1,720,958 research outputs found
(Re)considering Haugen’s model in the teaching and learning of standard Kiswahili in Uganda
No full textIn Uganda, Kiswahili is a foreign language and is provided for as the second official language of the country mainly due to its growing importance in the region. While such an official status has significantly increased its teaching in post-primary phases across the country, the question on which Kiswahili variety or varieties to be considered in schools has remained predominantly undecided. As a result, given that the existing language-in-education policy is silent on this matter, the widespread use of various Kiswahili varieties has unceasingly and gradually flourished in the learning institutions of Uganda. This practice contrasts with Kaplan’s and Baldauf Jr.’s perspectives on schools, as formal sites for the teaching of a selected or standard variety of a given language. Employing Bowen’s document analysis techniques, this article primarily reviews postulations on the teaching of Kiswahili, as primarily outlined in the Uganda’s existing language-in-education policy. The review offers justifications to explore Haugen’s revised language planning model to purposely establish possibilities for (re-)emphasising the teaching and learning of standard Kiswahili in the Uganda’s education systems
Cognitive task analysis in task-based syllabus design for the teaching and learning of Kiswahili as a second language in Ugandan secondary schools
Full text linkThesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2018.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The genesis of this theoretically informed dissertation is motivated by researcher’s need to explore both available and suitable conventional teaching and learning practices that are globally accepted with the aim of utilising them in Kiswahili L2 teacher-training at the School of Education, Makerere University, Uganda.
In search for such conventional methods and approaches, through research literature review with respect to instructed second language acquisition in general, and by critically observing the Kiswahili teaching syllabus for lower secondary schools in Uganda, it emerged that Kiswahili pedagogies are still realised using traditional conventions of L2 teaching and learning methods. These conventions have been disproved and replaced by contemporary approaches such as task-based theories and their associated pedagogical approaches that the current study has adopted and demonstrated their applications for lower secondary schools in Uganda.
The demonstration has largely been informed by Long’s (2005a) proposals that have also constituted the research design (methodology) of the current study. Using Long’s views, the study employed document analysis approach as well as researcher’s introspective and heuristic judgement techniques to generate its data i.e. the construction of (i) the overarching task theme, (ii) task description specifications (TDSs) and (iii) simulated task dialogues (STDs), as primary input in designing a task-based Kiswahili syllabus.
Relatedly, Breen’s (1987a, 2001) views on task-based syllabus design principles have provided a framework on which the constructed data (TDSs) has been organised for its analysis and ultimate grading and sequencing of the designed Kiswahili pedagogical tasks. In relation to procedures of analysis, five out of forty-one TDSs and their respective STDs have purposely been selected for analysis purposes. Thus, the data has been analysed in three facets of task complexity.
For example, the framework of Pica, Kanagy & Falodun (1993, 2009) has been employed to analyse the interactional complexity of the TDSs. Similarly, the views of Robinson (2001a, 2005, 2010) have provided useful insights into analysing the cognitive complexity of the TDSs. Lastly, Foster, Tonkyn & Wigglesworth’s (2000) framework, has been utilised to analyse the syntactic/ linguistics complexity of the STDs. The omission and alteration techniques as advanced by Hasan’s (1985), Henry and Roseberry’s (1998), have been utilised in decomplexifying the Kiswahili cognitive complexity features occurring in the TDSs and the decomplexification of the syntactic/linguistic complex properties exhibited in the realised STDs of the TDSs. Relatedly, the two principles from the Robinson’s (2010) SSARC model were used in grading and sequencing the various versions of cognitive and syntactic complexities occurring in the TDSs and STDs, respectively, to design Kiswahili learning tasks.
Therefore, on the one hand, on the interactional feature basis, the study predominantly argues that the analysed TDSs exhibited task communication configurations of the information gap tasks. On the other hand, with regard to cognitive and syntactic analysis, the study has concluded that while the resource-directing variables of the analysed TDSs and STDs demonstrated an [-] feature, the resource-dispersing dimensions presented deviations between the [+/-] features. That is to say, as the [+/- prior knowledge] and [+/- single task] variables of TDSs and STDs of Task one, Task two and Task four exhibited the [+] feature, those of TDSs and STDs of Task three and Task five demonstrated the [-] feature, hence qualifying for their decomplexification/scaling down the complex features through the omission and alteration techniques to realised less and least cognitively and syntactically complex task version which were then sequenced from the least to the most complex task versions by using the principles of the SSARC model, as proposed by Robinson (2010).
Thus, the above findings indicate to L2 Kiswahili researchers and teachers that while designing task-based syllabuses, all the task features such as cognitive variables, interactional variables as well as syntactic properties, that pose cognitive demands to the L2 learners, need to be taken into account to design a suitable syllabus that addresses the Kiswahili L2 learners’ needs such as those in Ugandan lower secondary schools.
