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Open Access
Academic writing in Blackboard: a computer-mediated discourse analytic perspective
(University of the Free State, 2012) Brokensha, Susan
English: This article reports on how text-based synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication in Blackboard were employed at tertiary level to encourage students to share their perceptions of academic writing and sensitise them to the writing process. Employing a computer-mediated discourse analytic (CMDA) framework, three research questions were posed: What were the discussion topics in each mode of computer-mediated communication (CMC)? What types of knowledge construction were reflected in each mode? What kinds of discourse features were generated in each mode? The overall conclusions reached were that both modes of CMC reflected conceptual moves, although few theoretical ideas were present in asynchronous CMC and none in synchronous CMC. Asynchronous CMC was also more syntactically complex than synchronous CMC. This preliminary study suggests that both modes may help learners achieve the above aims.
Open Access
African writers' use of symbolism, myth and allusion in presenting the ideology of leadership in post-independence Africa: a study of selected novels by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe and Ayi Kwei Armah
(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Sebolai, Kabelo Wilson; Uwah, M.
This dissertation was aimed at examining African writers' use of symbolism, myth and allusion in presenting the ideology of leadership in the post-independence Africa. Specifically, it focussed on Ayi Kwei Armah's The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Ngugi Wa Thiongo's Petals of Blood and Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah. One of the basic problems of the African continent has been the quality of its political leadership. In most cases, leaders that take over power in Africa after independence are not different from their colonial masters. Having attained power, these leaders exhibit worse oppressive tendencies than their erstwhile colonial masters. The African writers of this period have responded to this harsh reality with works that are critical of the excesses of these leaders. Strange as it seems, although it was fashionable for black writers to pit themselves against the system of apartheid at its peak in South Africa, the same writers have in the main, not yet responded to some of the excesses of the country's leadership in the new dispensation. This research was therefore necessary because of the literary vacuum left by the demise of apartheid in the literary output of South Africa's post-independence period. There is so much the writers have to say in this period especially when one considers the fact that problems experienced in the post-independence Africa in general are beginning to manifest themselves in South Africa as well. While writers in other parts of the continent have produced works that mirror the hopes and aspirations of the masses in the post-independence period, such has not been the case in South Africa. This dissertation was in a small way, intended to serve as a wake-up call to South African writers. It was meant to signal a resuscitation of literary creative writing in the post-apartheid South Africa; a type of literature whose concerns will resemble those of the general post-independence prototype in Africa. The dissertation examined critical novels of other African writers in the post-independence period and presented these as examples for South African writers to follow.
Open Access
Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels : a literary-theoretical study
(University of the Free State, 2008-05) Senekal, Burgert Adriaan; Lovisa, Manuela
This study discusses Melvin Seeman's 1959 theory of alienation within a postmodern, post-structuralist and systems theory context. Seeman's five aspects of alienation, namely powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, and self-estrangement are re-evaluated while taking into account Von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory and interpretations thereof, Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory, post-modernism, and structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives. More recent contributions to alienation research are discussed, particularly where sociological and theoretical changes have forced a re-evaluation of his original conception. Felix Geyer (1996), Arthur G. Neal and Sara F. Collas (2000), and Devorah Kalekin-Fishman (1998) provide the crux of the discussion on the reevaluation of Seeman's theory. It is argued, in following these researchers, that a post-modernist and systems theory approach favours a reduction of Seeman's five aspects to four by omitting self-estrangement, since the self is argued to be relationally constituted (by e.g. Vorster (2003), Von Bertalanffy (1969), and Wilden (1981)) and therefore self-estrangement is already contained within the other four aspects. The re-evaluated remaining four aspects of Seeman's theory of alienation are thus applied to the chosen four novels belonging to contemporary British Fiction: Ian McEwan's The Child in Time, Martin Amis's London Fields, Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Pat Barker's Regeneration. It is argued that Seeman's theory of alienation is applicable to contemporary British fiction, and thus how his theory manifests in the chosen texts is analysed. Each of the chosen novels is contextualised, bearing in mind the oeuvre of each author, the socio-historical system, and the contemporary British literary system. A short discussion of contemporary Britain is provided to situate the texts within the cultural and political milieu of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This is done in order to provide the reader with essential background information where it aids the interpretation of the texts, since all four texts engage with the socio-historical milieu in which they were created. Barker's Regeneration is however a historical novel set in the First World War, so wherever necessary, the context of the novel in the early twentieth century is sketched. The proven hypothesis of this thesis is that Seeman's sociological theory of alienation can be applied to literary texts, since the chosen novels do manifest the same characteristics that he identified within the field of sociology. It is shown how each author and each text foregrounds some aspects and backgrounds others, and how particularly powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and social-isolation manifests in each text. McEwan's The Child in Time highlights social isolation, in particular with the dissolution of the heterosexual dyad after the couple's child is abducted, and shows how meaningless manifests when different genders attach different meanings to actions. Amis's London Fields highlights normlessness through the character of Keith Talent in particular, and obliterates meaning by making the characters' world a television-controlled simulacra, and adding the motif of darts to indicate how superficial culture has become. Welsh's Trainspotting emphasises social isolation and normlessness in depicting the marginal subculture of drug-users in Leith, Edinburgh, whose relationships are as superficial and void of morality as in London Fields. Barker's Regeneration illustrates powerlessness in particular, as it depicts soldiers returning from the trenches of the First World War who suffer from war neurosis as they are stripped of their decision-making rights. Rivers's theory of war neurosis argues that it is powerlessness that leads to war neurosis, and he links psychological symptoms to what is seen amongst the female population during peacetime, suggesting that it is powerlessness which leads to psychological breakdowns in males and females. Alienation, in one way or another, thus is a central aspect to the main actions and imagery employed in the chosen novels. Discussing these texts from this theoretical frame of reference contributes to the understanding of some of the seminal works of contemporary British fiction.
