Social Sciences. It also considered the more recent research focusing on the role of metacognitive awareness in reading and how it relates to proficiency. The following questions are addressed: (1) What are the self-reported reading proficiencies of the University of Botswana students? (2) Are the University of Botswana students aware of their metacognitive reading strategies? (3) What kind of metacognitive reading strategies are frequently used? (4) Is there a difference in metacognitive awareness of reading strategies used by high- and low-proficiency students respectively? The Survey of Reading Strategies Questionnaire (SORS) developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002), and the semi-structured interview technique were used to collect data for this study. The findings indicate that University of Botswana English as Second Language (ESL) students reported high reading proficiency and high use of metacognitive strategies, but there was no vast difference in terms of proficiency. Students who reported their proficiency as high had an edge over low-proficiency ones mainly because their management and monitoring of reading was guided more by the goals they have set themselves than by the tests and assignments they were supposed to write