Thesis (MA (African languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and properties of communication tasks employed in generic communication in isiXhosa on a university campus in South Africa within the framework of current second language theories of task-based language learning and teaching, and syllabus design for analysing those tasks, taking into account the needs of second language learners of isiXhosa in the context of campus communication. The study aims to explore questions relating to how meaning-based approaches to language teaching such as Task-based language learning and teaching have contributed to the teaching and learning of a second language in regard to the performance of the learner. One of the main aims of the task-based language learning and teaching (TBL and T) approach is to provide learners with input that are relevant to their everyday life in and outside of the language learning classroom. The aim is to further provide teachers with theorectical principles of teaching in order to influence the second language development and performance of the learner in an optimal manner. Thus the concern of TBL and T is to promote the motivation of the learner, negotiations of meanings among the learners and teacher in the classroom and optimal language development. The performance of the learners are thus positively influenced because they are now in more control of their own learning and the teacher no longer has to be the only provider of information and interaction to the language learning classroom. In order to explore the various possibilities that exist in the designing of tasks for the context of a university campus in regards to learning isiXhosa as a second language or additional language, this study investigates several components of tasks relating to cognitive and linguistic complexity, the effects the manipulation of these components might have on the language learning and elements and components of designing a syllabus, and how they influence the teaching and learning of the second language. Furthermore analyses regarding various complexity properties are conducted on the isiXhosa dialogues in order to determine criteria for syllabus designers on how tasks can be graded and sequenced within a task-based language learning and teaching syllabus for second language learners of isiXhosa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sentrale fokus van hierdie studie behels die ondersoek in die natuur en eienskappe van kommunikasietake wat gevind word in generiese kommunikasietake in isiXhosa by ’n universiteit kampus in Suid-Afrika, binne die konteks van hedendaagse tweede taal teorieë van taakgebasseerde taalleer en onderrig sowel as syllabus ontwerp en die analisering van daardie take aan die hand van die behoeftes van tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa in die konteks van kampus kommunikasie. Die studie beoog om vas te stel hoe betekenis-gebaseerde benaderings tot taal onderrig soos byvoorbeeld taakgebaseerde taalleer en onderrig bydra tot die onderrig en leer van ’n tweede taal in verband met die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder. Die taakgebaseerde benadering tot die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beoog om die leerders toe te rus met relevante en alledaagse temas wat leerders binne en buite die klaskamer ervaar. Verder beoog hierdie benadering om opvoeders toe te rus met die nodige teoretiese beginsels van onderrig sodat tweede taal ontwikkeling sowel as die prestasies en werkverrigtinge van die leerders in ’n optimale en positiewe wyse beinvloed word. Hierdie benadering tot die leer en onderrig van taal is veral gemoeid met die positiewe bevordering van die motivering van die leerder sowel as die interaksies en vrae van betekenis tussen die leerders en die opvoeders binne die omgewing van die klaskamer sodat optimale taal ontwikkeling plaasvind. Die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder word dus positief beinvloed omdat die leerder in beheer is van sy/haar eie leer en die opvoeder is nie meer die enigste bron van inligting en interaksie in die klakamer nie. Verder ondersoek hierdie studie verskeie komponente van take wat verband hou met kognitiewe en linguisities kompleksiteit, die effek van manipulasie op hierdie komponente met betrekking tot die taalleer en die elemente en komponente van sillabus ontwerp asook hoe hierdie komponente die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beinvloed. Hierdie insigte op die komponente van take skep verskeie moontlikhede vir die ontwikkeling van take in die konteks van ’n universiteit kampus met betrekking tot die leer van isiXhosa as ’n tweede taal of additionele taal. Verder verskaf die studie ook ontledings met betrekking tot die kompleksiteitseienskappe van verskeie isiXhosa dialoeë sodat ’n kriteria vir sillabus ontwerpers geskep word waarvolgens hulle take kan gradueer en in volgorde plaas binne die taakgebaseerde leer en onderrig sillabus vir tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych (Psychology) / Substance abuse is a global concern, particularly amongst adolescents. Research shows that secondary school learners in the Western Cape are susceptible to substance use due to the ease of access to and constant use of drugs and alcohol by their peers. The use of substances by adolescents has been linked to a number of negative consequences. The South African Substance Use Contextual Risk Instrument (SASUCRI) is an instrument developed for the purpose of identifying factors that lead to adolescent substance use and communities at risk of substance abuse. In the identification of these factors, appropriate interventions can be informed in terms of the areas that need to be focused on when dealing with the reduction of substance use. Two versions of the SASUCRI exist. However, in the investigation of the larger validation study, IsiXhosa mother-tongue learners were found to have responded to the English version of the SASUCRI. A sub-study to the larger study found that certain scales of the English version of the SASUCRI proved to be in-equivalent across the English and isiXhosa mother-tongue speakers. Recommendations were made for a further validation of the instrument by investigating the level of item bias within the in-equivalent scales, to determine the extent to which it measures what it was intended to measure. Using secondary data from the larger study, the current study investigated item bias on the identified inequivalent scales of the English version of the SASUCRI across the two language groups, using a differential research design and two statistical techniques (Mantel-Haenszel and logistic regression). The theoretical framework was that of Bias and Equivalence. Permission to conduct the study and use the data was granted from various institutions and people: the Western Cape Education Department and school principals, Committees at UWC, and the researcher of the larger study. Results revealed that bias was found in some of these scales which limit its ability to be used for its intended purpose. Therefore, recommendations for the adaptation of the English version were made.