Open Access
Applied linguistic principles and designing CALL programmes for the ESL classroom
(University of the Free State, 2004-05) Muller, Frederick Mark; Greyling, W. J.
Applied Linguistics is largely concerned with teaching English as a second language (TESL) (Cruttenden, 1994, p6). This is not a simple field. There are a number of variables, such as the personalities of the individual students and teachers involved and the approach to learning used. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has been used for some years in a variety of approaches and learning environments. In these the primary focus of CAI has been on providing materials for learning in methods that stimulate learning more effectively - either by providing enhanced access to texts or by providing rapid feedback to set problems. The one facet of teaching where CAI is not extensively used (except in a facilitatory role) is providing an environment in which students can practise generating texts and have these understood. This dissertation investigates the potential of using computers to process text in such a way as to enable evaluating the cohesion and coherence of texts. It takes an interdisciplinary approach which exploits methods and insights from applied linguistics, artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to explore the potential of automating textual analysis, comparison and evaluation. This dissertation develops the hypothesis that a dependency-based grammar can be used to generate a computerised representation of the sense contained in a text and that this representation is sufficient to allow contextual comparison of texts. This comparison can be used, in turn, to evaluate texts by means of comparing the representation to that of a model answer, thus providing a means of evaluating the cohesion and coherence of the text. The potential of using such a system in constructing CALL programmes and the extent to which it can assist in the process of second language acquisition (SLA) is also discussed. Existing research studied during the writing of this dissertation included an examination of existing uses of computers in language teaching, particularly those associated with developing communicative competence. These studies pointed to a need for a utility that would enable teaching aids to evaluate texts contextually. Various methods of performing this evaluation were considered. This included the examination of a selection of grammatical systems with a view to determining their strengths in building a representation of the sense contained in a text. In addition, current applications using natural language processing (NLP) and AI were examined with a view to how these could be adapted or used to enable CALL programmes to evaluate coher~nce and cohesion in texts. Furthermore, guidelines are proposed for developing CALL programmes using this type of evaluation. These requirements are used as a template for implementing a programme aimed at performing a contextual evaluation by means of a comparison of texts. This programme is discussed in terms of the grammatical model used as well as the implications this holds for future development. Lastly, the implications using this kind of system in CALL programmes would have for teaching and teacher training are examined and suggestions for the future improvement and development of this sort of application are made. The main conclusion of this dissertation is that computerised contextual evaluation of texts is possible, though with the caveat that the evaluation is limited by the extent to which world-knowledge can be represented.
Open Access
Changing perspectives on accuracy in the teaching of English as a second language
(University of the Free State, 2015-08-20) Ullyatt, Ruth Carol; Greyling, W. J.
Abstract not available
Open Access
Criteria of embarrassment: J. M. Coetzee's 'Jesus Trilogy' and the legacy of modernist difficulty
(Taylor & Francis, 2022) De Villiers, Rick
This article takes as its starting point the divergent responses that J.M. Coetzee’s Jesus trilogy (The Childhood of Jesus [2013], The Schooldays of Jesus [2016] and The Death of Jesus [2019]) has drawn from reviewers and scholars respectively. Where reviewers have generally regarded these works’ difficulty as obstructive, scholars have taken their difficulty as both the justification and catalyst for sustained engagement. This divergence is explained, in part, as a consequence of the literacies developed by and in response to modernism – literacies which regarded difficulty as both the signature of the worthwhile artwork and as the criterion which justifies the special attention of specialized readers. If one aim of this article is to situate Coetzee and Coetzee studies within this tradition, a second aim is to ask whether the forms of attention garnered by his late trilogy are less an index of intrinsic challenges than of Coetzee’s reputation as a challenging writer. To do so is to worry the overready ascription of ‘Coetzeean’ difficulty – along with the modes of reading it tends to enlist – in order to reposition bewilderment, embarrassment and other ugly aesthetic-affects as generative for criticism.
Open Access
Critical linguistics and postmodernism: assessment with reference to selected English texts
(University of the Free State, 2006-05) Chaka, Chaka Petrus; Greyling, W. J.; Visagie, J.
