Thèses sur le sujet « Language and languages – Political aspects – Case studies »

This thesis is an examination of euthanasia, eugenics, the ethic of patient care, and linguistic propaganda in the Second World War. The examination of euthanasia discusses not only the history and involvement of the facility at Hadamar in Germany, but also discuss the current euthanasia debate. Euthanasia in World War II arose out of the Nazi desire to cleanse the Reich and was greatly influenced by the American eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Eugenics was built up to include anyone considered undesirable and unworthy of life and killed many thousands of people before the invasion of allied troops in 1944. Paramount to euthanasia is forced sterilization, the ethic of patient care, and how the results of the research conducted on euthanasia victims before their deaths should be used. The Nazis were able to change the generally accepted terms that researchers use to describe their experiments and this change affected how modern doctors and researchers use the terms in current research. This thesis includes research conducted in Germany and the United States from varied resources.

Throughout the world, languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. Perhaps half of the 6,000-7,000 languages worldwide will go extinct in the next 50-100 years. One of these dying languages, Chinook Jargon or Chinuk Wawa, a language found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, is in the process of being revitalized through the concerted efforts of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR). Reasons to revitalize endangered languages often seem irrelevant to our modern daily lives, and revitalizing these languages is a difficult process requiring much dedication, commitment, and persistence. In light of this significant struggle, understanding people's motivations could contribute to a better understanding of how to involve more people in language revitalization. Ideally, such an understanding would contribute to strengthening a community's efforts to revitalize their language. This exploratory, ethnographic case study explores the motivations of eight participants in the Portland Chinuk Wawa language community involved in revitalizing Chinuk Wawa over a nine-month period in 2011. The results of the study showed that seven major themes of motivation were prevalent for the participants: connections made through Chinuk Wawa, preservation of Chinuk Wawa, relationships, instrumental motivation, affective motivation, identity motivation, and demotivation.

In contemporary Taiwan, Mandarin language proficiency and literacy in Han characters are not only key skills needed for success in academic institutions and employment markets, but they also carry meaning as symbolic markers of national and supranational Chinese identity. This study examines how Taiwanese-language medical studies curriculum planners are promoting alternative linguistic practices as a means of resisting the influence of Chinese nationalism in Taiwan and striving to replace it with a rival Taiwanese nationalism. I conducted research for this study during the 2010-2011 school year in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I collected data for this study by engaging in participant observation research at Taiwanese-language curriculum-editing meetings; auditing Taiwanese-language courses at Kaohsiung Medical University; and conducting interviews with both curriculum planners and students at KMU. The role of official languages, literacy, and historical narratives are examined as symbolic components of a Chinese nationalist hegemony, which was constructed through the policies of the Kuomintang's Republic of China administration in post-war Taiwan. This study also examines the relationship between occupation, language skills, and national identification in the context of the contemporary Greater China regional economy. The curriculum planners who are the subjects of this study are employed in the field of medical care, where Taiwanese language skills are valued resources for communicating with patients from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, medical doctors have historically been vocal opponents of the Kuomintang administration's pro-Chinese nationalist policies. Therefore, this case study illustrates how the curriculum planners' occupations and language practices are utilized as resources in their efforts to foster Taiwanese autonomy in the Greater China region. This study also examines current limits to the effectiveness of language preservation and revitalization policies in Taiwan due to the importance of Mandarin-language literacy in the majority of high-status occupations in Greater China and to changing conceptions of the relationship between language practice and national identity. This study contributes to the fields of linguistic anthropology and Asian studies by examining relationships between nationalism, employment, language practice, and literacy in the context of Taiwan's ambiguous status as a national entity. It also analyzes ways in which language practices and literacy forms are created and modified as strategic acts to both identify people with competing nationalisms and allow them access to employment opportunities in the context of shifting administrative and economic power structures in the Greater China region.

