The critical language awareness perspective in grade eleven ESL classes in the Goldfields area
- Monareng, Rakwena Reginald Mpho
- Authors: Monareng, Rakwena Reginald Mpho
- Date: 2009-01-08T13:03:11Z
- Subjects: Language awareness , Language and education , Second language acquisition , English language foreign speakers , Language and languages
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:14752 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1832
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , This study argues that the Critical Language Awareness Perspective adds an essential dimension to language learning and teaching. It further holds that this dimension brings to consciousness both the learners’ and teachers’ critical awareness of language use. It is this awareness that exposes the non-neutrality of language as a medium of communication. The CLA perspective engages both language learners and teachers in questioning and responding to the common-sense assumptions that are linguistically mediated. It also helps them to critically use language to achieve their own objectives. Three of these could be to use language in order to progress well with their studies, find employment and to change their societal psychic and thinking for the betterment of the general public. In this way the CLA perspective assists in developing responsible citizenry. This study therefore examines whether the Critical Language Awareness Perspective is part of the English Second Language programme in grade eleven ESL classes in the Goldfields area. It begins by examining the literature that indicates that the CLA perspective is a significant component of the any language teaching and learning practice. It then examines the empirical data in order to confirm that the CLA perspective does not form part of ESL teaching and learning practice in the context under investigation. It finally suggests possible solutions that could be adopted to facilitate the incorporation of CLA in the ESL class.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Monareng, Rakwena Reginald Mpho
- Date: 2009-01-08T13:03:11Z
- Subjects: Language awareness , Language and education , Second language acquisition , English language foreign speakers , Language and languages
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:14752 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1832
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , This study argues that the Critical Language Awareness Perspective adds an essential dimension to language learning and teaching. It further holds that this dimension brings to consciousness both the learners’ and teachers’ critical awareness of language use. It is this awareness that exposes the non-neutrality of language as a medium of communication. The CLA perspective engages both language learners and teachers in questioning and responding to the common-sense assumptions that are linguistically mediated. It also helps them to critically use language to achieve their own objectives. Three of these could be to use language in order to progress well with their studies, find employment and to change their societal psychic and thinking for the betterment of the general public. In this way the CLA perspective assists in developing responsible citizenry. This study therefore examines whether the Critical Language Awareness Perspective is part of the English Second Language programme in grade eleven ESL classes in the Goldfields area. It begins by examining the literature that indicates that the CLA perspective is a significant component of the any language teaching and learning practice. It then examines the empirical data in order to confirm that the CLA perspective does not form part of ESL teaching and learning practice in the context under investigation. It finally suggests possible solutions that could be adopted to facilitate the incorporation of CLA in the ESL class.
- Full Text:
Teachers' language and critical literacy awareness in the history classroom
- Authors: Naidoo, Nerinjeni
- Date: 2012-09-10
- Subjects: Historiography - Methodology , History teachers , Language awareness
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:9873 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7273
- Description: M.Ed. , This study is located in the context of educational transformation. With the demise of apartheid and the enactment of the new Constitution, South Africa is rapidly becoming a democratic society. Schools are currently in a state of flux with radical curriculum reconstruction being the norm. A recent curriculum initiative has been the continuous assessment portfolio for Grade 12 students. History students are required to write research essays as part of the portfolio. The purpose of this inquiry was to capture the learning experiences of a group of teachers in an action research project in which the intervention was a workshop for teacher development. This workshop was designed in response to History teachers' difficulty in mediating research essay writing. This inquiry has been designed to simultaneously teach essay-writing skills and to collect data that would capture teacher participants' competence therein. This investigation was conducted using an action research (AR) format because it was aimed at gaining an understanding of, and changing the social reality using this research design in which change is both facilitated and researched. This study was conducted from the position of the interpretive and the critical paradigms of social science inquiry. In the interpretive paradigm, research describes reality as multifaceted and socially constructed. In the critical paradigm, research evokes and addresses issues of oppression and solidified social structures. Such research is aimed to emancipate participants who were teachers in this instance. In this study the aim was to provide a workshop in which teachers could become aware of language in the research essay, with a view to promoting their own literacy and pedagogy. Data were collected using three main methods in order to understand the social reality from different perspectives and to triangulate data. These methods were artefacts from the workshop, observation and interviews of teacher participants. Data were consolidated, reduced and clustered to trace emerging themes. The emergent propositions constructed from the data revealed that History teachers engaged in pedagogy without much language awareness. History teachers also focused on content rather than on language skills as foundation for the essay. The group work format was an activity medium that supported the emergence of argumentative discourse. These findings were confirmed by triangulatory evidence from the interviews. Findings therefore indicate that the teachers had little language awareness and writing composition competence in History essay writing, and yet they were expected to mediate this aspect of the continuous assessment portfolio. Findings also reveal that teachers' lack of argumentative discourse knowledge can be explained in terms of world-view, language and culture of education. The workshop was successful in raising language awareness and provided the context for the emergence of argumentative discourse. I argue that teachers need to be "workshopped" on aspects of innovations that require epistemological and methodological shifts, and that teacher development initiatives accompany educational paradigm shifts. Based on the success of the intervention, I propose that History teachers in all grades be "workshopped" in language awareness and argumentative writing skills.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Naidoo, Nerinjeni