This research study sets out to investigate the relationship between critical linguistics and postmodernism and to mount a critical assessment of these two areas. Firstly, it provides an overview of these two areas and offers their comprehensive and detailed discussion. It does so by discussing the works of Fowler et al. (1979), Kress (1989, 1990) and Fairclough (1989, 1992) in the case of critical linguistics and those of Lyotard (1984, 1988), Foucault (1972, 1980) and Derrida (1978, 1982) in the case of postmodernism. Secondly, it presents a critical analysis which foregrounds some of the concerns, shortcomings and weaknesses inherent in these two areas as raised, for example, by Grimshaw (1980) and Widdowson (1998, 2000) regarding critical linguistics, and as raised, on the one hand, by Habermas (1987) and, to a lesser extent, by McCarthy (1993), and on the other hand, by Gross and Levitt (1994) concerning postmodernism. In addition, it provides an appraisal of Habermas’s and Gross and Levitt’s views on postmodernism. Thirdly, the study investigates the extent to which chaos theory can bridge the boundaries between critical linguistics and mainstream linguistics, between postmodernism and modernism, and between critical linguistics and postmodernism. Most significantly, it establishes the similarities and differences characterising critical linguistics and postmodernism. Moreover, it examines – through conducting a textual micro-analysis - the way in which discourse features employed in two texts (one on critical linguistics and the other on postmodernism) do (or do not) reflect instances of discourse and ideological strategies. Concomitantly, the questions this study sets out to answer are as follows: • What does the overview of both critical linguistics and postmodernism reveal? • What scholarly views and observations does a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the proponents of these two areas reveal? • What concerns, shortcomings and weaknesses are inherent in these two areas? • In what way is critical linguistics different from mainstream linguistics and how can the two areas be brought closer to each other? • In what way is postmodernism different from modernism and how can the two areas be brought closer to each other? • What are the similarities and differences between critical linguistics and postmodernism? and • What does the micro-analysis of the discourse features of the two sample extracts selected from both LP and The PC reveal about the discourse and ideological strategies used in these two texts? Two texts, Fairclough’s (1989) Language and Power (LP) – for critical linguistics- and Lyotard’s (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (The PC) – for postmodernism - serve as the two main sources of data in this study. In this regard, the study mounts both a macro-analysis and a micro-analysis of these two texts. Thus, employing a discourse and ideological analysis and chaos theory methodological framework and a textual content analysis and chaos theory model in Chapter Five, the macro-analysis has two sections. The first section focuses on the following aspects of both LP and The PC: their explicit and implicit goals; their respective areas of focus; their underlying theoretical assumptions; the approaches, methods and models of analysis they use; the types of data extracts used in LP and the cited material used in The PC; and the adequacy, trustworthiness and credibility of both the data extracts and the cited material. The second section examines the usage of the concepts (mainstream) linguistics, critical linguistics, language, ideology, power, discourse, text, intertextuality, subject positions (identities), utterances, and postmodernism in the case of LP. It also explores the usage of the concepts modernity/modernism, postmodernity/postmodernism, grand narratives/meta-narratives, language games, utterances, pragmatics, performativity, paralogy/paralogism, incommensurability, knowledge, and legitimation/legitimacy in the case of The PC. The software programme, WordWeb 3. 03, is used as a point of reference to benchmark some of the textual definitions, ideas and views attributed to the conceptual variables cited above. All of the above content variables are accompanied by their respective data exemplars extracted from the two texts. These data exemplars are presented in Appendix A. Using the same framework as cited above, the micro-analysis focuses on two extracts (cf. Appendices B and D) - taken from LP and The PC respectively – and employs a multidisciplinary model of ideological discourse analysis (MIDA) (cf. Figure 4. 2) for analysing these extracts in Chapter Six. In both extracts, it examines the following discourse features: narrative; repetition; rhetoric; pronominalisation (pronouns); modality (modals); topoi; stereotypes; metaphors; implication; presupposition; and conversational maxims. The use of the software programme Tropes V6.2 is enlisted to identify the word counts, content types and language styles the two extracts have. On the basis of the analysis of these features, an attempt is made to establish the discourse and ideological strategies employed in the two extracts (again cf. Figure 4. 2) and the possible inferences that can be made from the use of such discourse and ideological strategies. The use of the software programme WordWeb 3.03 is also enlisted to cross-validate the ideological tendencies or practices inferred from the discourse and ideological strategies employed in the two extracts. Finally, the study presents a summary of its findings, makes recommendations, and suggests further study.
Open Access
A critical study of specific exploded violent hierarchies in five novels by Toni Morrison
(University of the Free State, 2000-01) Strauss, Helene Johanna; Brooks, M.; Lovisa, M.