After many years of the oppressive apartheid government, the new democratic era came into being in 1994. Lot of policy changes came into being, including language policy. This new language policy of the post-apartheid era recognises eleven official languages which include the nine indigenous African languages which were previously recognised as regional languages in the different homelands. The present study investigates the progress of Tshivenda in terms of status and development since it was accorded the official status in South Africa. Literature investigating the status of Tshivenda is generally sparse. This study investigates the status of Tshivenda in South Africa to explore how minority languages which are also recognised as official languages are treated. In most multilingual countries, there are issues which affect the development of minority languages, but the South African situation is interesting in that some of the minority languages are recognised as official languages. This study is a comparative in nature. Firstly, the study compares the level of corpus planning and development in Tshivenda and other indigenous South African languages. Secondly, it compares how people use Tshivenda in a rural area of Lukalo Village where the language is not under pressure from other languages and in Cosmo City, an urban area in Gauteng where Tshivenda speakers come into contact with speakers of more dominant languages such as isiZulu and Sesotho. Language use in different domains like, media, education, government and the home is considered in order to establish how people use languages and the factors which influence their linguistic behaviours. The study also establishes the perceptions and attitudes of the speakers of Tshivenda as a minority and those of the speakers of other languages towards Tshivenda’s role in the different domains such as education and the media. This study was influenced by previous research (Alexander 1989, Webb 2002) which found out that during the apartheid period Tshivenda speakers used to disguise their identity by adopting dominant languages like isiZulu and Sesotho in Johannesburg. Accordingly, the present research wanted to establish how the language policy change in the democratic era has impacted on the confidence of Tshivenda speakers regarding themselves and their language. This study establishes that although Tshivenda is now an official language in post-apartheid South Africa, it still has features of underdevelopment and marginalization that are typically of unofficial minority languages. Translation, lexicographic and terminological work in this language still lags behind that of other indigenous South African languages and there is still a shortage of school textbooks and adult literature in this language. As a result, using the language in education, the media and other controlling domains is still quite challenging, although positive developments such as the teaching of the language at university level can be noted. The Tshivenda speakers generally have a positive attitude towards their language and seem prepared to learn and use it confidently as long its functional value is enhanced, which is currently not happening. As a result, some Tshivenda speakers still regard English as a more worthwhile language to learn at the expense of their language

In listening to members of different cultures, it is possible to feel bad, even while recognising that the speaker is trying to speak politely. Sometimes we do not feel very comfortable with someone else’s speech, even though their expressions might be very polite with the choice of specific linguistic forms to show a high level of formality such as terms of address and specific types of formulaic expression such as ' I (don 't) think ... ' or ' I (don't) believe' . The speaker may be intending to speak politely in a considerate way. But the hearer's reaction may be quite different.

This paper analyzes some forms of linguistic manipulation in Japanese in newspapers when reporting on North Korea and its nuclear tests. The focus lies on lexical ambiguity in headlines and journalist’s voices in the body of the articles, that results in manipulation of the minds of the readers. The study is based on a corpus of nine articles from two of Japan’s largest newspapers Yomiuri Online and Asahi Shimbun Digital. The linguistic phenomenon that contribute to create manipulation are divided into Short Term Memory impact or Long Term Memory impact and examples will be discussed under each of the categories.The main results of the study are that headlines in Japanese newspapers do not make use of an ambiguous, double grounded structure. However, the articles are filled with explicit and implied attitudes as well as attributed material from people of a high social status, which suggests that manipulation of the long term memory is a tool used in Japanese media.
