This paper takes a conversational analysis (CA) or sequential approach to multilingualism to document and analyse classroom participation structures created by specific types of turn-taking and languaging practices. The setting was selected Grade 6 to 9 English language and English-medium content lessons in rural classrooms in the Eastern Cape. Three named language varieties are used in these classrooms, i.e., isiMpondo, isiXhosa and English. The study identified five turn-taking patterns, described their features, and analysed their functions. The research finds that (i) turn-taking types and the varieties through which they are implemented are valued differently in a classroom setting from the way they would be valued in an everyday setting, and (ii) that classroom turn-taking and language use are shaped by broader institutional factors, such as institutional goals and participants’ roles, rather than turn-by-turn sequential factors, as hypothesised by a CA approach to multilingual interaction. The paper concludes by presenting a summary of the study’s conclusions and findings and a discussion of the implications of the findings for a CA/sequential approach to bi- or multilingual talking in classroom interaction.
{"title":"Turn-taking in multilingual classroom interaction","authors":"B. Ramadiro","doi":"10.5785/39-1-1027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/39-1-1027","url":null,"abstract":"This paper takes a conversational analysis (CA) or sequential approach to multilingualism to document and analyse classroom participation structures created by specific types of turn-taking and languaging practices. The setting was selected Grade 6 to 9 English language and English-medium content lessons in rural classrooms in the Eastern Cape. Three named language varieties are used in these classrooms, i.e., isiMpondo, isiXhosa and English. The study identified five turn-taking patterns, described their features, and analysed their functions. The research finds that (i) turn-taking types and the varieties through which they are implemented are valued differently in a classroom setting from the way they would be valued in an everyday setting, and (ii) that classroom turn-taking and language use are shaped by broader institutional factors, such as institutional goals and participants’ roles, rather than turn-by-turn sequential factors, as hypothesised by a CA approach to multilingual interaction. The paper concludes by presenting a summary of the study’s conclusions and findings and a discussion of the implications of the findings for a CA/sequential approach to bi- or multilingual talking in classroom interaction.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81680290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cette étude avait pour but de déterminer l’importance d’intégrer le jeu dans la didactique du français langue étrangère (FLE) au Lesotho. L’intention majeure de cette intégration des jeux en classe de langue était de pouvoir motiver les apprenants du français dans un contexte multilinguistique où cette langue étrangère est moins attrayante pour beaucoup d’apprenants. Les adolescents âgés de 17 - 19 ans de Tšakholo High School constituaient le public de cette étude. Ils étaient 29 en classe et étaient en cinquième année du lycée. Ils parlaient tous sésotho et anglais qui sont respectivement la langue maternelle et la langue d’instruction dans tout le pays. Une approche mixte a été adoptée pour l’étude, et la méthode d’observation des participants ainsi qu’un questionnaire ont été employés pour recueillir les données. Les données ont révélé que les apprenants étaient plus motivés à participer au cours quand les activités ludiques étaient utilisées dans l’enseignement.