In a study of Toni Morrison's fiction it is appropriate to consider some of the relevant philosophical insights of Jacques Derrida, particularly Derrida's theory of deconstruction and the way in which it facilitates the explosion of violent hierarchies. Firstly, a general overview of relevant Derridean terminology is given. In his work, Derrida exposes many classical philosophical oppositions in which one pole of the opposition dominates the other. In fact, he questions the very nature of a Western reason which causes difference to be viewed as opposition. He uses the phrase 'violent hierarchy' to show that there is no peaceful co-existence of terms within oppositions but that one term traditionally has the upper hand. Derrida also demonstrates that these hierarchical structures of dominance and oppression not only manifest themselves in language but are also promoted by logocentric language. By insisting on the play of différance in language, Derrida offers a way in which these violent hierarchies can be exploded. The term 'explode' is similar (yet not identical to) the Derridean term deconstruction. However, instead of deconstructing Morrison's texts, the aim of this study is to lay bare Morrison' s treatment of the tensions inherent in specific hierarchical structures of dominance. To explode the chosen violent hierarchies is to expose the contradictions and ironies in certain hierarchic structures which manifest themselves and are reflected in language, whereas deconstruction itself is a complex reading strategy that Derrida uses when revealing discrepancies within certain classical philosophical texts. The term 'explode' is thus a more accurate description of what is aimed at in this research. Next, the study entails an assessment of exploded gender, class and racial hierarchies in five novels by Toni Morrison. In The Bluest Eye and Sula, Morrison's explosions of the male/female violent hierarchy are evaluated, while violent class hierarchies are addressed in Song of Solomon. Finally, the way in which Morrison explodes racial and colourist hierarchies in Beloved and Paradise is researched. By opening up language to the play of différance and consequently undermining traditional metaphysical binary reason Morrison, like Derrida, encourages the perpetual explosion of these violent hierarchies in both literature and society at large.
Open Access
Deconstructing the otherness of queer identity in contemporary lesbian fiction
(University of the Free State, 2011-01-03) Calitz, Martha Lydia (Talita); Lovisa, M. M. G.; Brooks, M.
This dissertation explores queer identity construction using theories of gender fluidity and performance. The research suggests that binary structures such as masculine/feminine, male/female, and heterosexual/homosexual, restrict the expansion of queer gender identities. A deconstructive theoretical framework based predominantly on the philosophy of Judith Butler is applied to a selection of contemporary lesbian novels. The textual analysis of lesbian, transgender and transsexual characters focuses on the ways in which binary structures are challenged by the multiplicity of gender expressions depicted within a variety of sociopolitical contexts. The reality of gender-based violence is investigated as a significant consequence of hegemonic power structures. The charge against butch/femme identity as imitative of heterosexual norms is challenged by demonstrating how such a category functions as a parodic subversion of heteronormative ideals. Female masculinity is also presented as a powerful identity category that inverts expectations of dominant masculinity, while allowing for an interrogation of the connection between sex and gender. From the arguments presented in this dissertation, what emerges very clearly is that queer gender identities empower the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex) community when identity is freed from the constraints of heteronormative discourse.
Open Access
The design, refinement and reception of a test of academic literacy for postgraduate students
(University of the Free State, 2012-01) Du Plessis, Colleen Lynne; Weideman, A. J.
English: A number of studies have indicated that the literacy levels of students at tertiary institutions in South Africa are lower than required for academic success. Nonetheless, the possibility exists that some of these students may in fact manage to graduate with low academic literacy levels, and even be admitted to postgraduate study although they lack the ability to negotiate the advanced academic discourse required to succeed at that level. This study confirms the need for the development of a test of academic literacy for postgraduate students and shows how this can be accomplished by applying recognized design principles within the framework of applied linguistics. The constitutive and regulative conditions for the validation of language tests are dealt with as the necessary foundation for the design of a test of academic literacy for postgraduate students. Whereas language tests have conventionally been required to show validity and reliability, in terms of more contemporary thinking such tests must also possess what is referred to as consequential validity, a notion that refers to the impact of tests. Literacy tests should thus not only be consistent and theoretically justifiable, but should incorporate a multiplicity of evidence to back up their validation. The various phases involved in the design of a test are covered, including piloting and refinement. A theoretical articulation of academic literacy is provided, since this constitutes a crucial aspect of construct validity, with particular attention being given to the delineation of functional academic literacy. The identified ability is reflected in the blueprint for the test construct and is further specified in the task types selected for inclusion in the test. The definite move away from previous generations of ‘scientific’ and positivist thinking can be discerned in the kind of test tasks required of test takers and the way in which these emphasize the instrumental communicative function and mediating role of language as a social instrument within the material lingual sphere of academic discourse. Task types are evaluated in terms of their ability to be productive, based on a quantitative system of measurement and the application of appropriate statistical procedures such as point-biserial correlations. The research concludes with a reception study which assesses the extent to which the current version of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS) is well received and whether it meets the regulative conditions of fairness, transparency, utility and accountability. In addition to confirming that the test has an acceptably high face validity, the survey section reveals that many postgraduate students have a restricted view of language and an erroneous perception of academic literacy. Much more needs to be done at undergraduate level to raise awareness about the important role played by language proficiency in all fields of study and how high academic literacy levels can contribute towards academic achievement and student success. The design of effective literacy interventions remains another area of concern. Research is also needed on the desirability and feasibility of designing subject-specific tests and ensuring equivalence where different test versions are in operation.
Open Access
The development and implementation of an English language and literature programme for low-proficiency tertiary learners
(University of the Free State, 2001-11) Van Wyk, Arlys Leslie; Greyling, W. J.; Hay, H. R.
