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Enhancing students’ linguistic abilities

21 June 2023 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo Samkelo Fetile

Language teaching professionals from across Southern Africa recently gathered at the University of the Free State (UFS) to discuss the need for benchmarking and standardising teaching and assessment practices.

With the aim of empowering lecturers and researchers responsible for language acquisition and delivering competent students to ensure their employability globally, the educators addressed the challenges of language acquisition in the region. It was the first time that educators from different language disciplines, including Dutch, German, French, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sesotho, and Sign Language, met to discuss standardisation and best practices in teaching and assessment.

The symposium, which was hosted on the Bloemfontein Campus on 8 and 9 June 2023, brought together educators from the UFS, North-West University, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Pretoria, Rhodes University, University of South Africa, Stellenbosch University, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Limpopo, and Sol Plaatje University. They were joined by participants from the University of Namibia and the National University of Lesotho, providing a regional perspective.

Standardising language acquisition in Southern Africa

Prof Angelique van Niekerk, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, says the meeting marked a movement towards delivering competent students in order to increase their employability in languages such as Dutch, German, French, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sesotho, and Sign Language.

“It is probably the first time that the different language disciplines and colleagues from disciplines involved in language acquisition in Southern Africa have met to discuss the need for benchmarking and standardising.”

“The symposium was not on multilingualism per se, but as language scholars, we support multilingualism. Social cohesion is affected positively if people and their culture and language are accepted and thus used.”

Talking about the need for a reference framework for benchmarking languages, Dr Michelle Joubert, Subject Specialist in the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning, told delegates in her keynote address that a coordinated system provides a basis for the mutual recognition of language qualifications.

“Our aim is to develop a framework of standards for indigenous and foreign languages to reflect the political and social realities of a multilingual and multicultural South Africa, which aims to form a single South African education, employment, and residential space for its citizens.”

In another keynote address, Dr Carina Grobler, Subject Chair and Lecturer in French at the North-West University, highlighted effective assessment tools to enhance students’ ability to learn additional languages.

Prof Van Niekerk says many new initiatives, such as the sharing of resources on centralised platforms, were some of the gains following the symposium; a follow-up event is planned for 2024.

News Archive

Ensure your place at the UFS

2010-10-27

The University of the Free State (UFS) appeals to all prospective South African students who want to come and study at the UFS in 2011 to submit their applications no later than Tuesday, 30 November 2010.

The UFS is aware of the fact that learners will not have received their final Grade 12 results by Tuesday, 30 November 2010; therefore provisional admission will be granted based on learners’ most recent Grade 12 results. Final admission will take place upon receipt of the final Grade 12 results, which will be available early in January 2011.

Prospective students can obtain application forms for admission at the following places:

The UFS’s web site at www.ufs.ac.za,
The Information Office (Unit for Prospective Students) at the Thakaneng Bridge on the UFS’s Main Campus in Bloemfontein,
You may also send an e-mail to info@ufs.ac.za or
Phone 051 401 3000 and the necessary forms will be posted to you.

Senior undergraduate students (that is all students who were registered up to and during 2010 at the UFS) as well as post-graduate students, must self-register electronically on-line from Monday, 1 November 2010 until Tuesday, 4 January 2011. This includes master’s and doctoral students.

In order to encourage senior students to register online, the UFS offers 20 laptops as incentives for the senior students who successfully register online from 1 November 2010. These laptops will be handed over to the winners after the registration process in 2011.

Registration of first-year students:

The Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, will welcome first-year students on Friday, 14 January and Saturday, 15 January 2011, respectively, in the Callie Human Centre. The Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences, the Humanities and Education will be welcomed on 14 January 2011 and the students of the Faculties of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Law and Theology shall be welcomed on 15 January 2011. The compulsory orientation programme for new first-years will also then commence.

From 17 to 21 January 2011 first-year students will receive academic advice at the Callie Human Centre, whereafter they will be referred for self-registration. These processes will take place according to the set timetable. This timetable is available in the Kovsie Guide that will be sent to learners as soon as we have received their applications, as well as on the web site of the UFS at www.ufs.ac.za/register2011.

First-year students’ fees must be paid prior to arrival on 14 and 15 January 2011.

Registration of senior students:

Senior students who experience problems with the electronic on-line self-registration process have the opportunity to resolve problems within a programme on campus from Wednesday, 5 January until Wednesday, 12 January 2011. This programme will be sent out to students and is also available at www.ufs.ac.za/register2011. The specific scheduled day for senior students to resolve problems is the last and only day to resolve the problem.

Senior students can also contact 051 401 9111 for more information in this regard.

Students may register for prescribed modules for 2011, even though the November 2010 examination results are not yet available. Changes resulting from examination results that are made available later can be done up to and including 28 January 2011.

In terms of applications for senior students, only students who have interrupted a calendar year of study need to re-apply for admission.

Registration of students at the UFS’s Qwaqwa Campus:

Senior and first-year students of the UFS’s Qwaqwa Campus register from Wednesday, 12 January until Friday, 28 January 2011 in the Nelson Mandela Hall on this campus.

Registration of students at the UFS South Campus:

First-year students from the UFS’s South Campus in the University Preparation Programme and the Extended Programme (only Natural and Agricultural Sciences) register from Monday, 24 January till Friday, 28 January 2011 in the Arena Hall on the South Campus.

Students who have successfully completed the University Preparation Programme register with the first-year students on the UFS Main Campus on Friday, 14 and Saturday, 15 January 2011 – according to faculties (cf. paragraph 6).

Lectures for all students shall commence on Monday, 24 January 2011.

MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
26 October 2010

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