<p>The principle aim of this thesis is to investigate all the challenges and opportunities/possibilities involved in realising the implementation of the official Western Cape Language Policy (finalised in 2002). These challenges and opportunities/possibilities were investigated within various structures of the Western Cape Province of South Africa&rsquo / s civil service environment in six major multilingual towns in the Western Cape. The historical and political context leading to the creation of this policy is provided in the following three paragraphs. Following the demise of Apartheid with South Africa&rsquo / s first democratic elections in 1994, the New South Africa brought with it amongst other things the following changes: a new Constitution / new legislation / access and freedom within a system of inclusion / the creation of new provinces / the constitutional breakdown of social, geographical and linguistic barriers / the subsequent migration to different towns and cities of people speaking different languages and their integration there / the creation of district and regional municipalities / freedom of the press. All of these introduced a whole new platform of language interaction and association and therefore general communication (Constitution of the RSA, 1996). In addition, in contrast to the Apartheid policy of only two official languages &ndash / English and Afrikaans &ndash / eleven languages were declared official languages of the state. The declaration of 11 official languages in 1996 (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga) was an integral part of highlighting multilingualism in the newly designated nine provinces of SA. Each of the nine provinces &ndash / the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng, the Northwest Province, Northern Province (now called Limpopo), Mpumalanga, the Free State and Kwazulu-Natal - had to, in consultation with different provincial stakeholders, draft language policies according to the National Language Framework. In the Western Cape Province, three languages were identified as dominant, namely Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English. The Western Cape Language Policy (WCLP) was consequently drafted by the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC), a statutory body and a sub-committee of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), after the Westen Cape Provincial Languages Act, Act 31 of 1998, was accepted by Parliament in 1998. This WCLP was the first provincial language policy to be completed in the New SA. The policy was accepted and the draft was ready for implementation by 2002. This thesis presents a critical overview of previous and current strategies being used by all provincial government departments in the implementation of the WCLP. This includes a sample of general public knowledge of the existence of the terms and meaning of the WCLP, different outcomes of studies and language-related projects done by the WCLC, PanSALB, DCAS and the Central Language Unit (CLU) since 2000. It also focuses on the role that different private and public language implementation agencies are playing, or not, in their communication with the multilingual civil society of the Western Cape. Projections for and challenges facing the implementation of the WCLP since its acceptance in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) in 2004 were also researched carefully, together with an analysis of research already conducted on behalf of the provincial government. Document analysis therefore forms a core part of this methodology, together with fieldwork research conducted in six selected major multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was done in order to explore the challenges experienced by Afrikaans-, isiXhosa- and English-speaking people at grassroots level, since they needed to become more aware of their language rights as set out in the WCLP. Drawing on a theoretical and conceptual framework based on studies in Language and Power Relations, specifically studies on the role of Language Ideologies, Linguistic Citizenship, Agency and Voice and Language Ecology on effective Language Planning, Policy and Implementation, the thesis presents, through its document analysis, quantitative and qualitative data, an analysis of the limited or failed implementation of the WCLP in both government departments as well as the civilian populations in six selected multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was achieved by examining actual language practices at particular language policy implementation agencies such as the post office, the police station, the high school, households, the municipal office, the day hospital and the clinic in each of these towns. The thesis gathers together all this evidence to prove that the implementation of the WCLP has been hampered by a range of factors such as wide-spread ignorance of the policy, the dominance of particular languages in the province over others, power relations within government structures and relatively inflexible language ideologies held by those charged with policy implementation at different levels. It concludes by providing a number of practical recommendations on how more effective implementation can be achieved.</p>

