Learning in Mother Tongue: Language Preferences in South Africa

Published ArticleThis study is based on the findings conducted to investigate children and parents’ preferences of language of learning and teaching in grades 1 – 3. This study is a survey in which interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data from pupils, parents, school heads, Foundation Phase teachers and teachers in Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDs). The sample consisted of fifty learners, forty parents, thirty school heads, hundred and fifty Foundation Phase teachers and twenty ECDs. Respondents were purposively selected from metropolitan, township and rural schools in Motheo district in Free State province in South Africa. The findings were that learners and parents preferred English as the language of instruction at Foundation Phase. It is recommended that there is a need for attitude change and thus a serious campaign for all stakeholders to appreciate the role played by the mother tongue in the early years of schooling

Reading Skills Acquisition in English: A Comparison of Monolingualism and Bilingualism in Foundation Phase

Published ArticleThis study is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine acquisition of reading skills of monolingual English and bilingual Sesotho-English third grade learners by evaluating their phonological and reading skills. The sample consisted of 80 monolingual English and 80 bilingual Sesotho-English pupils in Motheo District, Free State. Tasks of Phonological Awareness (PA) were correlated with reading measures in English as an L1 and L2, but significant differences were found on all of the measures; implying overall support for use of PA measures for reading achievement in L1-English monolinguals and in the English (L2) of bilingual children, but with the understanding that L1 Sesotho spoken proficiency and L2 English-only instruction influences the underlying repertoire of PA skills used for L2 English reading acquisition, different from that of the L1 English reading acquisition process. The educational implications of these observations are discussed

Issues of Ambiguity in Sesotho: Meaning Retrieval

Published ArticleThis paper is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine issues of ambiguity in Sesotho. This is a qualitative study in which two experiments were conducted to collect data from 30 Sesotho native speakers. The respondents were purposefully selected from language users in Motheo district in South Africa. The results from these experiments showed that native speakers are able to distinguish a dominant meaning of a word from a subordinate meaning. They are able to assess the role of context in determining the meaning(s) of words. The implications of these findings are discussed. This paper provide an insight as to how context should be regarded as crucial in meaning retrieval. That in the absence of ‘context’, or if it is less restrictive, the most frequent occurring meaning will be activated

A Comparative Study of Requests amongst Second Language Speakers of English

Published ArticleThis paper is based on the findings from a study that investigated the analysis of requests produced by second language (L2) speakers (that is, 15 Afrikaans-speaking (L1) and 17 Sesotho-speaking (L1) learners) of English and how these requests are received by English first language (L1) speakers. The aim of this study is to compare the manners in which Afrikaans first language (L1) and Sesotho first language (L1) speakers make requests when speaking English. The Cross Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) framework of Blum-Kulka was utilized to analyze the requests made by these two groups. The outcomes revealed that Afrikaans speakers used fewer politeness and alert markers as compared to Sesotho speakers who utilized more. The implications of these findings are also discussed

The Interpretation of “Tlhahisoleseding” v/s “Tlhahisolesedi”

Published ArticleThis study seeks to question the continuous usage of the compound locative noun ‘tlhahisoleseding’ (information) as the basic noun. The paper argues that ‘tlhahisoleseding’ (information) is a locative noun (an adverb of place) derived from the noun ‘tlhahisolesedi’ (information) and should not be used as an equivalent term for information but ‘tlhahisolesedi’ instead. The basic principles of compound or complex nouns formation were scrutinised; and the implications of suffixal morpheme –eng/-ng in changing basic nouns into locative nouns. The suffixal uses of –eng/-ng in other Sesotho word categories is presented. The Theory of Government and Binding (GB) and its sub theories were applied. The outcomes of the study show that ‘tlhahisoleseding’ is a locative noun whereas ‘tlhahisolesedi’ is a basic compound noun which has a reading of information. The morphological analysis of these ‘alternating’ nouns shows that they produce different meaning in Sesotho sentences

The Interpretation of “Botlokotsebe” V/S “Bosenyi”

