Communicative Language Teaching Today. Portfolio Series #13.

PART I LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY 1 Language Attitudes 2 Societal Multilingualism 3 World Englishes 4 Language Planning and Policy PART II LANGUAGE AND VARIATION 5 Regional and Social Variation 6 Pidgins and Creoles 7 Language and Gender PART III LANGUAGE AND INTERACTION 8 Ethnographic Microanalysis 9 Interactional Sociolinguistics 10 Intercultural Communication PART IV LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 11 The Ethnography of Communication 12 Speech Acts 13 Literacy and Literacies PART V LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 14 Language and Education

社會語言與語言教學=Sociolinguistics and language teaching

4. Education and training policy: basic guidelines

Research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s pointed to a widening gap on Hong Kong university campuses between institutional language policy, which stipulated the use of English, and classroom practice, which often involved the use of Cantonese to explain and discuss English written materials. This article presents the findings of a multidimensional study which sought to uncover patterns of in-class and out-of-class language use at one officially English-medium institution between 2000 and 2010 and to identify the challenges that its mainly Cantonese-speaking undergraduates experience when listening to and speaking English for academic purposes. The findings were derived from two campus-wide questionnaire surveys and an interview-based longitudinal study of the student experience of English-medium higher education. The findings indicate that the gap between policy and practice has closed noticeably in the past decade in consequence of the increasing internationalisation of the student body and institutional...

The Student Experience of English-Medium Higher Education in Hong Kong.

The paper problematises student writing as social practice from the perspective of lecturers’ discursive practices The paper uses data from a major study at a higher learning institution in Tanzania to explore lecturers’ discursive practices and familiarity with the university orders of discourse including English medium of instruction, in unequal power relations with students, for whom English is a foreign language The lecturers’ practices are scrutinised in terms of how they work against facilitating students’ access to the privileged literacy practices of the academia and how they serve to enact and sustain dominance in Tanzania's education system, with its monolingual orientation, which privileges Kiswahili in primary school and English in secondary and higher education

Classroom Discourse and Discursive Practices in Higher Education in Tanzania.

This thesis was a critical analysis of students academic second language writing at Sokoine University of Agriculture. Student writing in English as a second language in higher education has excited much interest in the English as a Second Language writing research and discussion in Tanzania. The interest was motivated by frequent criticisms from examiners regarding students literacy performance in the English as a Second Language writing in the post primary and higher education where the language of instruction is English as is configured in the Tanzanian language policy.

Academic writing as social practice: a critical discourse analysis of student writing in higher education in Tanzania

English has been used as a medium of instruction in secondary schools and universities in Tanzanian. Pedagogical practice in these levels has however, continued to generate huge challenges in the education system. Considerable amount of time is wasted by students grappling with the language of instruction instead of learning their other subjects. In universities, Communication Skills (CS) course was introduced primarily to enable students apply the existing knowledge of English to particular skills in order to respond to specific academic communicative needs in their disciplines. But, students’ existing knowledge of English at the moment of joining the university, is often so inadequate to have any meaningful application of such knowledge. This happens against the backdrop of a paradigm shift where communicative language teaching (CLT) has currently permeated pedagogical practice globally. In the current study, the researchers undertook to investigate how universities in Tanzania have been able to implement Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in the teaching of Communication Skills Courses. Researchers used qualitative study design through interviews of students and staff, focus group interviews with staff, documentary analyses of CS courses, and classrooms Observations. The findings reveal that inadequacy of CS as competency based course, diversity of students in language abilities and disciplines, localization of teaching material, and instructors’ authority working against students’ autonomy have been compromising students’ development of academic communication competence. The study recommends for a scrutiny of CS curricular to make them more competent based, specific and connected to communication rather than linguistic minutia.

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The use of communicative language teaching approach in the teaching of communication skills courses in Tanzanian universities

Tanzanian universities, including Sokoine University of Agriculture, have been offering Communication Skills courses in addressing students’ language and communication needs. Despite this initiative, there have been some concerns from both students and lecturers that the teaching of Communication Skills courses has little impact on students’ development of English language and communication skills. In response to this view, the Department of Social Sciences, at Sokoine University of Agriculture, conducted a study to collect information from an international perspective on the best practices in English language and Communication Skills programs. The study involved five universities found in two African countries: Three universities from South Africa and the other two from Ghana. Data were collected through interviews, checklists and review of documents and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Although there were some similarities in the ways English language and Communication Skills courses are offered in the visited countries and at Sokoine University of Agriculture, the findings revealed that there were better practices in the visited countries in terms of administration, curricula, and utilization of resources, which have an implication on the conduct of Communication Skills courses at Sokoine University of Agriculture and other Tanzanian universities.

/pdf/towards-re-defining-communication-skills-courses-at-sokoine-1ss5vwnj8j.pdf

Towards re-defining communication skills courses at Sokoine University of Agriculture: Lessons from selected African universities

Previous studies have been inconsistent in describing tense and/or aspect (T/A) systems in Luguru language and do not satisfactorily explain the differences of the morphological norms that mark T/A in the language. This study aims to describe the T/A system of Luguru as it is used in the verb system, particularly in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. The study applied the Linear Approach in the analysis of T/A. In this approach, tenses are considered as expression of the relationship between speech time and another interval of interest called reference time and event time and Also tense meaning is represented as a sequence of the three time points namely; past, present and future time. Group discussions, questionnaire and interview were employed to collect primary data, from adult native speakers of the language in Matombo and Mgeta wards of Morogoro Rural District. The tools were employed because they correspond to the linear approach and that they are benched in the attitude of the language users. Data were analyzed by the identification of various T/A formatives so as to describe the distinction between them and the classification of morphological forms of tense and aspect in Luguru constructions which was done using linear approach. The study revealed four tense categories marked in the verbal morphology (i.e. remote past, recent past, present and future tenses) and four aspect categories, namely habitual, progressive, perfect and persistent. However, some T/A formatives depend on the three auxiliaries tsaa, maa and -gh’ali to complete their meaning. The study also reveals the prevalence of the difference between absolute and relative perfect marking and a high degree of interaction between tense and aspect.

Hashim Issa Mohamed

Papers

Classroom Discourse and Discursive Practices in Higher Education in Tanzania.

Academic writing as social practice: a critical discourse analysis of student writing in higher education in Tanzania

The use of communicative language teaching approach in the teaching of communication skills courses in Tanzanian universities

Towards re-defining communication skills courses at Sokoine University of Agriculture: Lessons from selected African universities

The classification of morphological forms marking tense and aspect in Luguru