The University of the Free State, like most other tertiary institutions in South Africa, is faced with the challenge of establishing a framework within the university for redressing inequalities in education: inequalities such as unequal access and opportunities for both students and staff along racial, gender and class lines. This research attempts to find ways of making tertiary learning accessible to a group of underprepared students who would, traditionally, have been excluded from tertiary learning in the previous apartheid dispensation. The study focuses on the language needs of learners who, for multiple reasons, have low English language proficiency. The problem is compounded for these students in that English is their chosen language of instruction. Thus, without English language proficiency, tertiary learning is inaccessible or, at best, extremely difficult for these students. The main aim of this study is to develop and implement a programme of language learning which will meet the requirements of the Department of English and, simultaneously, improve the English academic literacy skills of this group of SL learners so as to provide them with much-needed support to achieve academic success. The methodology selected to achieve the aim, is emancipatory action Research with its reflective cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. The action research cycles involve planning to improve the process; acting to implement that plan; observing the effects of the plan and finally, reflecting on the effects which, in turn, become the framework for the next cycle of action research. Two processes are central to action research, viz. data gathering and an action component. Data-gathering occurred over a period of our years and various techniques were used, viz. interviews, classroom observations, samples of students' written work, a journal of facilitator meetings, various monitoring techniques, questionnaires to learners and facilitators, test and examination results. The study describes three action research cycles over a period of four years. Initially, it was intended that the course should include a literature component which, as a result of this research, was abandoned in the second cycle of the action research. The reasons for this decision are documented in the study. The findings of the research have led to the development of an academic literacy course with the following broad goals, viz. to develop the ability to read academic texts with good comprehension and critical attention; to develop thinking and study skills and to develop the ability to express information and ideas clearly, relevantly and logically in expository writing. Several useful guidelines, for the development of an English language course for Iow-proficiency tertiary learners, have emerged from the study. These guidelines encompass the following key issues, viz. prior learning, learner proficiency, learner motivation and interest, comprehensible input, learning context, learning strategies, extensive and intensive reading, teaching approach, language and literature teaching, materials design and research methodology. This study has led to the development and implementation of an academic literacy course founded on the following salient guidelines: • A teaching approach based on a combination of communicative language learning and input processing instruction; • Proficiency should be developed within the context in which students find themselves, viz. the academic context. Thus, academic literacy skills are systematically developed; • Comprehensible input is axiomatic to language learning at tertiary level, thus, reading and writing fluency should be developed through a programme which provides plenty of meaning-bearing input; Classroom instruction should be based on a combination of content-based instruction and task-based language teaching; • Reading and writing skills should be taught through a process of systematic strategy training; and • Contextual support, which facilitates SLA, should be provided in the form of strategy training, continuous evaluation, thorough feedback and activities that replicate real-world tasks.
Open Access
The development of reading at a township school: an action research study
(University of the Free State, 2009-11) Van der Westhuizen, Jeanne Suzette; Van Wyk, A. L.
Reading in South African schools is rated amongst the worst in the world. Many children come from backgrounds where reading is uncommon. Since reading is the key to the mastery of other subjects and a predictor of future success, there is mounting disquiet about learners’ reading ability. Accordingly, the principal of a secondary township school requested help with reading development. This project aimed to design a programme of reading intervention that would lead to on-going, sustainable second language reading development, with the focus on improving the educators’ skills to teach reading. Because the chosen methodology was action research, the teachers were included as participants and co-researchers. An additional aim was to reflect critically on the interventions in order to ensure more generalised understanding of an educational problem. The results of this study will have value in that they will facilitate a closer understanding of reading development in one township school as an example of a general educational problem.
Open Access
The discourse manifestations of analytic, functional-analytic, and experiential language activities for intermediate to advanced learners of English
(University of the Free State, 2016-03-02) Brokensha, Susan Iris; Ullyatt, R. C.; Greyling, W. J.
This study has two principal aims. First, the descriptive aim is to describe the patterns of discourse that characterize three language teaching styles referred to by Allen (1987) in his variable focus curriculum scheme as structural-analytic (Type A), functional-analytic (Type B), and non-analytic (Type C) teaching, showing that these patterns differ significantly because they are the product of distinct speech exchange systems. The justification for this study is that, although Allen (1983; 1987; 1989) has described the features of Type A, Type B, and Type C teaching at length, few data are available on how these styles are reflected in actual classroom practices and processes. Moreover, although Allen et at. {1984) have developed a coding scheme which they refer to as the COLT procedure to distinguish between analytic and experiential language activities, it does not document the verbal exchanges characteristic of analytic teaching. Secondly, the applied linguistic aim is to show how the findings of the analyses conducted in this study may be used to improve aspects of teacher training as well as materials design and evaluation. As these aims indicate, the study of classroom discourse is not regarded as an end in itself, but as a means of promoting teachers' awareness of classroom processes so that they can make informed decisions in the language classroom. In order to achieve these aims, three corpuses of classroom data are analysed either in terms of Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson's (1974) rule system for tum-taking in natural conversation, or in terms of McHoul's (1978) recursive rule system for classroom discourse. Due to the limitations of the Conversation Analysis perspective, aspects of the Discourse Analysis perspective of the Birmingham school (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975) are used in the analyses. These analyses show that the discourse patterns that occur in Type A, Type B, and Type C language activities differ significantly because they are founded either on (i) a pre-allocated system of turn-taking, (ii) a Jocal-allocational system of turn-taking, or (iii) a combination of Jocal-allocational and pre-allocational means. Finally, the implications of the findings for teacher training as well as for materials design and evaluation are discussed, and, at the same time, future areas of research are briefly outlined.
