Browsing by Author "Alimi, M.M."
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Alimi, M.M.; Bagwasi, M.M. (Sage Publications http://www.sagepublications.com, NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: Using samples from local newspapers, letters and public speeches, this article argues that English assimilates to and reflects the Botswana culture through borrowing and semantic modification. It discusses those terminologies and expressions that depict the cultural values of Batswana in the usage of English in Botswana. Two types of borrowed items are discussed: those depicting old traditional practices that cannot be translated into English (kgosi and mophato) and those reflecting recent socio-political experiences in Botswana including the HIV/AIDS threat (tebelopele and omang). The people’s culture is also expressed by items such as brigade and the lands that have been semantically modified. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/728 Files in this item: 1
Alimi_JAAS_2009.pdf (1.466Mb) -
Alimi, M.M. (Multilingual Matters and Channel View Publications, http://www.multilingual matters.com, NaN, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: What syntactic patterns emerge in students’ use of articles and modals? What are the reasons for these patterns? What implications do the findings of the study have for English language instruction in Botswana? Exactly 1556 essays comprising class assignments, written seminar presentations, test papers and examination scripts from 514 randomly selected students of the University of Botswana were analysed. The findings indicate that there were systematic omissions, substitutions and insertion of the definite and indefinite articles as well as recurrent use of the expression can be able. Students’ indication of different forms of epistemic modality was confined to the use of could while complex verb phrases involving negation had their constituents reordered such that the negative operator not consistently succeeded the perfective auxiliary. The study shows that the reasons for these errors are both intra- and interlingual, namely the complexities of the two grammatical structures, articles and modals, and the influence of L1. Since the Botswana Senior Secondary Assessment Syllabus specifies ‘accuracy’ in the use of grammatical forms, by demanding high language achievement standards, this paper argues that a return to the teaching of basic grammar in the high school is important for the students’ mastery of articles and modals URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/465 Files in this item: 1
Alimi_LCC_2007.pdf (1.646Mb) -
Alimi, M.M. (University of Botswana, Department of English, http://www.ub.bw, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: This paper examines the morphological and syntactic differences between English and Setswana pronouns, and how these differences manifest in students usage of English learners may be assisted to become more proficient in using English pronouns. An analysis of 542 essays written by second and fourth year students of the Department of English reveal the following categories of pronoun errors: the intrusion of an independent subject pronoun between a subject and its verb, the conflation of the standard expression the one...the other into the other...the other, inter substitution of they/there/their, lack of gender and case distictions, use of pronouns without antecedents and pronoun referent agreement errors. In terms of the sources of these errors, the paper shows that the first six types of errors seem to relate directly or indirectly to the morphological and syntactic structures of Setswana pronouns while the last type is largely intralingual. The paper recommends that policy, tests and exams in country. It also suggests that teachers should raise their awareness of Botswama English in order to be able to distinguish between learners usage that are unpredictable and those that have become systematic localisms, and delegate more learning resposibility to the learners themselves. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/865 Files in this item: 1
Alimi_MJLL_2008.pdf (3.634Mb)
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