Browsing Research articles (Dept of Languages & Social Sciences Education) by Issue Date
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Jankie, D. (National Council of Teachers of English, http://www.ncte.org/, December NaN, 1990)[more][less]
Abstract: Suggests using Mtutuzeli Matshoba's "Call Me Not a Man" as the central text in a unit on oppression to help students understand and make them better able to respond to oppression. Provides key questions for structuring the unit to help students consider aspects of oppression that they might otherwise neglect. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/1122 Files in this item: 1
Jankie_TEJ_1990.pdf (766.5Kb) -
Mafela, L. (Research and Development Unit, University of Botswana. http://www.thuto.org, NaN, 1997)[more][less]
Abstract: In both precolonial and Westerm forms of schooling, education was a crucial medium of construction and articulation of ideas concerning the role and behaviour of women. Precolonial education reproduced and maintained sharp gender differentiation in the division of labour. Socialisation and women's own internalisation of their role and position in society, upheld dominant male ideology and subordination of women. Under colonialism, missionary and colonial education renegotiated but did not fundamentally change the role and position of women. However, it inadvertently also provided women with ways to move out of the household sphere into the wider labour market, albeit as unequal participants. Missionary education strictly separated the sexes and rested on the continued association of women with Victorian notions of 'domesticity'. The concept of ideology is used in this paper to tease out and highlight the gender dynamics which have influenced and directed education among Batswana. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/525 Files in this item: 1
mafela Competing gender ideologies.pdf (794.6Kb) -
Tabulawa, R. (Routledge http://www.informaworld.com, April NaN, 1998)[more][less]
Abstract: Attempts to improve the quality of education in Botswana have, inter alia, included an emphasis on a learner-centered pedagogy. Attempts at implementing this pedagogy have been made within the ambit of the technical rational model of curriculum development. The attempts, however, have produced inconclusive results, and these results have often been rationalized in technicist terms, e.g. as being due to lack of resources and poorly trained teachers. Overlooked in this technicist model are the teachers' perspectives on the innovation. Using the case-study approach within the rubrics of the qualitative research paradigm, this study sought to establish the perspectives of geography teachers in a senior secondary school in Botswana vis-a-vis the learnercentered pedagogy advocated in Education for Kagisano (Social Harmony), a report produced by the 1977 Commission on Education. The findings indicated that teachers' classroom practices were influenced by many factors other than technical ones: these included the teachers' assumptions about the nature of knowledge and the ways it ought to be transmitted, their perceptions of students, and the goal of schooling. It also emerged that their assumptions were incongruent with the basic tenets of the learner-centered pedagogy. The findings, then, are an indictment of the technical rational model of change implementation applied in Botswana. They indicate that disregarding what teachers know and think about their taken-for-granted classroom practices when effecting change can lead to disappointing results. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/698 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_IJQSE_1998.pdf (1.076Mb) -
Mafela, L. (Research and Development Unit, University of Botswana http://www.thuto.org, NaN, 1999)[more][less]
Abstract: The dairy industry arose in Bechuanaland primarily as an alternative to beef production in response to South Africa's restrictions on the import of cattle from the Protectorate African dairy producers were at a disadvantage compared to settler farmers due to the lack of government support for the infrastructure essential for highly perishable dairy produce The decline of dairy production in the later colonial period can be attributed to the revival of beef exporting, which undercut the Administration's already limited interest. These events can be situated within the broader pattern of colonial underdevelopment. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/699 Files in this item: 1
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Chilisa, B. (Taylor & Francis, http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals, NaN, 2002)[more][less]
Abstract: The article critiques pregnancy policies in the education systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Policies discussed are divided into expulsion, re-entry and continuation policies. Arguing from the standpoint of theories of oppression, it is postulated that expulsion policies symbolise direct violence against girls who become pregnant and are more common in those countries with poor human rights records. Continuation and re-entry policies are prevalent in countries that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Children. It is argued that re-entry policies also violate girl mothers’ right to education through a retreat ideology that requires temporary withdrawal of the pregnant girl from school. Moreover, gender inequalities are built into the policies and supported by traditional and institutional ideologies that make re-entry of the girl mother into the school difficult. The Botswana re-entry policy is reviewed to illustrate difficulties in the readmission of girl mothers to school. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/1040 Files in this item: 1
Chilisa_GE_2002.pdf (1.431Mb) -
Tabulawa, R. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, June NaN, 2002)[more][less]
Abstract: Curriculum reviews during the past two decades in Botswana have had mixed fortunes for geography in secondary schools. While the subject has modernised over the years it has at the same time shrunk in terms of its spread over the entire secondary schooling period. This paper describes this contradictory development, teasing out some of the most salient forces that have shaped the geography curriculum in secondary schools in Botswana. It argues that the subject's future is precarious and uncertain. Deliberate and concerted effort to promote and 'sell' the subject is required of those with vested interests in it. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/515 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_IRGEE_2002.pdf (1.042Mb) -