Open Access
The discourse of the opressed and the language of the abandoned in selected plays of Harold Pinter
(University of the Free State, 2000-10) Jacobs, Edwena; Brooks, M.; MacDonald-Smythe, A.
The focus of this study is to explore the notions of oppression and abandonment and language and discourse as it pertains to the works of Harold Pinter. A selected reading of three psychoanalysts: Erich Fromm, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan facilitates an explanation of the psychological effects of oppression, violence, victimisation and alienation. According to Fromm, isolation is wo/man's most prodigious fear as being abandoned from society institutes psychological disturbances. In the Pinterian landscape, the characters are subjected to isolation and abandonment due to the oppressive society in which they are positioned. The Freudian concept of unconscious discourse offers an engaging explanation of the way in which Pinter's characters use discourse to signify their ontological fears and repressed desires. Freud's theory on the mechanisms of the id, ego and super-ego, and how these concepts correspond to repression and thus anxiety, highlights the significant themes in Pinter's plays. The Lacanian notion of Other as it relates to the laws and restrictive demands of society is manifested in Pinter' s plays as an omnipresent menace. Thus the characters attempt to retreat from society as it threatens to annihilate them, should they not conform. Ironically the tyrannical society is too powerful for the characters, and consequently destroys them when they endeavour to defy the laws of the Other. Accordingly Pinter's plays end with this final image of oppressed and abandoned characters struggling in vain against the oppressive Other.
Open Access
𝘠𝘰𝘶 Equals 𝘕𝘰𝘵-𝘐: avowal, disavowal, and second- person narration in Marlene van Niekerk’s 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘢𝘵
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023) de Villiers, Rick
This article examines the second-person narrative mode in Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat. Its function is explained by situating the novel within that niche known as the “you-text.” But the generic function must also be accounted for within the thematic tensions of the novel, specifically those oscillations of avowal and disavowal. So a second concern is this: how does the novel speak back to narrative theory? How does its “compulsion to tell the truth” – shadowed by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission – trouble, expand or extend the typologies used to talk about texts where “you” consolidates narrator and narratee? Considering this consolidation as part of what might be called a narratology of the self, I suggest that Agaat’s “you” can be seen as further collapsing the roles of confessor and penitent. Such collapse reinforces the interiority of Milla’s self-addressed excoriations, since it mirrors the doubled consciousness of Protestant confession. But it also inaugurates a new type of address – the “implied you” – which turns on the reader as much as on the novel’s protagonist.
Open Access
Exploring reading attitudes and habits of pre-service teachers responsible for early literacy development
(University of the Free State, 2023) Boshoff, Elani; Du Plessis, Colleen Lynne; Drennan, Laura Maria
Reading is a crucial part of academic study and scholastic performance. Strong reading skills, which entail positive reading attitudes and robust reading habits, are needed to facilitate learning. Teachers, in particular, need to have a love for reading and regular reading habits themselves to be influential role models for their learners. However, studies show that, although pre-service teachers believe reading is important and/or beneficial, they do not maintain strong reading habits themselves, and they do not see reading as pleasurable. Such teachers may struggle to impart to their future learners positive reading attitudes that they themselves do not have. This study focused on pre-service teachers because they are uniquely positioned to reveal current reading attitudes cultivated by South African schools, and because they still have the opportunity to develop positive reading attitudes during their teacher training. The cohort includes pre-service teachers who are training to become Foundation or Intermediate Phase teachers; thus, the title of the study refers to pre-service teachers who will be responsible for early literacy development. The study aimed to learn about pre-service teachers’ reading attitudes and habits, and underlying reasons for them. To do this, insights were gained from a thorough literature study on reading as a cognitive process, the development of reading attitudes and habits, reader-text transaction types, and instructional approaches for meaningful reading practices within a Humanist and Social Reformist curricular philosophy. For the purposes of exploring the reading attitudes and habits of pre-service teachers responsible for teaching young learners, the English Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) was developed as the data collection instrument. Key findings were that although most of the pre-service teachers expressed positive reading attitudes, their reading attitudes do not align with their reading practices, and they do not engage in extensive or pleasure reading. The cohort’s reading habits can be described as efferent rather than aesthetic; they seem not to focus on a love for reading and a regular reading habit for its own sake — rather, many think of reading as a necessary obstacle that must be overcome for academic purposes such as completing assignments. They read texts associated with their course work rather than literary works that could provide educational and personal benefits. Although many mentioned the value of literature in education to acquire knowledge and develop language proficiency, very few mentioned the need for teachers to read often or have a love for reading. Moreover, most were not encouraged to engage in meaningful ways with literature at school. They were taught with rote learning techniques in which learners were expected to memorise teachers’ notes instead of generating their own ideas and interpretations. It is possible that the lack of personal and meaningful engagement with literature texts is a cause for their lack of extensive and pleasure reading. The results of the survey also revealed a concerning prevalence of reading anxiety amongst the cohort of pre-service teachers. Participants indicated that they struggle to understand what they read, which may affect their studies negatively, given the amount of reading students are expected to do at university. Interestingly, participants showed a strong preference for printed texts. The fact that much of their academic reading is done through digital modes, via the Internet or through online learning management systems, may be a contributing factor to reading anxiety. Responsible design principles in applied linguistics remind us that the efficacy of our solutions is more important than their trendiness. If we wish to establish healthy reading attitudes and habits, digital reading modes may not always be the best tool to facilitate engagement with literature in classrooms. Recommendations based on the findings include prioritising reading literacy education in teacher training programs, as well as foregrounding the literature component of language curricula. Pre-service teachers need to be made aware of their example as reading role models, and they should also be given opportunities to nurture their own reading attitudes and habits during their training. They need to be equipped with the tools and techniques necessary to teach their future learners important reading skills, while encouraging a love for reading and the development of robust reading habits.