这项研究的目的是确定在莱索托法语作为外语的教学中整合游戏的重要性。将游戏融入语言课堂的主要目的是在多语言环境中激励法语学习者，因为这门外语对许多学习者的吸引力较低。17 - 19岁的青少年的šT akholo High School)是这项研究的公众。班上有29人，上了高中五年级。他们都说塞索托语和英语，这两种语言分别是全国的母语和教学语言。本研究采用混合研究方法，采用参与者观察法和问卷调查法收集数据。数据显示，当游戏活动被用于教学时，学习者更有动力参与课程。
{"title":"Le jeu comme outil de motivation en classe de Français Langue Etrangere au Lesotho: Le cas de Tsakholo High School Games as a way to motivate a French as a Foreign Language classroom: the case of Tsakholo High School","authors":"Malefane Victor Koele, F. Awung","doi":"10.5785/39-1-1015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/39-1-1015","url":null,"abstract":"Cette étude avait pour but de déterminer l’importance d’intégrer le jeu dans la didactique du français langue étrangère (FLE) au Lesotho. L’intention majeure de cette intégration des jeux en classe de langue était de pouvoir motiver les apprenants du français dans un contexte multilinguistique où cette langue étrangère est moins attrayante pour beaucoup d’apprenants. Les adolescents âgés de 17 - 19 ans de Tšakholo High School constituaient le public de cette étude. Ils étaient 29 en classe et étaient en cinquième année du lycée. Ils parlaient tous sésotho et anglais qui sont respectivement la langue maternelle et la langue d’instruction dans tout le pays. Une approche mixte a été adoptée pour l’étude, et la méthode d’observation des participants ainsi qu’un questionnaire ont été employés pour recueillir les données. Les données ont révélé que les apprenants étaient plus motivés à participer au cours quand les activités ludiques étaient utilisées dans l’enseignement.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"26 3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89095280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Survey questionnaires have over time become benchmark measuring instruments used to measure language learning motivation (LLM) in applied linguistics research related to second or additional language teaching. For researchers who wish to study the motivation phenomenon in multicultural and multilingual contexts, however, the problem is that many of the standardized questionnaires such as Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were designed to measure students' motivation primarily in Western countries. Therefore, it becomes mandatory for these researchers to devise scales that are contextually more appropriate for measuring students' LLM. Accordingly, this paper aims to contribute to the limited body of knowledge concerning the design of questionnaires for measuring LLM that are applicable to African multilingual settings by proposing a renewal of perspective in this regard. By outlining the rationale for developing a reliable motivation scale that can potentially yield valid and reliable research outcomes in multilingual contexts, the paper aims to demonstrate how the design of inclusive motivation scales can be achieved. Normative procedures or methods involved in developing questionnaire scales are briefly presented, specifically the selection of suitable survey statements, as well as the piloting and refinement of the scale. It is proposed that the scale be used in conjunction with qualitative methods in order to gain a fuller picture of how motivation interacts with other factors and processes in multilingual contexts that require the learning of an additional language.
{"title":"The development of a motivation for language learning questionnaire in multilingual South Africa: Context and use","authors":"P. Mhlongo, C. du Plessis, Albert Weidemann","doi":"10.5785/38-1-987","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-1-987","url":null,"abstract":"Survey questionnaires have over time become benchmark measuring instruments used to measure language learning motivation (LLM) in applied linguistics research related to second or additional language teaching. For researchers who wish to study the motivation phenomenon in multicultural and multilingual contexts, however, the problem is that many of the standardized questionnaires such as Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) were designed to measure students' motivation primarily in Western countries. Therefore, it becomes mandatory for these researchers to devise scales that are contextually more appropriate for measuring students' LLM. Accordingly, this paper aims to contribute to the limited body of knowledge concerning the design of questionnaires for measuring LLM that are applicable to African multilingual settings by proposing a renewal of perspective in this regard. By outlining the rationale for developing a reliable motivation scale that can potentially yield valid and reliable research outcomes in multilingual contexts, the paper aims to demonstrate how the design of inclusive motivation scales can be achieved. Normative procedures or methods involved in developing questionnaire scales are briefly presented, specifically the selection of suitable survey statements, as well as the piloting and refinement of the scale. It is proposed that the scale be used in conjunction with qualitative methods in order to gain a fuller picture of how motivation interacts with other factors and processes in multilingual contexts that require the learning of an additional language.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79067173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines, through the prism of the sociocultural theory’s concept of mediation, the discrepancy between what South African township English Second Language teachers claim they do in their classes and what they actually do when teaching speaking skills. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study design, underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm. Eight (8) EFAL teachers were drawn from two (2) township high schools that were randomly selected from two (2) separate districts. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and semi-structured lesson observations. The semi-structured interviews facilitated the participants’ introspection from a professional perspective with a view to both questioning and ratifying the teachers’ personal views, beliefs and the philosophical underpinnings of their professional practice regarding speaking skills. The thematic approach by Lacey and Luff (2009) was used for data analysis. The study found four major problems that influenced the process of teaching speaking skills: (1) a lack of actual learner speaking, (2) teachers’ misconceptions of what a speaking lesson should entail, (3) speaking for the sake of not keeping quiet and (4) ignorance of curriculum requirements. The study found that despite township EFAL teachers claiming to develop speaking skills in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, their lessons indicate differently. This could be explained by the crisis currently facing the South African education system, with poor quality teachers and low levels of teacher effort often cited as major drivers thereof.
