A Research Report submitted to Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science. Johannesburg July 2016. / The study reported in this research report was motivated by the continuous poor performance by South African learners in physical sciences. This poor performance is evidenced by the below expectations year in, year out grade 12 physical science final examinations results. Several factors may be contributing to this poor performance such as lack of resources (both financial and human resources), overcrowding, ineffective teaching methods, and the language of teaching and learning. The assertion for this study was that teacher’s oral classroom instructional language impacts on learning of classroom science. The study, hence investigated how South African physical science teachers use their oral instructional language to enhance the understanding of science concepts. The raw data was gathered through naturalistic observation and video recording of physical science lessons by two participant South African physical science teachers drawn from two different high schools located in the Gauteng Province. The two school were chosen on the basis of their matric results that are also below average. Follow up educator interviews were also conducted and video recorded. The videos of the lesson observations and educator interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed. The study revealed that the participant educators were not explaining the meanings of all technical and non-technical words that were used in the observed lessons. Teachers did not distinguish between the everyday meanings and scientific meanings of non-technical words used. Participant educators did not seek and make use of the participant learners’ pre-instructional meanings of non-technical words to help learners understand better the new scientific meanings of these words. One of the participant educators did not engage learners in the ongoing lesson talk. The findings of this study will sensitise physical science teachers to important role of their oral instructional language to successful learning of science concepts in the classroom. This might help in ensuring science teachers use their oral instructional language effectively to enhance understanding of science concepts, by adopting teaching approaches that facilitate shared meanings of vocabulary used in science classrooms. Key words: technical and non-technical words, instructional language, science language. / LG2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Science Education May 2016 / Studies have revealed that the teacher’s science classroom language plays a critical role in learners’ understanding of science concepts. The quality of the teacher’s science language impacts on the quality of learning. Learners encounter difficulties with the science classroom language irrespective of whether they are first or second language speakers of the language of instruction. The difficulty of the science language is mainly due to words having different meanings in science as compared to their everyday meanings, and also the foreignness of some science words (Oyoo, 2012). The language in science is therefore distinct from everyday language. In the South African context, the strategies to improve the quality of science education in secondary schools have not included the language. This study focus on the quality of the teachers’ science language in physical science classrooms. In this study data was collected by means of lesson observations of participant teachers followed by interview of one of the participant teacher. Two teachers participated in the study, and both teachers were from the same school. One teacher was teaching grade 10 physical science and the other teacher was teaching grade 11 physical science. Content analysis was used to analyse both lesson observation and interview transcripts. The findings from the lesson observation revealed that participant teachers overlooked explanation of some technical words as well as some non-technical words used in science context. The interview with one of the teachers showed an unawareness of the difficulty of the science language as he pointed that there was little difference between the science language and everyday language. The study recommends that there should be teacher development programmes dealing specifically with the language problem in science. / M T 2016

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg March 2017 / In South Africa there are eleven official languages and every citizen has a right to receive education in any of these languages. Nevertheless, the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) in most schools is either English or Afrikaans. Of the two languages English is more dominant because it is a global language and is preferred by parents. In a bid to embrace the call by UNSESCO (2007) which encourages science learning and teaching to be done in the mother tongue, South Africa implemented the teaching of science in indigenous languages in the lower grades in primary (1-3). Nonetheless, this endeavor has its merits and demerits. In South African schools most teachers and learners are English Second Language speakers. This study investigated the South African life sciences teachers’ use of science classroom language (technical and non-technical components) when teaching evolution to grade 12 learners in public schools. The primary objective of this study was to establish South Africa’s life sciences teachers’ awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language