Tabulawa, R. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, February NaN, 2003)[more][less]
Abstract: Recent pronouncements by international aid agencies on their interest in and preference for a learner-centred pedagogy so far appear not to have attracted much scholarly attention. This paper attempts to explain this interest. It argues that although the efficacy of the pedagogy is often couched in cognitive/educational terms, in essence, its efficacy lies in its political and ideological nature. The fact that the aid agencies’ interest in the pedagogy became explicit soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall is in itself significant. The paper argues that aid agencies’ apparent lack of interest in pedagogical issues before 1989 lay partially in the very central hypothesis of the modernisation theory of development which became enshrined in policies of aid agencies soon after the latter were created. The hypothesis, coupled with human capital theory, viewed education in technicist terms. However, the ascendancy of neo-liberalism as a development paradigm in the 1980s and 1990s elevated political democratisation as a prerequisite for economic development. Education, then, assumed a central role in the democratisation project. Given its democratic tendencies, learner-centred pedagogy was a natural choice for the development of democratic social relations in the schools of aid-receiving countries. Aid agencies, therefore, had to be explicit about their preference for the pedagogy. Thus, the pedagogy is an ideological outlook, a worldview intended to develop a preferred kind of society and people. It is in this sense that it should be seen as representing a process of Westernisation disguised as quality and effective teaching. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/518 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_CE_2003.pdf (1.336Mb) -
Tabulawa, R.T. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, January NaN, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: This study reports on the strategies (overt and subtle) employed by students in one senior secondary school in Botswana to keep their teachers in an information-giving position. Contrary to the prevailing view that the 'teacher dominance' of classroom activities so often reported in classroom studies results from teachers' desire for social control, this study sees the dominance as a negotiated product, resulting instead from teachers and students exercising power on one another. Such a view of classroom practice is only possible where power is conceptualized not as a negative force that dominates, but as a productive force that simultaneously constrains and enables human action. Viewed this way, classroom reality becomes a co-construction, a 'joint project' by teacher and students. Attempts to change this reality, therefore, must include both teacher and students. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/516 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_JCS_2004.pdf (1.362Mb) -
Mooko, T. (Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Francis Group. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713415834, March NaN, 2005)[more][less]
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to establish the usage of research and theory in the teaching of English language in secondary schools in Botswana. Altogether 100 questionnaires were administered in 19 secondary schools. The results of this study indicate that teachers rarely ever refer to language research in their teaching. Less value was also placed on the theoretical information acquired during training. The respondents indicated that their teaching is essentially based on utilizing their teaching experience and individual creativity. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/165 Files in this item: 2
license.txt (1.998Kb)mooko_educational_studies05.pdf (1.968Mb) -
Kamwendo, G. H. (Nordic Association of African Studies. http://www.njas.helsinki.fi, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: In 1994, South Africans of all races and political parties took part in the first democratic elections. The election and inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first black president marked the beginning of a new era - an era of democracy. The new era has, among other things, witnessed reforms in language planning. The current paper is a critique of South Africa's language planning efforts during the first decade of democracy i.e. 1994-2004. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/1097 Files in this item: 1
kamwendo_NJAS_2006.pdf (108.8Kb) -
Mooko, T. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, March NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: When Botswana gained independence from the British in 1966, a political decision was taken to designate English as an official language and Setswana, one of the indigenous languages, as a national language. This move disregarded the multilingual nature of Botswana society. Furthermore, although not explicitly stated, the use of other languages was, in effect, prohibited, especially in the school setting and other official arenas. Whereas the government undertook deliberate measures to promote the use of Setswana, no efforts were made by the government to cater for other languages spoken in Botswana. As a result, some of the latter languages have died out whilst others have survived. This paper examines some of the steps that members of the groups that speak these marginalised languages have taken in their quest to develop and maintain their languages. The discussion in this paper considers the six strategies proposed by David Crystal (2000) as some of the ways that speakers of endangered languages could ensure their survival. Deprived of any government support, the speakers of these languages initiated some processes that have seen some significant developments. These include the development of orthographies, the translation of the Bible into these languages and the publication of other written resources in these languages. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/602 Files in this item: 1