この論文は日本語の新聞中の北朝鮮と核実験に関する報告記事の曖昧さと操作的な態度についてである。この研究は特に北朝鮮について新聞の記事中の計画的で無意識に言語的な操作態度についてである。記事の見出しと読者の心意を関わる曖昧さについてである。全部の記事は読売新聞と朝日新聞に取ったが、全部の中に、多大態度がある。調査は日本の最大の新聞読売オンラインと朝日新聞デジタルの九の記事のコーパスに基づいてである。研究の主な結果は、日本の新聞の見出しがあいまいな構造を利用していないことだが、記事は明示的な態度だけでなく、多大な引用文で満たされている

This thesis explores the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Common European Asylum System. It evaluates the extent to which the European Union was able to implement a common asylum system, identifies discrepancies between different European countries, primarily Germany and Hungary, and briefly examines the roots of these differences. To this end, the structure of the international refugee protection regime and the German and Hungarian asylum systems are analyzed. Furthermore, the thesis explores how the governments of the two countries perceive the rights of refugees and how their views have affected their handling of the crisis. The case studies of Germany and Hungary have revealed that the treatment of Syrian refugees varies enormously within the EU. Hence, the implementation of the Common European Asylum System has not been achieved, which can be attributed to the deficiencies within the system and the growing ideological rifts within the EU.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans
This study concerns the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as a foreign language in colleges of education in the Northern Province. An empirical survey was conducted at Makhado and Shingwedzi Colleges of Education where teachers are trained for the Primary Teachers' Diploma. This study seeks to identify issues which perpetrate negative attitudes to the subject of Afrikaans, as is manifested by low student enrolment, or its absence. Apart from the fact that South Africa is proclaimed by the Constitution of the country to be both multilingual and multicultural, non-Afrikaans student teachers seem to ignore the advantages of including Afrikaans as one of the units of their linguistic flexibility. The study thus identifies the knowledge, skills and attitudes which teachers and student teachers should acquire in this foreign language during their training in order to be successful practitioners in the field. The study endeavours to inform its learners that the language should be regarded as a tool of communication, not one of politics. This knowledge is necessary as African learners tend to associate the subject Afrikaans with the apartheid era of government. Chapter two deals with theoreticar considerations which underpin the teaching of the subject of Afrikaans. The role of language policy and its planning was identified as the basis of negative attitudes towards the language. Chapter three deals with instructional issues pertaining to the teaching of the subject of Afrikaans as a foreign language. These issues include the How? and Why? of factors to be considered in the teaching of the subject with the aim of enhancing the teachers' understanding of the subject. Research is conducted on problematical areas. Chapter four concentrates on the empirical research. The research endevours to identify issues in the teaching of the subject The thesis concludes that there is a need to revisit the aims of learning the Afrikaans language and a need to concentrate on cultivating a culture of learning in the subject of Afrikaans. This can be accomplished by enriching the language through acquiring various teaching skills and addressing various needs of learners.
Hierdie studie handel oor die onderrig en leer van Afrikaans as vreemde taal in onderwyskolleges in die Noordelike Provinsie. h Empiriese studie is gedoen by die Makhado Onderwyskollege en die Shingwedzi Onderwyskollege waar onderwysers vir die Primere Onderwysdiploma opgelei word. In hierdie navorsing word getrag om die faktore wat aanleiding gee tot die lae inskrywingsyfer vir Afrikaans as vak te identifiseer. Afgesien van die feit dat die Grondwet van SuidAfrika voorsiening maak vir veeltaligheid en multikulturaliteit, ignoreer nieAfrikaanssprekende studente die voordele wat daaraan verbonde is om Afrikaans as vak by hulle studiepakket in te sluit. Die kennis; vaardighede en houdings wat onderwysers en onderwysstudente moet verwerf om Afrikaans as vreemde taal suksesvol te kan onderrig, word hier ge'identifiseer. Poging word aangewend om aan te toon dat Afrikaans as werktuig vir kommunikasie aangewend moet word en nie as h politieke werktuig nie. Hierdie kennis is noodsaaklik, aangesien leerders die taal en dus ook die vak Afrikaans, meestal assosieer met die voormalige apartheidsregering. Hoofstuk twee handel oor die teoretiese aspekte wat die grondslag van die onderrig van die vak Afrikaans vorm. Die rol wat die taalbeleid tans speel en ook in die verlede gespeel het, word ge"identifiseer as basis vir die negatiewe ingesteldhede teenoor die taal. , Hoofstuk drie handel oor onderrigaangeleenthede betreffende die vak Afrikaans as h vreemde taal. Hierdie sake sluit in die Hoe? en Waarom? van faktore wat in ag geneem word by die onderrig van die vak wanneer beoog word om die onderwyser se insig betreffende die vak te verbeter. Navorsing is gedoen oor areas wat problematies blyk te gewees het. In hoofstuk vier word die empiriese navorsing weergegee. Hierdie navorsing trag om sekere aangeleenthede betreffende die onderrig van die vak oop te dek. Die tesis volstaan daarmee dat daar 'n nood is om die doelstellings met die onderrig van Afrikaans weer eens te beskou en dat dit ook nodig is om daarop te konsentreer om die onderrig van Afrikaans op aile vlakke te bevorder. Dit kan bereik word deur die verryking van die taal deur middel van die aanleer van verskillende onderrigvaardighede en deur die behoeftes van die leerders aan te spreek.