towards suggesting strategies that they use to assist learners to better understand the science language. Three grade 12 life sciences teachers from two public schools in Johannesburg were observed and audio recorded three times while teaching evolution. A follow-up interview with each teacher was conducted to obtain clarity on language related issues that arose from the observations. As a result, the empirical data consisted of nine recorded lessons and accompanying field notes for each lesson as well as three recorded interviews. The interviews and the field notes were analysed using an interpretive approach whilst a strategy known as content analysis was used to analyse classroom observations so as to conclude on the teachers’ preferred approach to language use during teaching. From the findings, it can be suggested that South African life sciences teachers who participated in this study employed a variety of strategies to present technical terms to their learners but lacked explicit awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language. / MT 2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Science Education, University of the Witwatersrand. November 5, 2016. / A debate in South Africa on learner performance in Physical Science inevitably leads to the issue of proficiency in the language of learning and teaching (LoLT). The researcher is of the opinion that general understanding of the meaning of proficiency in LoLT usually refers to the ability to read and write well in that language which happens to be English in the majority of South African high schools. As low as 7% of the South African school going population regard themselves as English speaking (Department of Basic Education, 2010). The status of English as lingua franca has caused parents and teachers to believe that it is in the interest of learners to be taught in English (Wildsmith-Cromarty & Gordon, 2009). This view resulted that the debate on proficiency includes amongst others, opinions of those who propagate home language teaching and those who call for English as the preferred medium of instruction. This research contributes to the debate on proficiency by pointing to the important contribution that the science teacher can make to enculturate learners into the language of school science. The fact that both English First Additional Language learners (EFALs) as well as English Home Language learners (EHLs) struggle to understand Physical Science (Probyn, 2015) is indicative of the important role that the science teacher can play in assisting learners to understand Physical Science. In lieu of this, teachers are encouraged to focus on vocabulary building as well as the manner in which LoLT is employed to construe science knowledge. This is a functional view of language, namely, that language is used to convey a particular meaning hence the language differs across registers. Michael Halliday (1993) is credited for the development of a systemic functional linguistic view on language. This study analysed two teachers’ classroom languages from a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) perspective with specific emphasis on the register variables field and mode. Results show that LoLT was perceived as transparent when learners are EHLs and considered a barrier to learning Physical Science if learners are EFALs. In both cases, teachers seemed unable to enculturate learners into the language of school science when used to convey science meaning. An absence of that focus is what Bernstein called an “invisible pedagogy / TG2017

Much of what technical communicators know about language use is based on spoken or written communication; however, newer media complicate those boundaries. Spoken and written language differ primarily in the use of metadiscourse, language that aids interpretation of propositions. While research shows that metadiscourse aids in retention and attitude change in both print and speech, none exists to show whether this is true in a medium like the Internet, which has qualities of both. Technical communicators need this information because they must compose similar messages in several media: advertising, system help, business training, and health education are commonly delivered in multimedia formats, primarily in print and the Internet.Most critical of these messages is health education, in which technical communicators must make treatment accessible to patients at home. Not only does this task require clear communication, but also it requires convincing patients to attend to the information, have positive attitudes about illness or self-care, and remember the information-these are the ingredients needed for learning. With good reason, healthcare providers are investing many resources into Internet health education, but technical communicators lack guidance on effective use of the medium. Research in this area focuses on measuring outcomes of existing programs rather than on systematically identifying what works and why.The present study examined language use (i.e., metadiscourse) and medium (i.e., Internet) in health education about stress management. This study reviews existing research in these areas and posits persuasion and social influence theory as a basis for understanding the persuasive abilities of health educational materials, or the abilities of the materials to convince patients to learn health information, change attitudes about illness and treatment, and change health-related behaviors.To test this theory, 120 students from a Southern university voluntarily read interventions developed to isolate the effects of metadiscourse and media on cognitive processing, attitudes, behavior intentions, and knowledge. Repeated measure multivariate analyses revealed that regardless of metadiscourse or medium, participants' knowledge about stress management increased and was maintained over time; however, favorable attitudes were not maintained over time. Results indicate that peripheral rather than central route persuasion occurred, and, therefore, knowledge gains are likely to be short-term. Suggestions for future research are provided and recommendations for theoretical development are discussed. / Department of English

