Thesis (Ph.D. (Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) mandates that “the
official languages of the Republic are Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda,
Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu” (Constitution of the
Republic of South Africa, 1996: 4). However, only English has continued to be used as
the language of teaching and communication in almost all institution of higher education.
The Language Policy for Higher Education in South Africa (DBE, 2002) calls on all
institutions of higher learning to develop African languages. The Bill of Rights
(Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996:10) asserts that “everyone has the
right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice...”. In
consensus with this, the Language Policy of the University of Limpopo (1996:3) mandates
the institution, to uphold the legislative provision of multilingualism as defined and laid out in Section 6 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), the
Language Policy and Plan for South Africa (2000). In addition, the National Language
Policy Framework (2002), and the Ministerial Committee’s Report on the Development of
Indigenous African Languages as Mediums of Instruction in Higher Education (2005).
However, no practical plans to meet the mandates of these language policies have been
made, except in the teaching of the language as a module. Many Xitsonga university
students face challenging linguistic contexts when they enter institutions of higher
learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of students and
lecturers of the use of the Xitsonga language in teaching, learning and communication at
the University of Limpopo. The Xitsonga students often codemix and codeswitch during
lectures and social interactions. The researcher had to identify, describe, analyse and
reflect on the kinds of learning and communication practices that emerged in this context.
The investigation is an ethnographic case study of the language attitudes and behaviours
of the students and lecturers at the University of Limpopo. The researcher spent time with
Xitsonga students and lecturers in the School of Education and in the School of
Languages and Communication Studies, where Xitsonga is offered as a module. The
researcher used her class in the School of Education and observed lectures in the School
of Languages and Communication Studies to develop a case, which can be used to
enrich an understanding of other cases. The study was qualitative in nature within
interpretivism paradigm. Research techniques namely interviews, documentary analysisvii
and observations were used for data collection. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) and
thick descriptions were used to analyse the data coded into themes to highlight the power
play between English and the indigenous languages, with particular reference to
Xitsonga. The results indicated that the environment at the University of Limpopo does
not afford Xitsonga students the desire and motivation required to communicate in
Xitsonga. The researcher also observed that language is only recognised for greeting
purposes and cultural activities. As such, most Vatsonga students do not contribute to
the development of the language. The study therefore recommends that the institution
language policy be revised and implemented accordingly to cater appropriate use of the
SOVENGA languages.
Keywords: Language Learning, Communication, Xitsonga, Indigenous African
Languages, Language Policy, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation, Motivation,
Attitude, SOVENGA
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/3351 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Nxumalo (Chauke), W. S. |
| Contributors | Maruma, M. W., Khosa, M. A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xiv, 181 leaves |
| Relation |
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