Educational Studies
D. Ed. (Didactics)

Defence Date: 24/04/2009
Examining Board: Professor Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Enrique Ucelay-Da Cal, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Second Supervisor); Professor Michael Keating, European University Institute; Professor Anne-Marie Thiesse, EHESS
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Dans le premier chapitre je définirai mon approche de la question nationale en m’appuyant sur certaines théories classiques du nationalisme. Je m’attacherai longuement sur le lien entre langue et nation, que je mettrai en perspective historique. En particulier, j’examinerai le cadre conceptuel et philosophique dans lequel l’idée politique de nation a vu le jour, à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Et je le ferai en ayant toujours présent à l’esprit l’évolution des études linguistiques, notamment à partir du début du XIXe siècle. Dans le deuxième chapitre, après avoir traité des idées linguistique en France depuis le XVIIIe siècle, je considérerai le contexte français dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle. Je porterai une attention particulière à la politique culturelle française depuis la Révolution de 1789, et notamment aux politiques linguistiques des différents gouvernements. Je parlerai donc des enquêtes linguistiques et ethnologiques qui accompagnent l’intérêt nouveau pour les traditions populaires, mais aussi de leur dimension politique. J’expliquerai comment elles emboîtent le pas à la quête des origines nationales. Finalement, j’aborderai le renouveau qui caractérise l’historiographie française depuis les années 1820 pour montrer comment l’histoire du Midi de la France s’insère dans le grand tableau de l’histoire nationale. Après ces chapitres de préliminaires historiques et théoriques, avec le troisième chapitre, on abordera l’émergence de la question de la langue d’oc à travers les travaux d’une lignée d’historiens, antiquaires, lexicographes, etc. qui depuis le XVIIIe siècle relancent l’intérêt pour les 'langues du Midi' en France. Je parlerai de Raynouard, le fondateur des études de langue romane, et de ses successeurs qui ont dessiné le cadre théorique dans lequel s’inscrira le débat pendant presque tout le siècle. Débat qui mettra en jeu de nom de la langue : langue romane, langue d’oc, provençal, et dans lequel la renaissance provençale promue par le groupe des félibres joue un rôle capital. Je parlerai longuement de son principal protagoniste, Frédéric Mistral, dont la personnalité, le génie poétique et le talent d’organisateur poussent le provençal sur le premier plan de la scène littéraire française. Dans le quatrième chapitre, je franchirai la frontière pyrénéenne pour découvrir comment la question linguistique et nationale a été abordée en Catalogne. Le choix de m’occuper de la question linguistique catalane est dû à plusieurs raisons : tout d’abord à la proximité linguistique et culturelle que ce pays voisin a avec les pays de langue d’oc. En deuxième lieu, au fait que, quelques années durant, les Provençaux et les Catalans ont partagé intérêts, revendications et rêves d’une confédération de peuples latins. Enfin, à la curiosité de voir comment le débat sur la langue catalane a été résolu en faveur d’une vision résolument nationale de la langue, de sorte qu’elle devient à la fois fondement et instrument de revendications politiques. Dans le cinquième chapitre je ferai retour en France et je m’arrêterai surtout dans le Languedoc, où la création de la Société des Langues Romanes à Montpellier donne une tournure différent au débat sur la langue d’oc. Créée presque trente ans après le Félibrige, la SLR fait sortir la discussion sur la langue du domaine poétique : ses intérêts linguistiques et philologiques