{"title":"Township EFAL teachers and speaking skills: the discrepancy between the espoused and enacted","authors":"Bhekizitha Mthembu","doi":"10.5785/38-2-968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-2-968","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines, through the prism of the sociocultural theory’s concept of mediation, the discrepancy between what South African township English Second Language teachers claim they do in their classes and what they actually do when teaching speaking skills. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study design, underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm. Eight (8) EFAL teachers were drawn from two (2) township high schools that were randomly selected from two (2) separate districts. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and semi-structured lesson observations. The semi-structured interviews facilitated the participants’ introspection from a professional perspective with a view to both questioning and ratifying the teachers’ personal views, beliefs and the philosophical underpinnings of their professional practice regarding speaking skills. The thematic approach by Lacey and Luff (2009) was used for data analysis. The study found four major problems that influenced the process of teaching speaking skills: (1) a lack of actual learner speaking, (2) teachers’ misconceptions of what a speaking lesson should entail, (3) speaking for the sake of not keeping quiet and (4) ignorance of curriculum requirements. The study found that despite township EFAL teachers claiming to develop speaking skills in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, their lessons indicate differently. This could be explained by the crisis currently facing the South African education system, with poor quality teachers and low levels of teacher effort often cited as major drivers thereof.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79934652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article reports on the effectiveness of a reading comprehension intervention that was implemented in Namibia. It aimed to empower teachers with knowledge and strategies for teaching reading comprehension, so as to improve the low reading comprehension of Grade 5 learners. The intervention targeted the improvement of performance in both the decoding and comprehension aspects of reading and was carried out during two school terms, in which teachers were provided with teaching and learning resources, guidance on how to utilise the resources and coaching on instructional practices. The study involved two control and two intervention schools. A modest interventionist approach was applied in which four of the six quality criteria for formative assessment of intervention programmes, as proposed by Nieveen (2007) were adopted to guide the study. Analysis of the pre- and post-intervention scores for the intervention and control groupsindicated larger effect sizes in decoding ability and reading comprehension at the intervention schools than at the control schools. The intervention teachers also seemed to have changed some of their instructional practices and some shifts in their attitudes towards teaching reading were discerned. The findings suggest that better quality teaching and learning can happen if teachers receive ongoing support to enhance their instructional practices. With effective reading instructional practices, learners’ decoding skills are developed, resulting in improved reading comprehension levels.
{"title":"The effects of a ‘catch-up’ reading intervention for Grade 5 learners and teachers","authors":"Belden Liswaniso, E. Pretorius","doi":"10.5785/38-1-1010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-1-1010","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports on the effectiveness of a reading comprehension intervention that was implemented in Namibia. It aimed to empower teachers with knowledge and strategies for teaching reading comprehension, so as to improve the low reading comprehension of Grade 5 learners. The intervention targeted the improvement of performance in both the decoding and comprehension aspects of reading and was carried out during two school terms, in which teachers were provided with teaching and learning resources, guidance on how to utilise the resources and coaching on instructional practices. The study involved two control and two intervention schools. A modest interventionist approach was applied in which four of the six quality criteria for formative assessment of intervention programmes, as proposed by Nieveen (2007) were adopted to guide the study. Analysis of the pre- and post-intervention scores for the intervention and control groupsindicated larger effect sizes in decoding ability and reading comprehension at the intervention schools than at the control schools. The intervention teachers also seemed to have changed some of their instructional practices and some shifts in their attitudes towards teaching reading were discerned. The findings suggest that better quality teaching and learning can happen if teachers receive ongoing support to enhance their instructional practices. With effective reading instructional practices, learners’ decoding skills are developed, resulting in improved reading comprehension levels.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"107 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89966898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigated how children assert agency in parent–child interactions. The inquiry was conducted through a linguistic ethnography of the Ndlovu family, an indigenous Ndebele heritage language family living in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The study shows how Suku and Thabo, the two children in the focal family influenced family language policy through contradictory practices by Suku and conformist practices by Thabo. The researcher conducted interviews with the parents of the focal family to establish their language ideologies and family language policy preferences. Parent–child conversations were recorded during eight visits to the focal family by the researcher. Analysis of the recorded conversations reveal how Suku, the older girl child in the family, participated in resistant agency by her preference for English-centred practices in parent-child interactions, defying her parents’ explicitly articulated pro-Ndebele family language policy. Thabo, the younger child, asserted conformist agency by participating in and reciprocating his parents’ Ndebele-centred practices. These practices by the children are attempts to enact their agency in family language policy, sometimes resulting in parents revising their original dispositions towards the use of the heritage Ndebele language at home. As a result, the parents did not take visible language management steps to correct their children’s choices. The study concludes that children’s contradictory practices are not innocent but instead, reproduce their language experiences in extra-familial spaces. Therefore, their agency is a combination of familial and extra-familial language ideologies and practices.
