Jean Parkinson

Education, Language, and Identity Amongst Students at a South African University

This article reports on a study of language and cultural identity of mother-tongue Zulu students at an English-medium South African university. The data consist of focus group interviews, questionnaires, and student opinions in essays. Findings include a strong identification of the participants with the Zulu language and Zulu culture, and a view of English variously as a language of settlers that participants are forced to speak for instrumental reasons, or, more positively, as a language useful for education and as a lingua franca. Stigmatisation of those who speak English “too much” was evident. Other findings are that although participants had been educated at nominally English-medium schools, classroom instruction for many was likely to have been in Zulu, with English used only for written work. After 1 year at university, however, students could articulate a clear idea of the kind of writing demanded by university study.

Gender, Self-Efficacy and Achievement among South African Technology Teacher Trainees.

This article considers the relationship between gender and self‐efficacy in teacher trainees engaged in an electricity‐related design and construction task. Quantitative data (examination scores, task assessment, and questionnaire) and qualitative data (interviews and written student reflections) were collected. There is a gender bias in student teachers entering the University with more male than female students having done Science to grade 12 level. In addition, the continuing differential in standards of education in South African schools necessitated distinguishing those who had attended educationally advantaged from those who had attended educationally disadvantaged schools. In the examination, a test of theoretical knowledge, male students in each group outperformed female students. This we explain in terms of school background, gender responses from family members who regarded Science as a male domain, and the resulting lower self‐efficacy of female students. However, female students achieved as well as male students in the design and construction task. We argue that although males had better self‐efficacy levels than females at the outset, the hands‐on, individual nature of a task in a domain usually constructed as male led to female students developing increased levels of self‐efficacy, which ensured task performance matching that of the more knowledgeable male students.

Science books for children as a preparation for textbook literacy

This article examines science books for children, a genre that has been neglected both in studies of science discourse and in studies of literature for children. It compares this genre to two other science genres, textbooks and popular science articles, and finds great similarities between science textbooks and science books for children, both in terms of register and cultural values. As a result of these similarities, it suggests that science books for children are valuable in providing access to textbook literacy, which is highly prized in the later school years.

Evaluating the effectiveness of an academic literacy course: Do students benefit?

The proliferation of academic literacy courses in South African universities in the last 25 years prompts the question of how effective such courses are. Addressing the difficulties of studying in a second language combined with insufficient stress on reading and writing at school, such courses are designed to assist students with university reading and writing tasks. This article describes how reading and writing acquisition are scaffolded in one such course designed specifically for students who enter a science degree programme through alternative access routes. It then assesses how successful the course is at improving students’ academic reading and writing. Equivalent tests before and after the course indicate that students do improve their academic reading and writing, with the weakest students making the biggest improvement. By the end of the course the academic literacy of this weakest group is, however, still not equivalent to that of regular entrants to the Faculty. Student evaluation at the end of the course indicates that students believe they have learnt much from the course and, to a lesser extent, that they have enjoyed the course. Previous students report making extensive use of the literacies taught by the course in the later years of their degrees.

The Literacy Practices of Vocational Training in Carpentry and Automotive Technology.

Abstract Prior studies indicate that vocational students’ literacy practices are more demanding than is generally recognised. Employing a view of literacy acquisition as socialisation, we investigated the literacy practices of trades training in Carpentry and Automotive Technology, by interviewing tutors and examined course books and student writing. A register of spoken language was identified, which differed from everyday language in being highly technical, reflecting specialist knowledge and indexing an identity as a member of a trade. Students were found to read a wide variety of texts, including complex professional texts such as Building Standards, Specifications, Codes and manufacturer’s instructions, as well as tutor-produced course books. Writing was less prominent and included assignment questions, and tests and some preparation for professional writing. Further research into the oral practices of vocational study, based on observation of pedagogical practice, is suggested. Implications for vocational pedagogy include a focus on support for reading.

Stability of grammatical features of Black South African English

This article explores the level of stability of some grammatical features of Black South African English (BSAE). The study involved testing a group of undergraduate speakers of BSAE using an exercise in which students judged the grammaticality of sentences and rewrote those they considered non-standard. Students were then alerted to grammatical differences between BSAE and Standard English (SE). Awareness of these differences developed during a student writing assignment in which BSAE features were discussed and compared with the standard forms, and students learnt to distinguish between SE and BSAE forms in assessing the rewritten sentences of their fellow students. After an interval of two months, the same participants were re-tested on their use of these features using a second similar grammaticality exercise. The results suggest that this minor intervention increased students’ ability to recognise most of the non-standard forms and rewrite them in the standard form. This indicates present lack of stability in the BSAE variety, and is in line with previous findings (Van der Walt and Van Rooy, 2002) that BSAE is in a transition phase in which standard and BSAE forms are both regarded as options. The study also found also that some features of BSAE are more stable than others. The last part of the article considers qualitative data reflecting students’ attitudes to BSAE and suggests that a sense of ownership of this variety might be an important step towards students’ extending their repertoire to include a more formal written variety.

Variable discursive constructions of three genres of science

The present study reports on a comparison of the research article, university textbook and science news article as a preamble to capturing ideological differences between these three genres of scientific writing. The linguistic dimension to the comparison relies on Systemic Functional Linguistics, specifically the representation of human participants, use of passivisation and nominalisation, evaluation and hedging. Ideological differences deriving from this analysis are summarised in terms of what constitutes a fact in each genre, how objectivity is established and what power relations prevail. Research articles are shown to deal with propositions still to be endorsed by the all-powerful scientific community. Their authors are consequently less powerful than their readers, unlike textbook writers, who deal with propositions already endorsed by the scientific community and who, as a result, are more powerful than their readers are. Authors of both genres achieve objectivity largely through removing reference to people in their texts. Science news articles are noticeably distinct. Their authors establish objectivity through attributing ideas to authoritative human participants and, because they report on findings not yet endorsed as fact, they represent scientific findings as provisional, even controversial. Science news articles thereby represent science as an essentially social activity. The article ends with some suggestions regarding pedagogical applications.

Using Talanoa to develop bilingual word lists of technical vocabulary in the trades

ABSTRACT It is important for anyone entering a profession to learn their profession’s specialised language. This is also true of those learning trades such as automotive technology or plumbing. Knowledge of specialised language allows trades professionals to speak to other professionals and read technical material. Although this technical language is new to all students, learning it is harder for students learning in a second language. In this article we provide support for this learning for students from the Pacific Island nation of Tonga, who are studying a trade in English either in Tonga or abroad. In prior work we developed technical word lists in four trades, identifying the technical vocabulary in a 1.6 million-word corpus of course material. In this article, we extend that research by developing bilingual English-Tongan word lists, using culturally appropriate Talanoa methodology to draw on the specialist knowledge of Tongan-speaking trades’ professionals. Translation revealed that numerous technical words do not have a direct translation in Tongan, particularly infrequent English words. It also revealed words with a clear Tongan equivalent, and Tonganised English words. The bilingual word lists will benefit Tongan trades’ trainees in Tonga and those who are migrants to English countries.

Putting yourself into your work: expression of visual meaning in student technical writing:

Students in technical fields use visual as well as verbal modes to express their meaning, employing ways of expressing meaning that are useful later in their professional lives. This study investigates visual meaning in student Builders’ Diaries, journals that are written by carpentry trainees to provide a record of their learning. In professional carpentry practice, Diaries function as a record of building work and are used in planning, billing and record-keeping. For this study, a corpus of 43 Builders’ Diaries, written by apprentices working in industry and by trainees in an educational institution, were analyzed. Findings reveal the role of visual meaning in the Builders’ Diary in developing the professional identity of the students. Compositional regularities were found, including regularities in image–image and image–text relations. These regularities suggest the extent to which our participants, who have no formal training in design, participate in culturally shared understandings of visual meaning.

Language support for learning a second language: What can the Malaysian example offer South Africa?

Abstract Like many postcolonial countries South Africa has, in most schools, in practice opted to use English for teaching and learning. Malaysia has similarly opted for the use of English in schools, although limiting this to the subjects of Mathematics and Science. In Malaysia, to achieve instruction in a second language, a wide range of supports is offered to teachers and learners whose proficiency in English may be limited. Such support includes materials, in-service training, support from English teachers, mentoring by senior teachers, English for Science and Technology as an examination subject, and the fostering of a positive attitude to both English and the Malay language. In this article we compare the Malaysian and the South African situations, and consider how the Malaysian experience could benefit South Africa.