We provide a tool for communicating about insects in isiZulu to facilitate research and knowledge sharing in the fields of indigenous knowledge, cultural entomology, environmental education and community extensioninvolving isiZulu speakers. A total of 213 different names for 64 insect specimens were encountered among a sample of 67 respondents in 11 communities distributed across the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This list includes 93 names that can be considered core isiZulu vocabulary and which are widely used to identify insects that are agriculturally, medically, domestically, culturally or ecologically common or significant. Substantial variation was found regarding the names for particular insects, especially between regions, suggesting dialectal differences between isiZulu speakers. Grammatical and social variation in names was also recorded. This study highlights interdisciplinary teamwork in the field of indigenous knowledge research and the influences affecting the standardisation of South African languages for technical and scientific work.

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / In June 1991 Parliament passed the following amendment to paragraph (b) of Section 3 of Act 90 of 1979: that the language or languages to be used as the medium of instruction at a school and the extent and duration of such use shall be determined by the Minister after consultation with the parents of pupils enrolled at that school, which consultation shall take place in the manner as prescribed. Act 90 of 1979 is the Education and Training act which legislates for black education under the control of the Department of Education and Training. The education epartments in the self-governing states tend to align themselves with DET policy, but the TBVC states have acted independently even though there have been correspondences between their policies and the DET's which might suggest otherwise. The amendment replaces the following wording of paragraph (b): that the universally accepted principle of mother-tongue instruction be observed: Provided that this principle shall be applied at least up to and including Standard two: Provided further that the wishes of the parents shall be taken into consideration in the application of this principle after Standard two, and also in the choice of one of the official languages as the medium of instruction where the mother tongue cannot be used as the medium of instruction after Standard two. The essential difference between the two is that the original wording prohibited the use of any medium other than the mother tongue before Standard 3 whereas the amendment does not. Both versions make prov1s1on for the wishes of parents to influence but not actually to determine language policy: the Minister reserves the right to do that. The 1991 amendment legislates in favour of the options listed in section 7.11 of the White Paper on the Provision of Education in the Republic of South Africa of 1983 quoted below, which in turn quotes at length from the report of the Education Working Party of the HSRC De Lange Commission. Paragraphs (a) to (e) acknowledge the desirability of mother tongue instruction and of developing African languages accordingly, but paragraphs (f) and (g) imply that the then current language medium policy of mother tongue for at least the first four years was not necessarily the best one, and that "pragmatic approaches to the language medium problem include the use of English from Sub A".

D. Ed. (Education) / In this study two main educational issues are examined, namely language instruction and learning as well as classroom culture. The problems were not strictly formulated as research questions at the outset, but evolved partly during the pilot study and the fieldwork stage. The fragile character of South African education in this time of major transformation and socio-educational reconstruction, was the main impetus for this research. It was decided to focus on one educational micro-organism in order to try and sense if there were some noteworthy issues which could be reflected for generalization or subsequent research purposes. It was argued that the ecological and temporal validity of an extended emic study would reveal aspects of language Pedagogy, contextualized in a single classroom culture, which could potentially be of benefit to the wider educational community. The study was undertaken with the aim of giving a thick ethnographic description of classroom life, concentrating on linguistic factors. Two standard six English classes were observed for six months each, the one following upon the other. The same teacher taught the two comparable classes in which one major pattern emerged during the observation, namely the limited Cognitive, Academic Language proficiency (CALP) of most pupils.The choice of site was motivated by the fact that newly desegregated schools could perhaps benefit from a description (and interpretation) of English classroom life at an open school which has been functioning successfully for a number of years. During the pilot study it was presupposed that linguistic phenomena surfacing in a contemporary language classroom would be supported by the theory of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) , which 'is theoretically based on the theory of language acquisition and especially Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and which is the dominant second language teaching theory of the day. It became clear during the pilot study that a baseline of CLT would serve a valid purpose in that the theory could be applied and, to a limited degree, even assessed at this single site, but that the data' which would be forthcoming would be spread somewhat wider than the theory of CLT. Nevertheless, it was decided to broadly limit the theory pertaining to language didactics to CLT and SLA, as the interpretation of data would possibly reflect sufficiently strongly in the theoretical framework in these two domains. In addition to a framework from theory in Linguistics, a construction of the theory of Multicultural Education was also included. The main tenets of Multicultural Education, the most important one being equality of educational opportunity, were then woven into the theoretical unit referred to as "language classroom at an urban multicultural school". This unit included a brief foray into roleplay as language teaching tool. The third part of the theoretical scaffold consisted of an exploration of qualitative research methodology, specifically ethnography. As this study is to some degree also a study in qualitative methodology which is not widely used in some research milieus in South Africa, it is regarded as an important part of the theoretical framework.