<p>The principle aim of this thesis is to investigate all the challenges and opportunities/possibilities involved in realising the implementation of the official Western Cape Language Policy (finalised in 2002). These challenges and opportunities/possibilities were investigated within various structures of the Western Cape Province of South Africa&rsquo / s civil service environment in six major multilingual towns in the Western Cape. The historical and political context leading to the creation of this policy is provided in the following three paragraphs. Following the demise of Apartheid with South Africa&rsquo / s first democratic elections in 1994, the New South Africa brought with it amongst other things the following changes: a new Constitution / new legislation / access and freedom within a system of inclusion / the creation of new provinces / the constitutional breakdown of social, geographical and linguistic barriers / the subsequent migration to different towns and cities of people speaking different languages and their integration there / the creation of district and regional municipalities / freedom of the press. All of these introduced a whole new platform of language interaction and association and therefore general communication (Constitution of the RSA, 1996). In addition, in contrast to the Apartheid policy of only two official languages &ndash / English and Afrikaans &ndash / eleven languages were declared official languages of the state. The declaration of 11 official languages in 1996 (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga) was an integral part of highlighting multilingualism in the newly designated nine provinces of SA. Each of the nine provinces &ndash / the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng, the Northwest Province, Northern Province (now called Limpopo), Mpumalanga, the Free State and Kwazulu-Natal - had to, in consultation with different provincial stakeholders, draft language policies according to the National Language Framework. In the Western Cape Province, three languages were identified as dominant, namely Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English. The Western Cape Language Policy (WCLP) was consequently drafted by the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC), a statutory body and a sub-committee of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), after the Westen Cape Provincial Languages Act, Act 31 of 1998, was accepted by Parliament in 1998. This WCLP was the first provincial language policy to be completed in the New SA. The policy was accepted and the draft was ready for implementation by 2002. This thesis presents a critical overview of previous and current strategies being used by all provincial government departments in the implementation of the WCLP. This includes a sample of general public knowledge of the existence of the terms and meaning of the WCLP, different outcomes of studies and language-related projects done by the WCLC, PanSALB, DCAS and the Central Language Unit (CLU) since 2000. It also focuses on the role that different private and public language implementation agencies are playing, or not, in their communication with the multilingual civil society of the Western Cape. Projections for and challenges facing the implementation of the WCLP since its acceptance in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) in 2004 were also researched carefully, together with an analysis of research already conducted on behalf of the provincial government. Document analysis therefore forms a core part of this methodology, together with fieldwork research conducted in six selected major multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was done in order to explore the challenges experienced by Afrikaans-, isiXhosa- and English-speaking people at grassroots level, since they needed to become more aware of their language rights as set out in the WCLP. Drawing on a theoretical and conceptual framework based on studies in Language and Power Relations, specifically studies on the role of Language Ideologies, Linguistic Citizenship, Agency and Voice and Language Ecology on effective Language Planning, Policy and Implementation, the thesis presents, through its document analysis, quantitative and qualitative data, an analysis of the limited or failed implementation of the WCLP in both government departments as well as the civilian populations in six selected multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was achieved by examining actual language practices at particular language policy implementation agencies such as the post office, the police station, the high school, households, the municipal office, the day hospital and the clinic in each of these towns. The thesis gathers together all this evidence to prove that the implementation of the WCLP has been hampered by a range of factors such as wide-spread ignorance of the policy, the dominance of particular languages in the province over others, power relations within government structures and relatively inflexible language ideologies held by those charged with policy implementation at different levels. It concludes by providing a number of practical recommendations on how more effective implementation can be achieved.</p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The principle aim of this thesis is to investigate all the challenges and opportunities/possibilities involved in realising the implementation of the official Western Cape Language Policy (finalised in 2002). These challenges and opportunities/possibilities were investigated within various structures of the Western Cape Province of South Africa’s civil service environment in six major multilingual towns in the Western Cape. The historical and political context leading to the creation of this policy is provided in the following three paragraphs. Following the demise of Apartheid with South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the New South Africa brought with it amongst other things the following changes: a new Constitution; new legislation; access and freedom within a system of inclusion; the creation of new provinces; the constitutional breakdown of social, geographical and linguistic barriers; the subsequent migration to different towns and cities of people speaking different languages and their integration there; the creation of district and regional municipalities; freedom of the press. All of these introduced a whole new platform of language interaction and association and therefore general communication (Constitution of the RSA, 1996). In addition, in contrast to the Apartheid policy of only two official languages – English and Afrikaans – eleven languages were declared official languages of the state. The declaration of 11 official languages in 1996 (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga) was an integral part of highlighting multilingualism in the newly designated nine provinces of SA. Each of the nine provinces – the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng, the Northwest Province, Northern