University Botswana Journals
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My Academic Career at the University of Botswana and Beyond
Full text linkOne day, not so many years ago, a colleague retorted to a secretarial staff member who had called me Dr. C: ‘Why do you call Prof. Chebanne, Dr. C?’
To which, with composure, she said, ‘There is no one called Prof. C!’ And that response settled the argument. This is how a certain section of the Faculty staff called me.
I, even myself, accepted it without protest. This, I assumed, was how fondly they preferred to call me. In philosophy, when time flies, it is always relative to our existence or our plans.
Sooner our present becomes our past, and the rest is the history of a man
UTILIZING CORPORA IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES (EAP): A POST COVID-19 ANALYSIS
Full text linkThis article explores the utilization of corpora in teaching English for Academic Purposes in the post-COVID-19 era. The central argument is that corpora, large collections of written and spoken texts, offer valuable insights into language use patterns, which can inform pedagogical practices and enhance language proficiency. By analysing the integration of corpora into EAP instruction, this article aims to provide strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of language teaching in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review of literature covers corpus approaches in addressing the linguistic needs of EAP learners; the role of corpus-based activities in promoting learner autonomy and critical thinking skills in EAP instruction; and the impact of corpus-based tools on writing skills development among EAP learners. Issues that emerged from the discussion of literature are discussed in conceptual perspective in the discussion section. The study concludes by addressing the implications of using corpora in teaching EAP. Thus, its position is that integrating corpus-based activities and materials into EAP teaching offers numerous benefits for both educators and learners. Therefore, by incorporating authentic language data into instructional materials, educators can provide learners with exposure to real-world language use in academic contexts, thereby enhancing their language proficiency and academic skills
EXPLORING TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS IN BOTSWANA PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Full text linkImproving performance in mathematics has remained a major challenge for education stakeholders in Botswana and beyond. With the role of teaching and learning strategies in improving performance in mathematics well established, this study explored teachers’ perspectives on the use of Education Technology (ET) in teaching and learning of mathematics in Gaborone. The study uses a phenomenological qualitative research design underpinned by interpretivism. Data was collected by means of oral interviews and was collected from 16 mathematics teachers selected from eight public and private schools. The findings showed that private schools applied technology more robustly than their public counterparts. However, power cuts, internet cuts, and lack of dedicated classrooms for teaching of mathematics were major hindrances to applying technology in the schools. Public schools were further hindered by lack of resources, training, monitoring, and supervision, with some of the available resources not being put to good use, especially by learners. Public school participants however concurred with private school participants that technology had the capacity to improve learning outcomes when applied correctly. These findings underscore the need for improved technology at the level of policy and practice, especially in public schools through public-private partnerships
CULTURE AND VISUAL REPRESENTATION IN CHILDREN’S UNSOLICITED GRAPHIC ART: INSIGHTS WITH PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Full text linkChildren utilize graphic art as a medium of visual communication to express their social learning,self-awareness, societal values, and community identity. This case study examines how childrenrepresent culture in their spontaneous graphic art and discusses the emerging educationalimplications. Data were collected through interviewing selected teachers and students, observingchildren engaged in drawing activities, and analysis of the artwork produced. The findings revealthat children’s spontaneous art serves as a vessel for cultural knowledge and a preferred mode ofexpressing daily life and gender roles. Educational implications from the study include fosteringself-expression, cultural identity portrayal, and enhancing visual communication between theyoung artists and their audience
How Academics Get Published: Demystifying Book Publishers’ Expectations of Academic Authors
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APPRAISING RESOURCE READINESS FOR INTERNET-MEDIATED ENGLISH LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES DURING COVID-19-NECESSITATED LOCKDOWN
Full text linkThis study was carried out to assess the availability and utilisation of human and material resources for internet-mediated virtual classroom activities by English Language teacher education departments of selected Nigerian universities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The centrality of the English language to Nigerian life and the need to assess how well the experience of that period provided the pre-service teachers with necessary models for the deployment of resources for virtual classroom teaching prompted the study. A simple survey design was used. Two public and two private universities were selected through stratified random sampling. All the 197 English Language teacher education students of the sampled universities constituted the study sample. However, only sixty-four responded to the 20-item questionnaire that was administered via the google forms platform. The instrument had earlier been piloted and yielded 91.7 Cronbach alpha reliability. The obtained data were analysed using percentages and charts to answer six research questions. The findings show that lack of prior exposure to online classrooms hindered the faculty members’ and their students’ coordination. Inadequacy and non-affordability of Internet services on campuses and in the students’ neighbourhoods hampered the virtual classrooms. The conclusion, therefore is that the virtual classroom programmes were negatively impacted by inadequate readiness of both human and technological resources
THE RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS AND AWARDS UNDER THE NEW YORK CONVENTION IN BOTSWANA: A REAPPRAISAL
Full text linkThe use of international commercial arbitration as the preferred method of dispute settlement in international commercial and investment transactions continues to gain traction. The ease of enforceability of international commercial and investment awards in domestic courts has, inter alia, significantly contributed to this. In this respect, the role that the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards has been playing is tremendous. In Botswana, apart from the New York Convention, parties can also, under certain circumstances, invoke the provisions of the Judgments (International Enforcement) Act for the purpose of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Investment arbitral awards are also conveniently classified into ICSID and Non-ICSID awards; the former class of awards do not call the application of the New York Convention for their enforcement. Furthermore, the increasing propensity (by arbitration-friendly states) to grant recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, which are annulled or set aside in their country of origin is worth noting. Such practice, should the need arises in Botswana, could have been catered for under Article VII of the New York Convention, which provision, however, was omitted in the Implementation Act.  
POOR COMPLETION RATES OF GRADUATE PROGRAMMES: A REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE
Full text linkDespite the growing concern for universities across the globe to perform well in increasing graduate output to participate and function more effectively in the knowledge economy, literature worldwide points to the prevalence of both low graduate output and delayed graduate programme completion. The factors influencing completion are varied, however, the purpose of the paper is to review selected literature on demographic and institutional factors affecting graduate programme completion in universities. The factors include race-ethnicity, finances, study mode, gender, first-generation, and supervisory model, mindset, context, and experience. The article focuses on both quantitative and qualitative studies on completion of the Masters and Doctoral level studies. It covers research questions under investigation, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used, the methodology used, graduate programmes included, participant inclusivity, the studies’ findings and recommendations. The article critiques the studies with the view to identify the limitations in the studies