By Sive Bavuma
Rhodes University’s International Relations and Political Studies’ Department for Accounting have a far better understanding of students learning in their second language.
Dr. Peta Myers, a lecturer, at the accounting department did her Ph.D. research in 2016 which investigated the pass rate of black students. Their (black students’) passing rate was lower than the passing rate of their counterparts. The difference she noted led her to do research and said, “firstly, the accounting passing rate was low, and secondly, the pass rate for black students was worse than a passing rate of white students,”.
During her research, she worked with black students, finding out what caused the differences that she noted. Language came up as one of the contributing factors to a low pass rate from black students.
Things become much harder at university when it comes to communicating in English in lectures and in tutorials. “English is significant at Rhodes, and it’s not simple for a student who comes from a background where English isn’t taken as a first language,” Dr. Myers added.
However, students in the International Relations and Political Studies’ department for Accounting are allowed to ask for a dictionary during an exam or a test, even if they aren’t allowed to get a dictionary in a test or exam. A lecturer who’s invigilating in an exam is allowed to google unfamiliar words that students come across within their exam question paper, which is an advantage for students when they are writing an exam.
This does not only affect Rhodes University’s students but it also affects international students. Hugo Gye from Daily Mail, in 2015, published a piece that shows how British universities dealt with the same issue in previous years. Out of 115 British universities, 62 of them allowed students to use their English dictionaries during the exam because they struggled with English hence most of them haven’t grown up with English as their first language.
The issue that disadvantages students who are struggling to speak English “find it hard to ask questions in the classroom, as they don’t know if they are using the correct words in their vocabulary and they sometimes have a fear looking like fools because of a poor vocabulary”, Dr. Myers said. However, she mentioned that in their tutorial groups they encourage tutors to communicate in any Nguni language with the hope that this would break the silence from students who are struggling with English and bring them into the discussions.
However, accounting isn’t the only course at Rhodes University that allows students to speak in their preferred language. The Politics Department also gives their students the freedom to use either isiXhosa or English language in their tutorials, and they are allowed to even answer questions in isiXhosa.
Students become more active when some chapters are taught or discussed in their language, they have an advantage of giving enough information, and they don’t have to worry about structuring a question before asking it. “Learning in your language gives you the freedom to say anything or reply in any way. We sometimes have great ideas in our heads but it becomes hard to translate them in English,” said Siyasanga Madyo, a third-year politics student.
Dr. Myers added that “one of my students once said that you’ll never forget what you’re taught in your mother tongue as compared to a thing that you’re told in a different language”. Prof. J. Jansen, Rector and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State reported in the Mail & Guardian that many black parents recognised that the English proficiency is important for successful participation in the economy and concluded saying that children should be instructed in English.
The leader of the Freedom Front Plus (FFP), Pieter Mulder, said that Professor Jansen is wrong when he mentioned that South African school’s education should be in English. Mulder reported to the Mail & Guardian that English should be compulsory for all South African children from primary schools up to tertiary level, and not to students that haven’t done English as their first language. Before answering any questions, they should start by structuring the question in their home language. Dr. Myers said that the“students that’s learning in their second language should start by constructing the question in their home language and then translate it into English”.
Using a dictionary doesn’t give one a clear answer, but it gives an individual a clear understanding of what a certain word is about. According to a third-year Accounting student, Derrick Junior, “it doesn’t give you an answer, it only gives insight to most of us who are coming from township schools where English is our second additional language and you might come across a bombastic word that you’re not familiar with”. A dictionary is there to help you, to guide you, but not to give you answers. When a dictionary is provided to students during an exam, students that don’t speak standard English are placed on the same scale of understanding to the ones that has grown up with English as their first language.
“It’s an advantage as you become equal with other students who take English as their first language and a dictionary is here to assist you with any unfamiliar words you come across with,” Junior said.
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