Province (now called Limpopo), Mpumalanga, the Free State and Kwazulu-Natal - had to, in consultation with different provincial stakeholders, draft language policies according to the National Language Framework. In the Western Cape Province, three languages were identified as dominant, namely Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English. The Western Cape Language Policy (WCLP) was consequently drafted by the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC), a statutory body and a sub-committee of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), after the Westen Cape Provincial Languages Act, Act 31 of 1998, was accepted by Parliament in 1998. This WCLP was the first provincial language policy to be completed in the New SA. The policy was accepted and the draft was ready for implementation by 2002. This thesis presents a critical overview of previous and current strategies being used by all provincial government departments in the implementation of the WCLP. This includes a sample of general public knowledge of the existence of the terms and meaning of the WCLP, different outcomes of studies and language-related projects done by the WCLC, PanSALB, DCAS and the Central Language Unit (CLU) since 2000. It also focuses on the role that different private and public language implementation agencies are playing, or not, in their communication with the multilingual civil society of the Western Cape. Projections for and challenges facing the implementation of the WCLP since its acceptance in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) in 2004 were also researched carefully, together with an analysis of research already conducted on behalf of the provincial government. Document analysis therefore forms a core part of this methodology, together with fieldwork research conducted in six selected major multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was done in order to explore the challenges experienced by Afrikaans-, isiXhosa- and English-speaking people at grassroots level, since they needed to become more aware of their language rights as set out in the WCLP. Drawing on a theoretical and conceptual framework based on studies in Language and Power Relations, specifically studies on the role of Language Ideologies, Linguistic Citizenship, Agency and Voice and Language Ecology on effective Language Planning, Policy and Implementation, the thesis presents, through its document analysis, quantitative and qualitative data, an analysis of the limited or failed implementation of the WCLP in both government departments as well as the civilian populations in six selected multilingual towns of the Western Cape. This was achieved by examining actual language practices at particular language policy implementation agencies such as the post office, the police station, the high school, households, the municipal office, the day hospital and the clinic in each of these towns. The thesis gathers together all this evidence to prove that the implementation of the WCLP has been hampered by a range of factors such as wide-spread ignorance of the policy, the dominance of particular languages in the province over others, power relations within government structures and relatively inflexible language ideologies held by those charged with policy implementation at different levels. It concludes by providing a number of practical recommendations on how more effective implementation can be achieved.

Magister Educationis - Med / The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of a Literacy Intervention Programme with Grade One isiXhosa speaking learners in one primary school in the Western Cape. The study was motivated by the persisting low literacy levels in the Foundation Phase which have been reported in the Annual National Assessment (ANA) reports since 2011. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Provincial Departments of Education have designed many intervention programmes to assist teachers in teaching literacy to young learners. These programmes include teacher development workshops and the supply of literacy materials in schools. Schools also have their own intervention programmes to support learners who struggle with reading and writing. Despite these efforts, there is no significant improvement in learners' literacy levels. Therefore, this study investigated how the literacy intervention programme for Grade one was implemented in one township school in Cape Town.

Thesis (Mphil (Visual Arts. Illustration))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This thesis is a visual, sociolinguistic and cultural inquiry into the role of isiXhosa picture books in contemporary South Africa. From the standpoint of an illustrator, I examine several of these works arising out of a history that alienated many isiXhosa readers and writers from their language. I examine factors that influence the design, content and very notions of reading itself through the multiple languages offered by the picture book format. I argue that these books occupy a problematic space where production and consumption are affixed to paradigms of economics, language and literacy incongruent with the lives of many isiXhosa-speaking readers. My overall conclusion is that literacy and visual literacy are essential to developing an authentic 'reading culture'. Fostering a meaningful relationship with printed words and images is critical to both the emerging reader and the emerging illustrator. In producing illustrations for an isiXhosa narrative, I consider the shape of my own visual literacy through mediations with drawing and writing, relating my activities to those of a child learning to distinguish between pictures and words. The cross-over space where image/text distinctions blur potentially invites new narrative expressions. The picture book is a suitable format for expanding notions of vision and literacy, 'subverting' paradigms and revealing the richness of contemporary African tales. I rest my fundamental premise on an insistence for an increase of accessible, quality picture books in African languages that stimulate the artistic and intellectual development of all readers.

