<p>In the majority of the schools in South Africa (SA), learners commence education in English. This English milieu poses a considerable challenge for English second-language speakers. In an attempt to bridge the gap between English as the main medium of instruction and the nine indigenous languages of the country and assist with the implementation of mother-tongue based bilingual education, this study focuses on the cross-validation of a monolingual English test used in the assessment of multilingual or bilingual learners in the South African context. This test, namely the Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS), is extensively used in the United States in Additive Bilingual Education in the country. The present study is a substudy of a broader study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into SA English and Xhosa. For this specific sub-study, the researcher was interested in investigating the scalar equivalence of the adapted English version of the Verbal Analogies (VA) subscale of the WMLS across English first-language speakers and Xhosa first-language speakers. This was achieved by utilising differential item functioning (DIF) and construct bias statistical techniques. The Mantel-Haenszel DIF detection method was employed to detect DIF, while construct equivalence was examined by means of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilising an a priori two-factor structure. The Tucker&rsquo / s phi coefficient was used to assess the congruence of the construct across the two language groups</p>

This qualitative case study was carried out in the School of Education, Edgewood Campus, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. The study had two objectives: firstly, to understand lecturers’ experiences of how first year student-teachers’ abilities in the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) affect their learning outcomes. Secondly, to explore lecturers’ evaluations of the academic support that is available on the Edgewood Campus to improve students’ LoLT abilities. Data were collected from consenting participants through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Three concepts comprised the framework informing the analysis of data: inclusive education, epistemological access and the concept of the Whole School approach to the development of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). The findings indicate that students with limited proficiency in the LoLT tend to withdraw from participating in class discussions; often refrain from seeking lecturer assistance; are likely to plagiarise during assignments; and tend to perform poorly in examinations. Overall, the six participants found support provided to students with limited English language proficiency on the Edgewood Campus of UKZN to be negatively affected by an unplanned mass-enrolment. The participants also argue that the designated support is insufficient because it is not cross disciplinary and it is not sustained beyond the first year of study. / M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

