This research report engages with the concern that African learners attending English medium, multiracial schools are losing their proficiency in African languages. In so doing, the report explores the language practices of four multilingual Grade 9 learners at a desegregated private high school in Gauteng. In a school environment that does not overtly support the use of African languages, I explore the extent to which multilingual learners use African languages in the school context, to position themselves and others, as an identity building resource, and the extent to which the use of African languages is implicated in their identities. I also explore the possible influence of the learners’ cultural and ethnic backgrounds on their language practices, and related to this, the expression of their identities. I look at how their language practices help them shift identities with space and purpose, and the contradictions therein. The study draws on poststructuralist theories of language and identity (Weedon, 1997; Zegeye, 2001), in considering how language constitutes identity (Pennycook, 2004) and self and other ‘positioning’ (Davies and Harre`, 1990) It also draws on Bourdieu’s (1991) theorizing of language and power and language as a form of cultural capital. I draw on two traditions in qualitative research: case study and ethnography. In my analysis of the data, I argue that both African languages and English are important in learners’ identities. I indicate that through their language practices, the learners continue to position themselves in multiple and contradictory identities that continue to shift with context. I also argue that the learners’ proficiency in English has not led to them losing proficiency in their home languages, which are retained and used as a primary marker of ethnic identities and for ideas of ethnic purity. This purity is in turn not constructed in a staidly ‘traditional’ manner, but negotiated through joking and verbal competition. Notions of ethnic purity are also often discursively constructed through the use of English, illustrating the contradictory nature of identities. I also point out that some learners protected apartheid constructed ethnic compartmentalization by setting boundaries of belonging. I point to language being a site of struggle for power and contestation in an effort by the learners to resist linguistic assimilation.

This work is an essay on language, multilingualism, and identity. My purpose in this work was to try and explore how today's young people views in their native language, identity and language development in a multicultural society. I was also interested in how young people find a balance between two very different cultures. Since my work will be based on interviews, I have chosen a qualitative approach. My choice of the qualitative method is primarily related to my purpose. I chose the qualitative research because it goes in depth and try to describe why and how things happen. Qualitative research deal with, observational studies of various kinds, the interpretation of texts, interviews with individuals or focus groups In the interviews, the discussion is usually completely open and focuses on the participant's opinions, feelings, experiences, attitudes, etc. The purpose of qualitative research is to detect and identify the characteristics and nature drives with anyone. I also believe that the qualitative method leads me into close contact with my informants. My results tend to show that multilingual children and young people have a better ability to reach their states goals and think long term than those children who did not retain their mother tongue. The results of this work show that children who master their native language feel more comfortable in their surroundings, and the mother tongue has affected these young people's self-esteem and identity. The children who talked more than two languages had better language skills in their parents' native language than the adolescents who had difficulty mastering it.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2004. / Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). "National Centre for Research on Europe University of Canterbury" --T.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-276). Also available via the World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Most studies of pragmatic aspects of language learning have dealt mainly with two languages, a native language and a second or foreign language. None of these studies has investigated a multilingual situation where there is interaction among three different languages spoken by one person. Neither have they dealt with an African language as the first language.The present study was designed to discover the norms of the three languages under investigation and to see how people speaking a second and a foreign language, with different levels of fluency in each, can participate in the activity of the speech communities of the two languages without violating their socio-cultural norms, and what impact, if any, their knowledge of these languages has on each of the languages they speak.Data was elicited from monolingual English and French speakers and trilingual speakers native in Ciluba by written questionnaire, and from monolingual Ciluba speakers by oral interview. In addition, naturally occurring speech acts and TV dialogue were considered. It was found that for the speech acts of apologizing, complaining, and complimenting, Ciluba socio-cultural norms are different from those of English and French, which are similar to each other. In contrast to the socio-cultural norms of French and English, in Ciluba, social distance and relative power between the participants played an important role in deciding whether one of the three speech acts was to be performed or not. However, the results also revealed that, despite the difference in norms which exists between Ciluba and the other two languages, i.e., French and English, some subjects from the group of Ciluba monolingual speakers showed some similarities with the groups of French and English monolingual speakers in their responses to some items in the questionnaire. This deviation from the norms of their native Ciluba was hypothesized to be a result of their contact with the urban environment and its mixed culture.It was also discovered that the trilingual speakers (who were native in Ciluba) used in French and English pattern of address which is not used by native English and French speakers. / Department of English

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of English Language and Literature, March 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This thesis examines how students, aged 13-15, with a mother tongue other than Swedish, experience learning English in school. This is important since there is an increasing number of bilinguals and multilinguals learning English in schools in Sweden and around the world. Several concepts are presented and discussed that have been argued to pose barriers to bilingual and multilingual language learning. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with ten students, aged between 13 and 15. The empirical material shows that bilingual and multilingual students usually refer to Swedish, even when their mother-tongue may be a better reference for learning English. This is because teachers commonly refer to Swedish grammar rules in attempting to clarify English grammar rules and the textbooks used to support the learning process are in Swedish. This may pose problems for the learning process, particularly for students who are not proficient in Swedish. The study also highlights the importance of diagnosing bilingual students' L1 and L2 on a regular basis to see when the optimum time is to be exposed to English language learning rather than the current approach of immersing them in English learning without considering the other language learning processes the student may be engaged in. The study also found that students commonly perceived their English to be proficient even though they had poor grades. One possible reason for this is that they manage well in their day-to-day engagement with computer games, films and social media while formal English learning, including aspects such as grammar and writing, require a different type of application. Finally, the thesis describes how important high metalinguistic awareness is for language learning and it is suggested that additional research focuses on how this conceptual understanding can be translated in practitioner tools useful for teachers. Schools need to create an environment that values and supports multilingual students’ language competence and an early national diagnostic test would help to support those conditions.

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