la prédisposent en fait à des conceptions de la langue et à des projets de normalisation, surtout orthographique, antagonistes à ceux du Félibrige. Toujours en Languedoc, mais cette fois-ci à Toulouse, une autre initiative voit le jour visant à mettre en question la prééminence des Provençaux au sein du Félibrige : la Lauseto, organe des félibres rouges et apôtre de la 'Cause languedocienne', engage une véritable opposition idéologique au félibrige catholique et légitimiste de matrice provençale. Je terminerai le chapitre par une petite 'promenade' en Italie, où la questione della lingua est au centre d’un débat animé qui nous servira de point de comparaison. Dans le sixième chapitre je resituerai le débat dans le cadre étatique français. Je passerai d’abord rapidement en revue la longue question de la décentralisation culturelle. J’analyserai l’état de l’enseignement supérieur en France, je traiterai du débat sur la réforme universitaire, pour passer ensuite à l’institution académique des études philologiques et à leur importance pour le processus de construction d’un imaginaire national français. Dans ce contexte, je m’arrêterai longuement sur les querelles linguistiques qui divisent les linguistes de la SLR et les philologues de la Romania, sur leur opposition idéologique et sociologique. J’achèverai le chapitre sur la constitution des études de dialectologie en France. L’épilogue, finalement, où je traiterai de l’échec du mouvement renaissentiste de langue d’oc et de son 'repli' sur une idée latine utopique.

This study investigates the work of the performer, composer, educator, music therapist and activist Sharon Katz. Beginning in 1992, Katz made history in apartheid South Africa when she formed a 500-member choir that showcased both multi-cultural and multi- lingual songs in their staged the production, When Voices Meet, which incorporated music, songs and dance, intended to assist in promoting a peaceful transition to democracy in South Africa. The success of the concerts of When Voices Meet led to Katz securing sponsorships to hire a train, “The Peace Train”, which transported 130 performers from city to city with media crews in tow. The performers’ mission on this journey was to create an environment of trust, of joy, and of sharing through music, across the artificially-imposed barriers of a racially segregated society. This investigation includes several areas of inquiry: The South African Peace Train; the efforts of the non-profit Friends of the Peace Train; Katz’s work with Pennsylvania prisoners and boys at an American Reform School; the documentary When Voices Meet, and the American Peace Train Tour of July 2016, bringing the message of peace and harmony through song to racially and socio-economically divided Americans on a route that started in New York and culminated with a concert at UNESCO’s Mandela Day celebrations in Washington D. C. These endeavours are examined within the framework of musical activism. The multi-faceted nature of Katz’s activism lends itself to an in-depth multiple case study. Qualitative case study methodology will be used to understand and theorise musical activism through detailed contextual analyses of five significant sets of related events. These include Katz’s work as a music therapist with prisoners in Pennsylvania and a Boys’ Reform School; as activist with The South African Peace Train of 1993; as humanitarian with Friends of the Peace Train; in making the documentary, When Voices Meet, and as activist with the American Peace Train Tour of 2016. In documenting the grass-roots musical activism of Sharon Katz, I hope to contribute towards a gap in South African musicological history that would add to a more comprehensive understanding of musical activism and its role in social change.
Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology
D. Litt. et Phil. (Musicology)

Cross-dialectal acceptance of a written standard (CAWS) is essential for that standard to be used by speakers of divergent dialects of a language. Earlier works have focused on the influence of linguistic differences on comprehension of the standard, but little attention has been given the influence of socio-cultural and programmatic factors on acceptance of a standard. Case studies of the Lelemi and Likpakpaanl language development programmes provide information through which the socio-cultural and programmatic factors which influence CAWS can be identified. Due to the complex nature of the topic, various indicators are used to measure levels of acceptance of the written standard by speakers of each dialect. Socio-cultural factors which influence CAWS relate either to the language community's degree of interdialectal communication or to their perception of being a unified people. These factors include social structure, governance, cultural and religious activities, and patterns of marriage, commerce, transportation and migration. The existence of extensive social networks and the role of opinion leaders were also influential Activities of the two language development programmes which positively influenced CAWS included those which informed and involved speakers of all dialects of the language. These activities built on the existing levels of unity and inter-dialectal communication by using existing social networks. The Lelemi programme involved speakers of all dialects more uniformly than did the Likpakpaanl programme. However, both programmes informed and involved speakers of all dialects to some extent. The dialect communities of each language did not equally accept the written standards. Acceptance appeared to correlate more strongly with programmatic factors than with sociocultural or linguistic factors. This thesis provides a model for language teams to follow in 1) identifying socio-cultural factors which have the potential to influence CAWS; 2) applying knowledge about the socio-cultural situation to programme planning; and, 3) assessing levels of acceptance by speakers of each dialect.
Linguistics
D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The study investigated language policy and planning in relation to minority languages and specifically Tshwao, a Khoisan language, in Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study was to establish its impact on the current sociolinguistic status of Tshwao. The ultimate goal was to suggest guidelines for the implementation of the Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No. 20) Act, 2013 which officially recognised sixteen languages including ‘Koisan’ and to make recommendations for future language planning for endangered languages in general. The study is qualitative in nature. It used interviews, document analysis, observation and focus groups to gather data. Critical Discourse Analysis and Ethnolinguistic Vitality were the main theories which guided the study. The study showed that even though Tshwao is the Khoisan language that is popular, there are several other varieties such as Jitshwa, Xaise, Cirecire and Ganade and they are all endangered with very low demographic, status and institutional support. The Khoisan people have shifted to Ndebele and Kalanga, languages which are spoken by their neighbours. Both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors were shown in the study to have affected the maintenance of Khoisan languages. Numerical domination of the Khoisan by the Bantu people, subjugation by Mzilikazi during his conquests as well as selective development of languages by missionaries led to assimilation and language marginalisation. The implementation of discriminatory land, wildlife and language polices by the colonial government also resulted in relocations, language contact situations and dispersed settlements, all of which affected language maintenance. In the post-independence era, political instability, official and unofficial language policies were shown as having perpetuated the plight of Khoisan languages, including Tshwao. The constitution emerged as a milestone towards upholding minority languages. Its effectiveness is however compromised by inaccuracies and ambiguities in the manner in which provisions are crafted. The study concludes that Khoisan language endangerment spans from history. Formal and informal language policies contributed to the current state of endangerment. It further concludes that if effective revitalisation is to be done in line with implementing the constitution, all the factors which contributed to endangerment have to be taken into account. The study also suggests a separate guideline for the promotion of minority languages in general and displaced and endangered languages like Tshwao in particular.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
D. Phil. (Linguistics)