Thesis (MA )--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Given the promise of upward socio-economic mobility that English is currently deemed to hold in South Africa, it is a matter of egalitarian principle that the schooling system provides all learners in this country with a fair chance at acquiring English to a high level of proficiency. There exists a common misconception, however, that such a chance is necessarily provided in the form of English medium education for all learners, regardless of what their mother tongue may be. As a result, the majority of learners are caught in a system that cites English as medium of instruction, despite their and often also their teachers’ low overall proficiency in this language; the little opportunity many have for the naturalistic acquisition of English; and the national Language-in-Education Policy of 1997’s advice to the contrary, in promoting additive bilingualism with the home language serving as foundation through the use thereof as medium of instruction. As an interim solution, it is suggested that English-as-an-additional-language be developed to serve as a strong support subject in explicitly teaching learners the grammar of English. In order to identify grammatical features for explicit instruction, an initial step was taken in analysing the free speech of eight first language speakers of isiXhosa, the African language most commonly spoken in the Western Cape. The grammatical intuitions of these speakers, who had all reached a near-native level of proficiency in English, were tested in an English grammaticality judgement task. Collectively, results revealed syntactic, semantic and morphological features of English, in that order, to prove most problematic to these speakers. More specifically, in terms of syntax, the omission of especially prepositions and articles was identified as a candidate topic for explicit instruction, along with the syntactic positioning of adverbs and particles. In terms of semantics, incorrect lexical selection, especially of prepositions / prepositional phrases and pronouns, proved the most common non-native feature to be suggested for explicit teaching. Lastly, in terms of morphology, inflection proved most problematic, with the accurate formulation (especially in terms of tense and / or aspect forms) of past tense, progressive and irrealis structures being the features suggested for explicit instruction, along with the third person singular feature. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aangesien Engels tans vir baie Suid-Afrikaners die belofte van opwaartse sosio-ekonomiese mobiliteit inhou, is dit ’n egalitêre beginselsaak dat die skoolsisteem alle leerders in hierdie land voorsien van ’n regverdige kans op die verwerwing van Engels tot op ’n hoë vaardigheidsvlak. Daar bestaan egter ’n algemene wanopvatting dat só ’n kans homself noodwendig voordoen in die vorm van Engels-medium onderrig vir alle leerders, ongeag wat hul moedertaal ook al mag wees. Gevolglik is die meerderheid leerders vandag vasgevang in ’n sisteem wat Engels as onderrigmedium voorhou, ten spyte van hul en dikwels ook hul onderwysers se algehele lae vaardigheidsvlak in Engels én vele se beperkte geleenthede om Engels op ’n naturalistiese wyse te verwerf. Hierdie sisteem is verder ook teenstrydig met die nasionale Taal-in-Onderrigbeleid van 1997 se bevordering van toevoegende tweetaligheid met die huistaal as fondasie in die gebruik daarvan as onderrigmedium. As ’n interim-oplossing word daar voorgestel dat English-as-an-additional-language ontwikkel word tot ’n sterk ondersteunende vak deurdat dit leerders die grammatika van Engels eksplisiet leer. Ten einde grammatikale eienskappe vir eksplisiete instruksie te identifiseer, is ’n eerste stap geneem in die analise van die vrye spraak van agt eerstetaalsprekers van isiXhosa, die Afrikataal wat die algemeenste gebesig word in die Wes- Kaap. Hierdie sprekers, wat almal ’n naby-eerstetaalsprekervlak van vaardigheid bereik het in Engels, se grammatikale intuïsies is deur middel van ’n grammatikaliteitsoordeel-taak getoets. Resultate het gesamentlik daarop gedui dat sintaktiese, semantiese en morfologiese eienskappe van Engels, in hierdie volgorde, die grootste probleme ingehou het vir hierdie sprekers. Meer spesifiek, ten opsigte van sintaksis, is die weglating van veral voorsetsels en lidwoorde as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie geïdentifiseer, tesame met die sintaktiese posisionering van bywoorde en partikels. Ten opsigte van semantiek, was onakkurate leksikale seleksie, veral in die geval van voorsetsels / voorsetselfrases en voornaamwoorde, die algemeenste problematiese eienskap wat gevolglik vir eksplisiete instruksie voorgestel is. Laastens, ten opsigte van morfologie, het infleksie die grootste uitdaging blyk te wees, en is die akkurate formulering (veral ingevolge tempus- en / of aspekvorme) van verledetyds-, progressiewe en irrealisstrukture voorgestel as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie, tesame met die derdepersoon-enkelvoudeienskap.