Identity issues have been a sensitive area for many people who are classified as Coloured in South Africa. In the past, this could have been ascribed to the effects of apartheid ideology, which resulted in different responses from the people in this racial group: some accepted the inferior status in a fatalistic manner and made the best of a bad situation; others attempted to remove themselves from this group and passed over into the white population group on the basis of their similar physical attributes while others rejected the appellation by fighting against the derogatory and negative images that categorised them as Other, in an attempt to transform social prejudices. The identity issues of young Coloured learners at a high school in Pietermaritzburg came to my attention during a period when I attempted to establish a more meaningful relationship with the learners that I taught. Incorporating dialogue journals as a pedagogical tool in this respect, I unwittingly opened up Pandora's box. The many complexities of adolescent lives were openly revealed to me by the grade 9s and 10s in my care, in the hope that I would help them to resolve their problems. However, the issue that disconcerted me the most, was the Discourse of the home. I realised that a great disparity existed between the Discourses of the home and the school, and resolved to pursue this matter further during the course of the Masters degree that I had undertaken. Using a number of methods to obtain data, and applying a Foucauldian, social constructionist view of discourse to the analysis, I discovered that there were many factors that impacted on the learners' identities. The Discourses that were evident in the texts were often contradictory in nature, and the resultant inter-discursive conflict was a problem for many of the participants who battled to obtain acceptance into these Discourses. The Discourse of the home, the school, friends and gangs were the most prominent in the findings, and the participants' struggles to gain acceptance into them impacted on their sense of seltbood in positive and negative ways, which are revealed in the course of this dissertation. The findings are crucial for educators who agree with Gee (1990, 1996) that all good teaching is ultimately a moral act. English teachers, in particular, are given the responsibility of exposing their learners to different Discourses and their respective conventions in order to empower them. This can only be done by creatively using texts and producing appropriate learning materials which can be used to unpack and deconstruct the values and 'ways of being, saying and doing' (Gee 1990, 1996) that are implicit in these texts. On the one hand, this familiarises learners from Dominant Discourses with the practices of a variety of cultures and races and helps them to acknowledge and accept differences. On the other hand, it validates the identities of the learners who are part of the minority groups, preventing them from feeling marginalised and regarded as Other. Finally, I concluded that parents also need to take responsibility for their children constructing powerful or displaced identities. The Discourse of the home, in the final analysis, is the foundation of the children's lives and is crucial in apprenticing into, and gaining mastery over the dominant social Discourses. The concerns over Coloured identity are not yet laid to rest, even within the lives of our post-apartheid children: indeed, the struggle for identity is never truly complete since identity is always changing and transforming to accommodate newer and better ways of being. However, the educators, parents and others in authority can play a pivotal role in addressing these issues, helping to validate the very tenuous sense of selthood that many of these youngsters are holding on to. Nortje (1973) describes this vulnerability as 'growing between the wire and the wall' - a very difficult place to be, but not impossible to grow out of and flourish into subjects who revel in the constructions of multiple identities, enabling them to participate in the activities of their various Discourses in empowering and validating ways. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Bibliography: pages 70-80. / Language planning and language policy are currently being debated by both politicians and educationists. Language policy is seen by both Afrikaner nationalists and some progressive educationists as the key to political and economic power. This dissertation argues that language policy-making alone cannot achieve political goals. It also proposes that the most successful and most democratic policies are those which are "facilitatory and enabling rather than compulsory and punitive" (Fishman, 1991: 82) and which are differentiated to take account of existing sociolinguistic contexts. Chapter 1 begins by looking at definitions of language planning and language policy. Following this, it examines some of the terms that people use to speak about language and languages in language planning. The concern here is not with establishing fixed meanings but with how the use of these terms constructs certain "realities", for example relationships amongst languages. This chapter also looks at some of the proposed relations between language and "reality". Chapter 2 briefly outlines the history of language planning in South Africa, focusing on language medium of instruction in education. It examines the Nationalists' and the ANC's language policy positions. A postscript discusses the agreement reached in November 1993. Chapter 3 looks at the role of various non-governmental associations in the language policy debate. It also examines the phenomenon of white advocacy of increased status for African languages. Chapter 4 deals with the process of language planning. Who decides on language goals and through what mechanisms are goals promoted? Chapter 5 asks questions about what bilingual or multilingual medium of instruction models would mean in terms of classroom practice and underlines the lack of consensus in bilingual education research about universally applicable solutions. Chapter 6 summarises the main arguments covered in the dissertation and makes some general recommendations about language-in-education policy.