The study sought to investigate how the symbiotic relationship between amaXhosa and amaNdebele impacted on IsiXhosa language and amaXhosa culture in Mbembesi area in Zimbabwe. The study was conducted where two ethnic groups of amaXhosa and amaNdebele coexist. Language policies in the past have disadvantaged amaXhosa by treating the language as a minority language which led to its marginalisation at school and in public life. Dynamic Social Impact Theory was used to explain the concept of the evolution of language. Language contact, language change, and bilingualism are the main terms that were discussed in relation to what happened to the two languages of study. The case study was descriptive in nature. The participants were purposefully selected according to what the researcher desired to achieve. The data were collected through interviews with heads of schools in Mbembesi, teachers, elders and youths of the community. Document analysis was also employed when the Indigenous Languages syllabus and teachers’ schemes were observed. The pupils were given a topic on which to write a short composition in IsiXhosa and IsiNdebele to ascertain if indeed IsiNdebele had impacted on IsiXhosa. A comparison between IsiXhosa of Mbembesi and that of South Africa was made as a way of verifying if there has been a change from the original IsiXhosa that is spoken in South Africa. The two ethnic groups’ cultural activities were also studied as a way of investigating the level of impact in their way of life. After administering the research instruments, the findings revealed that there is a level of impact on IsiXhosa language and amaXhosa culture through their contact with amaNdebele. The terminology in the two languages has overlapped as well as their cultural lives. The Zimbabwean 2013 Constitution has tried to raise the status of IsiXhosa by making it officially recognised but it seems to be still functioning at community level as before. IsiXhosa is still not learned at school although it was introduced in 2013 in the two pilot schools but which discontinued in 2016 reverting to IsiNdebele citing lack of teaching and learning materials. The recommendations from the study include: that the teachers should be trained in IsiXhosa at institutions of higher learning; that amaXhosa educated personnel should spear-head the writing of teaching and learning materials and that the language should be used in public life so that its speakers maintain their identity.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
Ph. D. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)

Indigenous languages worldwide are rapidly disappearing, forced out of use by the spread of dominant Western culture and its languages. On the Warm Springs reservation of Oregon, the Culture and Heritage department, the tribal agency in charge of language preservation, is offering instruction in all three languages of the reservation: Wasco, Sahaptin and Northern Paiute. Most of the class offerings target the children of the tribes. In an effort to stimulate their interest, Culture and Heritage has considered creating language learning computer games. During a ten-week internship with Culture and Heritage in the spring of 1999, I did preliminary research for a Wasco computer game. Using participant observation and informal interviews with children, elders and Warm Springs Elementary School teachers, I developed a possible structure and scenario for a game centered on traditional subsistence activities. I also identified obstacles to the realization of language computer games, such as lack of technological resources in Warm Springs, and elders' resistance to computers. Results and recommendations were issued in a public meeting in Warm Springs and presented in a report. This thesis is a case study exploring in greater depth issues that arose during my internship, like the politics of anthropological fieldwork on reservations, and issues related to the Wasco computer game project, such as the pragmatics of language preservation and the role of computers in reversing language shift. On the latter, it was found that the introduction of computers tends to disrupt traditional hierarchies and patterns for the transmission of knowledge. In view of the cultural, financial and logistic costs, the benefits of Computer Assisted Language Learning for the preservation of severely endangered languages are uncertain at best.
Graduation date: 2002

This project sets out to outline the problems that are encountered by teachers in most black schools in South Africa, with regard to the language of instruction. In an attempt to cope with these problems teachers exercise their discretion, which often leads to them making policy. The language policy in education gives the learners a right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice. The current situation in South Africa does not allow for the exercise of such a right. Black schools in rural areas, therefore, continue to choose English as the medium of instruction, although in actual practice Zulu becomes the main language that is used to get the lesson across the learners. Such a practice has both negative and positive effects on learners who attend these schools. To understand what actually happens in black schools with regard to policy implementation, I conducted interviews in two rural primary and one secondary schools near Pietermaritzburg. Information was elicited from teachers of Grade 1 to 10, members of the schools' governing bodies, as well as learners. It became evident from my study that the choice of mother tongue instruction will not be made in the near future despite the difficulties that are faced by the schools in teaching in the medium of English. The reasons for such a kind of situation are that the blacks have negative attitudes towards their languages, and the status of these languages lag far beyond that of English In brief, English is still the important language in education, government, economy and administration. There is no way the good language policy of 1996 will take root if nothing is done to change the present course of events. The black schools will continue to battle with teaching in English and in the process produce learners of poor quality. The study recommends that the government should undertake campaigns to improve and develop African languages such that they become the languages of instruction in schools and tertiary education institutions. The stakeholders in education could also cooperate in ensuring that the chosen medium of instruction is adhered to. This would minimise the problems that lead to partial or non implementation of the policy.