Browsing by Author "Strauss, Stuart"

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    Code-switching and translanguaging inside and outside the classroom: bi-/multilingual practices of high school learners in a rural Afrikaans-setting
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Strauss, Stuart; Huddlestone, Kate; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dominance of Afrikaans as medium of communication in the rural town of Upington in the Northern Cape, South Africa, is reflected in the day-to-day communication practices by the vast majority of its inhabitants. Confirmation of this statement is revealed in the fact that all formal educational practices in Upington and surrounding areas use Afrikaans as language of learning and teaching, both during classes and during extra-mural activities provided for by the institution itself. However, it is when those learning and teaching at these schools and colleges engage with English as a first additional language, that the opportunities for cross-language transfer, especially in the forms of code-switching and translanguaging, usually arise. The aim of this study is to establish if linguistic strategies like code-switching and translanguaging are used by senior high school learners and teachers when they communicate in bi/multilingual settings where English is the target language. Furthermore, the study also investigated the reasons for using these linguistic strategies, as well as their educational value. The study focused on investigations into the language practices in two different high school educational settings (i) in-class activities, namely a teacher’s presentation of a poem and learner discussions at Pabalello High school, and (ii) after school activities, namely informal debating practice sessions led by a teacher, at Carlton-Van Heerden High school. In both cases, the linguistic activities were recorded and orthographically transcribed and, together with data collected from learner questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted with the teachers, formed the corpus of the material to be analysed. A significant number of code-switches were observed in the linguistic interaction of participants at both schools. The reasons for employing code-switching ranged from switching at word-finding difficulty and maintaining social cohesion in the group, to the very general switching of codes to explain, to expand, to clarify and to elaborate. Similarly, translanguaging strategies formed a significant part of the participants’ linguistic repertoire and had been used to fulfil a number of functions, including reprimanding elaboration of content and exclusion. Both these linguistic strategies played an important role in simplifying the subject matter and improving understanding. From the findings of both investigations, it becomes clear that linguistic strategies like code-switching and translanguaging are helpful tools in bi/multilingual educational settings, and that the most important role players in the educational setting, the teachers and learners, are using these strategies, regardless of the educational policies which favour the monolingual approach. It is therefore recommended by this study that the notions of code-switching and translanguaging should be acknowledged as enhancing the educational process and should therefore be made part of the policies which influence the curricula at our schools.