Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T11:22:03.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - An Impact Study with Reference to isiXhosa and Afrikaans Multilingual Glossaries for First-Year Law of Contracts Students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology

from Part II - Multilingualism and Intellectualisation of African Languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

Russell H. Kaschula
Affiliation:
Rhodes University, South Africa
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Affiliation:
Universität Leipzig
Get access

Summary

English language only as the medium of instruction often creates a barrier for students whose first language is not English. It has proven to be difficult for students to understand and apply the academic discourse that is used in their course materials, assignment tasks and course assessments. There is considerable evidence about the value of using home languages as language of learning, or as languages of support and intervention in different disciplinary context. The chapter explores language-related interventions meant to provide academic support to first-year Law of Contract students through the usage of online multilingual glossaries. Details of the methodology pertaining to the development, verification, dissemination and academic usage of the online multilingual glossaries are discussed with a view to uncover students’ perceptions regarding (i) the use of this teaching and learning facility (online multilingual glossaries), (ii) the extent to which student’s home languages may impact their access into the academic discourse and (iii) the potential for success. From a theoretical perspective, this study draws on Cummins’s theoretical model of basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Transformative Power of Language
From Postcolonial to Knowledge Societies in Africa
, pp. 153 - 175
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberts, M., & Mollema, N. 2013. Developing legal terminology in African languages as aid to the court interpreter: A South African perspective. Lexikos, 23: 29–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, N. 2005. Language, class and power in post-apartheid South Africa. www.wolpetrust.org.za/dialogue2005/CT102005alexander_transcript.pdf (accessed 5 February 2019).Google Scholar
Baker, J. N. 1993. The presence of the name: Reading scripture in an Indonesian village. In Boyarin, J. (ed.), The Ethnography of Reading. Berkeley, CA and Los Angeles: University of California, pp. 98–138.Google Scholar
Bosch, S.E., & Roux, J.C. 2002. Initiatives in South Africa: Implications for human development, empowerment and democratization. Proceedings of the International Symposium: Text in Context: African Languages between Orality and Scriptuality, 30 September, University of Zurich, Ruediger Koeppe, Cologne.Google Scholar
Cape Peninsula University of Technology. 2008. Language Policy. Cape Town: Cape Peninsula University of Technology.Google Scholar
Cape Peninsula University of Technology. 2014. Management Information System (MIS). Cape Town: CPUT.Google Scholar
Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2007. Language Policy Framework for South African Higher Education.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 1979. Proficiency, linguistics interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism. No. 19. Toronto: The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Bilingual Education Project.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 1980. The cross-lingual dimensions of language proficiency: Implications for bilingual education and the optimal age issue. TESOL Quarterly 14(2): 175–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. 1981. Bilingual and Minority-Language Children. Language and Literature Series. Toronto: The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1–45.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 1984. Bilingualism and Special Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 1999. BICS and CALP: Clarifying the Distinction. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1–7.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 2000. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 2003. Bilingual education. In Bourne, J. & Reid, E. (eds.), World Yearbook of Education: Language Education. London: Kogan Page, pp. 3–20.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 2008. BICS AND CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. In Street, B. & Hornberger, N. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education (2nd ed.). New York: Spring Science.Google Scholar
Engelbrecht, C., Shange, N., Majeke, S., Mthembu, S., & Zondi, Z. 2010. IsiZulu terminology development in nursing and midwifery. Alteration, 17(1): 249–272.Google Scholar
Foster, A. E. 2005. A non-linear model of information seeking behaviour. Information Research: An International Electronic Journal, 10: n2.Google Scholar
Hibbert, L., & van der Walt, C. 2014. Multilingual Universities in South Africa: Reflecting Society in Higher Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Howcraft, D., & Carroll, J. A. 2000. A proposed methodology for Web development. European Conference on Information Technology Systems (ECIS) 2000 Conference Proceedings.Google Scholar
Madiba, M. 2010. Fast-tracking concept learning to English as an additional language (EAL) students through corpus-based multilingual glossaries. Alternation, 17(1): 225–248.Google Scholar
Ministry of Education. 2002. The Development of Indigenous African Languages as Medium of Instruction in Higher Education. Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training.Google Scholar
Mwansoko, H. J. M. 2004. Kiswahili intellectualization efforts in Tanzania. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 67: 151–161.Google Scholar
Ngcobo, N. N., & Nomdebevana, N. 2010. The role of spoken language corpora in the intellectualisation of indigenous languages in South Africa. Alternation, 17(1): 1023–1755.Google Scholar
Nkomo, D., & Madiba, M. 2011. The compilation of multilingual concept literacy glossaries at the University of Cape Town: A lexicographical function theoretical approach. Lexikos, 21: 145–146.Google Scholar
Paxton, M. J. I. 2009. ‘It’s easy to learn when you using your home language but with English you need to start learning language before you get to the concept’: Bilingual concept development in an English medium university in South Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 30(4): 345–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prah, K. K. 1998. Between Distinction and Extinction: The Harmonization and Standardization of African Languages. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Ralarala, M. K., Ivala, E., Barris, K., Manashe, L., Somlata, Z., & Leach, N. 2017. Language development and multilingualism at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. In Kaschula, R.H., Maseko, P., & Wolff, H. E. (eds.), Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication: A South African Perspective. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, pp. 182–193.Google Scholar
Ralarala, M. K., Pineteh, A., & Mchiza, Z. 2016. A case study on the language and socio-cultural challenges experienced by international students studying at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. South African Journal of Higher Education, 30(4): 233–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandrini, P. 1999. Legal terminology: Some aspects for a new methodology. Journal of Linguistics, 22(22): 101–111.Google Scholar
Sibula, P. 2006. Furthering the aim of multilingualism through integrated terminology development. Lexikos 17: 397–406.Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. 2009. The stakes: Linguistic diversity, linguistic human rights and mother tongue based multilingual education or linguistic genocide, crimes against humanity and an even faster destruction of biodiversity and our planet. Keynote presentation at Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism, 19–21 January, Bamako, Mali.Google Scholar
Wildsmith-Cromantry, R. 2008. Can academic/scientific discourse really be translated across English and African languages? Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 26(1): 147–169.Google Scholar
Wyrley-Birch, B. 2006. The multilingual radiography classroom and the world of clinical practice. Perspectives in Education, 24(3): 71–81.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×