Browsing by Author "Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette"

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    Effects of the second language on the first : investigating the development of 'conceptual fluency' of bilinguals in a tertiary education context
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03) Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette; Anthonissen, Christine; Van Dyk, T.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Scineces. Dept. of General Linguistics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the effect of the increased use of a second language (L2) (English) as language of teaching and learning on the bilingual individual in a specific bilingual higher education context. The specific interest is in the development of conceptual fluency, and the role that bilingualism and the increased exposure to an L2 in a teaching and learning context plays in such development. In order to serve the interest of the study, the theoretical framework includes theories developed in language and cognition, bilingualism and cross-linguistic influence. The theoretical stance that is taken in this thesis is one that: recognises that bilingual individuals cannot be expected to exhibit the same kind of linguistic and conceptual knowledge as monolinguals, investigates the possibility that language can affect certain aspects of cognition, acknowledges that bilingual individuals themselves can contribute to the knowledge about the bilingual mind. The participants in the study are L1 speakers of Afrikaans who finished their secondary schooling in Afrikaans. At university they are increasingly exposed to more English as language of teaching and learning than in previous formal education. The effects of the increased use of English on conceptual fluency, academic achievement and self-perception of language proficiency were investigated. The study used university records, language tests and interviews to collect data. No concrete evidence could be found that English has a significantly positive or negative effect on 'conceptual fluency', academic achievement or self-perception of language proficiency. The study however provided valuable information about how bilinguals use the languages they have in their repertoires. The findings from the study suggest that increased exposure to an L2 leads to a unique form of language competence. This 'multi-competence' enables the participants in the study to use both languages in the understanding and learning of concepts in their respective fields of study. Thus this dissertation provides evidence that bilinguals can transfer knowledge and skills between the languages they know. Theories developed by Cook (1999, 2003) and Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008), that suggest transfer is bidirectional, is partly supported by the findings of the study. The study has various implications for the field of bilingualism in education. It illustrates how a multilingual context such as the one we have in South Africa complicates the use of certain methodologies and theoretical frameworks. This also means that models of bilingual education designed elsewhere cannot be implemented in the South African context without considered modification.
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    Emotions and HIV/AIDS in South Africa : a multilingual perspective
    (Department of General Linguistics, Stellenbosch University, 2012) Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette; Bylund, Emanuel
    This paper argues that in order to gain a more informed perspective on emotions and HIV/AIDS, crosslinguistic differences in emotion language need to be taken into account, particularly in a multilingual context. The paper reviews four published academic articles with the aim of illustrating how more consideration of the crosslinguistic and multilingual aspects of emotion language could have contributed to better theoretical understanding of HIV/AIDS and emotions as well as aiding the development of practical interventions in HIV/AIDS counselling and care. Finally, this paper argues that a lack of engagement with language and multilingualism around HIV/AIDS and emotions will stifle the development of a theoretical account of emotions as multi-semiotic and embodied, as well as the development of locally based, community-driven practical interventions.
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    Giving voice : studies in honour of Christine Anthonissen
    (University of Stellenbosch, Department of General Linguistics, 2016) Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette
    INTRODUCTION: The central concern of this special issue is the notion of ‘voice’. Although widely used in humanities research, this concept is not without contestation. Sperling, Appleman, Gilyard and Freedman (2011:71) state that voice is seen as “fuzzy, slippery” and “hard to define”. Within literacy studies, for example, voice has come to represent concepts such as ‘authorship’, ‘the self in text and discourse’ and ‘writing style’ (Sperling et al. 2011:70). Despite these different usages the concept remains popular, partly because it offers “an engaging metaphor for human agency and identity” (Sperling et al. 2011: 70).
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    Multiple voices in bilingual higher education : language choices of Afrikaans/English bilinguals at Stellenbosch University
    (Stellenbosch University, 2014) Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette; Anthonissen, Christine
    This paper uses a sociocultural theory and heteroglossic approach to investigate the bilingual learning experience of seven Afrikaans/English bilinguals at Stellenbosch University. In particular these bilinguals were asked to reflect on the language choices they make when completing various assessment tasks and when they are internalising new information. These students were also asked to reflect on the ways in which a bilingual learning context has changed their language proficiency. It is evident from the data that the language choices are made for a multiplicity of reasons, and that the participants draw on a number of different voices, some contradictory, to articulate their experience. These findings are discussed especially in connection to the implications for policy makers, showing that methodologies such as surveys and questionnaires in which participants are requested to make a choice, do not reflect the heteroglossic and ambiguous nature of bilingualism.
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    Too late for tears, dear sister : constructing victims and perpetrators of rape in the advice column Dear Dolly from 1984 to 2004
    (Stellenbosch University, Department of Linguistics, 2015) Krige, Jana; Oostendorp, Marcelyn Camereldia Antonette
    This article reports on the ways in which the rape of women by men is constructed in the advice column Dear Dolly, published in the South African periodical Drum Magazine. The data collected for the study spans from 1984 to 2004, encompassing both 10 years before and 10 years after the onset of democracy in South Africa. The article uses critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003) as main analytical tool, but also draws on critical feminist theory (Bourke 2007). The findings suggest that there has been a decrease in explicit victim blaming after 1994, but that subtle and opaque victim blaming is still evident in readers’ letters and in the responses. These rape discourses presented in Drum after 1994 are, as Bakhtin (1981) suggests, made up of multiple voices articulating different gendered discourses. In this article, we argue that even though the use of less explicit victim blaming might seem like a positive move in the representation of rape and gender, this is not always the case. The more subtle forms of victim blaming avoid contestation and consequently often go unchecked (Fairclough 2003: 58). Additionally, new rape myths are created to mitigate the responsibility of males. These processes of subtle victim blaming and new myth-making manufacture consent and make it more difficult to counteract dominant discourses.