In whose Languages should we Teach?: A Comparison of Historically Disadvantaged Student English and Home Language Capabilities at a South African University

Orientation: For any organisational change initiative to have a successful outcome, people need to contribute and be engaged in the process. Research purpose: The main objective of the research was to determine the relationship between barriers to change and work engagement. The secondary objectives of the research were to determine whether there are significant relationships between barriers to change, work engagement and demographic variables. Motivation for the study: Exploring and understanding the relationship between barriers to change and work engagement amongst different demographic groups will help organisations to predict which working environments and jobs are amenable to organisational change and which will alleviate, and maybe even eliminate, the negative effects of change. Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a cross-sectional survey research design. They drew a convenience sample of 234 employees (N = 234) from a South African property management company. They administered the Barriers to Change Questionnaire and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Main findings: The results showed a practically significant relationship, with a large effect, between barriers to change and work engagement. In addition, the results showed significant differences between barriers to change and demographic groupings based on home language, ethnicity and organisational level. The results also showed significant differences between work engagement and demographic groupings based on home language, ethnicity and level of education. Practical/managerial implications: Managing barriers to change can increase the work engagement of employees. Contribution/value-add: The research adds to the knowledge about the adverse effects of organisational change initiatives on people.

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Session 4: Inclusive Education | Learning Challenges faced by Blind Students at a Historically Disadvantaged South African University

WCSNE 2014 Proceedings ◽

10.20533/wcsne.2014.0018 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Clever Ndebele ◽

Gadisi Milton

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Learning Challenges ◽

Historically Disadvantaged ◽

Blind Students

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A verbal descriptor incremental pain scale developed by South African Tswana-speaking patients with low back pain

South African Journal of Physiotherapy ◽

10.4102/sajp.v74i1.460 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Michelle Yazbek ◽

Aimee V. Stewart ◽

Alison Bentley

Keyword(s):

Low Back Pain ◽

Back Pain ◽

South African ◽

Pain Perception ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Pain Scale ◽

Home Language ◽

Low Back ◽

Pain Descriptor ◽

Pain Rating Scale

Background: Measuring pain in patients whose home language is not English can be difficult as there may not be a scale available in their home language. Scales devised in other countries may also not be accurate after translation.Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and test a new verbal pain descriptor scale in a Tswana-speaking population in South Africa with low back pain.Method: Two separate Tswana-speaking groups (20 males and 20 females) of patients with low back pain were asked to describe each of four categories of pain: mild, moderate, severe and worst. They then voted and descriptions obtaining more than 70% of the vote were taken to the next round of voting with both groups together. A final scale of one description for each category of pain (Tswana Verbal Pain Descriptor Scale – TVPDS) for both males and females was tested on a sample of 250 patients with low back pain and against three other non-verbal pain scales.Results: All items on the final scale were approved by at least 70% of both male and female participants. The scores for the TVPDS correlated well with present pain perception (r = 0.729, p < 0.0001) measured on the numerical visual analogue scale. The TVPDS correlated well with the Wong–Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (r = 0.695, p < 0.0001) and the Pakistani Coin Pain Scale (r = 0.717, p < 0.0001).Conclusion: The TVPDS has the potential to be a useful clinical scale but more testing in other languages is still required.Clinical implications: This pain scale has the potential to be a useful scale to use for Tswana-speaking persons with low back pain and could also be useful for persons of other languages, if translated.

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Multilingualism and social cohesion: insights from South African students (1998, 2010, 2015)

International Journal of the Sociology of Language ◽

10.1515/ijsl-2016-0041 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 (242) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Susan Coetzee-Van Rooy

