Designing a second language bridging course for university students

Abstract

The increasing number of students, especially black students, enrolling at university and needing to study in a medium of instruction which is not their mother tongue has underlined the need for additional language preparation as one way to reduce the failure and dropout rate. A possible solution is a bridging course aimed at developing academic language competencies to enable students to cope with communicative demands of their chosen course. An effective bridging course must take into account the requirements of the chosen institution and course, the level of student competency already achieved, and the actual student needs. These needs are divided into three areas: cognitive, which includes communicative macro-language skills and problem-solving skills; affective which includes self-confidence, acceptance of responsibility, and motivation; and behavioural, which includes cross-cultural competencies. Issues include duration of the course, the extent to which the course catersfor special purposes, and the didactic strategies employed. Three further considerations are the influence on the course of sponsors from business and industry, the academic level of the course, and effective evaluation methods. Die toenemende aantal studente, vera/ swart studente, wat aan 'n universiteit registreer waar die onderrigmedium nie hul moedertaal is nie, noodsaak bykomende taalvoorbereiding in 'n poging om die druip- en uitsaksyfer te verminder. Een moontlike oplossing is 'n oorbruggingskursus wat gemik is op die ontwikkeling van akademiese taalvermoens om studente in staat te stel om die kommunikatiewe eise van hul gekose kursus die hoof te bied. 'n Effektiewe oorbruggingskursus moet die volgende faktore in ag nee m: die vereistes van die gekose inrigting en kursus, die vaardigheidsvlak wat die student a/reeds bereik het sowel as die werklike studentebehoeftes. Hierdie behoeftes word in drie kategoriee verdeel: kognitief - wat kommunikatiewe makro-taalvaardighede en probleemoplossingsvaardighede insluit; affektief- wat selfvertroue, aanvaarding of verantwoordelikheid en motive ring insluit; en gedrags- wat kruis-kulturele bevoegdhede insluit. Sake rakende die duur van die kursus, die mate waarin die kursus in spesiale behoeftes voorsien en die didaktiese strategiee wat gebruik word, is ingesluit. Drie verdere oorwegings is die invloed van borge uit die sake- en industriele wereld op die kursus, die akademiese peil van die kursus en effektiewe evalueringsmetodes.