Mooko_JMMD_2006.pdf (1.181Mb) -
Kamwendo, G. H. (Southern African Comparative and History of Education Society (SACHES). http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_sare.html, October NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: During the first 30 years of Malawi’s independence (1964-1994), the country was under President Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s one-party authoritarian rule. In line with Banda’s nation-building ideology, Malawi pursued the policy of one nation, one party (the Malawi Congress Party), one leader (Life President Banda) and one national language (Chichewa). Despite the fact that Malawi is multilingual and multiethnic, the Banda regime created a political atmosphere under which non-Chewa ethnic and/or linguistic identities were suppressed. A political system was established that muzzled academic and other freedoms. Academia, for instance, was deprived of its critical and objective voice. The then only university, the University of Malawi, was carefully monitored to ensure that so-called subversive disciplines or topics were not on offer. Sociolinguistic research was one of the academic disciplines that did not enjoy meaningful academic freedom. The demise of the Banda regime in 1994 and the adoption of a new constitution that embraces various freedoms (including academic freedom) have meant that there are no longer political constraints on academic freedom. However, new forms of constraint on academic freedom have arisen. These are economic constraints, many emanating from the research-funding agencies’ agendas. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/1106 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_SAREEP_2006.pdf (99.15Kb) -
Kamwendo, G.H.; Mooko, T. (Walter de Gruyter, http://www.degruyter.de, November NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: The article discusses language planning in two Southern African countries, Botswana and Malawi. Both countries are multilingual and multicultural. They also share a common British colonial history. At independence, the two countries retained English as the official language. In Botswana, Setswana was made the national language while in Malawi, it was Chichewa. Over the years, these languages have been developed and promoted at the expense of other indigenous languages, a situation that has prompted linguistic minorities to engage in the language-based politics of recognition. The article discusses how Botswana and Malawi are responding to the call for the official recognition of more indigenous languages in domains such as government, education, and mass media. Relevant comparisons and contrasts between Botswana and Malawi are drawn in this regard in the article. One clear common denominator is the dominance of English in official domains in the two countries. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/829 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_IJSL_2006.pdf (1.340Mb) -
Tabulawa, R. (Springer. http://www.springerlink.com, April NaN, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: The University of Botswana has not escaped the reform fever currently gripping higher education institutions the world-over. In the late 1980s the University initiated an administrative/management restructuring exercise whose resultant structure was implemented between 1998 and 2000. The exercise, in many respects, was a response to globalization. The emergence, in the past two decades, of a global economy, the massification of higher education, and the globalization of neo-liberal economic thinking have compelled universities to recast their social and economic missions. Consequently, universities have had to restructure within the framework of a global ideology characterized by an emphasis on effectiveness, quality and efficiency. This paper explicates the restructuring exercise at the University of Botswana by locating the exercise within its global and local contexts. It argues that while the resultant structure reflected global influences and trends, it was as much a product of local concerns. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/511 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_HE_2007.pdf (2.309Mb) -
Kamwendo, G.H. (Brill Academic Publishers. http://www.brill.nl/m%5Fcatalogue.asp?sub=3, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: In a linguistically heterogeneous country, one of the critical challenges is to make information accessible to all people. Various communication media can be used: television, radio, telephone, the Internet and others. Malawi needs to embrace Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in order to achieve development in all spheres of human life. Malawi’s use of ICTs ranks low. Th e critical challenge, therefore, is to promote an increased use of ICTs with the aim of improving people’s access to information. Given that only a minority of Malawians have access to ICTs, that television has not signifi cantly penetrated into rural areas where 80 % of the population lives, and that there is also a high illiteracy rate, the radio becomes the most accessible form of technology for information dissemination in Malawi. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/530 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_PGDT_2008.pdf (590.8Kb) -
Kamwendo, G.H. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, August NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: According to the Medical Council of Malawi, one of the conditions for a licence to be granted to an individual who wants to practise medicine in Malawi is the practitioner's ability to speak and write English fluently. This means that the expatriate medical practitioner is not required by law to demonstrate fluency in Chichewa (the national language) or any other relevant indigenous language(s). On the basis of a sociolinguistic study that was conducted at a major referral hospital in a predominantly Chitumbuka-speaking town, this paper argues that the Medical Council of Malawi erroneously assumes that English is the main language of doctor-patient communication in Malawian hospitals since the country is linguistically categorised as an English speaking African country. Yet only a minority of the population is competent in English. The national language (Chichewa), and other indigenous languages remain the main medium through which much of the health service provider-patient communication takes place. A more realistic and comprehensive language proficiency testing should cover English (the main international language of medicine) and at least one indigenous language (the lingua franca of the area in which a particular hospital is located). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/540 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_CILP_2008.pdf (633.9Kb) -