- Date: 2012-09-10
- Subjects: Historiography - Methodology , History teachers , Language awareness
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:9873 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7273
- Description: M.Ed. , This study is located in the context of educational transformation. With the demise of apartheid and the enactment of the new Constitution, South Africa is rapidly becoming a democratic society. Schools are currently in a state of flux with radical curriculum reconstruction being the norm. A recent curriculum initiative has been the continuous assessment portfolio for Grade 12 students. History students are required to write research essays as part of the portfolio. The purpose of this inquiry was to capture the learning experiences of a group of teachers in an action research project in which the intervention was a workshop for teacher development. This workshop was designed in response to History teachers' difficulty in mediating research essay writing. This inquiry has been designed to simultaneously teach essay-writing skills and to collect data that would capture teacher participants' competence therein. This investigation was conducted using an action research (AR) format because it was aimed at gaining an understanding of, and changing the social reality using this research design in which change is both facilitated and researched. This study was conducted from the position of the interpretive and the critical paradigms of social science inquiry. In the interpretive paradigm, research describes reality as multifaceted and socially constructed. In the critical paradigm, research evokes and addresses issues of oppression and solidified social structures. Such research is aimed to emancipate participants who were teachers in this instance. In this study the aim was to provide a workshop in which teachers could become aware of language in the research essay, with a view to promoting their own literacy and pedagogy. Data were collected using three main methods in order to understand the social reality from different perspectives and to triangulate data. These methods were artefacts from the workshop, observation and interviews of teacher participants. Data were consolidated, reduced and clustered to trace emerging themes. The emergent propositions constructed from the data revealed that History teachers engaged in pedagogy without much language awareness. History teachers also focused on content rather than on language skills as foundation for the essay. The group work format was an activity medium that supported the emergence of argumentative discourse. These findings were confirmed by triangulatory evidence from the interviews. Findings therefore indicate that the teachers had little language awareness and writing composition competence in History essay writing, and yet they were expected to mediate this aspect of the continuous assessment portfolio. Findings also reveal that teachers' lack of argumentative discourse knowledge can be explained in terms of world-view, language and culture of education. The workshop was successful in raising language awareness and provided the context for the emergence of argumentative discourse. I argue that teachers need to be "workshopped" on aspects of innovations that require epistemological and methodological shifts, and that teacher development initiatives accompany educational paradigm shifts. Based on the success of the intervention, I propose that History teachers in all grades be "workshopped" in language awareness and argumentative writing skills.
- Full Text:
The use of feminism, CLA and critical discourse analyses in the stimulation of awareness of gender-issues in African communities
- Ramaite-Siobo, Patricia Elelwani.
- Authors: Ramaite-Siobo, Patricia Elelwani.
- Date: 2012-08-14
- Subjects: Feminism , Language and languages - Sex differences , Gender identity , Sexism in language , Discourse analysis , Language awareness
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:9180 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5631
- Description: M.A. , Language plays an important role in maintaining and reflecting socially structured power roles. According to Poynton, (1985:3), contemporary feminism has focused a great deal of attention on the issues of socialization into gender roles and sexist discourse. Such issues are interrelated because situations to which children are exposed from the day of their birth, in which they themselves become ultimate participants, are the primary means by which their socialization is effected (Poynton, 1985:3). Many feminist critiques of language have specifically concerned themselves with representation, and have concluded that languages are sexist. This implies that languages 'represent' or 'name' the world from a masculine viewpoint, and 'in accordance with stereotyped beliefs about the sexes' (Cameron, 1990:12). It is this 'male monopoly of naming', which has detrimental effects on relationships between women and men. Some feminists, therefore, affirm that many languages have an underlying semantic rule, whereby male is positive, and female negative, which results in the 'tenets of male chauvinism being encoded into language' (Cameron, 1990:12). Moreover, the reason why languages are structured in a sexist manner is that their rules and meanings have been literally 'man made', and women have been excluded from naming and defining? (Cameron, 1990:12) Another issue which raises serious concern is that language used in the media is highly sexist, and there is irony in the fact that even on the eve of the new millennium, the media in democratic South African still perpetuate prejudices and sexual stereotypes. Newspapers and magazines still feature articles on superficial issues such as physical beauty and appearance, and these issues, which should not matter to women, are still regarded as a measure of women's worth. Ironically, beautiful bodies, hair and clothes cause more concern than the appalling rape statistics. According to Thuli Nhlapo, whose article in the Sunday World is titled 'Nineties Women oppressed by vision of beauty'; this is a violent backlash to feminism, which uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women's advancement (Sunday World, 23 May 1999). A study of discourse analysis as well as critical language awareness would therefore be a consciousness-raising 'struggle', which will ensure that women in South Africa are liberated from all forms of oppression and abuse, more especially, sexism in language. It is important to note that culture plays an important role in the oppression of women. It is therefore not surprising that in African culture, language awareness of the lexicon of certain concepts pertaining to the oppression and abuse of women, such as date rape, sexual harassment, sexism, femicide and many other 'problems that are without names', which affect women, is still non-existent. This implies, therefore, that for the plight of women who are affected by such transgression mto be addressed, studies such as this one will have to play a very dominant role in influencing policy change and implementation in as far as language awareness is concerned. it will also be the aim of this study to initiate both women and men in African communities into the wiles of discourse.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ramaite-Siobo, Patricia Elelwani.