It is in this respect that the study recommends similar studies e.g. for primary schools in Uganda with the ultimate goal of gradually replacing the traditional syllabuses and their pedagogical practices with task-based syllabuses in the education system of Uganda and wider contexts for the teaching and learning of Kiswahili as an L2.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die ontwikkeling van hierdie teoretiese gebaseerde proefskrif is gemotiveer deur die navorser se behoefte om ‘n ondersoek te doen van soveel beskikbare en gepaste konvensionele onderrig en leerpraktyke wat wêreldwyd erken word met die doel om die insigte aan te wend in die onderwyseropleiding van Kiswahili tweedetaal onderwysers in die skool vir Opvoedkunde, Makarere Universiteit, Uganda.
In die ondersoek na sodanige konvensionele benaderings en metodes deur navorsingsliteratuur oorsig met betrekking tot onderrigte tweedetaalverwerwing, in die algemeen, en deur kritiese waarneming van die Kiswahili syllabus vir laer sekondere skole in Uganda, het dit aan die lig gekom dat Kiswahili pedagogiete nog plaasvind deur die gebruik van tradisionele konvensies van tweedetaalonderrig en leermetodes, wat as ondoeltreffend bewys is en vervang is deur kontemporêre benaderings soos die Taakgebaseerde toerie en die geassosieerde benaderings daarvan, het die proefskrif hulle toepassing aanvaar en gedemonstreer vir laer sekondêre skole in Uganda.
Hierdie demonstrasie is grootliks gebaseer op die voorstelle van Long (2005a), wat ook die basis gevorm het vir die navorsingsontwerp van hierdie studie. Deur gebruik te maak van Lang se voorstelle het die studie ‘n document-analiese benadering gevolg geintegreer met die navorser se introspektiewe en heuristiese oordee tegniek, om data te genereer, in die besonder, (i) die konstruksie van die oorkoepelende tema (ii) taakbeskrywing spesifikasies, en (iii) gesimuleerde taakbeskrywings, as primêre input vir die ontwerp van ‘n taakgebaseerde Kiswahili syllabus.
Verbandhoudend, het Breen (1987a, 2001) se beskouings oor taakgebaseerde ontwerpbeginsels ‘n raamwerk voorsien waarbinne die konstruksie van die data (taakbeskrywingspesifikasies) georganiseer is vir analise en gradering en ordening, met betrekking tot prosedures vir analise, is vyf uit een-en-veertig van die taakbeskrywing spesifikasies en die respektiewelike gesimuleerde taakbeskrywings, doelmatig geselekteer vir die doel voor ontleding. Daarvolgens is die data ge-analiseerd in terme van die fasette van kompleksiteit. Byvoorbeeld, die raamwerk van Pica, Kanagy & Falodun (1993, 2009) is aangewend in die analise van die interaksie kompleksiteit van die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies. Soortgelyk, het die perspektiewe van Robinson (2001a, 2005, 2010) bruikbare insigte gebied vir die analise van die kognitiewe kompleksiteit van die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies. Laastens is Foster, Tonkyn & Wigglesworth (2000) se raamwerk aangewend in die analise van die sintaktiese kompleksiteit van die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies. Die weglating en alternasie tegnieke soos voorgestel deur Hasan (1985) se teorie e nook die van Henry & Rosenberg (1998) is aangewen in die dekompletisifisering van die Kiswahili kognitiewe kompleksiteit kenmerke van die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies, as ook vir die dekompleksifisering van die sintaktiese kompleksiteit kenmerke van die gestimuleerde taakbeskrywings en die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies. Verbandhoudend is die twee beginsels van Robinson (2010) se SSARC model aangewen in die gradering en ordening van verskillende weergawes van kognitiewe en sintaktiese kompleksiteit van die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies en die gesimuleerde taakbskrywings om leertake vir die ontwerp van Kiswahili leertake.
