AA 2009 Volume 41 Issue 1

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Effective implementation of continuing professional development for South African teachers
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Steyn, Trudie
    English: The article attempts to satisfy two objectives: to arrive at a clear understanding of effective professional development (PD) programmes for teachers, and to outline how key aspects could influence the effective implementation of the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa, in particular that of CPTD. The article focuses on the following aspects: teachers’ learning, teachers’ commitment, quality leadership, the school context and requirements for PD programmes.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Policy-making by public school governing bodies: law and practice in Gauteng
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Joubert, Rika
    English: The South African Schools Act stipulates that school governing bodies are responsible for drafting certain school policies. This article reports on a qualitative research study conducted in 50 schools in Gauteng to trace the functionality of the school governing bodies with regard to policy-making. A critical evaluation of the admission, language and religious policies as well as codes of conduct provides substantial evidence that school governing bodies are committed to the values of equality and human dignity, and actively promote non-racism and non-sexism in their policies.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Vrystaatse stryd teen eentalige naamgewing
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Moll, Johan
    English: Regarding language policy, the new South African Constitution (1996) recognised eleven official languages while clearly stipulating that measures should be put in place to raise the historically diminished usage and status of the indigenous languages. This article analyses the expectations and vigilance of white Afrikaans speakers regarding the future status and use of their language and the sensitivity and antagonism of the new rulers concerning any signs and remains of a colonialist past. The ANC’s attempt at enforcing unilingualism is analysed, as well as how concessions had to be made on both sides.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Konstruktivistiese taalonderrig: ontwikkeling van ’n navorser se eie epistemologie
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Kruger, Estelle
    English: This article reflects about the author’s professional development as language practitioner, educationalist and researcher. A literature review conceptualises principles of constructivist learning theories and shows how the (intuitive) implementation of these principles has enhanced students’ ability to construct meaning and accept responsibility for their own learning in the author’s teaching and research programme. Mention is made of different approaches to language teaching that can be integrated successfully in the constructivist paradigm, for instance the communicative and task-based approaches. These are based on recent research on the functioning of the brain when learning takes place, and its implications for the development of creativity in language teaching are discussed.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Thinking in the dark of William Kentridge’s Black box/Chambre noire: reflections within reflections
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Schoeman, Gerhard
    English: This article explores contemporary art historical practice, by considering a number of critical concepts, as these relate discursively to William Kentridge’s multi-media artwork Black box/Chambre noire (2005). Walter Benjamin’s concept “thinking in images” (Bilddenken) forms the theoretical basis for a reflection on art historical practice viewed as, to borrow a powerful metaphor of Frederic Schwartz, “thinking in the dark”. W J T Mitchell’s concept of metapictures is adopted as a means to interpret selected images that appear to “think” or “sense” our interpretation of them, while they reflect on their processes of coming to be. W J T Mitchell is followed in considering “the picture-beholder relationship as a field of mutual desire”.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Roelof Temmingh’s Kantorium:a reflection on suffering and redemption
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Viljoen, Martina; Viljoen, Nicol
    English: Roelof Temmingh’s Kantorium (2003/4), a large-scale work for choir, soloists and orchestra, won the prestigious Helgaard Steyn award in 2006. Temmingh commented briefly on his extremely difficult personal circumstances during its creation. Should a composer suffer in order to produce great music? This question raises the wider problem of contextuality, as well as concomitant theoretical/philosophical considerations. Profoundly religious in nature, the work, whose text is in German, was written for a European audience by an Afrikaans-speaking composer in post-apartheid South Africa. It does not embody any clearly overt political values, nor does it attempt to serve as a repository of cultural identity. Moreover, according to the composer, his personal circumstances were not a prerequisite for its creation.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The examination of research for dissertations and theses
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Lessing, Ansie
    English: Specific knowledge and skills are required to maintain the quality of the examination of postgraduate research. Preliminary research indicated that there was a need to investigate the examination of postgraduate research. Individual and focus group interviews were used in a qualitative research to determine the views of examiners of dissertations and theses on the issue of examining postgraduate studies. An interview schedule was compiled from the literature investigation and used as an outline for the discussions. It was found that experienced examiners follow a definite structure in the examination of postgraduate studies, the examination process does not always run smoothly and remuneration was mentioned as a problem. The examination of dissertations and theses is not a process to take lightly and examiners need proper guidelines and training to enable them to be effective.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Reflective thinking among a selected sample of South African educators: a qualitative study
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Rossouw, Daneel
    English: This article investigates how South African educators understand and practise reflective thinking, and whether they receive adequate training in reflective thinking during their in-service training. A literature study established a conceptual framework on reflective thinking, and an empirical investigation explored the experiences of a small sample of educators.
  • ItemOpen Access
    National saving and fiscal policy in South Africa: an empirical analysis
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Bonga-Bonga, Lumengo
    English: This article studies the dynamics of gross national saving, government saving and private saving in response to fiscal shocks, by using the impulse response functions (IRF) obtained from the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR). This article aims to determine the extent to which fiscal policy influences savings in South Africa, and to test whether the Ricardian equivalence proposition holds in South Africa. It concludes that the full Ricardian equivalence does not hold in the short term, and in the long term the response of national saving to fiscal policy shocks is neutral.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Focus groups in research: information gathering or real in-depth value?
