University Botswana Journals
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STUDENTS’ POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SETSWANA SUBJECT: SOME CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS
Get PDFThis paper examined the factors that contributed to poor academic performance by student-teachers in the Setswana Language Teaching programme in Colleges of Education who train for primary education in the years 2005-2006 in Botswana. The study used the qualitative approach to interrogate lecturers on why the poor academic performance was prevalent amongst students in the Setswana Language Teaching programme. Data were collected through interviews, individual discussions, meetings and previous moderation exercise reports from 2002 - 2006. The findings indicated that there were contributory factors towards students’ failure such as irrelevant training programmes by lecturers, lack of suitable professional staff, negative attitude, work overload, unrevised syllabus, non-reflective situations, limited knowledge in research and the use of both English and Setswana concurrently in projects. The study concluded that educational authorities need to reflect and review the Setswana Language Teaching programme which then proved to be deficient in several significant respects.
 
COLLAPSING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF BUREAUCRATIC RED TAPE: THE CHALLENGES OF COMBATING THE CRISIS OF LOW STUDENT NUMBERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA?
Get PDFAs the second decade of the new millennium wore on the University of Botswana (UB) embarked on a massive drive reviewing its programmes to introduce new or streamlined course offerings and teaching strategies in line with government policy for the higher education sector, and new needs in the job market. This paper argues that departments adversely affected by decline in student numbers responded fairly well by proposing attractive new courses relevant to the job market. Unfortunately, UB’s customary slow, rigid and convoluted bureaucratic processes and procedures stalled progress sometimes leading to new government policy and new UB bureaucratic demands overtaking little progress made, and leading to demoralizing return to the drawing board for initiators of courses and programmes. We use experience of developments in the Department of History over the past few years to demonstrate how the above scenario and a bureaucratic one-size-fits-all approach make success of the process almost an exercise in futility
DEMYSTIFYING “MYSTERIES” AND “MIRACLES” OF EXOTIC TECHNOLOGY: A STYLO-DISCOURSE AND CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF ASPECTS OF WOLE SOYINKA’S WRITINGS
Get PDFAlthough Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate, has been studied extensively across disciplines, the stylistic, linguistic, literary and cultural values of his works continue to engage scholarly attention. His indebtedness to the Yoruba cultural background has been much discussed and analyzed in the literature. Analyzing aspects of Soyinka’s The lion and the jewel (1962), Kongi’s harvest (1962), Ake (1981) and Isara (1989), this paper examines the Yoruba ways of responding to exotic technological phenomena such as the railway, the radio and television, electricity, and the postal system. The people employ songs, jokes, humorous proverbs and circumlocutory euphemisms as ways of “demystifying” the “miracles” and “mysteries” associated with these novelties. The “mysteries” are also related to their spiritual and ritual practices. Once the exotic materials are reduced to songs and jokes, the Yoruba seem to have completed the rite of initiation into their culture. Relying on the principles of stylistics combined with those of Discourse Analysis, the paper analyzes the texts, revealing those Yoruba cultural habits, including their attitude to the spoken word
Environmental Ethics and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: Rumpus and Resolution
Get PDFThe highlights and assess ethical questions that arise from the impact of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry on the environment, and suggests ways for addressing revealed ethical challenges using tools provided by theories connected with environmental ethics. It is contended that activities of industry operators do not meet relevant standards of environmental ethics, especially as the laws and practices of the industry engender intra/inter-generational inequity as well as significant negative transboundary effects. The paper demonstrates how several theoretical approaches. including consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics and environmental pragmatism, may be useful in turning the tid
Problem or Resource? The Role of the Media in the Apostolic Faith Mission Zimbabwe Crisis