Gevolglik, enersyds, op grond van die interaksiekenmerke basis argumenteer die studied at die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies konfigurasies vertoon van informasie-gaping take. Andersyds, met betrekking tot die kognitiewe en sintaktiese analises, het die studie bevind dat terwyl die bron-gerigte veranderlikes van die ge-analiseerde taakbeskrywingspesifikasies en gesimuleerde taakbeskrywings die [-] kenmerke vertoon, die bronverspreidings dimensies wisselings vertoon tussen [+/-] kenmerke. Dit wil sê, die [+/- voorafkennis] en [+/- enkeltaakveranderlikes] word vertoon in die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies en gesimuleerde taakbeskrywings van Taak een terwyl Taak twee en Taak vier die [+] kenmerk vertoon, en Taak vier en Taak vyf die [-] kenmerk demonstreer in die taakbeskrywingspesifikasies en gesimuleerde taakbeskrywings, Aldus aanduiding gee vir die moontlikheid van dekompleksifisering/afskaling van die kompleksiteitkenmerke deur weglating en alterasie tegniek vir die lewering van minder en munuskomplekse kognitiewe en sintaktiese taakweergawes wat dan georden kan word. Vanaf die minste tot die mees komplek pedagosiese taak weergawes deur gebruik van die beginsels van die SSARC model voorgestel deur Robinson (2010)
Die bogenoemde bevindings dui vir Kiswahili tweedetaalnavorsers en onderwysers aan dat in die proses van die ontwerp van taakgebaseerde sillabusse al die taakkenmerke insluitende kognitiewe, vernaderlikes, interaksie veranderlikes asook komplekse sintaktiese kenmerke wat kognitiewe eise stel vir tweedetaalleerders van Kiswahili in berekening gebring moet word in die ontwerp van ‘n gepaste syllabus wat die behoeftes van Kiswahili tweedetaalleerdersaanspreek, soos die leerders in laer sekondêre skole in Uganda.Doctora
A Comparison of the Cultural Policies on Language Development in Tanzania and Uganda: A Reflection on the Teaching of Kiswahili in Uganda
No full textIn Uganda and Tanzania, culture policies are among the key documents that provide for the statuses and educational functions of languages in these countries. Tanzania’s culture policy (famously known as Sera ya Utamaduni) explicitly postulates the statuses and the development of languages in its multilingual contexts. In Uganda, while Kiswahili is a foreign as well as the second official language, Uganda’s culture policy provides no references for its teaching in schools. This paper argues that the silence by Uganda’s culture policy to postulate the teaching of Kiswahili in schools contributes towards the further deceleration of its teaching in the country. Using Bowen’s (2009) proposals on text analysis, this paper reviews, compares and evaluates purposely selected texts on language development (mainly, in terms of teaching) from the Sera ya Utamaduni and Uganda National Culture Policy (UNCP). It intends to provide highlights on the Kiswahili (language) teaching gaps in the UNCP with possible solutions to be drawn from Tanzania’s cultural policy. In general, it advocates designing of a comprehensive and viable culture and/or language policy that can benchmark the teaching of Kiswahili (and other languages) within multilingual Ugandan classrooms
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
(Re-)examining the standard Kiswahili alphabet in the teaching syllabus for lower secondary schools in Uganda
Full text linkCITATION: Jjingo, C. & Visser, M. 2020. (Re-)examining the standard Kiswahili alphabet in the teaching syllabus for lower secondary schools in Uganda. Per Linguam : a Journal of Language Learning, 36(2):28-44, doi:10.5785/36-2-770.The original publication is available at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za/ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Kiswahili is a foreign language (FL) in Uganda. Formally, the teaching of Kiswahili begins in the lower secondary phase. In this phase, Kiswahili had been taught for many years without an authorised syllabus. Nonetheless, in 2008, the government of Uganda launched the existing grammatical syllabus (hereafter, 2008 syllabus). It should be noted that, while the teaching of standard Kiswahili is among the aims postulated in the 2008 syllabus, information and topics regarding, for example, the alphabet of standard Kiswahili are missing in this syllabus. Pedagogically, this situation appears to contrast with, for example, the advanced scientific suggestions that the learning of the alphabet should be among the initial topics in grammatical syllabi and subsequently, in the FL classrooms’ activities. Using perspectives on document analysis to constitute its methodology, in this theoretical paper, we first provide a general overview of the grammatical syllabi as a framework for teaching and learning FLs, drawing specific examples from the 2008 syllabus. Then, we analyse the aims of teaching Kiswahili as established in the 2008 syllabus. Thereafter, we examine the alphabet of standard Kiswahili. Lastly, we propose possible procedures for adopting the Kiswahili alphabet into the 2008 syllabus, as a way of facilitating the teaching and learning of standard Kiswahili mainly in Uganda’s lower secondary schools.https://perlinguam.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/770Publisher's versio
Exploring a forward design dimension in the design of school-based Kiswahili teaching syllabi for primary schools in Uganda
Full text linkCITATION: Jjingo, C. & Visser, M. 2018. Exploring a Forward Design Dimension in the design of school-based Kiswahili teaching syllabi for primary schools in Uganda. Per Linguam : a Journal of Language Learning, 34(2):84-96, doi:10.5785/34-2-749.The original publication is available at http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za/ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In Uganda, delays in teaching and learning of Kiswahili in primary schools have been experienced since their establishment in the education systems in the 1920s. At present, the language-in-education policy requires the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) to prepare instructional materials for facilitating the teaching of Kiswahili as a compulsory subject from primary schools to secondary schools. However, the NCDC has been able to produce and launch the Kiswahili teaching syllabi for secondary schools only, delaying the introduction of the teaching syllabi for primary schools. This theoretical paper argues that the absence of a Kiswahili conventional syllabus in primary schools has led teachers to (i) abandon the teaching profession as Kiswahili language teachers, and (ii) attempt ‘designing’ individual-based (hereafter, school-based) syllabi. The paper intends to demonstrate how the quality of the existing school-based syllabi can be improved and also aims to demonstrate (to language teaching researchers, advisers and language teachers) in general, how teachers can design their respective school-based syllabi purposefully to strengthen the teaching and learning of Kiswahili in their respective schools and classrooms.http://perlinguam.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/749Publisher's versio
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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