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Social Cohesion ◽

Home Language ◽

African Students ◽

African Context ◽

Vaal Triangle ◽

Complex Settings ◽

The Relationship ◽

Over Time

AbstractThe relationship between nations (or states), languages and social cohesion have been studied over time. Contexts like Africa and India challenge the conceived Western notion of “one-nation-one-language”. Insights about multilingualism and social cohesion from complex sociolinguistic contexts like South Africa could provide a deeper understanding helpful for promoting social cohesion in emerging “super-diverse” situations across the globe. This article reports on selected data from a longitudinal language repertoire survey conducted over three periods (1998, 2010 and 2015) in the Vaal Triangle region in South Africa. It discusses the views of multilingual urban students (N=1900+) about the relationship between multilingualism and social cohesion. The main findings are that the multilingual African home language participants believe that being multilingual is related to social cohesion, while this is not a prominent finding for Afrikaans home language users (who are mainly bilingual). The data from the South African context indicate the importance of multilingual repertoires as instruments that support the fostering of social cohesion in complex settings. Multilingual repertoires facilitate communication that enhances the building of better relationships and a deeper understanding between people in diverse settings. The implications of the findings for emerging “super-diverse” global societies are discussed.

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Comparison of the South African Spondaic and CID W-1 wordlists for measuring speech recognition threshold

South African Journal of Communication Disorders ◽

10.4102/sajcd.v62i1.97 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tanya Hanekom ◽

Maggi Soer ◽

Lidia Pottas

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Speech Recognition ◽

South African ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Recognition Threshold ◽

Home Language ◽

The South ◽

South Africans ◽

English Second Language

Background: The home language of most audiologists in South Africa is either English or Afrikaans, whereas most South Africans speak an African language as their home language. The use of an English wordlist, the South African Spondaic (SAS) wordlist, which is familiar to the English Second Language (ESL) population, was developed by the author for testing the speech recognition threshold (SRT) of ESL speakers. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the pure-tone average (PTA)/SRT correlation results of ESL participants when using the SAS wordlist (list A) and the CID W-1 spondaic wordlist (list B – less familiar; list C – more familiar CID W-1 words). Method: A mixed-group correlational, quantitative design was adopted. PTA and SRT measurements were compared for lists A, B and C for 101 (197 ears) ESL participants with normal hearing or a minimal hearing loss (<26 dBHL; mean age 33.3). Results: The Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong PTA/SRT correlation when using list A (right 0.65; left 0.58) and list C (right 0.63; left 0.56). The use of list B revealed weak correlations (right 0.30; left 0.32). Paired sample t-tests indicated a statistically significantly stronger PTA/SRT correlation when list A was used, rather than list B or list C, at a 95% level of confidence. Conclusions: The use of the SAS wordlist yielded a stronger PTA/SRT correlation than the use of the CID W-1 wordlist, when performing SRT testing on South African ESL speakers with normal hearing, or minimal hearing loss (<26 dBHL).

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Demographic factors affecting white attitudes to black advancement in a South African organization

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology ◽

10.4102/sajip.v15i2.483 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

Author(s):

L. Kamfer

Keyword(s):

Empirical Study ◽

South African ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Demographic Variables ◽

Home Language ◽

Length Of Service ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

White Attitudes ◽

Statistical Relationships ◽

Structure Education

An empirical study was undertaken in a South African organization in which white attitudes to black advancement were analyzed in terms of eight demographic variables - home language, sex, age, length of service, education, job grade, department, and geographical location. The scale employed was found to have acceptable psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency and factor structure. Education, language, job grade, department and location showed significant statistical relationships with attitudes to black advancement. No differences were found for sex, age or length of service. These variables accounted for 22 of the variance. The majority of the variance in attitude to black advancement is still unexplained. Opsomming 'n Empiriese studie is in 'n Suid-Afrikaanse organisasie onderneem waarin die houdings van blankes tot swart ontwikkeling ondersoek is in terme van agt demografiese veranderlikes - huistaal, geslag, ouderdom, diensjare, opvoedingspeil, posvlak, afdeling, en geograflese ligging. Die meetinstrument het aanvaarbare psigometriese eienskappe vertoon in terme van beide betroubaarheid en faktorsamestelling. Opvoedkundige peil, huistaal, posvlak, afdeling en ligging het beduidende verbande met houding teenoor swart ontwikkeling getoon. Geen verskille is ten opsigte van geslag, ouderdom en diensjare gevind nie. Hierdie veranderlikes het 22 van die variansie verklaar. Die grootste gedeelte van die variansie wat blankes se houding teenoor swart ontwikkeling bepaal, bly nog onverklaar.

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