Per Linguam

Preface

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Welcome to the second issue of 2024, the year of our 40^th anniversary! I would like to thank all our reviewers, language editors and, of course, the authors for their hard work. This issue includes submissions from school as well as higher education contexts, from South Africa as well as Botswana and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

Factors inhibiting the implementation of South African Sign Language curriculum in schools for deaf learners

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The Department of Basic Education introduced the South African Sign Language Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement in schools for deaf learners in 2015. In 2017, a study explored the experiences of sign language teachers when implementing the curriculum. The study used a phenomenological theory to interpret teachers’ and teaching assistants’ narratives and understand their experiences during the curriculum implementation. The study used purposive sampling, whereby participants were selected based on research location and their teaching of South African Sign Language as a home language subject in Grades 1 and 9 at the time of the study. The themes generated during the coding process framed the analysis of the statements by the 26 participants. The study showed that teachers and teaching assistants were amenable to the curriculum and understood the need to introduce the curriculum in schools for deaf learners. Although teachers and teaching assistants reported positive experiences of teaching sign language as a subject, they mentioned factors inhibiting teaching the language. In this paper, we report on the factors inhibiting the implementation of a South African Sign Language subject in schools for deaf learners in Gauteng.

The School milieu factors contributing to the second-language reading development of learners: Primary school teachers’ experiences in Botswana.

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The study sheds light on the factors that contributes to the second language reading development of primary school learners. Concerns have been expressed regarding primary schools’ learners’ inability to read using second language. The situation is so intense that it impedes learners’ easy progression to higher levels because they have not acquired the communication and writing skills at lower classes. This paper outlines milieu enhanced factors that contributes to the dilemma. The study was qualitative in nature with a case of three primary schools used to investigate the phenomena. Purposeful sampling was used to sample 18 primary school teachers, six from each school. Face to face individual interviews were held with 10 teachers and two focus groups of nine participants each to source data. The findings revealed that school factors such as insufficient resources, teachers’ lack of expertise and preschool education contributed to low levels of reading development in children at lower primary schools. The study thus recommends the provision of resources in the form of reading material and teachers with expertise to enhance the teaching of second language reading skills. Sending children to preschools will be an added advantage. This study will be beneficial to teachers at primary schools, curriculum developers and the national policy makers.

The importance of performance poetry pedagogy in the Grade 11 English FAL classroom: What is lost in its absence?

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This article spotlights the interconnection between poetry as performance arts and adolescents’ identity as performance. It does this through an analysis of four lesson observations conducted in a Grade 11 English First Additional Language (FAL) classroom in a black township school in Gauteng province, South Africa. The analysis aimed to assess what was lost when a teacher failed to apply a performance poetry pedagogy in the English FAL poetry classroom. Using Erikson’s work on adolescent identity development as a theoretical framework and drawing insights from existing literature on poetry as a performance art, the article demonstrates that a non-performance poetry pedagogy kills the dialogic quality of poetry, inhibits the political expressiveness of poetry, nullifies the enjoyment of poetry in the classroom, and provokes learner resistance. These findings point to a need to transform poetry education in South African schools by making the performance arts an integral part of teaching English FAL.

Equitable access and literacy support: Addressing academic literacy needs through institutional testing alternatives

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In response to historical inequalities in South Africa, higher education institutions are obligated to address issues around equitable access to students from previously marginalised backgrounds. Many of these students are underprepared for the transition from secondary to tertiary education, presenting a significant barrier to their academic success. The administration of standardised tests of academic literacy was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; the results of such standardised tests are typically used to place students in appropriate literacy support programmes. This situation highlighted the pressing need for alternative means to identify at-risk students needing literacy support. This study evaluates the appropriateness of an existing in-house test as an alternative measure of academic literacy levels. The study involved 2,292 first-year students at a South African university who had been identified as at risk by scoring below 64% on the National Benchmark Test (NBT) or through a machine-learning algorithm. The pilot results demonstrate the validity and reliability of the test as a viable alternative measure of academic literacy. Such in-house tests offer flexible and equitable testing solutions that can be tailored to meet diverse student needs.

Securing South African students a place in a science community constructivist affirmative assessment

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Upon first entering the programme, Bachelor of Science (BSc) students are expected to adapt to a discipline-specific environment within a given university discourse community. Thus, writing within a scientific discourse convention becomes an important field of interest, especially for students who register for a BSc degree for the first time at a health science university in South Africa. However, language lecturers can approach assessment strategically to benefit science students. To this end, some assessment types can be used to assess integrated science subjects and language. That strategy would be ideal because it could determine students’ proficiency levels. Therefore, this paper discusses the results of a laboratory report-writing test written by students first entering HSU against this background. This paper is embedded in a study about the assessment of students’ laboratory report-writing skills upon first entering their courses. The study followed a quantitative approach with an exploratory research design. Purposive sampling was employed to select students who sat for a confirmative laboratory report writing criterion-referenced test before instruction could commence at the university. The students’ written laboratory reports were marked and analysed following a marking guide regarding the aim, approach, method and findings of an experiment conducted in Grade 12. The study found that the students performed poorly in the laboratory report-writing test.

Exploring the effects of a keyboard prediction tool on the Kurdish University EFL learners' spelling competence

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The rapid integration of online platforms into learners' academic lives has impacted their skills and competence, to which writing is highly connected. Spelling is among the most affected aspects. The current study explores and examines the indirect effects of digital tools, namely keyboard prediction, on EFL learners' spelling competency, where mobile phones are the most commonly used device among learners. Learners who depend too much on online platforms must use various digital devices. For this purpose, forty students from the English Department at Soran University, ranging from Stage One to Four, were randomly chosen to participate in the study. The study designed a special sheet containing questions and a writing area, which were then offered to participants. After answering some questions, the participants had to write eight sentences on paper from dictation. The sentences included at least one common challenging word in terms of spelling. Furthermore, using Cook's (1999) spelling error analysis framework, university students’ performances were evaluated in spelling errors. The results showed the shockingly negative effect of using keyboard prediction tools on EFL learners' spelling performance. Learners had an average of 23 misspelt words. The effect was mainly due to learners improperly using keyboard prediction and spell correctors on smartphones.