Thesis (doctoral)--Universite de Paris XII, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [581]-606).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universite de Paris XII, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [581]-606).

Magister Artium - MA

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Université Rennes 2, Haute Bretagne, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 355-371) and index.

The present study investigated the most and least frequent vocabulary learning strategies that English language teachers in Congo encourage students to use, and the strategies that Congolese students actually use to build their vocabulary. Finding out whether the students' most used strategies were teacher-encouraged or independently learned was another point of interest. A Likert-scale of 34 statements and four short-answer questions was designed to collect data. The participants included 20 male and 23 female Congolese learners of English of ages 18 to 22, all of them students in the Arts program at the Reconciliation High School in Brazzaville, Congo. Statistical and content analysis methods were employed. Attention to suffixes was the only strategy that showed a significant difference between the teacher encouraged and student used strategies. Two other strategies, guessing word meanings from context and learning words in collocations approached significance, but the difference between teacher encouragement and student use was not of practical importance. This strong correspondence between the strategies that teachers frequently encourage and students' use provided evidence about the important role that language teachers play in students' learning in general, and in strategy in particular. Quantitative results revealed contextual guessing and dictionary use to be the most frequently used strategies, whereas pronunciation was the least frequently used. Participants' narrative descriptions revealed that notebooks and notepads were frequently used in participants' independent learning of vocabulary. Furthermore, 52.38% (N= 22) of the participants attributed their frequently-used strategies to their teachers' practices and advice while 38.10% (N= 16) claimed that their strategies were independently learned. In view of theory and empirical research, the present study provided evidence that Congolese learners of English are taking responsibilities about their vocabulary learning progress by employing a variety of strategies, some of them acquired as a result of classroom learning, whereas others developed in their independent learning outside of school.

The subject of discourse in this study is ‘leadership and governance imperatives for development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’. The qualitative research method was deemed the most suitable in attaining the objectives of the study. The study comprises six chapters. The main objective of the study is to contribute to an understanding of the challenges that constitute a stumbling block for the establishment of a system that promotes good governance and places the DRC on the path to development. Beyond the analysis of challenges, the study also examines the environment in which leaders evolve and it focuses on leadership challenges and governance imperatives that prevail in the current setting of the country. In this context, the study formulates a framework for leadership development. The study aims at proposing a perspective for leadership development considering the fact that the DRC urgently requires leaders who are competent and effective, and who can consider modern principles of management and governance as provided by the case studies of Brazil and Botswana in order to offer the much needed leadership in the nation-building process. Considering the crises the DRC has endured throughout the years, leadership’s role is of great importance as leaders have the ability to transform the adverse circumstances that Congolese people have faced since the inception of independence. The study insists that is possible only if leaders can inspire hope and change the patterns of how things have been done in the country. The DRC needs leaders who are able to help unleash its potential and allow the country to regain and to maximise its strategic position as a significant player in the continental geopolitical affairs. The thesis argues that the success of any leadership mainly depends on the kind of social order that prevails in the DRC and on the type of the political arrangement adopted by its leaders. The main challenge facing the DRC is establishing an effective leadership. The legacy of colonisation coupled with the misrule by Congolese cadres have made it difficult for the DRC to secure a system that promotes good governance and creates conditions for economic development. An effective and purposeful leadership has the ability to provide a clear policy guideline that might bring about change in the functioning of the country’s institutions. In the case of the DRC, an effective leadership will be the one that will create an environment that promotes the reforms much needed in the political and administrative structures of the country and, consequently, enhance conditions for a successful implementation of policies for the betterment of all. This study proposes that Congolese people deserve a civilised nation and a set of capable leaders who can maximise the country’s abundant resources so that citizens can benefit from the country’s wealth. As soon as the DRC finds the path to prosperity and development, it will be possible for the country to also impact positively on its neighbouring countries and the whole continent at large. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2013 / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

No description available.

This study investigates DRC refugees' economic activities in the Durban area in order to understand why some DRC refugees adapt and integrate in the local economy whereas others fail and migrate to refugee camps outside South Africa. We use various migration theories, and the concept of social exclusion to understand refugee action, and highlight the importance of social networks as a form social capital among refugees. Social networks form the cornerstone of DRC refugees' source of income through vital information sharing, financial, material and psychological support. These networks constitute a social net for newcomers and provide important support during random events such as unemployment, illness and death. However, access to the benefit of these networks is often subject to class, gender and age differentials which can have negative effects on both members and non-members. DRC refugees are subject to diverse forms of exploitative practices both from locals and from economically stable refugees including those from the Congo. Key officials and the voluntary sector play different roles at different times. These are mainly negative but are occasionally positive. These negative effects limit Congolese refugees' ability to successfully voice their concerns. Social exclusion and xenophobic attitudes from some key officials and ordinary people worsen the already precarious situation of the refugee communities. Yet, the research findings indicate that xenophobia is not something fundamental. It is fuelled by political manipulation and competition over scarce resources. Further research over time is necessary to confirm or reject this hypothesis. DRC refugees take whatever opportunities they can to establish their livelihoods and increase their resilience to shocks and uncertainty in Durban. Thus their incomes originate from different economic activities. Incomes also come from social support including remittance from other countries and provinces of South Africa, ethnic-based NGOs, political parties and churches, and manipulation from South African NGOs for individual's benefit. Yet, mistrust and social exclusion both within the DRC refugees and between this community and South Africans negatively affect their livelihoods. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

This thesis is an in-depth analysis of <i>La Vie et demie</i>, the first novel of the Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi, which I consider as a foundational text to the five novels he wrote subsequently.  The novel concerns an imaginary and chaotic country called Katamalanasie which is ruled by the Guide Proventiel, a cruel and sadistic dictator, followed in time by a string of equally barbaric and ruthless tyrants. The thesis explores in close detail the novel’s underlying themes, discusses the literary or mode it belongs to, and maps out the possible effects it has on the reader. My analysis has as its theoretical focus the violence, the ambiguity and the uncanny which characterize three important episodes. Following Christopher L. Miller’s recommendation, that a better understanding by a Western reader of a text emanating from, and embedded in, Africa should involve a dialogic reading of other texts, the thesis is structured as a dialogue between a range of theorists in the fields of the fields of philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and literary theory.  This thematic exploration leads me to identify one overarching theme, namely the precariousness of the state of culture and the dangers of the state of nature.  The literary aspects of this analysis shows that the highly ambiguous nature of the novel forces the reader to question and relativize his or her approach to any African writer whose work is set within an African context. And in a concluding stage to my thesis, I show how the effects of the violence, the ambiguity and the uncanny eventually give way to abjection, causing the reader to experience him or herself the dangers that the breakdown of the state of culture by barbarism represents.

Thesis (doctoral)--Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, 2008. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-232).