DSpace Repository :: Browsing by Author "Kolobe, Maboleba"

Browsing by Author "Kolobe, Maboleba"

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Effects of language status on assessment and educational development of Basotho learners frm minority languages' backgrounds
(International Journal of Language Education, 2020-11-01) Kolobe, Maboleba; Matsoso, Lifelile;
This paper provides a critical overview of the theoretical and practical questions that prevail in the teaching, learning, and assessment of learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds in Lesotho. It investigates how far exclusion of minority languages affects both assessment and/or educational development of learners whose mother tongue is not Sesotho but other minority languages spoken in Lesotho. The paper advances a research-evidenced argument that the poor performance of students from such backgrounds is indicative of marginalisation and discrimination of such learners due to their language background. A constructivist qualitative study was adopted through use of focus group discussions with 246 learners and 142 teachers in 23 schools located in Botha Bothe, Mohale’s Hoek, Qacha’s Nek and Quthing districts in Lesotho. These places were selected based on their predominance of minority languages. The findings revealed diminutive if not absolute non-recognition of minority languages in teaching, learning, and assessment of learners from this linguistic background. Therefore, the study concludes that linguistically discriminative curriculum, teaching and learning and assessment educational practices can reasonably be associated with poor performance of learners. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that Lesotho’s education system should respect and embrace existence of national minority languages. Again, the curriculum, its implementation and more importantly assessment should not be divorced from linguistic background of learners.
Exocentric compound words and their usage in Southern African Newspapers
(National University of Lesotho, 2014-07) Kolobe, Maboleba; Ekanjume-Ilongo, Beatrice
This research contributes to an understanding of exocentricity phenomenon by using a constituent-entity approach to illuminate relations that hold between compound constituents and compound entities. Despite the growing literature in compounding research, there has been relatively little discussion of exocentric compounding in media context. Past research has focussed almost on endocentric compound words in literary works and/or morphological databases. This study addresses this gap by examining usage of exocentric compound words in Southern African newspapers. More specifically, it provides insights into various relations between compound constituents and entities of exocentric compound words in which such constituents appear. By considering exocentric constituents and media context, the study speaks to calls to account for insufficient framework for analysis of exocentric compound words. Such calls emerge from the views that exocentric compound words are considered out-centred and idiomatic and could be analysed by employing metaphor, metonymy analytical tools. This study argues that interpretation of exocentric compound words depend on the features of individual compound constituents, a situation that ascertains direct relationship between an exocentric compound word and the entity that it is used to refer to. Data for this study were collected from four quality English newspapers published in Lesotho and South Africa and circulated in Lesotho after 1993, a year that brought with it freedom of expression and freedom of media (Matjama (1997). The primary contribution of this study to the literature on exocentric compounding is a WordNet Similarity framework. This framework offers an exhaustive picture of constituent-entity relations. It displays how and why other senses of compound entities are chosen over others to form the compound words. 15 The study contributes to the literature by identifying 43 constituent-entity relations, various structures of exocentric compound neologisms and their different patterns. It also demonstrates contribution of context in analysing absolute categorical exocentric compound words. Importantly, the findings presented in this thesis demonstrate productiveness of constituent-context analysis approach in exocentric compounding.
Juxtaposition of speech acts and Basotho names in Lesotho
(NISC, 2020) Ekanjume-IIongo, Beatrice; Adesanmi, Taofik; Kolobe, Maboleba;
This study addresses the juxtaposition of speech acts and Basotho names. Speech act theory (SAT) is interested in digging beneath discourse to establish the meaning and function of what is said. It therefore attempts to explain how speakers use language to accomplish intended actions, and how hearers infer the intended meaning from what is said. Succinctly put, SAT is an approach to a systematic classification of the reasons for our linguistic acts during communication. Austin and Searle, among others, believe that “speaking a language is engaging in a rule-governed form of behaviour” that consequently leads to accomplishing specific social acts, functions or intentions associated with different speech acts. This situation is equally true in personal names or the act of naming children as a ceremony in which parents engage in different linguistic acts. It is no longer odd to say that “names are embedded with meaning and coded with identity…” in many parts of the world and particularly in Africa. In this work, selected Basotho first names were subjected to speech act analysis since they manifest in sentence forms when their meanings or implications are delved into. The interpretive analysis of these names yielded connectivity between Basotho names and representatives, directives, expressives, commissives and declarative speech acts. The study concluded that Basotho first names enact the speech acts in addition to the meanings or narratives they bear.
Language use by tertiary students
(Center of Language and Cultural Studies, Surakarta, Indonesia, 2019-09-10) Kolobe, Maboleba; Thetso, Madira
This study interrogates the use of language by students at tertiary. It focuses on students’ interactions with one another outside classroom setting. The study hypothesizes that the language used by university students display richness and yet complexity of human language. In focus groups, third year students were requested to give words which according to them have acquired new meanings on campus as compared to their common use anywhere else. Thus, such words should be believed to have their ‘campus’ meaning versus their ‘home’ meaning on the basis that their campus meanings might only be understood amongst university students while at the same time would be given a different meaning when used outside the university. Content analysis was done drawing on the underpinnings of communicative competence and componential theory of creativity frameworks. Data yielded significant patterns of language use including polysemy, among tertiary students; therefore, the study concludes that students’ exploitation of language is attributive of their communicative competence and creativity.
Lexico-semantic analysis of names and slogans of Lesotho newspapers
(NISC, 2019) Kolobe, Maboleba