Changing demographics impact our schools as children come from more linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. The various social, cultural, and economic backgrounds of the students affect their early language learning experiences which expose them to the academic language needed to succeed in school. Teachers can help students acquire academic language by introducing words that are within their Zone of Proximal Development and increasing exposure to and use of academic language. This study investigated the effects of increasing structured activities for students to orally interact with informational text on their scientific academic language development and comprehension of expository text. The Academic Text Talk activities, designed to scaffold verbalization of new words and ideas, included discussion, retelling, games, and sentence walls. This study also evaluated if there were differences in scientific language proficiency and comprehension between boys and girls, and between English language learners and native English speakers. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the relationship between increasing students’ oral practice with academic language and their academic language proficiency. Second graders (n = 91) from an urban public school participated in two science units over an 8 week period and were pre and post tested using the Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey-Revised and vocabulary tests from the National Energy Education Project. Analysis of covariance was performed on the pre to post scores by treatment group to determine differences in academic language proficiency for students taught using Academic Text Talk compared to students taught using a text-centered method, using the initial Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading test as a covariate. Students taught using Academic Text Talk multimodal strategies showed significantly greater increases in their pre to posttest means on the Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey-Revised Oral Language Totals and National Energy Education Development Project Vocabulary tests than students taught using the text-centered method, ps < .05. Boys did not show significantly greater increases than girls, nor did English language learners show significantly greater increases than the native English speakers. This study informs the field of reading research by evaluating the effectiveness of a multimodal combination of strategies emphasizing discourse to build academic language.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der für die allgemeine Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen charakteristische Bereich der figurativen Verben im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Ansatzes unter Verwendung korpuslinguistischer Methoden empirisch erfasst und beschrieben. Auf der Grundlage dieser Untersuchung wird ein integrativer Ansatz zur Erfassung und Beschreibung zentraler Wortschatzbereiche der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache entwickelt. Das so gewonnene integrative Beschreibungsmodell verbindet die Perspektiven bisheriger quantitativ-bestandsbezogener und bedeutungsorientiert-einheitenbezogener Ansätze und bezieht darüber hinaus sowohl formale als auch inhaltlich-funktionale Aspekte als Gliederungsprinzipien für die zu beschreibenden Wortschatzbereiche mit ein. Methodisch zeichnet es sich durch das Ineinandergreifen von korpusgesteuertem und korpusbasiertem Vorgehen aus. Die Ausarbeitung der Komponenten des Beschreibungsmodells wird auf mehreren Ebenen vorgelegt: Diese werden im ersten Kapitel zunächst ausgehend von einer Bestandsaufnahme vorliegender Arbeiten zur Beschreibung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes formuliert. Im zweiten Kapitel werden sie im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Modells der Sprachbeschreibung, der Kognitiven Grammatik Langackers, sprachtheoretisch fundiert. Methodisch eingelöst findet sich diese theoretische Fundierung in den korpuslinguistischen Untersuchungen zu figurativen Verben, die Gegenstand der Kapitel drei und vier sind. Im fünften Kapitel werden die dabei gewonnenen Ergebnisse zu einer formbasiert-funktionalen Typologie figurativer Verben zusammengeführt. Kapitel sechs zeigt die mit dem vorgeschlagenen Ansatz verbundenen Transfermöglichkeiten zur Erfassung und Beschreibung anderer Bereiche des allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes auf. Kapitel sieben ordnet den Untersuchungsgegenstand der figurativen Verben und das entwickelte Beschreibungsmodell aus fremdsprachendidaktischer Perspektive ein und skizziert einen Vorschlag zur Vermittlung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes. / Verbs like ‘ausgehen von’, ‘beziehen auf’ or ‘darstellen’ that contain semantically concrete basic verbs (gehen, ziehen, stellen) form an essential part of German general academic vocabulary, i.e. vocabulary that is used across disciplines. Adopting a corpus linguistic approach, the study develops a comprehensive description of these ‚figurative verbs‘. Based on a data-driven methodology it investigates the properties of this lexis and shows that figurative verbs containing typical recurring forms like -stellen, -führen, -gehen and others are highly relevant from a quantitative point of view. On the basis of the most prominently recurring formal parts, a core inventory of verbs is collected and described with respect to the areas of meaning expressed as well as regarding aspects of polysemy. Based on the empirical study, a model for the identification and description of vocabulary is developed, that integrates the hitherto separated quantitative - inventory based and meaning oriented - unit based perspectives. Moreover, it brings together aspects regarding form and function as means of structuring the vocabulary under description. Methodically, the model builds on a combination of the corpus-driven and the corpus-based approach. The model is elaborated as follows: In Chapter 1, important aspects of description that the model should meet are identified based on a survey of existing work on general academic language. Chapter 2 provides a linguistic foundation within the framework of usage-based language description. In particular, it draws on Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, from which the concepts of linguistic unit and construal are adopted. Chapters 3 and 4 present the corpus linguistic investigations on figurative verbs. In Chapter 5, the empirical results are brought together in a form- as well as function-based typology of figurative verbs. Chapter 6 synthesizes the findings into a model and shows possibilities of application of the proposed approach to other areas of general academic vocabulary. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the results from the perspective of language pedagogy and outlines a proposal for the teaching of general academic vocabulary.