{"title":"Children's agency in parent-child discourses: A study of family language policy in a Ndebele heritage language family","authors":"Busani Maseko","doi":"10.5785/38-2-990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-2-990","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated how children assert agency in parent–child interactions. The inquiry was conducted through a linguistic ethnography of the Ndlovu family, an indigenous Ndebele heritage language family living in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The study shows how Suku and Thabo, the two children in the focal family influenced family language policy through contradictory practices by Suku and conformist practices by Thabo. The researcher conducted interviews with the parents of the focal family to establish their language ideologies and family language policy preferences. Parent–child conversations were recorded during eight visits to the focal family by the researcher. Analysis of the recorded conversations reveal how Suku, the older girl child in the family, participated in resistant agency by her preference for English-centred practices in parent-child interactions, defying her parents’ explicitly articulated pro-Ndebele family language policy. Thabo, the younger child, asserted conformist agency by participating in and reciprocating his parents’ Ndebele-centred practices. These practices by the children are attempts to enact their agency in family language policy, sometimes resulting in parents revising their original dispositions towards the use of the heritage Ndebele language at home. As a result, the parents did not take visible language management steps to correct their children’s choices. The study concludes that children’s contradictory practices are not innocent but instead, reproduce their language experiences in extra-familial spaces. Therefore, their agency is a combination of familial and extra-familial language ideologies and practices.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81086145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The learning of writing is complex because it requires the development of cognitive and linguistic abilities. Effective teaching and learning of writing demand guided practice. The South African National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 includes the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for First Additional Language (FAL) teaching and learning. It introduces the use of question-prompt writing frames to learn writing in grade 4. In the second part of the grade 5 year, process writing is introduced as a writing frame that should be used when needed. From grade 7 to grade 12 process writing is implemented as part of the writing lessons. The education department adopted assessment for learning as a teaching and learning approach where feedback provides scaffolded learning. This theoretical paper argues that the writing frames used in the South African curriculum are inadequate to scaffold the learning of writing; furthermore, that the assessment of the writing skills of learners tends to focus on closed skills. The implementation of assessment for learning as an approach to teaching and learning is yet to develop fully to ensure successful scaffolded learning. Additionally, the writing frames introduced limit the teaching of a variety of writing genres and restrict the teaching of writing to western narrative and writing styles. The paper intends to demonstrate that the use of targeted frames appropriate to the writing task and outcome would improve writing learning and assessment.