Open Access
Glossy mags and the sexes: a critical discourse analysis of FHM and Cosmo
(University of the Free State, 2009-05) Conradie, M. S.; Brokensha, S. I.
English: The following dissertation reports on a research study of the lifestyle magazines For Him Magazine and Cosmopolitan. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in an investigation of linguistic patterns which serve to construct a particular perspective on masculinity and femininity. The quantitative analyses focused on identifying patterns in the distribution and connotation of various words. The qualitative analyses focused on various grammatical and semantic features in specific articles of both magazines. The results suggest that both magazines tend to hone masculinity and femininity to certain subjects and descriptions. Cosmopolitan, however, might be characterised by a slightly more flexible discourse. In addition, this study also contains suggestions on how research of this nature may be incorporated into an academic course for students of Applied Linguistics.
Open Access
The high school teacher's role in maximizing learners' initiative in English second language classes in Lesotho
(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Rantsoai, Ntsotiseng Mary-Goretti; Ullyatt, R. C.
English: The introductory chapters of this study explain minimum and maximum learner initiative and the forms in which they can be identified in the language teaching-Ieaming process. In other words, second language learners' and teachers' positions in language classrooms are defined. In so doing the advantages and disadvantages of maximum and minimum learner initiative were shown. The repercussions of the traditional IRF pattern of interaction in English second language classes are discussed in datal Using Bowers (1987) as conceptual framework, the researcher proceeded to identify the most recurrent pattems of interaction in Form E classes in some of the high schools in Lesotho, with specific reference to lingual data. She audiotaped seven pre-counselling lessons and seven interviews between the teachers and her. She also gave a questionnaire to the students so that she could collect more data for validation and triangulation purposes. The transcription of the lingual data, in Bowers' (1987) pre-counselling phase, revealed that most of the teachers adhered to the traditional IRF discourse cycle in English second language classes. The analysis of the lessons, interviews and questionnaires led to Bowers' (1987) counselling/intervention phase. It also made it easy for the teachers to identify their learner initiative-minimizing techniques in language classes. This meant a detailed discussion on maximizing and minimizing learner initiative and their effects in second language learning. The teacher's role in maximizing leamer initiative was thus emphasised. The researcher, then, suggested various ways in which the teachers could maximize leamer initiative. They were also advised to set learning outcomes so as to provide a guide for the implementation of these suggestions. The intervention phase was followed by the post-counselling/intervention phase of Bowers' model. Each of the seven teachers had his or her post-counselling lesson recorded and transcribed. The main purpose was to make it easy for the researcher and the teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention phase. Evidently all the teachers had maximized leamer initiative through different techniques although they could not implement all the suggested techniques. One cannot tell whether the teachers still adhered to the notion of maximizing leamer initiative after the researcher's departure. The researcher therefore recommended, in this study, that second language teachers should receive regular counselling from the inspectors, their colleagues in their schools and from other schools, and lecturers from Lesotho College of Education and the National University of Lesotho. The need for teachers' communicative and pedagogic competences to be developed is also apparent from this study.