In 2009, of the 68,129 learners who wrote Matric, only 34,731 learners passed. In 2010, there was an increase in the provincial pass rate causing much excitement across the board. The reality was that of the 64,090 learners who wrote, only 37,345 learners passed. In 2010, a result below 50% was recorded for Mathematics and Physical Science nationally (DBE; 2011). Despite efforts by the Education Department to support MSTE; establishing Mathematics and Science schools, NGOs and HEIs giving extra Mathematics and Science support to students and teachers, the offering of Saturday classes and incubation camps, we still get minimal return on investment. This thesis analyses these results against the backdrop of language planning theory, particularly language-in-education policies, pre and post-apartheid. The correlation between language medium and academic performance in language (LoLT) and Mathematics of Grade 12 learners is explored. Worldwide the issue of low achievement in Mathematics by ESL students is of great concern (Cuevas, 1984). The 2004 Systemic Evaluation sample of learners was in Grade 6 then; in 2010 they wrote Grade 12. The purpose of the systemic evaluation was to provide an insight into the levels of learner performance in Maths, Natural Science and LoLT in Grade 6 (IPSER, 2006). A major finding of the IPSER was that language was an important factor related to learner achievement. A major disparity was observed in this research, that although the Eastern Cape performed below the national average in the three subjects evaluated, the learners for whom LoLT was the same as their home language obtained scores that were significantly higher than those whose home language was different from the LoLT. The provincial average for Mathematics was 23.40% compared to the national average of 27.80%. For LoLT the province scored 30.16 against the national score of 38.03%. Of interest in this study is a juxtaposition of the Matric results of this same group of learners in 2010 and see whether issues that came up then are still significant in mitigating achievement in Mathematics and Language (LoLT). Some research studies have been conducted in South Africa (Adler, 1998; Setati, 1996-2002; Moloi, 2006) identifying the vital role language plays in learning Mathematics, especially for English L2 learners. Building on research and findings of academics such as the late Alexander, Ramani, Joseph, Hendricks, Heugh, Dalvit, Webb and Murray, this thesis suggests that a mother-tongue-based-bilingual approach to education should be adopted as a matter of urgency

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / El propósito del presente estudio es cultivar un entendimiento avanzado de este proceso de construcción identitaria por medio del análisis de un cuestionario diseñado para explorar las relaciones complicadas entre el estudio de lenguas extranjeras, la cultura y la identidad. Específicamente, examinaré los efectos del componente cultural en sus diversas manifestaciones durante el estudio de una lengua extranjera para acertar cómo interactúan varias experiencias culturales en la creación de una identidad L2, qué efectos tienen ciertas experiencias en esta construcción o renegociación identitaria y cuáles son las experiencias culturales que más influyen y contribuyen a la creación de una identidad L2. Además, exploraré las varias combinaciones de tales experiencias culturales para relacionarlas con la fuerza y la profundidad de la identidad L2 construida, estableciendo así patrones preestablecidos si los resultados del cuestionario revelan correlaciones claras. Este proceso de crear, reconstruir y renegociar una identidad L2 por medio de un conjunto de experiencias de exposición cultural es un fenómeno válido con importantes implicaciones pedagógicas tanto para la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras como para el campo de la adquisición de segundas lenguas. Es mi creencia que las conclusiones del presente estudio serán imprescindibles para la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras, puesto que los patrones revelados por el cuestionario podrían influir la formación de nuevos currículos y programas de estudio orientados más a la enseñanza—y exposición—de la cultura de la lengua meta. Con el propósito de ayudar con el proceso de renegociación identitaria ya establecido en la metodología de enseñanza, estos nuevos currículos podrían incorporar los componentes culturales más efectivos en la construcción de una identidad L2. Por extensión, la implementación de estos nuevos programas de estudio quizá cambiará la manera en la que los estudiantes se acerquen al estudio lingüístico y facilitará el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras tanto en el aula como en el extranjero, logrando de este modo mejores resultados y la creación exitosa de más hablantes proficientes.