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This thesis reports on a preliminary investigation into the potentials of using Chinese funds of theoretical knowledge in educational research. The aim is to provide an approach to addressing, developing and maximising bilingual higher degree researchers’ (HDRs) theorising capabilities using translanguaging pedagogies. New forms of intellectual inequality and oppression have emerged with the internationalisation of doctoral education including academic dominance and dependency within the postcolonial world. This dependency is reflected in the academic dependence on Euro-American theories and in the use of the standardised academic English across the world. Further, beginning researchers, in particular HDRs, may have to learn and develop the capabilities for educational theorising to become good educational researchers. Nevertheless, teaching of educational theorising in HDR education seems to remain marginal compared to the emphases on theories. One of the results of the linguistic-theoretical dependency and theorising negligence is a lack of innovative educational researchers and research in non-Euro-American countries. Therefore, this PhD research project is conducted to probe into the possibilities of bilingual theorising in educational practices and research. The major research question to be answered is: How do bilingual Chinese HDRs perceive and use their Chinese-English bilingual and inter-cultural capabilities for theorising in educational research? This research question, complemented by five contributory questions, is contextualised within the broad social sciences and educational research literature in Chapter 2 from three dimensions, namely, the Euro-American theoretical dominance, the monolingual English tendency and the educational theorising process. Accordingly, a three dimensional theoretical framework is formulated and debated for the possibilities of Chinese educational theorising in in Chapter 3. First, advocates offering different perspectives on multi-linguistic-theoretical knowledge and intellectual equality provide premises for mitigating the oppressive Euro-American uniformisation. Then the debate over translanguaging pedagogy provides a focus for considering the linguistic-theoretical potentials of bilingual HDRs. Further, a pedagogical framework for bilingual HDR supervision is formulated with the capability approach and the implications from ignorant schoolmaster. To collect and analyse evidence, methodology and methods for the research are explained and justified in Chapter 4. With a flexible research design, evidence was collected from (1) individual interviews with fourteen bilingual Chinese HDRs and nine academics (two with non-Chinese background) from universities in Australia and China, and (2) thirteen pieces of published works authored or co-authored (as the first author) by bilingual Chinese researchers from the ResearchDirect Database through Western Sydney University online library. Premised on the analyses of evidence and guided by the sensitised theoretical framework, the findings in this research are presented and discussed in the evidentiary chapters from Chapter 5 to Chapter 9. In Chapter 5 dominance and uniformisation of Euro-American theories in educational research are debated based on reflections by the interviewees. Further, in Chapter 6 the concept “Chinese funds of theoretical knowledge” is debated and defined taking into consideration its complexity and controversy. Chapter 7 investigates the potentials of using translanguaging for educational practices and research. Chapter 8 focuses on the possibilities and scenarios for Chinese educational theorising using Chinese funds of theoretical knowledge and translanguaging. Chapter 9 explains an explorative conceptual-theoretical attempt of the researcher’s Chinese educational theorising by exploring the potentials of the jiāo/jiào xué xiāng zhǎng教学相长bilingual HDRs supervision pedagogy. In the concluding Chapter 10, the main findings and answers for the research questions are then presented. Together these findings point to a series of key concepts that might be useful for pursuing doctoral pedagogies that are more worldly in orientation than is currently the case. Bilingual educational theorising with a duì huà对话approach is argued to be able to provide an alternative path to interrupt the monolingual and hierarchical bilingual HDRs’ education and educational research. In summary, bilingual educational theorising emphasises the processes of asking questions and seeking for answers concerning educational policies, practices and/or research issues that are taken-for-granted. Through bilingual educational theorising, bilingual and HDRs researchers may make use of their knowledge of two or more languages to extend the potentials for theorising educational phenomena and problems.