Houdings en opinies oor moedertaalonderrig en die keuse van 'n universiteit: Afrikaanssprekende studente aan Unisa

Abstract

In “Attitudes regarding mother-tongue education and the choice of a university: Afrikaans-speaking students at Unisa”, we analyse responses from Afrikaans-speaking students at the University of South Africa (Unisa) to an Internet questionnaire, in order to gain knowledge regarding their views on mother-tongue education in higher education and factors that influenced them to make Unisa their university of choice. The questions we analyse yield information with regard to a total of 2 749 respondents. We compare two groups, namely those who chose to receive instruction in their mother tongue – i.e. Afrikaans (1 393 repondents or 50,7%) and those whose chose English as medium of instruction (1 314 respondents or 47,8%). A total of 42 respondents or 1,5% did not respond to the question regarding their choice of language for tuition purposes. Respondents who studied in English were asked if, and to what extent they had made use of the study material in Afrikaans. Students were also asked to respond to statements dealing with opinions on the benefits of mother-tongue education, English as language of tuition and the reasons why they chose to study at Unisa. They did this by selecting one of the options in a number of five-point Likert scale items We discuss the social and theoretical background of the relevant phenomena. Despite the fact that the letter of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, (Act No. 108 of 1996) provides for equality of languages, the status of Afrikaans as language of tuition – especially in higher education – has strongly declined since the start of the 20th century, due to various sociopolitical influences. However, whether a language will wax or wane in a particular context also depends upon the opinions and attitudes of the speakers of that language. Information regarding such opinions and attitudes, therefore, becomes pertinent. The literature points to various probable academic and personal advantages of mother-tongue instruction. In addition, mother-tongue tuition is important for the wellbeing of groups, the advancement of human rights and fostering feelings of identity and belonging. In the context of this research, the development of academic language capabilities in the individual is of central importance. We refer to Webb (2006) who maintains that advanced skills in the mother tongue will contribute to general academic development. Likewise, Bühman and Trudell (2008) are cited, writing that mother-tongue education even contributes a comparatively better achievement by learners in Mathematics. Although most of the research reported in the literature investigated the positive effects of mother-tongue education at school level, there is reason to believe that one may extrapolate this to university education. The question therefore arises how the opinions of Afrikaans-speaking students at Unisa support the literature findings and whether they are aware of the advantages of mother-tongue tuition. The first interesting finding was that a significant number of students who had chosen English as medium of tuition, nonetheless often used Afrikaans study material (27,9%) or sometimes even (38,4%). Their mother tongue thus still played a part in acquiring knowledge. Secondly, the two groups (Afrikaans medium vs. English medium options) differed significantly in their views on the academic advantages of mother-tongue education at university. Students who had chosen to study in Afrikaans were significantly more sanguine about the advantages of mother-tongue education than their peers who had chosen English. This may stem from positive experiences with regard to mother-tongue education at school and university. It also makes their decision to study in Afrikaans a rational decision. Students who had chosen English as medium of instruction were evidently influenced by their views on English as a global language and the perceived advantages of English in the current South African situation. Their means were higher than those of the other group in the items stating that it is better to study English because English is a global language and that English provides a person with better prospects. Thirdly, for the English medium group, the choice to study at Unisa seemed to be influenced more by considerations relating to distance education and the quality of tuition than language. However, the fact that Unisa offered tuition in Afrikaans was comparatively of high importance to the group studying in Afrikaans. Their average on the five-point Likert Scale item was 4,47, compared to an average of 3,86 for the English-medium respondents. We conclude by stating that the dissemination of information on the advantages of mother-tongue education is important for sustaining Afrikaans as a language of tuition in higher education.