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Programme: BAHons Applied Language Studies

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Code Faculty
01242117 Faculty of Humanities
Credits Duration
Minimum duration of study: 1 year Total credits: 130
Contact:
Prof HJ Bosman
[email protected]
+27 (0)124203111

Admission requirements

  • An approved three-year bachelor’s degree (or other comparable tertiary qualification – with the approval of Senate) with a credit value of 360 of which a minimum of 94 credits were obtained in a language linguistics or a language-related discipline and of which at least 30 credits are at third-year level. 
  • An average of at least 65% in a language, linguistics, or a language-related module at third-year level.

Additional requirements

All students will be required to write an English language proficiency test.

Students who do not test at the required level of proficiency in English will have to register for the module TTS 751 Academic writing skills.

Other programme-specific information

  1. TTS 751 is additional to the core and elective modules required for the programme. Students who choose to do all of their writing in Afrikaans will not have to register for this module, irrespective of their achievement in the English language proficiency test.
  2. Students may, with the approval of the programme manager, select one elective module from the following programmes: BAHons (African Languages), BAHons (Afrikaans), BAHons (German), BAHons (English), BAHons (French), BAHons (Spanish), BAHons (Translation and Professional Writing), and BEdHons (Curriculum and Instructional Design and Development), provided that they comply with the prerequisites of the relevant programmes and modules.

Minimum credits: 130

Elective modules
Choose modules to the value of 60 credits**

Note:
**Students may, with the approval of the programme manager, select one elective module from the following programmes: BAHons (African Languages), BAHons (Afrikaans), BAHons (German), BAHons (English), BAHons (French), BAHons (Spanish), BAHons (Translation and Professional Writing), and BEdHons (Curriculum and Instructional Design and Development), provided that they comply with the prerequisites of the relevant programmes and modules.

Core modules

  • Module content:

    The nature of human language, language knowledge, grammatical and pragmatic competence; language use, language acquisition and language change; components of grammar; analytical and descriptive concepts and techniques.

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  • Module content:

    Definition of the problem: the need for a theory of SLA; the theoretical framework: the nature of language knowledge, the nature of the human verbal communication process, dimensions of academic literacy, the needs of second language learners in SA, the goals of language learning; the difference between L1, L2 and L3 learning; SLA processes; nature of human learning; the nature of language learning; the factors which have an effect on language learning; the socio-cultural context of language learning; the language political context of language learning); the role of the L1 in L2 learning.

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  • Module content:

    Part 1 – Theoretical basis: The concepts “science” and “research”; the relationship “theory”, “research”, “application”, forms of research (inter alia descriptive, empirical, applied); the research process (from research proposal to research report: identification and formulation of the problem, development of hypotheses, data collection and interpretation, etc); the use of the computer in research. 
    Part 2 – Application: A limited research project in which the principles of research methodology are applied. A candidate must submit the topic and format to the head of department or his/her representative for approval.

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Elective modules

  • Module content:

    Taal-, teks- en manuskripversorging in Afrikaans, met spesifieke aandag aan korrekte taal- en leestekengebruik; teksstruktuur en argumentasie; beoordeling van feitelike korrektheid en gepastheid van inligting en taalregister; skryf vir verskillende teikengroepe; bibliografiese versorging; redaksionele vaardighede (gebruik van stylblad, toepas van weergawebestuur, skakeling met skrywers); bepaling van status van bronne; proefleeswerk; vertaling; beoordeling van teksekwivalensie.

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  • Module content:

    An overview of the theories on the teaching of African languages as home, first or second additional languages. The implication of OBE for the teaching of African languages. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the usage and development of relevant terminology.

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  • Module content:

    Advanced copy-editing with specialisation in an African language – isiNdebele, isiZulu, Sepedi or Setswana. The module develops and refines language-editing skills further, using a variety of literary and other texts. Students are further familiarised with the grammar rules and current spelling rules of the four African languages concerned, namely isiZulu/isiNdebele/Sepedi or Setswana respectively, and are given ample opportunity to hone their editing skills by applying these rules to unedited texts in these languages.

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  • Module content:

    The first component of this module focuses on major theories of reading, the relationship between reading and socio-affective factors, as well as appropriate strategies for improving reading proficiency. The second component examines a variety of ways to teach writing, and to embed it as a graduate attribute into language and disciplinary curricula.

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  • Module content:

    The main aim of this module is to introduce students to the key principles, concepts and current beliefs about language testing and assessment, to understand the relationship between language teaching and language testing and assessment, to learn how to evaluate a test in terms of its design, use, purpose and appropriateness, as well as to interpret data derived from language tests.

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  • Module content:

    The module develops language-editing skills, using a variety of texts from different fields and of varying levels of complexity. Students edit texts to produce grammatical, idiomatic and logical English texts, taking into account peculiarities of South African English and local needs. They adjust work to meet the needs of a specified target audience. The principles of plain language editing are applied, in addition to strategies to overcome textual complexities for given target audiences, ranging from academics to neo-literates. A special focus is the editing of translations in the SA context.

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  • Module content:

    Subfields in Linguistics and Applied Language Studies will be presented, e.g. Corpus Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Forensic Linguistics, Psycholinguistics.

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  • Module content:

    This module traces the development of sociolinguistics as a separate field of study within the broader field of linguistics. The innovative and important contribution of sociolinguistics to linguistics and applied language studies will be examined.

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  • Module content:

    Introduction to basic terminological concepts; terminology and related disciplines; three dimensions of terminological theory; term formation: theory and practice; guidelines for the creation of terms; term excerption; the functional efficacy of terms; standardisation; terminology and coprora; compilation of a term list.

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  • Module content:

    A general introduction to the theory and practice of lexicography.

    The compilation and use of monolingual and bilingual paper as well as electronic dictionaries. Special focus on the macrostructures and microstructures of these dictionaries. On the level of the macrostructure attention is paid to the front and back matter and the central text. On the level of the microstructure the focus is on the different data types, particularly equivalent relations in bilingual dictionaries and paraphrase of meaning in monoligual dictionaries.

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The information published here is subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information. The General Regulations (G Regulations) apply to all faculties of the University of Pretoria. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves well with these regulations as well as with the information contained in the General Rules section. Ignorance concerning these regulations and rules will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression.

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