This study explores the challenges faced by high school science learners when they use English language as a medium of instruction in a South African context. Questionnaires were administered and focus group interviews were conducted with both science learners and science educators. Results indicated that learners are challenged in a number of ways when English is used to teach science especially if English is not their home language. Both learners and educators prefer to be taught and teach science respectively in English though ideally learners would like to be taught in their home languages. To overcome these challenges a home language scientific register should be drawn to cater for all learners’ home language, learners should also be proficient in English or language of science instruction. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Verschiedene Schulleistungsstudien stellten für Kinder mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache bereits in der Grundschule substanzielle Disparitäten im Bereich Mathematik fest. Diese Disparitäten führten zu der Frage, ob die verwendeten Testverfahren zu hohe sprachliche Hürden für Kinder mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache aufweisen und daher nicht ausreichend in der Lage sind, die Kompetenzen dieser Gruppe valide zu erfassen. In dieser kumulativen Arbeit wurde geprüft, inwiefern die sprachliche Komplexität von Mathematikaufgaben in der Grundschule einen benachteiligenden Einfluss auf die Erfassung der Mathematikleistung von Kindern mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache darstellt. Zunächst wurde geprüft, ob die in nationalen Schulleistungsstudien verwendeten Aufgaben für diese Gruppe differenziell valide sind. Daran anschließend wurde untersucht, ob sich itemspezifische Kompetenznachteile durch die sprachlichen Merkmale der Aufgaben erklären lassen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, dass die differenzielle Validität der betrachteten Testverfahren für Kinder mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache insgesamt gering ausgeprägt ist. Ferner wurde festgestellt, dass sich die einzelnen sprachlichen Merkmale der Aufgaben sowohl spezifisch als auch gemeinsam auf die differenzielle Validität auswirken. Der größte Anteil der itemspezifischen Kompetenznachteile wurde durch mehrere Merkmale gemeinsam aufgeklärt. Eine experimentelle Teilstudie zeigte, dass eine sprachliche Vereinfachung nicht geeignet scheint, um die Kompetenznachteile von Kindern mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache substanziell zu verringern. Ein Vergleich der Effekte sprachlicher Merkmale von Mathematikaufgaben auf die Mathematikleistungen von Kindern mit nicht-deutscher Familiensprache zwischen der dritten und der vierten Klassenstufe ergab, dass sich die sprachliche Komplexität der Aufgaben vor allem für jüngere Grundschulkinder unabhängig von ihrer Familiensprache benachteiligend auswirkte. / Large-scale assessment studies have repeatedly documented performance disadvantages of language minority students in German elementary schools. The substantial achievement gap has led to concerns regarding the validity of large-scale assessment items for language minority students. It may be the case that these performance differences are, in part, due to high language demands of the test items. These items may selectively disadvantage language minority students in the testing situation. This dissertation project investigated the connection between the academic language demands of mathematics test items and the test performance of monolingual students and language minority students. First, it was investigated whether the test items were differentially valid for language minority students. Moreover, the connection between the differential validity and the linguistic complexity of the test items was tested. The findings indicated that overall, differential validity of the examined tests for language minority students was low. However, the test items’ language demands were related to differential validity. The largest proportion of item-specific performance disadvantages was explained by confounded combinations of several linguistic features. Additionally, unique effects of descriptive, lexical, and grammatical features were identified. An experimental study showed that linguistic simplification did not seem to be a promising method to substantially reduce the performance differences between language minority students and German monolingual students. A comparison of differential effects of mathematics items’ language demands for language minority students over two adjacent grade levels indicated that the impact of academic language demands seemed to depend on grade level rather than on language minority student status. Regardless of their home language, younger students seemed to struggle more with linguistically complex test items than older students.

This study explores Cummins' interdependence hypothesis in the South African context. The design is experimental, involving Zulu primary language writing instruction to explore whether skills taught in Zulu composition classes transfer into English expository writing. The intervention and control groups were drawn from two ex-Model C high schools and the focus was on measuring use of coherence and cohesion in English essays. Quantitative findings showed, although the intervention group's writing skills did not improve significantly, they did not decline. By contrast, the control group's writing skills declined significantly. A more qualitative investigation of the corpus supports the statistical findings. However, because of the limitations of this study, more research is required into Cummins' hypothesis, bilingual programmes and teaching academic writing skills in African languages. It is hoped that this research design will benefit future researchers investigate the current debate about the efficacy of bilingual and multilingual approaches to education. / Linguistics / M. A. (Applied Linguistics)