Open Access
Imagining the mad woman: applying concepts of the narrative imagination, psychoanalytic and feminist theory to "The bell jar" and selected poems by Sylvia Plath
(University of the Free State, 2011) Kriel, Johanet Alice; Brooks, Mariza
In this dissertation, several aspects and processes of the female and melancholic psyche are discussed in terms of Sylvia Plath’s life and work. The two pivotal theoretical schools which are thus of interest are psychoanalysis and feminism. In addition, there is another conceptual framework that is of importance to this study, namely American moral philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s notion of the narrative imagination and its role in liberal education. However, this theory is not discussed in detail but rather provides the broader framework for the dissertation; setting the tone for the discussions as it were. While this particular analysis is thus by no means comprehensive or complete, the aim is for the reader to actively apply his/her narrative imagination in order to more fully grasp the internal world and external circumstances of the female figures in Plath’s work and thereby grasp some of Plath’s psychical processes (as opposed to attempting a holistic grasp on Plath’s psyche). In terms of psychoanalysis, the various influences that can potentially impact (often negatively) the human psyche are considered. The focus is mostly on the female psyche, and therefore the analysis concentrates specifically on the following: the influence of the Electra/Oedipus complex on the girl/woman’s relationship with the father figure (both her actual father and the symbolic order which functions as a father in patriarchal society) and subsequently with her sexual/romantic partners; the girl/woman’s intense and ambivalent relationship with the mother figure (as the primal love-object and as the model of ideal femininity); and the reciprocal dynamic which exists between these relationships and the girl/woman’s psyche and life. The influence and incarnation of various other psychoanalytic notions are also considered; such as the ideal ego, the divided self and the masochistic ego. Furthermore, the characteristics and possible effects of melancholia and the deathdrive are examined, particularly in terms of suicide as an act of self-affirmation. In so far as it is possible and plausible, these psychoanalytic notions are related to Plath’s work and, by inference, to certain aspects of her life. With regards to feminist theory, theorists who also employ a psychoanalytic stance (such as the so-called “French feminists” Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva) with regards to the specific position of the female figure in patriarchal society were examined. As such, the thoughts of several well-known and lesser known feminist theorists (for example, Jacqueline Rose and Juliet Mitchell) are discussed and applied. Of particular importance is patriarchal society’s definition of womanhood and the conflicts which women experience because of this, specifically within the unique cultural setting of 1950s America. Therefore, the influences of the symbolic order in numerous of its figurations are examined and how they can silence women, specifically the female writer. Other central concepts in reaching a deeper understanding of Plath’s work and some of the psychical aspects she probes therewith include: the women’s role as commodity and fetish object, the mother figure’s role in perpetuating patriarchal pressure on her daughter, the female and especially the maternal body as embodiment of the abject, and conversely the way in which writing her body can offer the woman a subjective affirmation in the form of écriture féminine.
Open Access
The impact of a discourse-based teacher-counselling model in training language teachers for outcomes-based education
(University of the Free State, 2001-11) De Villiers, Eleftheria; Greyling, W. J.
As outcomes-based education (OBE) is an approach to learning that fosters usable knowledge and skills in learners, with attitudes and values that are aligned with the ideals of the South African Constitution, it was a cause for concern when evidence presented by the Curriculum 2005 Review Committee suggested that the new approach to education was not being implemented successfully. The Committee stated that a lack of appropriate teacher-training and in-service support was one of the primary causes. It was thus decided to attempt to address this issue in a South African context in this research study. The study recruited teacher-trainees using semi-random sampling methods and subjected a final sample of eleven teacher-trainees to a two-year study in which they received counselling on the most effective ways of adapting their teaching styles to an OBE mode. Baseline data was gathered from pre-intervention recordings of their teaching styles in real classroom situations, after which these recordings were viewed and assessed by the trainees themselves, and by peer and counsellor assessment, using standardised assessment forms. Areas in which teaching styles might undergo improvement were identified by the clients themselves, while the counsellor shared theoretical perspectives with the trainees concerning the value of developing their own and the learners' autonomy, establishing low-anxiety classrooms in which learners could feel free to express themselves and could practise uninterrupted speech in a second language, the value of designing their own materials, the strengths of including group work in lessons and ways of enhancing the effectiveness of group work. The relationship between the counsellor and her trainees was of a consistently supportive and empathic nature. Collaboration between the trainees was emphasised, as they were expected to support one another in becoming more effective facilitators. Any judgment on possible improvements had to be phrased in considerate and empathic terms, yet retaining objectivity. It was felt that trainees would be able to replicate the modes they had been taught in their own classrooms, so it was essential that their own development was modelled on critical crossfield and specific outcomes derived from OBE terminology. After much reflection, asd a number of interventions that followed the guidelines posited by Bowers (1987) in his teacher-counselling model within the research framework of an action research spiral (Middiewood, Coleman and Lumby 1999), final video recording were made of trainee-teachers in order to determine if they had indeed succeeded in effecting positive changes to their teaching styles. After each of these recordings had been analysed by the counsellor and the trainees themselves, it was found that major improvements had indeed been effected in the majority of cases. Learners in trainee lessons had been encouraged to speak for much greater periods of time, showing greater initiative. Group work was included in their improved lessons. After discourse had been studied and categorised according to Van Lier's (1996) discourse analysis model, it was found that the quality of classroom Initiation-Response-Feedback had developed from lower-order to higher-order IRF along the Van Lier IRF sub-continuum (1996), indicating that teachers were dominating the structure of classroom discourse to a far lesser extent in their second lessons, opening the classroom interactions to a conversational mode in which the course of the lessons could be determined by learners and thus be more unpredictable. This learner-centeredness was a positive outcome in the study and was further proof that teachers were beginning to apply themselves in an OBE mode. After a year of reflection trainees provided data in a focus interview which showed evidence that they were much more comfortable with OBE and were eager to use the outcomes-orientation in their lessons, as they now understood it as a more effective way to educate learners.