- Date: 2012-08-14
- Subjects: Feminism , Language and languages - Sex differences , Gender identity , Sexism in language , Discourse analysis , Language awareness
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:9180 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5631
- Description: M.A. , Language plays an important role in maintaining and reflecting socially structured power roles. According to Poynton, (1985:3), contemporary feminism has focused a great deal of attention on the issues of socialization into gender roles and sexist discourse. Such issues are interrelated because situations to which children are exposed from the day of their birth, in which they themselves become ultimate participants, are the primary means by which their socialization is effected (Poynton, 1985:3). Many feminist critiques of language have specifically concerned themselves with representation, and have concluded that languages are sexist. This implies that languages 'represent' or 'name' the world from a masculine viewpoint, and 'in accordance with stereotyped beliefs about the sexes' (Cameron, 1990:12). It is this 'male monopoly of naming', which has detrimental effects on relationships between women and men. Some feminists, therefore, affirm that many languages have an underlying semantic rule, whereby male is positive, and female negative, which results in the 'tenets of male chauvinism being encoded into language' (Cameron, 1990:12). Moreover, the reason why languages are structured in a sexist manner is that their rules and meanings have been literally 'man made', and women have been excluded from naming and defining? (Cameron, 1990:12) Another issue which raises serious concern is that language used in the media is highly sexist, and there is irony in the fact that even on the eve of the new millennium, the media in democratic South African still perpetuate prejudices and sexual stereotypes. Newspapers and magazines still feature articles on superficial issues such as physical beauty and appearance, and these issues, which should not matter to women, are still regarded as a measure of women's worth. Ironically, beautiful bodies, hair and clothes cause more concern than the appalling rape statistics. According to Thuli Nhlapo, whose article in the Sunday World is titled 'Nineties Women oppressed by vision of beauty'; this is a violent backlash to feminism, which uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women's advancement (Sunday World, 23 May 1999). A study of discourse analysis as well as critical language awareness would therefore be a consciousness-raising 'struggle', which will ensure that women in South Africa are liberated from all forms of oppression and abuse, more especially, sexism in language. It is important to note that culture plays an important role in the oppression of women. It is therefore not surprising that in African culture, language awareness of the lexicon of certain concepts pertaining to the oppression and abuse of women, such as date rape, sexual harassment, sexism, femicide and many other 'problems that are without names', which affect women, is still non-existent. This implies, therefore, that for the plight of women who are affected by such transgression mto be addressed, studies such as this one will have to play a very dominant role in influencing policy change and implementation in as far as language awareness is concerned. it will also be the aim of this study to initiate both women and men in African communities into the wiles of discourse.
- Full Text:
Riglyne vir kritiesetaalbewustheidsprogramme in skole
- Strauss, Clara Helene Beatrice
- Authors: Strauss, Clara Helene Beatrice
- Date: 2015-03-02
- Subjects: Language awareness , Language and languages - Study and teaching - South Africa , Sociolinguistics - South Africa
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13386 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13397
- Description: M.A. (Applied Linguistics) , Please refer to full text to view abstract
- Full Text:
- Authors: Strauss, Clara Helene Beatrice
- Date: 2015-03-02
- Subjects: Language awareness , Language and languages - Study and teaching - South Africa , Sociolinguistics - South Africa
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13386 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13397
- Description: M.A. (Applied Linguistics) , Please refer to full text to view abstract
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