Get PDFAdopting the conceptual and logical analysis method, this study focuses on the political and legal battles within the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFMZ) and how the media in Zimbabwe has reported the stories. While genuine and legitimate reasons for the conflict exist, the study seeks to establish whether the media has wittingly or unwittingly fuelled the division or was it the belligerents thrusting their stories into the laps of the media and casting them in a certain light. The general hypothesis of the study is that the media plays a role in the generation and escalation of religious-related conflicts. Whist conflict is common in every society; it is the violence that often accompany it that is cause for concern. In the case of religious conflict, it becomes artificial if it is fanned by the media or other external factors. Ultimately this discussion seeks to establish the ideal role of the media in mediating ethics, religion and politics in society and whether this is in line with their mandate. To achieve its objective, the paper selects some stories about the split of the AFMZ Church as reported in the print media, specifically Newsday and Bulawayo 24 and analyses them for whether or not the reporting follows the sound ethics of journalism and responsible reporting. It concludes with calls for rejuvenated efforts to reinforce media ethics and the reporting of Church related issues in Zimbabwe and the surrounding countries
Poverty in Ecclesiastes and Akan Culture for African Development Agenda: A Dialogical Reflection on the Church’s Role
Get PDFThe AU Agenda 2063 gives much space to the poor and vulnerable in its plan for authentic development in Africa. Paradoxically, some African ethos and culture hardly recognize the place of the poor and accord them any dignity as if they have nothing to offer to the community. This paper explores Ecclesiastes’ paradigmatic voice on the discrimination of the poor to reveal views about the poor from an Akan perspective. It employs a dialogical reading of Ecclesiastes and Akan proverbs that emphasize discrimination and injustice to offer proposals on how African Christians can contribute to the affirmation and inclusiveness of the poor. The Africa we want where poverty is reduced cannot be achieved if the Christian Church and theological educators do not critically look at the Akan proverbs that negatively shape a people’s worldview about the poor and offer new proposals for development
THE SPEECH ACT OF BLAMING IN THE FRENCH AND SETSWANA SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXTS: SEMANTICO-CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATIONS AND LINGUISTIC REALISATIONS
Get PDFIn this article we make a comparative study of semantic and conceptual representations as well as the performance of the speech act of blaming in Setswana and French. We make a general hypothesis that lexical competence in a language facilitates comprehension but does not shield from misunderstandings and linguistic obstacles if the acquisition of vocabulary is not accompanied by sufficient pragmatic competence. Lexical competence is understood here as the ability to use words appropriately and effectively in discourse
A NOTE ON MULTILINGUALISM IN BOTSWANA AND IMPLICATION FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING
Get PDFBotswana is a multilingual nation with close to 30 languages. However, languages use practice acknowledges Setswana and English only. This minimalist language use practice creates an impression of a monolithic ethno-linguistic country. This practice happens even as the constitution purports to afford citizens equal rights in all domains of development. The contradictory practice could mean that language is not part of citizen rights. This paper discusses marginalization of ethnic and linguistic communities within a sociolinguistic perspective. It further demonstrates endangerment for other indigenous languages because of the minimalist language use practice, with most urgency for Khoesan languages. Recommendations are made for harmonious development and promotion of marginalized languages and cultures to curb their pending dearth and death.
 
MODELLING AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS AND THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM IN BOTSWANA AND ZIMBABWE
Get PDFCurriculum integration is a common approach to contemporary arts education. In Botswana, and Zimbabwe, these arts are differently identified and named. There are eight components in the Botswana Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) primary school curriculum, namely, art and craft, design and technology, home economics, business studies, drama, dance, music and physical education while Zimbabwe has four, namely, visual arts, theatre, music and dance under Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). The conceptual bases of the two curricula are structurally and pedagogically similar as they share a lot of commonalities. The study revealed that curricula in both countries do not show areas for possible integration to adequately guide teachers in their teaching. Teachers have to work out the integration methods. There are also pedagogical challenges associated with these overloaded curricula areas including teachers’ lack of disciplinary knowledge and skills of the arts. Implications for pre-service and in-service arts teacher education programming are proffered in addition to supervisory knowledge and skills of the arts among education personnel at different levels.