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Loots, Ansie
    English: This article aims to highlight the value of real in-depth inquiry against the often uninformed use by novice researchers. Focus groups are frequently regarded as a more economical way of gaining the individual opinions of the eight to twelve members of the group. An in-depth focus group clarifies underlying issues in a group or organisation, such as power dynamics, interrelationships, alliances and consensus. The approach to focus groups whereby the researcher can glean deeper information and understanding about the values and power relationships underpinning all inter-group communications, is discussed, emphasising that it is neither “easy” nor “cheap”. The skill and knowledge of the facilitator or researcher in this regard is paramount.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Parallel importation and compulsory licensing in Kenya and South Africa as measures to access HIV/AIDS medicine
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Sibanda, Omphemetse
    English: This article briefly examines the legal framework and the use of parallel importation and compulsory licensing in South Africa and Kenya, and the extent to which the two countries utilise these measures to enhance access to HIV/AIDS medicine. The study reveals that both countries have adopted appropriate TRIPs-compliant parallel importation and compulsory licensing legislation. However, this legislation is yet to be used significantly to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Some of the perceived restrictions and complexities of the conditionalities of TRIPs flexibilities are notable disincentives. Although South Africa and Kenya have some pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, this is found to have some critical limitations.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Die ontvanger as normeringsbeginsel vir ’n lesergerigte vertaalteks
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Lesch, Harold
    English: Language practitioners such as translators need norms to a lesser or greater degree to guide their language use. The general communication norm applies, namely that speakers/writers need to express themselves in such a way that what they say/ write is identifiable and that it can be interpreted by listeners/readers. At the same time it should coincide in the highest degree with how they want themselves to be understood. Apart from this general norm, which should also guide the community translator, there are specific norms that one should abide by in order to convey the message effectively. In this article specific norms are discussed that a community translator should adhere to. The norms are illustrated by representative (translated) text extracts.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The ‘Golden Fifties’ and the ‘tide of immorality’: Wolfgang Koeppen’s Tauben im Gras
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Weber, Undine; Williams, Alison
    English: The struggles West Germans and African-Americans faced during the early post- World War II years of economic prosperity (the “Golden Fifties”)1 were compounded by confused ideologies concerning morality, sexuality and racism (“the tide of immorality”).2 This article provides an overview of the socio-historical background of the setting of Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel, in order to illustrate the findings with regard to the social and moral difficulties that arose from the American occupation of West Germany.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Potgieter, Frikkie
    English: Recent academic writing emphasises the importance of the body in human meaning and understanding but, surprisingly, a high percentage of researchers turn a blind eye to the fact that the Western philosophical aesthetic tradition played a leading role in this regard. This article aims to contribute to the reinstatement of the body to its rightful place in historic Western philosophy and art practice. The article thus analyses how the Western aesthetic and artistic tradition started out by attempting to conceptualise and actualise a humanist body in art, but ended up deconstructing such a notion and setting up a metaphorical aesthetic body in its place. In my estimation such a metaphorical perspective of the body in art is not only an emancipatory achievement, but also a joyous affirmation of the human capacity for never-ending creativity.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Language law and language rights: perspectives on legal intervention and language diversity
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Turi, Joseph-G
    English: Language legislation aims to protect or promote the status and use of one or more specified languages. Official language legislation relates to the according of official status to a language or languages, while liberal language legislation pertains to the recognition of language rights and linguistic minorities. Regarding the latter category, a distinction is drawn between the right to the language and the right to a language. The former refers to the right to use one or more specified languages, particularly in an official context, whereas the right to a language refers to the universal right to use one’s mother tongue, or any language, particularly in unofficial contexts. Diversity, including linguistic diversity, is an asset that should be acknowledged and preserved — also in a judicial context.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Philosophical issues in environmental management: nature-culture dialectic and sustainability
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Loubser, Ananka; Venter, Ponti
    English: The environment has become one of the major issues of our time. Environmental management has become a discipline with different approaches to protect the environment against the effects of human exploitation. The basis of managerial approaches to environmental issues is to be found in the nature-culture dialectic as expressed in the modern humanistic ideology of mastery in a technical and economic sense. Such a dialectical approach is hierarchical and will prioritise either nature or culture. A nondialectical approach, such as can be found in Reformational philosophy, gives more possibilities to encompass the future of humankind and nature in one perspective.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Making room for more games: metaphilosophical typology and the problem of African philosophy
    (University of the Free State, 2009) Van der Merwe, J. C.
    English: The question concerning the philosophy of philosophy (metaphilosophy) has received little attention in philosophical discourses in the last few decades, a case in point being the debate on African philosophy. People often argue the existence or nonexistence of African philosophy without explaining their own understanding of the nature of philosophy. This article introduces a metaphilosophical conceptual grid as a means to address this issue. A distinction is made between different kinds of philosophy, as well as different types of philosophers. The grid is then applied to the debate on African philosophy. One of the main functions of the proposed grid is to ensure that different discourses are not confused with one another.