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The fall of apartheid and the rise of democracy have brought assessment issues in multicultural societies to the forefront in South Africa. The rise of multicultural assessment demands the development of tests that are culturally relevant to enhance fair testing practices, and issues of bias and equivalence of tests become increasingly important. This study forms part of a larger project titled the Additive Bilingual Education Project (ABLE). The Woodcock Munoz Language Survey (WMLS) was specifically selected to evaluate the language aims in the project, and was adapted from English to isiXhosa. Previous research has indicated that one of the scales in the adapted isiXhosa version of the WMLS, namely the Picture Vocabulary Scale (PV), displays some item bias, or differential item functioning (DIF), across rural and urban isiXhosa learners. Research has also indicated that differences in dialects can have an impact on test takers’ scores. It is therefore essential to explore the structural equivalence of the adapted isiXhosa version of the WMLS on the PV scale across rural and urban isiXhosa learners, and to ascertain whether DIF is affecting the extent to which the same construct is measured across both groups. The results contribute to establishing the scalar equivalence of the adapted isiXhosa version of the WMLS across rural and urban isiXhosa-speaking learners. Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) was employed because this allowed the researcher to re-analyse the existing data in order to further evaluate construct equivalence. The sample of the larger study consisted of 260 learners, both male and female, selected from a population of Grade 6 and 7 learners attending schools in the Eastern Cape. The data was analysed by using the statistical programme Comprehensive Exploratory Factor Analysis (CEFA) and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Exploratory factor analysis and the Tucker’s phi coefficient were used. The results indicated distinct factor loadings for both groups, but slight differences were observed which raised concerns about construct equivalence. Scatter plots were employed to investigate further, which also gave cause for concern. It was therefore concluded that construct equivalence was only partially attained. In addition, the Cronbach’s Alpha per factor was calculated, showing that internal consistency was displayed only for Factor 1 and not for Factor 2 for the rural group, or both factors for the urban group. Scalar equivalence across the two groups must therefore be explored further.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / In many countries defined by multilingualism, language has been identified as a great influence during psychological and educational testing. In South Africa (SA), factors such as changes in policies and social inequalities also influence testing. Literature supports the translation and adaptation of tests used in such contexts in order to avoid bias caused by language. Different language versions of tests then need to be evaluated for equivalence, to ensure that scores across the different language versions have the same meaning. Differences in dialects may also impact on the results of such tests.Results of an isiXhosa version of the Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey (WMLS),which is a test used to measure isiXhosa learners’ language proficiency, show significant mean score differences on the test scores across rural and urban firstlanguage speakers of isiXhosa. These results have indicated a possible problem regarding rural and urban dialects during testing. This thesis evaluates the item bias of the subtests in this version of the WMLS across rural and urban isiXhosa learners. This was accomplished by evaluating the reliability and item characteristics for group differences, and by evaluating differential item functioning across these two groups on the subtests of the WMLS. The sample in this thesis comprised of 260 isiXhosa learners from the Eastern Cape Province in grade 6 and grade 7, both males and females. This sample was collected in two phases: (1) secondary data from 49 rural and 133 urban isiXhosa learners was included in the sample; (2) adding to the secondary data, a primary data collection from 78 rural isiXhosa learners was made to equalise the two sample groups. All ethical considerations were included in this thesis. The results were surprising and unexpected. Two of the subtests in the WMLS showed evidence of scalar equivalence as only a few items were identified as problematic. However, two of the subtests demonstrated more problematic items. These results mean that two subtests of the WMLS that demonstrated evidence of scalar equivalence can be used to measure the construct of language proficiency, while the other two sub-tests that showed problematic items need to be further investigated, as the responses given by learners on these items seem to be determined by their group membership and not by their ability.