The main focus of this study is on the causes of the problems in English language proficiency of Grade Nine high-school learners in Asmara, Eritrea, with reference to their oral skills, particularly for academic purposes. This study examines the way Grade Nine English teachers in Eritrea do or do not promote the development of Grade Nine learners' oral proficiency. The researcher's focus is on how the teachers structure their teaching approach to English and the way students learn the language in the classroom. The researcher looked at the practices of English language teachers by conducting observations in English classes in two high schools in Eritrea for about a month. The researcher obtained rich data via different methods of data collection with respect to the learners' oral development. The criteria that the researcher adopted for observation were those of the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching Observation Scheme (COLT) (Allan, Frohlich, and Spada: 1983). In addition to the classroom observation, the researcher also conducted interviews with the teachers. Questionnaires were distributed to learners, after which focus-group discussions with selected students were conducted. The findings of this study are summarized as follows. Firstly, English teachers have teaching techniques which are ineffective in achieving the intended objective. They use the structural approach to language teaching, which is out-dated. Secondly, grammar is the main focus of lessons. Most of the students commented that more oral (speaking) classes should be included in the learning of language to achieve oral/aural proficiency. Teachers must therefore foster a supportive classroom environment and stress the importance of oral classes in language learning. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This dissertation reports on a study to determine the effects of using the Learn to Read: Reading to Learn approach (R2L), as developed by Dr David Rose, on BCom4 Access Level students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of the approach on learners‘ reading abilities and subsequent ability to write and structure texts according to the conventions required by the particular academic context (genre). Forty-six students who registered for the first year BCom4 Access English Language and Development Programme in 2011 participated. All these students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, where there has been a lack of both access to and a culture of reading. The intention of the intervention, if it proved successful in improving the academic literacy levels of participants, was to recommend the implementation of the R2L approach across the additional disciplines of BCom4. An Action Research approach was used, as well as a Case Study, beginning in February 2011 and ending November 2011. The participating students were taught to read selected texts and scaffolded in independent writing of the texts using the six stages of the R2L teaching cycle. Out of the original 46 students, ten were closely tracked. Various data were collected and analysed during the study period. The data from tracked students included pre- and post-intervention reading assessments; a questionnaire; assessments from written texts in the form of assignments, tests and examinations; and data from a focus group interview. Data collected from the entire study group includes written and verbal feedback concerning the effects of the approach. In addition, feedback from other lecturers within the BCom4 course was also recorded and described. The quantitative findings indicate that reading levels of the students increased between one and three levels over the study period, in keeping with the claims that R2L makes about its own efficacy. Comparisons were made of overall results for term and examination marks over both semesters. These consisted of written assignments and tests. The results showed that there was a general decrease in the marks achieved in the first semester of between 2 and 11% in semester scores and between 5 and 18% in the examination scores. This may have been due to the increase in the level difficulty of writing tasks throughout the year. The written assignments of the students also under-went detailed analysis, which indicated a significant improvement in writing at both the macro and micro levels of text, namely referencing, staging, grammar, spelling and punctuation. On a qualitative level, students and academic staff have noted beneficial effects of the approach in terms of the improvement of the reading and comprehension of texts in English as well as in related disciplines such as economics and mathematics. These findings correlate with R2L claims that it is able to improve the literacy performance of students between two and four levels across a one year period. This improvement is independent of the previous literacy history of students and can be applied across the curriculum, from foundational to tertiary education levels. The implications of these findings lead to recommendations that R2L continue to be developed and adapted for South African conditions and that it should be implemented across all modules within the Bcom4 Access programme at UKZN. In order to achieve its full potential in improving academic literacy, the R2L approach needs to function across the curriculum and not just remain in the domain of foundational or English language educators. The seriousness of the poor educational system in South Africa demands that all educators begin to see themselves as teachers of continued reading, whether their disciplines are Mathematics, Science or English language teaching. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.