The Constitutional Assembly accepted a new democratic constitution for the Republic of
South Africa on 8 May 1996. The Constitution makes provision for a fair amount of
clauses regarding language issues. Among other it makes provision for eleven official
languages that reflect the multicultural nature of our society. The National Government
presents their position on language in education in the 1996 South African Bill of Rights.
It seems clear that the Department of Education emphasises the development of
multilingualism within the framework of additive bilingual education. Schools are
strongly recommended to offer at least two languages of instruction as from Grade 1, one
of which should be the home language of the learner.
Aside from these positive goals, the opposite seems to happen in practice. Even more
complaints arise, especially from the ranks of minority languages (Afrikaans and African
languages) that their languages are marginalised as languages of instruction. A positive
development is that more voices are heard in support of language teaching, especially in
communities that have traditionally been seen as being in favour of English teaching.
This re-evaluation of the role of mother tongue teaching could be contributed to certain
language activist initiatives since 1994.
This study investigates the role of language activism in the movement back to mother
tongue education in South Africa after the establishment of a democratic language
dispensation in the country. The perception is investigated that communities are apathetic
towards language rights issues in education brought about by political and other pressure
groups that want to retain the status quo regarding the promotion of English as medium
of instruction at the expense of minority languages. This is done by determining: (a) how
widespread the phenomenon of language activism in South Africa occurs, (b) the forms
(if any) of language activism among the different language communities, (c) whether
there is indeed a re-evaluation of mother tongue teaching and (d) what role (if any)
language activism plays in the restoration of mother tongue education. Chapter 2 provides an outline of the theoretical background of the study. It provides an
overview of the literature on language activism as phenomenon (and its role within the
field of language planning) and how it manifests in mother tongue struggles around the
world, especially with regard to education. Various definitions of language planning as an
inclusive process, and not only as a top-down action, are investigated. The role that
communities play in influencing language policy is investigated on the basis of various
definitions in the literature regarding language rights activism. Employing the tools of
language activism, as developed by Martel and later Lubbe and Du Plessis are
investigated. At the end of the chapter the conclusion is reached that interaction between
governments and community organisations plays a vital role in preserving and
developing the cultural and linguistic heritage of any community.
Chapter 3 provides an overview of the qualitative research design and methodology used
in the study. For the purposes of this study a literature, documents and empirical study
was done which involved analysing the press clippings. This provides an outline of the
methods followed to obtain information from the literature (both nationally and
internationally), relevant documents and media records selected for the purpose of the
study. It also outlines the strategies followed in order to ensure the validity and reliability.
The study is done on the basis of the typology of the instruments of language activism
introduced by Martel (1999) and further developed by Lubbe et al. (2004) and Du Plessis
(2006). The typology distinguishes between the main instruments of language activism
used by language activists and presents an appreciation of which tools would be more
successful. The analysis was done on the basis of the definitions of language activism and
the social movement theory as discussed in Chapter 2.
Chapter 4 provides an historical background to language planning and language policy
development in South Africa. The chapter highlights the main moments within the
political context of language policy development. An attempt is made to present the role
of language activism in South Africa by studying the relevant literature. Studies on
language activism and mother tongue education as well as official documents on language in education are used. The period 1652 (the beginning of the Colonial period)
until 1994 (the democratisation period) is covered.
In Chapter 5 the findings regarding the media analysis for the period 1994 to 2005 are
discussed. This is followed by a critical analysis and interpretation of the findings in
order to determine the role language activism played in the re-evaluation of mother
tongue education in South Africa. The conclusion is reached that language activism did
take place within the South African community. Also that the two main traditions of
language activism still figure, but there are signs from both sides of the spectrum that
there is a willingness to cooperate inclusively to a greater democratic education system.
In the last chapter a summary is presented of the findings in the various chapters. A
synthesis of the findings is presented with regard to the problem statements outlined in
Chapter 3. Conclusions are made based on the findings and recommendations are then
made regarding further investigations into problem areas and possible solutions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-05172013-105707 |
| Date | 17 May 2013 |
| Creators | Snayers, Johny Henry |
| Contributors | Prof LT du Plessis |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-05172013-105707/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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