Browsing by Author "Ngcobo, Sandiso."

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Dual language instruction (IsiZulu-English) of academic literacy and communication skills pilot course : impact on language attitudes of engineering students = Isifundo esilimi mbili (IsiZulu-Nesingisi) samakhono okufunda nokuxhumana : amandla aso kwizimomqondo yezilimi yabafundi bezobunjiniyela.
(2011) Ngcobo, Sandiso.; Tappe, Heike Magdalena Elfriede.
The study was motivated by the 2002 Language Policy for Higher Education (LPHE) that was promulgated by the Department of Education (DoE) in response to its concerns over the alarmingly high failure, dropout and retention rates of particularly black South African students. The LPHE has identified English-medium instruction as the possible main factor in denying the majority of black students’ access to and success in higher education. However, the LPHE is yet to be fully implemented in the country partly due to the fact that sociolinguistic studies among black-African-language speakers indicate that there is a strong preference for English over black African languages in all formal sectors of society, including academia. This preference for English is, in part, a result of the lack of development and the under-resourcing of black African languages in education. Also, black South Africans, while they desire quality mother tongue instruction (MTI), strongly wish to improve their English proficiency. Following on these indications, this study developed and piloted dual language instruction (DLI) (isiZulu-English) teaching and learning course material on academic literacy and communication skills. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which participation in the DLI pilot course might contribute towards ‘attitude change’ as regards the use of isiZulu as a teaching and learning resource alongside English in higher education. The investigation, which took place at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was undertaken among isiZulu-speaking students and their lecturers, all of whom were involved in an Academic Literacy and Communication Skills course for engineers at foundation level. In order to collect data the study adopted an embedded mixed-method research approach in that while it mainly made use of three questionnaires that were administered to The study was motivated by the 2002 Language Policy for Higher Education (LPHE) that was promulgated by the Department of Education (DoE) in response to its concerns over the alarmingly high failure, dropout and retention rates of particularly black South African students. The LPHE has identified English-medium instruction as the possible main factor in denying the majority of black students’ access to and success in higher education. However, the LPHE is yet to be fully implemented in the country partly due to the fact that sociolinguistic studies among black-African-language speakers indicate that there is a strong preference for English over black African languages in all formal sectors of society, including academia. This preference for English is, in part, a result of the lack of development and the under-resourcing of black African languages in education. Also, black South Africans, while they desire quality mother tongue instruction (MTI), strongly wish to improve their English proficiency. Following on these indications, this study developed and piloted dual language instruction (DLI) (isiZulu-English) teaching and learning course material on academic literacy and communication skills. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which participation in the DLI pilot course might contribute towards ‘attitude change’ as regards the use of isiZulu as a teaching and learning resource alongside English in higher education. The investigation, which took place at Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was undertaken among isiZulu-speaking students and their lecturers, all of whom were involved in an Academic Literacy course for engineers at foundation level. In order to collect data the study adopted an embedded mixed-method research approach in that while it mainly made use of three questionnaires that were administered to students there were also focus group interviews to supplement quantitative data. In addition, the data analyses were comparatively undertaken across different times of the study and between different groups of participants (students and lecturers). The purpose in the comparative analyses of all the data collected was to discover whether or not there were areas of convergence and/or divergence in the garnered opinions concerning attitudes to bi-/multilingual education. The important finding of this study was that the majority of students indicated from the onset that they preferred to use their primary language as a learning resource while they also valued the role of English in education. This was taken as an indication of positive attitudes to bilingual education. As a result, the use of the DLI pilot course contributed to a minimal attitude change in that after its use there were a few students who for the first time acknowledged the positive role of isiZulu in education. The majority of lecturers also approved of the use and/or the role of L1 in education and indicated support for its use in content subjects. However, the longitudinal investigation of attitudes amongst students in their final year of study revealed a shift in attitude in that the majority identified English as the only language of education. The thesis concluded by suggesting that it is attitudes based on personal experience rather than on preconceived ideas that should inform our decisions on language education policy implementation. It was then recommended that Higher education institutions that are in areas where the student population remains predominantly black in terms of demographics should lead in the implementation of multilingual education policies.
IsiZulu-speaking educators' attitudes towards the role of isiZulu in education in Durban.
(2001) Ngcobo, Sandiso.; Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M.
The South African Schools Act (1996) is now in place to allow the governing bodies to decide on language policies for their schools. This has come about as a means to redress the past situation whereby policies were imposed upon schools. The most affected groups of people were Africans since those policies were designed with the sole aim of undermining their home languages. The only two languages that were promoted at all cost were English and Afrikaans. These languages were also used as languages of learning and instructions. This had detrimental effects on the school results of black children as they could not cope to learn in a foreign or second language. Teachers also worked under tremendous pressure as they had to make an extra effort in trying to make learners understand difficult and new concepts. In an effort to redress these problems the new language policy under the new democratic South Africa recommends the use of a home language as a language of learning. It however remains to be investigated what attitudes the black educators have towards this policy as they are the ones who should implement it in their classrooms. This study set out to investigate the black educators' attitudes on the issue of the role of indigenous languages in education. The focus indigenous language of this study is isiZulu. This is due to the fact that the study was conducted in an isiZulu dominated area, that is in Durban in the region of KwaZulu-Natal. I wanted to ascertain what are the isiZulu-speaking teachers' attitudes on the role of isiZulu in society and in education. I investigated their attitudes on what languages should be used as languages of teaching and learning and at what levels. I also tried to understand what languages they would prefer to be offered as subjects. The data of this study were obtained mostly by means of questionnaires and verified through limited but structured interviews. The questionnaire had two sections: Respondents completed the first part of the questionnaire giving their personal details. These were needed to establish whether and to what extent they have an effect on teachers' attitudes. The rest of the questionnaire was directed at eliciting the educators' attitudes towards the role of African languages in education. This study has two main findings: First, it was found that the respondents generally favour the use of African languages in education. That is, the majority of respondents favoured the early introduction and continued use of isiZulu as a language of instruction. Second, some of their responses are self-contradictory to this attitude in that the teachers equally wanted English to be used early in education as well. Some of them envisaged a future where English will continue to dominate the lives of African people. There is a strong evidence of language shift from isiZulu to English. If the results of this study are anything to go by, then there are serious implications for the new language policy in education. The survival and success of any educational policy depends on the extent to which it is understood and embraced by the practitioners, in this case educators. Given my findings that most teachers are ambivalent about the new policy, the 'language in education' is in serious trouble. Based on collected data, it is clear that the teachers were not familiar with the new policy. The policy is likely to fail unless some intervention strategies are taken to address this problem. This made me to recommend that black educators (and parents in general) need to be given an awareness of the current language in education policy and what it attempts to redress.