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examined the effect of language typically used on social network sites such as Facebook (referred to here as “Facebook-speak”) on the written academic work of a selected group of high school learners. The general aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of access to Facebook and thus of exposure to Facebook-speak amongst high school learners, and to establish whether any evidence of Facebook-speak features are identified in the written academic work of these learners. Eighty-eight learners from an English-Afrikaans dual medium school in a middle class region in the Western Cape participated in the study. The participants included 44 Afrikaans medium learners and 44 English medium learners of which 51 were in grade 8 and 37 were in grade 9. Questionnaires were completed by the learner participants to determine frequency and volume of Facebook use and self-reported recognition of features of Facebook-speak. Learners also completed a written exercise attached to the questionnaires for the purposes of discovering what counts as Facebook-speak features. The specific features the study anticipated were (deliberate) spelling errors, unconventional punctuation features, over-punctuation, the exclusion of functional words, the excessive use of abbreviations and acronyms and the incorporation of emoticons in written academic work. Additional features identified were the nonconventional use of tenses and sentence structure. The study hypothesised that high exposure to Facebook-speak and limited exposure to formal academic writing have an effect on the academic work of the learners. I considered a claim that the effects of Facebook-speak would be traceable in the schoolwork of the learners. The study therefore compared the actual academic marks the learner participants achieved in one semester for two of their subjects, namely their First Additional Language and History, and related these marks to questionnaire data. I assumed that in the language subject there would be more attention to aspects of grammar and writing, so that the effects of Facebook-speak were more likely to be seen in their History – and also reflected in their marks, i.e. I assumed weak writing skills would be more evident in History than in a language subject, and that weaker writing correlates with poorer marks. Five teacher participants from the same school also completed questionnaires regarding the visible features of Facebook-speak in the learners written work. They commented on new digital literacies and their impact on learners written academic work in an open-ended question put to them in the questionnaire. The results of the study indicate that learner-participants are ardent users of the social utility Facebook and that socio- economic and racial variables do not factor significantly into Facebook accessibility. The learners believe that Facebook does not have any negative impact on their History work. The data I worked with pointed to the contrary. The History marks were in fact lower than the First Additional marks across both grades and all the classes. This could be attributed (at least in part) to a lack of dedicated attention to grammaticality and writing style in the History classroom and an emphasis on factual correctness instead. Although they did not believe Facebook-interaction translated into weaker marks, almost half of the learners stated that Facebook does indeed have an impact on their written work. In considering the possible relation between Facebook-speak and academic performance, the study found that the Afrikaans L1 learners achieved lower marks in both their First Additional language (their L2) and History in comparison to the English L1 learners using the same measures. This possibly indicates not only high exposure to Facebook-speak, but also limited exposure to standardised forms of Afrikaans as it is used in other genres. The written exercise completed by the learners accounted for the majority of data that substantiated the hypothesis that Facebook-speak impacts the written academic work of learners at school. The Afrikaans medium learners scored weaker marks than the English medium participants. The overall non-formal language features were significantly more in the exercises written by Afrikaans medium learners. The abundance of non-formal language features represented in the learner participants’ written work can be related to any of a number of variables. Negative perceptions among teachers and learners regarding multimodalities and digital literacies do not allow the development of curricula or learning materials which integrate such new literacies in the learning process. The reality that learners’ world is one where digital communication and short messaging is likely to increase rather than disappear, obliges a search for effective ways of incorporating such real world uses of language into educational structures in a thorough and integrative way. Until tried and tested methods have been achieved, traditional literacies appear not to be developing, while the notion of new literacies is still on the backburner in South African schools. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die uitwerking van tipiese sosialenetwerk-taal soos die van Facebook (sogenaamde Facebook-speak) op die geskrewe akademiese werk van ‘n uitgesoekte groep hoërskoolleerders. Die Algemene oogmerk van die studie was om die heersende toegang tot Facebook en dus die blootstelling aan Facebook-speak van die leerders te bepaal en om vas te stel of daar getuienis van kenmerkende Facebook- speak in die geskrewe akadiemiese werk van hierdie leerders is. Agt-en-tagtig leerders van ‘n Engels-Afrikaans dubbelmediumskool in ‘n middelklas-omgewing in die Wes-Kaap het aan die studie deelgeneem. Die deelnemers het ingesluit 44 Afrikaansmedium-leerders en 44 Engelsmedium-leerders. Hiervan was 51 in graad 8 en 37 in graad 9. Die leerder-deelnemers het vraelyste voltooi om aan te toon wat die frekwensie en omvang van hul Facebook-gebruik was. Hulle eie herkenning van aspekte van Facebook- speak is ook getoets. ‘n Geskrewe oefening is by die vraelys aangeheg sodat die leerders self kon aandui wat hulle as kenmerke van Facebook- speak beskou. Die spesifieke kenmerke wat die studie voorsien het, was (doelbewuste) spelfoute, onkonvensionele punktuasie, oorpunktuasie, die uitsluiting van funksionele woorde, die oormatige gebruik van afkortings en akronieme en die insluiting van ikone vir emosies (sg “smileys”) in geskrewe akademiese werk. Bykomstige kenmerke wat geidentifiseer is, was die onkonvensionele gebruik van grammatikale tydsaanduidings en sinstruktuur. Die studie het veronderstel dat die hoë blootstelling aan Facebook- speak en die beperkte blootstelling aan formele akademiese skryfwerk ‘n uitwerking op die akademiese werk van leerders sou hê. ‘n Aanspraak dat die uitwerking van Facebook-spraak naspeurbaar in die skoolwerk van leerders sou wees, is ondersoek. Die studie het dus die werklike akademiese punte van die leerders in een semester in twee van hul vakke, naamlik Eerste Addisionele Taal, en Geskiedenis, in verband gebring met die vraelys-data. Die ondersoeker het veronderstel dat in die taalvak daar meer aandag aan aspekte van grammatika en skryfwerk gegee sou word, sodat die uitwerking van Facebook-speak in Geskiedenis meer waarskynlik merkbaar sou wees en dus ook uit hulle punte vir die onderskeie vakke sou blyk. Die veronderstelling was dat swak skryfvaardighede duideliker na vore sou kom in Geskiedenis as in ‘n taalvak, en dat swakker taalvaardighede met laer punte sou korreleer. Vyf onderwyser-deelnemers van dieselfde skool het ook ‘n vraelys voltooi oor die sigbare kenmerke van Facebook- speak in die leerders se geskrewe werk. In ‘n oopvraag-afdeling van die vraelys het hulle ook kommentaar gelewer oor digitale geletterdheid en die impak daarvan op leerders se geskrewe akademiese werk. Die studie laat blyk dat die leerder-deelnemers ywerige gebruikers van die Facebook-diens is en dat sosio-ekonomiese en rasse-veranderlikes geen beduidende rol speel in Facebook-toegang nie. Die leerders meen dat Facebook geen negatiewe uitwerking op hul Geskiedenis-werk het nie. Die data dui egter op die teendeel. Die Geskiedenispunte was inderdaad laer as die Eerste Addisionele Taal-punte vir beide graad-groepe en al die klasse. Dit kan dalk deels toegeskryf word aan ‘n gebrek aan doelgerigte aandag aan grammatikaliteit en skryfstyl in die Geskiedenis-klaskamers en ‘n groter klem op feitelike korrektheid. Ofskoon die leerders gemeen het hulle Facebook-interaksie lei nie tot swakker punte nie, het byna die helfte van hulle beweer dat Facebook inderdaad ‘n uitwerking op hulle geskrewe werk het. By die oorweging van die moontlike verhouding tussen Facebook-speak en akademiese prestasie, bevind die studie dat die Afrikaans L1-leerders laer punte gekry het in beide hul Eerste Addisionele Taal (hulle L2) en Geskiedenis vergeleke met die Engels L1-leerders. Dit dui moontlik op ‘n hoë blootstelling aan Facebook- speak onder die Afrikaanse leerders, maar ook beperkte blootstelling aan gestandaardiseerde vorme van Afrikaans soos dit voorkom in ander genres. Die geskrewe oefening het die meeste data opgelewer ter ondersteuning van die hipotese dat Facebook- speak ‘n uitwerking het op die geskrewe akademiese werk van skoolleerders. Die Afrikaansmedium-leerders het laer punte gekry as hulle Engelsmedium eweknieë. Die oorheersende nie-formele taalkenmerke was beduidend meer aanwesig in die oefeninge wat deur die Afrikaansmedium leerders geskryf is. Die oormaat nie-formele taalkenmerke wat in die leerder-deelnemers se geskrewe werk voorkom kan met verskeie veranderlikes in verband gestel word. Negatiewe persepsies onder onderwysers en leerders rakends multimodaliteit en digitale geletterdheid laat waarskynlik nie toe vir ontwikkeling van kurrikula of leermateriaal wat aansluit by nuwe geletterdheidsvorme in die leerproses nie. Die werklikheid dat die leerder in ‘n wêreld leef waar digitale kommunikasie en kortboodskap-flitse waarskynlik eerder gaan toeneem as gaan verdwyn, maak dit belangrik dat daar gesoek word na doeltreffende maniere waarop sulke gebruike van taal in die regte wêreld deeglik in die onderwysstrukture geintegreer sal word. Terwyl beproefde en bewese metodes nog buite bereik is en tradisionele geletterdheid skynbaar nie ontwikkel nie, lyk dit asof die idee van nuwe geletterdhede in Suid-Afrikaanse skole nog net toekomsmusiek is.