Published ArticleThe present paper is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine the interchangeable use of the concepts ‘botlokotsebe’ (mischief) and ‘bosenyi’ (crime) as an English equivalent term ‘crime’. This study is thus a survey in which questionnaires were used to collect data from 165 (of which 15 are experts in the language practice) Sesotho speakers. The respondents were intentionally selected from language users in Motheo and Thabo Mofutsanyana districts in South Africa. Documents from different domains (where these terms are appearing) were also analysed to assess the everyday use and usage of these terms in distinct contexts. The results show that ‘botlokotsebe’ cannot denote criminal activity but ‘bosenyi’ is the relevant equivalent term to describe any crime. The implications of these findings are discussed. The study also provides an insight as to how Sesotho language users should be careful and cautious in implementing certain terms without following relevant sources. It also proposed that ‘bosenyi’ be regarded as superordinate term referring to criminal activities

Verbal Alternations in Sesotho: A Case of Lexical Semantics

Published ArticleThis study discusses two types of verbal alternation in Sesothothat have the same syntactic structure, but differ in their semantic representations and in their lexical syntax structures. The first scenario: ‘Ntate o motsutse lenala la ntja’(Father extracted dog’s nail) alternating with ‘Ntja e motsutse lenala la yona’ (A dog extracted its nail). The alternating sentence can be interpreted as: ‘A dog had someone extract its nail’. The second scenario is: ‘Mong o robile molala wa Thabo’ (Someone broke Thabo’s neck) alternating with ‘Thabo o robile molala wa hae’(Thabo broke his neck). We can interpret the alternating sentence as: ‘Thabo is the possessor of the neck that suffers the break. Based on a more fine-grained approach of thematic roles and based on a semantic representation of the events encoded by these verbs the results show that these two forms have different interpretations due to different lexical semantic properties

The presentation of female characters in three of BM Khaketla's texts: A literary analysis

Published ArticleLike most literature around the world, African literature initially portrayed women poorly. This is in accordance with Kalu’s (2001:14) observation that the role of women in society is constantly questioned and ‘for centuries women have struggled to find their place’ in a world that is predominantly male oriented. Inaccurate and incomplete portrayals of female characters littered early African works. This may be largely due to the fact that African literature was first written by men, whose education was put above that of women. Educated men not only came from a patriarchal society but were educated by missionaries and colonisers, who also came from a patriarchal society. The article attempts to investigate the representation of women characters in BM Khaketla’s texts. His penchant to portray androcentric narratives is at variance with the female gender that is trivialised through patriarchy, culture, a gender socialisation process, marriage and domestic enslavement. The images of African women in these texts will be reassessed and redefined. The article concludes with some contemporary issues showing that women do have control over their own lives and are therefore the designers of their own future. There is room for contemplation of individual responsibility in women’s plight apart from their cultural classification and expectations

Parents and Educator’s Perceptions to Sex Education and HIV/AIDS in Primary Schools in the Motheo District

Published ArticleThis paper investigated the perceptions of parents and Foundation Phase educators on whether Foundation Phase learners have the rights to be educated about HIV/AIDS and sex education before they reach adolescent stage. Twenty Foundation Phase educators and twenty parents were sampled in this research. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to collect data. The findings showed that parents and educators agreed that children are prisoners of their own environment and recognize the right of the child to be protected. Support from different stakeholders and adequate materials should be provided for the successful implementation of the Life Skills programs. The implications of this study are discussed

An Analysis of the Sesotho Folktale Kgubetswana Le Talane Using the Binary Opposition Approach

Published ArticleThis study is based on an analysis of the Sesotho folktale Kgubetswana le Talane. The folktale is analysed using the theory of binary opposition. This theory is also consolidated with Vladimir Propp’s approach to folktales, which is used to analyse the meanings of symbols and character roles in the story. The implications of the differences and similarities of Kgubetswana le Talane with other folktales are discussed. Efforts to interpret the meanings of symbols in the story were also made by analysing the animal characters and examining these animal symbols through the understanding of the Basotho culture. The paradox between the protagonist and the antagonist is essential in the creation of the story and its themes