This article examines the naming of Sesotho and English newspapers published in Lesotho. It looks at the rationale behind names given to these newspapers. In cognisance of newspaper names as proper names, the article analyses the lexico-semantics of these names. It extends the analysis to the relationship between the name and slogan of the paper that is usually appended next to the name of such a newspaper within the framework of a hermeneutic content analysis. The article purposively sampled 21 newspaper names, with slogans appended to them, from the National University of Lesotho library archives. The findings revealed that newspaper names and their slogans are strategically chosen to become ambassadors of such newspapers through meanings embedded in their condensed form, which is a point that qualifies newspaper language as an interesting linguistic area for research
Minority languages' exclusion in the Lesotho school curriculum
(Journal for language Teaching, 2021) Kolobe, Maboleba;
he study sought to know why learners from linguistically disadvantaged backgrounds have low educational morale. A constructivist study was adopted through the use of focus group discussions with 246 learners and 142 teachers in 23 schools located in Botha Bothe, Mohale’s Hoek, Qacha’s Nek and Quthing districts in Lesotho. The findings revealed minimal if not absolute non- recognition of minority languages in the teaching and learning of learners from these linguistic backgrounds. Therefore, the study concludes that linguistically exclusive curriculum, and teaching and learning practices can reasonably be associated with poor performance of learners. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that Lesotho’s education system recognise the existence of national minority languages. In other words, the curriculum, its implementation and assessment of learners should not be divorced from the linguistic background of learners.
Minority languages' influence on teaching and learning of English in public primary schools
(National University of Lesotho, 2022-07) Mphomeli, Ntsoaki; Kolobe, Maboleba
This study sought to investigate the influence of minority languages on English learning in public primary schools, the case of grade 5 to 7 learners in Mafura Primary school. The study was built upon two language theories which are sociocultural and constructivism theory. It was inspired by the CAP (2009) which is inclusive of mother tongue languages in lower grades and the Education Act of 2010 which aims to ensure the implementation of Lesotho’s education system is non-discriminatory and available to all. The study followed the pragmatic paradigm with a mixed-methods approach with 54 participants. 50 students and 4 teachers were purposively sampled from the total population of 265 students and 10 teachers in Mafura Primary. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the students while semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from the teachers. Quantitative data was summarised using descriptive statistics and presented using tables and bar graphs while qualitative data was put under themes and presented as narratives. The significant finding of the study was that both teachers and students encourage the use of minority languages on English learning. The study also established that students’ demotivation and lack of literacy skills among the results of exclusion of minority languages from Lesotho school curriculum. The study concludes that mother tongue’s role in second language learning is really important hence the agreement that if used, minority languages can positively influence English learning.
Overgeneralisation of derivational rules by EFL secondary students
(National University of Lesotho, 2020-07) Morakabi, Maseriti Lineo Hyacinth; Kolobe, Maboleba
This study investigated overgeneralisation of derivational rules by EFL secondary learners at ‟Mabathoana High School. The study used a triangulation of three instruments to collect data: online focus groups, online interviews, and documents (compositions) with a qualitative research design. Premised on Aronoff‟s (1976) word formation theory and EA procedures, the study examined and analysed a corpus of one hundred learners (30 grade 9, 30 form E, 40 form E students) and nine (9) English teachers. The findings revealed that students mostly overgeneralised the derivational prefixes un-, in-, and dis- which are reversative and negative prefixes. The suffixes that were mostly overgeneralised were -ness, -tion, -ment, -ful, -able -ify and -ise which are nominal, adjectival, and verbal forming suffixes. The study further discovered that the causes of these overgeneralisations are that EFL teachers and learners do not know derivational rules and restrictions of these rules. Another cause is that students lack a reading culture and therefore are not familiar with the English vocabulary, hence the overgeneralisations of the rules. The corpus also evidenced that these overgeneralisations have a detrimental effect on the students‟ language proficiency as such errors are regarded as very serious.
Poetry as a strategy in courting
(ORCID, 2018) Thetso, Madira; Kolobe, Maboleba
The aim of this article is to examine the oral Sesotho poem that was used by Basotho boys as a courting strategy. In most African societies, including Sesotho society, boys used to adopt several approaches to propose love to girls. They would perform heroic actions to attract girls, engage in traditional songs and dances in which they would choose potential partners, or recite poems to the girls to express their feelings. While the former were performed in public, there would not be any audience for the latter. In Sesotho, there was one communal poem that was used by boys to propose love. Using textual analysis, the article sets out to explore this popular Sesotho poem by an anonymous poet to understand the language used in it and to interpret the meaning expressed with the chosen diction. The findings reveal the uniqueness and richness of language attained through the use of metaphors in which the poet uses concrete objects to express his abstract feelings. He identifies himself with the four important objects in the daily lives of the Basotho. Through the use of metaphor, the speaker portrays his character as well as the persona of the wife he anticipates as a suitable life partner.
The use of Sesotho language in comminicating public health issues related to the aids pandemic in Lesotho
(2018) Kolobe, Maboleba; Muringani, Bertha
Health is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. As a result, it is important for ministries of health and other relevant authorities to effectively communicate health information to everyone in their nation in the local language. But the question is: How effective is the use of local languages in communicating health issues such as AIDS? This study takes a closer look at the use of Sesotho to communicate AIDS information to Basotho in Lesotho. The focus of the study is the communicative strategies employed by this speech community. To achieve this, a thematic content analysis of corpus collected from music, mass media, theatre for development and others such as public speaking is done. An analysis of the Sesotho speech community is made to find out communication patterns used in the coverage of the AIDS pandemic. The study reveals that Sesotho speech community employs various communicative strategies to conscientize Basotho on this pandemic. This study therefore, proposes a more intense approach to fighting AIDS especially by using local languages to reach everyone.

Browsing by Author "Kolobe, Maboleba"

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