This research study aims to evaluate how the trilingual policy (Kinyarwanda, French and English) is implemented in Kigali City’s nursery and primary schools in terms of facilitating learners’ cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) development, in both the pre-2008 and post-2008 language policies. It is an exploratory-qualitative-interpretative research study, which analyses the language preference, the age of change-over and the multilingual models adopted and how they contribute to learners’ CALP development. It also analyses the implications of the post-2008 policy. The findings indicated that initial bilingualism, initial trilingualism, early total immersion and gradual transfer models were implemented in the pre-2008 policy; while the post-2008 policy implements early total immersion. The learners’ CALP in both the MT and the AL could be more developed in public schools under the pre-2008 policy due to exposure to Kinyarwanda instruction from the start but it may not be developed fully under the post-2008 policy, because English is used as MOI from the onset of education. / Linguistics / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

The purpose of the research was to look critically at the language development of the young second-language learner within their social context, in relation to theory and practice (praxis), using as a ‘lens’, “the right to participation” (UNCRC General Comment No 12, 2009). Language and communication were seen by the researcher as fundamental to the child’s ‘right to participate’ as ‘agents of their own life’ (General Comment No 7, 2005) as they engage in meaning-making with others, both at home and at school. The research was conducted as a Case Study within a Pre-Primary School over a three month period, with the lead-researcher involving the teachers as co-researchers. A Participatory Action Research methodology was used, within a praxeological conceptual framework. Parents and their young children (between the ages of 2 – 6 years) were participants in the research. Ways were explored to build ‘bridges’ to overcome perceived ‘barriers’ to the children’s participation. Various data collection techniques were used, including the Persona Doll approach, the Mosaic Approach, Documentation of Learning and Learning Story Books. The results of the research were increased awareness of the value of inclusive practices that place a value on diversity and which actively support and promote the use of the mother tongue, as well as the learning of English as a second language. In the course of the research, it was seen as important for adults (parents or teachers) to support the learning of concepts in the mother tongue or in English by verbalizing for the child, while engaging in the process of meaning-making. The ‘choice’ to use English in preference over the mother tongue became apparent. Therefore the research methodology was seen as an important way to develop ‘critical, reflective practice’ amongst the teachers and to create partnerships with the parents. The aim was to strive towards ‘phronesis’ or wise practice, using as a ‘lens’ for critical reflection, the child’s ‘right to participation’ (UNCRC General Comment No 12, 2009). / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Educational Psychology)

The purpose of the research was to look critically at the language development of the young second-language learner within their social context, in relation to theory and practice (praxis), using as a ‘lens’, “the right to participation” (UNCRC General Comment No 12, 2009). Language and communication were seen by the researcher as fundamental to the child’s ‘right to participate’ as ‘agents of their own life’ (General Comment No 7, 2005) as they engage in meaning-making with others, both at home and at school. The research was conducted as a Case Study within a Pre-Primary School over a three month period, with the lead-researcher involving the teachers as co-researchers. A Participatory Action Research methodology was used, within a praxeological conceptual framework. Parents and their young children (between the ages of 2 – 6 years) were participants in the research. Ways were explored to build ‘bridges’ to overcome perceived ‘barriers’ to the children’s participation. Various data collection techniques were used, including the Persona Doll approach, the Mosaic Approach, Documentation of Learning and Learning Story Books. The results of the research were increased awareness of the value of inclusive practices that place a value on diversity and which actively support and promote the use of the mother tongue, as well as the learning of English as a second language. In the course of the research, it was seen as important for adults (parents or teachers) to support the learning of concepts in the mother tongue or in English by verbalizing for the child, while engaging in the process of meaning-making. The ‘choice’ to use English in preference over the mother tongue became apparent. Therefore the research methodology was seen as an important way to develop ‘critical, reflective practice’ amongst the teachers and to create partnerships with the parents. The aim was to strive towards ‘phronesis’ or wise practice, using as a ‘lens’ for critical reflection, the child’s ‘right to participation’ (UNCRC General Comment No 12, 2009). / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Educational Psychology)