Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language
In the context of unequal access to quality education in South Africa in a first language, and policy that relies upon outdated, inaccurate conceptions of language, this study looks at how a Grade One educator at an urban English-medium school (attended by a linguistically diverse cohort of mostly n...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
School of Education
2018
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613243757821952 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Rowley, Emma-Kate |
| author2 | Prinsloo, Mastin |
| author_browse | Prinsloo, Mastin Rowley, Emma-Kate |
| author_facet | Prinsloo, Mastin Rowley, Emma-Kate |
| author_sort | Rowley, Emma-Kate |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In the context of unequal access to quality education in South Africa in a first language, and policy that relies upon outdated, inaccurate conceptions of language, this study looks at how a Grade One educator at an urban English-medium school (attended by a linguistically diverse cohort of mostly non-English home language speakers) in Cape Town thinks about and talks about language in her teaching practices. The central question it attempts to answer is: how does Ms L, a Grade One educator at South Star Primary School, conceptualise language in her teaching practices? In other words, what is language for Ms L? With an eye to answering this question, I examine the language practices of Ms L alongside the assumptions implicit in her interactions with learners about (what counts as legitimate) language use and language speakers. I draw on current sociolinguistic theory which posits that language is a situated social practice, and contrast this with the conception of language as an identifiable bounded entity that is ubiquitous in policy and curriculum statements. Using concepts from sociolinguistics and applied linguistics, I analysed transcriptions from two weeks of lesson recordings in Ms L's classroom. Ms L's teaching practices pointed to a conception of language as a system of parts, as a measurable skill, and languages as separable objects. Analysis of her language practices showed the use of mainly one named language, English, except during Afrikaans lessons where she attempted to use only Afrikaans, occasionally drawing on English linguistic resources for specific purposes. Learners were strongly discouraged from using more than one language at a time, and use of different languages were strictly demarcated according to the lesson being taught. Aside from this evidence pointing to a conception similar to that evident in policy - of language as an autonomous entity, and languages as distinct and distinguishable objects - many of the ways in which Ms L spoke about language also pointed to a standard language ideology. This is incompatible with multilingualism and is a symbolic devaluing of non-standard varieties and speakers. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27073 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:01.081Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | School of Education |
| publisherStr | School of Education |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27073 The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language Rowley, Emma-Kate Prinsloo, Mastin Education In the context of unequal access to quality education in South Africa in a first language, and policy that relies upon outdated, inaccurate conceptions of language, this study looks at how a Grade One educator at an urban English-medium school (attended by a linguistically diverse cohort of mostly non-English home language speakers) in Cape Town thinks about and talks about language in her teaching practices. The central question it attempts to answer is: how does Ms L, a Grade One educator at South Star Primary School, conceptualise language in her teaching practices? In other words, what is language for Ms L? With an eye to answering this question, I examine the language practices of Ms L alongside the assumptions implicit in her interactions with learners about (what counts as legitimate) language use and language speakers. I draw on current sociolinguistic theory which posits that language is a situated social practice, and contrast this with the conception of language as an identifiable bounded entity that is ubiquitous in policy and curriculum statements. Using concepts from sociolinguistics and applied linguistics, I analysed transcriptions from two weeks of lesson recordings in Ms L's classroom. Ms L's teaching practices pointed to a conception of language as a system of parts, as a measurable skill, and languages as separable objects. Analysis of her language practices showed the use of mainly one named language, English, except during Afrikaans lessons where she attempted to use only Afrikaans, occasionally drawing on English linguistic resources for specific purposes. Learners were strongly discouraged from using more than one language at a time, and use of different languages were strictly demarcated according to the lesson being taught. Aside from this evidence pointing to a conception similar to that evident in policy - of language as an autonomous entity, and languages as distinct and distinguishable objects - many of the ways in which Ms L spoke about language also pointed to a standard language ideology. This is incompatible with multilingualism and is a symbolic devaluing of non-standard varieties and speakers. 2018-01-29T07:28:47Z 2018-01-29T07:28:47Z 2017 Master Thesis Masters MEd http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27073 eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Education Rowley, Emma-Kate The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| title_full | The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| title_fullStr | The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| title_full_unstemmed | The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| title_short | The propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language |
| title_sort | propagation of standard language ideology exploring how a grade one teacher in an urban linguistically diverse english medium primary school conceptualises language |
| topic | Education |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27073 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rowleyemmakate thepropagationofstandardlanguageideologyexploringhowagradeoneteacherinanurbanlinguisticallydiverseenglishmediumprimaryschoolconceptualiseslanguage AT rowleyemmakate propagationofstandardlanguageideologyexploringhowagradeoneteacherinanurbanlinguisticallydiverseenglishmediumprimaryschoolconceptualiseslanguage |