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Recognising African languages in lecture halls

04 January 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Anja Aucamp

Dr Ntsala_web read more — Dr Sekanse Ntsala

Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Language Education at the University of Free State, Dr Sekanse Ntsala, collaborated with colleagues from eight universities across South Africa to produce instructional reading strategies for Sesotho and isiZulu students in the Faculty of Education.

The project will see Dr Ntsala partner in the production of learning material in Sesotho and IsiZulu for Foundation and Intermediate phase lecturers, academics, and students. The project is centred in the Centre for African Language Teaching at the University of Johannesburg.

Designing African language material is a progressive move

He said there was a gap in the learning material currently being produced, as it was all produced in English, even for African languages.

"The dilemma is that thus far, all the material that we use for teaching has been written in English. This means that lecturers have to rely on material written in English, and in some instances, they have to translate into the relevant African language. The challenge with translation is that the final product does not always come out the same. You find that even when lecturers have to compile study guides, they still have to rely on the same material. It's a challenge that affects even students themselves, as discussions and assessments have to be done in the African language in question."

He said rather than to translate the content that has been written in English, the collaboration will result in newly created material for Sesotho and IsiZulu.

The two languages were selected as pilot languages; Dr Ntsala said the aim of the project is to expand the creation of material to other languages in order to eliminate English as the main focus in teaching.

"The main rationale is that it's only fair that we have material that will be relevant to a particular language. The manner in which it is happening now is sort of degrading to other languages," he said.

Dr Ntsala said the material would be completed by the end of 2020 and would then go through the process of getting approval from the deaneries of the approved universities, as well as from the Department of Education.

"We are trying to ensure that every language gets recognition in classrooms. Having material that is language-specific is a step in the right direction to ensure that each language is given the respect it deserves."

News Archive

Kovsies present case studies to Tata Africa

2014-04-15

Tata Africa welcomed four top scholarship winners from the University of the Free State’s (UFS’s) Business Management Department who were awarded academic bursaries in 2013 for developing practical marketing strategies for the Tata group companies as part of their studies.

The students presented their winning case studies to a panel of Tata Africa executives and senior managers in Johannesburg.

“The Tata group places social responsibility at the core of its business DNA. This kind of support characterises our commitment to communities where Tata companies operate worldwide,” said Thami Mbele, Managing Director for Tata Africa Holdings.

“The impressive work of the Strategic Marketing students of the University of the Free State’s Business Management Department, who have been using Tata group companies as examples for their practical marketing strategies, deserve recognition,” he added.

To date, Tata has invested R275 000 in the University of the Free State’s talent pool. Over the past six years, Tata Africa has invested over R10 million in scholarships in Africa.

Second-semester students of the Strategic Marketing course, Lebohang Masoabi, Estie Brown, Lynne Harvey and Cecile Boshoff, were given a rare opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge by developing practical marketing strategies for Tata group companies operating in Africa. Students presented their ideas to a panel of UFS and Tata representatives in 2013, and 27 out of 78 groups were selected to compete for academic bursaries sponsored by Tata.

Through its scholarship programme, Tata Africa is committed to investing in future African entrepreneurs, leaders of industry and business.

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