National Univeristy of Lesotho Journals
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Economic and Political Equality as Socialist Ideals
Get PDFThe paper evaluates Nielsen’s second principle of justice and compares it with Rawls’ difference principle. The conclusion arrived at is that their difference is one of degree and not of substance since they both promote inequalities. The paper also argues against Beiner’s perspective regarding political citizenship as the sole end worthy of pursuit. It concludes that economic equality also ought to be pursued as an end itself
Usage, Syntactic Maturity and Syntactic Development of Subordinate Clauses Among NUL Students
Get PDFMany scholars became interested in looking at the syntactic maturity of students in their writing. In investigating this, they set themselves different measures. The current study explores usage, syntactic maturity and syntactic development of subordinate clauses among the National University of Lesotho (NUL) second and third year English language and Linguistics students. They were requested to perform the task ofwriting an essay on given topic. The findings of the present study reveal that NUL students have a reasonably high level of syntactic maturity in their writing as shown by how they used subordinate clauses. The data also demonstrate that there is no difference between second and third year students as far as the use of subordinate clauses is concerned. The study concludes that one year difference between the two years of study is not a great difference academically, which is why there is no difference in syntactic development in NUL students’ writing as measured through the use of subordinate clauses
The Perception of Ambiguous Sentences by English L2 Speakers
Get PDFThis paper explores and compares the perception of lexical and structural ambiguity by English L2 speakers. The study on which it is based used data collected from the National University of Lesotho students in the second, third and fourth years of study. The students were selected from the departments of Law, Nursing, Pastoral Care and Counselling, English and Political Science. A structure is considered perceived if it occurs accurately 90 percent of the time. The study finds that students fail to perceive ambiguous sentences and that their perception of structural ambiguity is better perceived than that of lexical ambiguity
Supporting vulnerable learners in Lesotho Education System: The case of Lekhalong Combined School
Get PDFThis article explores a dissonance between the way reports published by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), explain how schools are supported and empowered to be inclusive of learners with barriers to learning and development, and perception that teachers, in one school, have of the support to vulnerable learners. A qualitative approach was used to gather and analyse data, and results indicate that the MOET documents learners' registration annually, including learners with disability and orphans, and spends huge sums of money on bursaries and book subsidies. The Ministry's records also show training of teachers on counselling as it plans to establish support structures from schools to the Ministry headquarters. However, teachers deny receiving any training on counselling and yearn for any form of support from MOET: schools lack systematic methods of assessing learners’ needs, and psycho-social support to learners is not only minimal but also lacks continuity. Teachers mostly focus on their teaching load in overcrowded classes while mostly oblivious of learners’ individual psycho-social needs. It is recommended that the MOET develop clear policy guidelines on psychosocial support to vulnerable learners, provide requisite resources for such support and devise mechanisms to assess efficiency of such support
Roman Catholic Perspective of Sin and Homosexuality: Scrutinizing the Signs of the Times
Get PDFIn a pluralistic world, in which the issues of homosexuality and gay rights have taken the centre stage of discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa, critical analysis is required to re-appraise the Roman Catholic perspective of sin and homosexuality. Again, the emergence of the study of homosexuality as a subfield within African Studies gives further vent to critical reflection to assess the merits and demerits of Church pronouncements on the issues. In the context of emerging fields of study and various sexual orientations of people of different cultures today, the issue of the Roman Catholic understanding of sin and her teaching on homosexuality has become problematic to many, especially the young ones in various higher institutions of learning. A growing number of them think that the recent comments of the Catholic Pontiff are not helping matters. The challenges seem to lie in balancing the teachings on homosexuality with the belief that God is merciful and loving. The relatively charitable disposition of the Pope calls for the re-evaluation of the Church stance on sin and homosexuality. Therefore, the paper, using historical and analytical methods, examines the basic meaning of sin and puts in context the chances of accepting homosexuals without indeed undue focus on their habits that may be in need of healing. Drawing on relevant literature and on the assertions of some students in my classes, the paper concludes that in a pluralistic society the homosexuals may make the human community richer when given the same opportunities accorded the majority orientation
Ubuntu and Deontology with Reference to Severely Mentally Disabled Persons
Get PDFoai:ojs3.journals.nul.ls:article/3This article attempts, first of all, to normatively discuss the two moral theories namely; Ubuntu and Deontology with the aim of promoting the welfare of severely mentally disabled people. These theories seem to segregate severely mentally disabled human beings because Ubuntu argues that personhood is acquired through one’s participation in communal traditional rituals while Deontology argues that personhood is acquired through autonomy and rationality. Secondly, this article addresses the question of the virtue of why severely mentally retarded people deserve to be respected instead of being used in medical research as research objects. The paper concludes with a recommendation that there is an urgent need to uphold moral duties of human beings towards other vulnerable human beings and value human life
Livestock Production and Rural Development in Lesotho: A Historical Analysis of Wool and Mohair Industry (1850s – 1980s)
Get PDFIt is argued by some scholars that many Basotho farmers reared livestock mainly for prestige, and not for economic purposes. Although this argument holds, the contribution of livestock production to rural development in Lesotho has been very significant since the colonial period. Both Colonial and Post-colonial Lesotho governments introduced different agricultural programmes and policies to improve livestock production in the country. Improvement in Livestock production allowed Basotho to use livestock for different purposes such as farming, performing cultural ceremonies, trading and many others. Besides providing people with the means of sustenance, livestock production, especially sheep and goats are the main sources of wool and mohair which has been the main export to the international market since the colonial period. Marketing of wool and mohair ensures that Basotho farmers earn some income to maintain their households. In addition, the sale of wool and mohair on the international market brings in foreign exchange into the country that also increases the national income. Besides integrating Lesotho into the international market, wool and mohair farmers supply small local weaving industries with some raw materials for processing of different items. These small scale weaving enterprises also export the finished products to the world market. This paper is a historical analysis of this important yet neglected industry since the mid-19th century to the late 20th century and the role it has played in rural development
Communicative Problems of Interpreting during Crosslinguistic Interactions between Non-Sesotho-speaking Doctors and Monolingual-Basotho Patients in Lesotho Hospitals: A Linguistic Approach
Get PDFThis paper investigates the linguistic and communicative problems between doctors and patients who do not share a common language in Lesotho hospitals. The study was conducted in out-patient departments of two hospitals, one at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Roma and the other at the Quthing Hospital. The study found out that doctors and patients who did not share a common language relied exclusively on the linguistic services of an ad hoc interpreter. The study also found out that ad hoc interpreters, including family members, friends and other healthcare staff members such as nurses committed serious linguistic errors which potentially impacted not only on the cross-linguistic doctor-patient communication but also on diagnosis and the negotiation of medical outcomes. These problems were detected in the discourse verbally translated from the primary participants’ source language into the target language, which emerged from the interpreted rendition