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21 June 2023 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo Samkelo Fetile
Enhancing students’ linguistic abilities
Language teaching professionals from Southern Africa attended a two-day symposium on foreign language acquisition practice on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

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

Researcher part of project aimed at producing third-generation biofuels from microalgae in Germany
2016-05-09

Description: Novagreen bioreactor  Tags: Novagreen bioreactor

Some of the researchers and technicians among the tubes of the Novagreen bioreactor (Prof Grobbelaar on left)

A researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Johan Grobbelaar, was invited to join a group of scientists recently at the Institute for Bio- and Geo-Sciences of the Research Centre Jülich, in Germany, where microalgae are used for lipid (oil) production, and then converted to kerosene for the aviation industry.

The project is probably the first of its kind to address bio-fuel production from microalgae on such a large scale.  

“The potential of algae as a fuel source is undisputed, because it was these photoautotrophic micro-organisms that were fixing sunlight energy into lipids for millions of years, generating the petroleum reserves that modern human civilisation uses today.  However, these reserves are finite, so the challenge is marrying biology with technology to produce economically-competitive fuels without harming the environment and compromising our food security.  The fundamental ability that microalgae have to produce energy-rich biomass from CO2, nutrients, and sunlight through photosynthesis for biofuels, is commonly referred to as the Third-Generation Biofuels (3G),” said Prof Grobbelaar.

The key compounds used for bio-diesel and kerosene production are the lipids and, more particularly, the triacylglyserols commonly referred to as TAGs.  These lipids, once extracted, need to be trans-esterified for biodiesel, while a further “cracking” step is required to produce kerosene.  Microalgae can store energy as lipids and/or carbohydrates. However, for biofuels, microalgae with high TAG contents are required.  A number of such algae have been isolated, and lipid contents of up to 60% have been achieved.

According to Prof Grobbelaar, the challenge is large-scale, high-volume production, since it is easy to manipulate growth conditions in the laboratory for experimental purposes.  

The AUFWIND project (AUFWIND, a German term for up-current, or new impetus) in Germany consists of three different commercially-available photobioreactor types, which are being compared for lipid production.

Description: Lipid rich chlorella Tags: Lipid rich chlorella

Manipulated Chlorella with high lipid contents (yellow) in the Novagreen bioreactor

The photobioreactors each occupies 500 m2 of land surface area, are situated next to one another, and can be monitored continuously.  The three systems are from Novagreen, IGV, and Phytolutions.  The Novagreen photobioreactor is housed in a glass house, and consist of interconnected vertical plastic tubes roughly 150 mm in diameter. The Phytolutions system is outdoors, and consists of curtains of vertical plastic tubes with a diameter of about 90 mm.  The most ambitious photobioreactor is from IGV, and consists of horizontally-layered nets housed in a plastic growth hall, where the algae are sprayed over the nets, and allowed to grow while dripping from one net to the next.

Prof Grobbelaar’s main task was to manipulate growth conditions in such a way that the microalgae converted their stored energy into lipids, and to establish protocols to run the various photobioreactors. This was accomplished in just over two months of intensive experimentation, and included modifications to the designs of the photobioreactors, the microalgal strain selection, and the replacement of the nutrient broth with a so-called balanced one.

Prof Grobbelaar has no illusions regarding the economic feasibility of the project.  However, with continued research, optimisation, and utilisation of waste resources, it is highly likely that the first long-haul flights using microalgal-derived kerosene will be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Prof Grobbelaar from the Department of Plant Sciences, although partly retired, still serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is also involved with the examining of PhDs, many of them from abroad.  In addition, he assisted the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa in the formulation of an algae-biotechnology and training centre.  “The chances are good that such a centre will be established in Upington, in the Northern Cape,” Prof Grobbelaar said.

 

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