{"title":"Exploring the use of writing frames to teach and assess writing in English Additional Language learning in schools","authors":"Marina Burger","doi":"10.5785/38-2-1044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-2-1044","url":null,"abstract":"The learning of writing is complex because it requires the development of cognitive and linguistic abilities. Effective teaching and learning of writing demand guided practice. The South African National Curriculum Statement Grades R–12 includes the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for First Additional Language (FAL) teaching and learning. It introduces the use of question-prompt writing frames to learn writing in grade 4. In the second part of the grade 5 year, process writing is introduced as a writing frame that should be used when needed. From grade 7 to grade 12 process writing is implemented as part of the writing lessons. The education department adopted assessment for learning as a teaching and learning approach where feedback provides scaffolded learning. This theoretical paper argues that the writing frames used in the South African curriculum are inadequate to scaffold the learning of writing; furthermore, that the assessment of the writing skills of learners tends to focus on closed skills. The implementation of assessment for learning as an approach to teaching and learning is yet to develop fully to ensure successful scaffolded learning. Additionally, the writing frames introduced limit the teaching of a variety of writing genres and restrict the teaching of writing to western narrative and writing styles. The paper intends to demonstrate that the use of targeted frames appropriate to the writing task and outcome would improve writing learning and assessment.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77031883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
English First Additional Language (EFAL) Error Analysis (EA) elevates the status of errors from being undesirable to significant as errors tend to afford the educator researcher an opportunity to identify and tackle learners’ language errors optimally. Additionally, learners deserve space to practise essay writing. The research was premised on EA; EFAL learners’ written essays were analysed and educators were interviewed on the learners’ essay writing errors, respectively. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from the stakeholders; learners’ written essays and interview responses of the educators on EFAL essay writing errors. The findings suggest that EFAL educators should be adept at identifying and analyzing essay writing errors of learners of all hue in South African rural public schools. Thus, learners and educators need to work in concert towards correcting and in the long term, eradicating essay writing errors.
{"title":"A Quanti - Qualitative stakeholder analysis of rural English language learners’ essay writing errors","authors":"L. J. Ngoepe, Maphefo Rebecca Mailula","doi":"10.5785/38-1-1008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-1-1008","url":null,"abstract":"English First Additional Language (EFAL) Error Analysis (EA) elevates the status of errors from being undesirable to significant as errors tend to afford the educator researcher an opportunity to identify and tackle learners’ language errors optimally. Additionally, learners deserve space to practise essay writing. The research was premised on EA; EFAL learners’ written essays were analysed and educators were interviewed on the learners’ essay writing errors, respectively. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from the stakeholders; learners’ written essays and interview responses of the educators on EFAL essay writing errors. The findings suggest that EFAL educators should be adept at identifying and analyzing essay writing errors of learners of all hue in South African rural public schools. Thus, learners and educators need to work in concert towards correcting and in the long term, eradicating essay writing errors.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89811341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper assesses foreign language proficiency acquired in higher education in light of the communicative skills needed in professional life. English majors at the University of Burundi took TOEFL and completed a questionnaire investigating their potential role in the country’s regional integration. Results indicate that (i) the level of proficiency is rather low with the majority of graduating students at intermediate level; (ii) skills/components develop in the order grammar, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and listening, i.e. receptive skills are better developed than productive/communicative skills and, (iii) English majors are aware of both the linguistic challenges to be met and their role in the country’s regional integration in the East African Community. On the basis of the findings, which are underscored by lecturers, suggestions are made for redefining teaching/learning objectives and outcomes in the hope to enhance graduates' general language proficiency and the professional roles of future generations of English majors.
{"title":"English language proficiency for Higher Education and professional contexts: the challenge Burundi is facing for global integration","authors":"Déogratias Nizonkiza, Kris Van de Poel","doi":"10.5785/38-2-687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5785/38-2-687","url":null,"abstract":"This paper assesses foreign language proficiency acquired in higher education in light of the communicative skills needed in professional life. English majors at the University of Burundi took TOEFL and completed a questionnaire investigating their potential role in the country’s regional integration. Results indicate that (i) the level of proficiency is rather low with the majority of graduating students at intermediate level; (ii) skills/components develop in the order grammar, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and listening, i.e. receptive skills are better developed than productive/communicative skills and, (iii) English majors are aware of both the linguistic challenges to be met and their role in the country’s regional integration in the East African Community. On the basis of the findings, which are underscored by lecturers, suggestions are made for redefining teaching/learning objectives and outcomes in the hope to enhance graduates' general language proficiency and the professional roles of future generations of English majors.","PeriodicalId":43109,"journal":{"name":"Per Linguam-A Journal of Language Learning","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91263307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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