Abstract
M.A. (Applied Linguistics)
It is usually only in times of major political crisis that there are revolutions in
educational practice. Governments and institutions seem to invest heavily in language
teaching programs during periods of conflict.
South Africa is now experiencing drastical social, economical and political changes. in
a "new" South Africa traditional ideas and now out-dated systems will most probably
be replaced by systems yet to be developed and revitalised.
This study aims to investigate ways in which the needs of adults who wish to learn
Zulu as a foreign language may best be met. Various models were investigated and
compared.
Empirical research was carried out to deteimine the functional, situational and formal
requirements of a custom-made, learner-centered Zulu course for adults. Research
data showed a reasonably clear indication of the potential learners' communicative
needs and served as a point of departure for creating a course curriculum.
In the dissertation a survey of literature was carried out which included the following
areas: language acquisition, foreign language teaching, curriculum design, and
sociolinguistic concepts such as register and culture content in language courses.
Finally, the various approaches in language teaching were considered with the main
focus falling on the functional notion and the communicative approach.
It is interesting to note what actually happens when a natural conversation (in the
mother tongue) is taking place: attention is focused primarily on the content or
purpose of communication, rather than on correct pronunciation, grammar, etc.
Attention also falls on rules of conversation and cultural taboos. It is exactly these two
aspects that should be borne in mind by the course writer, out of all the rich diversity
of available methods, approaches, techniques, etc.
In view of these findings a number of recommendations concerning course outline and
context were made in the final chapter. These recommendations support the initial
hypothesis that business persons prefer to learn Zulu for social and business
purposes; that business people wish to acquire an elementary language proficiency;
and that they prefer a variety of approaches and methods to a single specific method
for the acquisition of an African language.