(M. A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / Ngudo ino yo sumbedza uri ho shumiswa mirero na maidioma manzhi kha u bvukulula vhuvha na nzulele ya vhafumakadzi kha maṅwalwa a Ṋetshivhuyu, M.J. na Sigogo, N.E. Ngudo yo tumbula uri kanzhi mirero na maidioma zwi shumiswa kha u tsikeledza vhafumakadzi fhethu hunzhi: mishumoni, mbinganoni, lufunoni na kha mavhusele. Tsikeledzo iyi i vha ya muhumbulo khathihi na ya ṋamani. Naho zwo ralo, ngudo yo wana uri hu na huṅwe hu si gathi hune mirero na maidioma zwa ṱuṱuwedza vhutshilo havhuḓi kha vhafumakadzi. Magumoni azwo, ngudo i themendela uri vhafumakadzi vha fanela u farwa zwavhuḓi, nge vha vha vhathu u fana na vhanna.

This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.

This study examines the role of compliment topic by analyzing compliment responses by Japanese and American college students. Compliment responses can be seen as solutions for maintaining a balance between (1) a preference to avoid self-praise and (2) a preference to accept or agree with the compliment (Pomerantz 1978). Building on studies showing that response strategies can be influenced by compliment content and context, the study analyzed responses to compliments on ability, achievement, belongings, appearance, and personal characteristics by determining the subjects' choice of response strategy--categorized as acceptance, avoidance, or rejection--for each compliment topic. Compliment responses were elicited in a recorded, free-flowing conversation by the researcher or the English-speaking research assistant's issuing of compliments on traits of the participants based on information collected prior to the conversation by e-mail. Compliments were subtly dispersed throughout the conversation. Each compliment response was coded according to whether the overall response accepted, avoided, or rejected the credit attributed by the compliment, while the component parts of each response were coded by semantic formulas. The American group accepted compliments more often than the Japanese group and the Japanese group avoided and rejected compliments more often than the English group. But, contrary to a commonly held belief, the Japanese speakers did not overwhelmingly reject compliments, and instead used all three response types with a substantial frequency. The American participants overwhelmingly accepted compliments and almost never rejected compliments, but avoidance strategies were also commonly observed and should not be overlooked in the discussion of American English compliment response patterns. Furthermore, the study found relations between the content and structure of compliment responses and the type of compliment topic. Overall response strategies varied relative to compliment topic, as compliments on personal appearance were overwhelmingly rejected or avoided by both groups while those on belongings were largely accepted by both groups. Some response structures were also unique to a type of compliment topic, including the use of "wa" as a limit on the credit accepted in response to compliments on achievements or the use of "`a' + gratitude" as a means of demonstrating modesty in response to compliments on belongings.

This study was an exploration of how language is managed in the subordinate courts of Machakos County in Kenya. It was an investigation into the language policy used in the courts, and whether the languages serve the needs, uses and preferences of the people. Language use in Kenya is constitutional (The Constitution of Kenya, 2010).The national language of the Republic of Kenya is Kiswahili and its official languages are English and Kiswahili. The constitution shall protect and promote indigenous languages of the people of Kenya. The constitution further indicates that there shall be general provisions to the Bill of Rights, fundamental freedoms, and that the authority of courts shall uphold and enforce the Bill of Rights. (The Kenya Constitution, 2010, (Cap 4, entitled “The Bill of Rights” has subcategories ranging from Part 1 to Part 5. Part 1 elaborates on general provisions relating to the Bill of Rights, Part 2 on Rights and fundamental freedoms, Part 3 on specific application of Rights, Part 4 on state of emergency and Part 5 on Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission). The study attempts to establish whether or not the subordinate courts adhere to these provisions, which policy makers need to adhere to. This research further explores solutions to the problem of communication during court proceedings. Its aim was to advance scientific information that would inform the formulation of a more accommodating language policy in Subordinate Courts. The background information and the history of the courts language gave an overview of how language in subordinate courts is used according to various scholars. The evaluation of how language is used during court proceedings shed light on the people‟s language needs, uses and preferences. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt et Phil. (Linguistics)