Kamwendo, G.H. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, September NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: In 1996, the Ministry of Education in Malawi directed that in future Standards 1 to 4 would be taught through mother tongues. It took eight years before the pilot phase of the language policy could begin. The paper critically analyses this situation using Bamgbose's framework which says that, in Africa, language policies tend to follow one or more of the following patterns: avoidance, vagueness, arbitrariness, fluctuation, and declaration without implementation. The paper explains why the implementation of Malawi's mother tongue instruction policy has been a slow journey on a bumpy road. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/522 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_JMMD_2008.pdf (680.5Kb) -
Adeyemi, M. B. (Caddo Gap Press, http://www.caddogap.com, NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: The world is a diverse ecosystem where humans and the environment must interact and live in harmony. In order to keep any society going, either at the national or global level, the importance of having visions for the improvement of that society cannot be overemphasized. It is in the light of this dream of making Botswana an enviable nation that the "Vision 2016" was published in 1997. A pillar of the "Vision" focuses on the development of a moral and tolerant nation. This article presents a brief literature review that focuses on the "moral and tolerant" aspects as aspirations of a nation. These two concepts are values which have implications for classroom pedagogy. This article reports an investigation of 64 teachers at the junior secondary school level and the challenges faced by them when teaching topics related to these values with their attendant remedies. The identified challenges included the difficulty of the use of critical and ethical reasoning methods in classes, a lack of community support, inadequate teachers' qualifications and experience, needed teaching resources, and the heterogeneity of the students, among others. The teachers provide some remedies to these challenges, while the investigator advocates for further research on the appropriate methods for teaching values in schools. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/1098 Files in this item: 1
Adeyemi_ME_2009.pdf (655.4Kb) -
Tabulawa, R.T. (Routledge http://www.informaworld.com, February NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: Literature on globalisation claims that changed global patterns of production and industrial organisation have intensified international economic competition, prompting nations globally to restructure their education systems in an attempt to position themselves favourably in an increasingly competitive economic environment. This is an environment that now requires a new kind of worker, what Castells terms the self-programmable worker. This has put education under pressure to produce the learner-equivalent of the self-programmable worker. This self-programmable learner is characterised by such psychosocial traits as independence of thought, innovativeness, creativity and flexibility. Botswana's Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) of 1994 represents the country's response to globalisation. It purports to produce the self-programmable learner for an economy undergoing rapid transformation. In this paper I take a critical view of the policy's intent. By analysing two of its central constructs (pre-vocational preparation strategy and the behaviourist model adopted in the review of the curriculum), upon which the production of the self-programmable learner hinges, I conclude that it is unlikely that the preferred learner would be produced. The two constructs are identified as paradoxes in that their effects are most likely to be the opposite of what is intended. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/733 Files in this item: 1
Tabulawa_CE_2009.pdf (2.061Mb) -
Code-switching in Botswana history classrooms in the decade of education for sustainable developmentMafela, L. (Routledge http://www.informaworld.com, July NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: Education is an important vehicle for the achievement of overall sustainable development. Moreover, international organisations have encouraged governments around the world to work towards achieving education for all. The notion of inclusive education has been useful in ensuring that country-level educational policies and practices incorporate and serve the interests of learners coming from diverse socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Language facilitation has been earmarked by UNESCO (2005) as a necessary component of education for sustainable development. Despite global affirmation of the importance of language, the absence of language facilitation policies hampers the achievement of education for sustainable development at classroom level. This article explores language use in Botswana's History classrooms in the context of education for sustainable development. It is based on an exploratory study that was undertaken to investigate the use of code-switching in Botswana's History classrooms. The article begins with a discussion of the concept, origins and evolution of sustainable development, and how it links with education for sustainable development. The article goes on to link education for sustainable development with issues of equity and inclusiveness, and explores the role of language in the facilitation of an enabling and interactive teaching and learning environment. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/725 Files in this item: 1
Mafela_LM_2009.pdf (1.531Mb)
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