Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Research project examines variation between Sesotho, Setswana in Free State

10 September 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin

Lingustics — Delegates at the workshop were provided opportunities that many larger conferences do not offer.

The growing body of work examining microvariation in African languages prompted Dr Kristina Riedel and Dr Hannah Gibson, from the University of Essex and research fellow, to work on a research project, “Variation in Sesotho and Setswana as spoken in the Free State”, to document the dialectal variation in the languages as it is spoken in the province.

“Dr Gibson and I have a joint research project which is funded by a Newton British Academy mobility grant,” says Dr Riedel, Head of the Department of Linguistic and Language Practice at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The duo hosted a workshop on morphosyntactic microvariation (small structural differences that can be observed between closely related languages or dialects) on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus, as part of the Newton Fund research project.

Research focus on dialectal variation

Dr Riedel says there has been some linguistic work on both of these languages. “But for Sesotho, linguists have noted that there is no dialectal variation. This seems hard to believe given the size of the population who speak the language,” she says.

They are looking at speakers in the Free State province for differences in both languages. Speakers themselves also report awareness of dialectal differences and variation between different regions. “We’re also interested in whether they have influenced each other – particularly in places where people speak both of these languages on a day-to-day basis, such as Thaba ’Nchu and Bloemfontein,” Dr Riedel says.

Dr Riedel believes that in the context of an African university it is important to contribute to the development, teaching and support of African languages. “Research on African languages can play an important part of this picture. Furthering our knowledge and understanding of African languages from a linguistic perspective also contributes to our understanding of the world’s languages and linguistic diversity.”

Workshop creates space for training and skill sharing

The aim of the workshop was to bring together researchers, students and language practitioners to “provide them with some of the insights and training that is helpful when looking at morphosyntactic microvariation”, Dr Riedel says.

The workshop was conducted in two sets. At the first workshop the emphasis was on training and sharing of skills and the second part focused on more research-related presentations.

The workshop, which took place on 19 July 2019, was attended by delegates from numerous local institutions (Rhodes University, University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University) as well as universities in the rest of Africa including the University of Malawi, Dar es Salaam University College of Education and Makerere University in Uganda.

News Archive

State of our campuses: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

2016-10-08

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year

The University of the Free State (UFS) reiterates its support and commitment to the cause of free higher education. We have stated our position in all the available spaces. We want to work with UFS students to put pressure on the government to commit itself to accept the many suggestions put forward to make free education possible within a negotiated timeframe.

We are also seriously committed to our responsibility of providing education to all students enrolled at the university. We are doing our outmost to ensure that we can resume academic activities next week.

Description: " Academic non-completion 2016 Tags: " Academic non-completion 2016

We want to bring to your attention what will happen to individual students if the UFS cannot resume classes fully on Monday 10 October 2016.

Currently we have extended the academic year by one week. Some faculties are working on Saturdays and Sundays, starting earlier and finishing later to complete the material that needs to be taught and the practical work that students need to do to be able to write exams.

In the three biggest faculties at the university: Education, the Humanities, and Natural Sciences, this is what will happen:

Education will fail to graduate 1 193 students
Humanities will fail to graduate 1 125 students
Natural and Agricultural Sciences will fail to graduate 1 390 students

In the professional faculties: Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences, and Law, this will happen:

Economic and Management Sciences will fail to graduate 997 students
Health Sciences will fail to graduate 633 students
Law will fail to graduate 619 students

In total, approximately 6 000 students will not receive complete transcripts of their degrees and the certificates for their qualifications.

The university currently has 3 238 students on NSFAS bursaries. None of these students will be able to apply for bursaries for the lost year. They will be regarded as having failed or not completed their courses. They will not only miss this year, but the opportunity of studying in the future.

These students come from families to which their success in higher education was supposed to mean a change in the future of the entire family. Some parents/guardians hold more than one job to be able to pay tuition fees.

In not allowing the year to continue and students to finish, we are throwing away the efforts that entire families of poor people have made for four or five years to put their children through university. The promise of free education for future generations means nothing to these families who are poor in the present.

In terms of the academic calendar, it is a false argument to say that universities will be able to enrol first-years, because what 2016 students will miss, is the second semester.

We do not have the capacity to teach double the number of students in the second semester. This also misses the point that those students who were completing modules in order to graduate, will waste an entire year (assuming they have funding) to complete their degrees. This argument does not see the knock-on effect that students, not promoting in modules from first to second and second to third year, etc., will have. Finally, this also misses the point of what will happen to students who have to repeat first-semester modules.

In terms of academic staff, students are discounting the willingness of academic staff to teach double or to have the academic year extended by approximately six weeks between teaching and examinations. The same can be said for all the administrative and support staff required for running the university.

In our case, all the students in the University Preparation Programme (UPP) on the South Campus in Bloemfontein will be stuck without being able to move into mainstream modules, preventing a new intake of UPP students for 2017. These are the poorest and most disadvantaged students at the UFS.

It is absolutely necessary to find a means of protest and political action that will not jeopardise the future of current students and the country’s desperate need for critical skills. The interdict against violent protest secured by the UFS is still in force. The police will intervene if the interdict is not respected and the UFS will have no control over police actions.

We trust that parents/guardians and students understand the implications of the situation.

Kind regards,

Prof Nicky Morgan
Acting Rector
University of the Free State

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

State of our campuses #11: Academic activities on UFS campuses continue

State of our campuses #10: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

State of our campuses #9: Academic programme on all UFS campuses to resume on Monday 10 October 2016

State of our campuses #8: UFS extends vacation as from 28 September until 7 October 2016, 28 September 2016

State of our campuses #7: All three UFS campuses will be closed today, 27 September 2016.

State of our campuses #6: All UFS campuses reopen on Tuesday 27 September 2016

State of our campuses #5: UFS campuses to remain closed on Monday 26 September 2016

State of our campuses #4: Decisions about the UFS academic calendar

State of our campuses #3: UFS campuses closed until Friday 23 September 2016

State of our campuses #2: UFS Bloemfontein and South Campuses closed on Tuesday 20 September 2016 (19 September 2016)

State of our campuses #1: Academic activities suspended on UFS Bloemfontein Campus (19 September 2016)

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept