The use of South African works of fiction as class readers in

Grades 7-9

Jenny Hatton and Thomas van der Walt

This paper explains how class readers fit into the English curriculum being implemented in South African schools and it examines how works of fiction are selected across provinces for grades 7-9. It proposes that some South African works of fiction should be used as class readers and suggests a few worthwhile titles.

Learners in grades 7-9 are generally between 12 and16 years old and their reading needs are particularly difficult to meet. Philip de Vos (1993:54) points out that in grade 9 ‘the girls suddenly become juvenile delinquents and the boys belong in a reformatory, and no pimply, self-respecting boy wants to be seen dead reading, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” …’ (de Vos 1993, 54).

Joan Aitken, a successful children’s book writer, therefore suggests that the criteria for young adult fiction include:

‘No more careful, elaborate plots with well-organised, happy, or at least optimistic, endings. Teenagers are natural pessimists (and who should blame them?). During this period of their development they are in the process of breaking away from all the rules that have hitherto constrained them. They are not interested in plots; what they are interested in is emotion. The teenage novel has a duty to portray the successive tidal waves of feeling that wash over adolescents as they struggle through changing relationships with parents; agonies at school; growing awareness of sex; the search for identity; adjustment to society (or cleavage from it). The teenage novel is a novel of character; in this respect much closer to the adult novel than to novels of the preceding age group’ (van der Merwe quoting Joan Aitken1993, 85).

Thus contemporary young adult books generally deal with current issues and with the world in which children live. With a few exceptions, the South African world only began to be depicted in English young adult literature in the second half of the twentieth century. This was mainly as a result of the wealth of British and American titles available in South Africa.

Prior to 1994, teaching in South Africa was guided by different syllabi for different departments of education as they existed before the change of government. Some of these syllabi were selected as interim syllabi for all provinces while the new curriculum was being phased in. Among these interim syllabi was the Instructional Programme for English Second Language, Standard 5-8 which gave the following guidance:

‘… reading, and the study of literature especially, should not be seen as discrete activities in themselves. Rather, the act of reading should contribute to pupils’ overall communicative ability (listening, speaking, reading and writing). As such, pupils should be exposed to a variety of texts, e.g. letters, short stories, poems, advertisements, newspaper articles, reports, minutes, notices etc.

The works of literature chosen must be appropriate and relevant to the age, background and interests of the pupils. These works, chosen over the three years of Phase 3¹, should allow pupils to see literature in English in the context of both South Africa and the wider world’ (Instructional Programme for English Second Language 19.., 5).

Therefore, prior to 1994, learners had to study a variety of genres and these had to be relevant to their lives as South Africans as well as citizens of the world.

The Instructional Programme then says that reading activities should enable the pupils at least to:

‘… 4.3.12   read intensively and in-depth at least two, but preferably more, suitable texts each year’ (Instructional Programme for English Second Language, 8).

While the number of books for study was stipulated by the old syllabi, the new South African curriculum is not as precise.

After 1994 when the African National Congress was elected into government, the entire school curriculum was rewritten and restructured into outcomes. Initially this curriculum was referred to as Curriculum 2005 because it was meant to be implemented into grades 1-9 in schools by 2005. However, there were a number of problems with its design and it was revised and redistributed to schools in 2002 as the Revised National Curriculum Statement.

The Revised National Curriculum Statement gives the learning outcomes for language while the Teacher’s Guide for the Development of Learning Programmes advises teachers regarding implementation of the curriculum. This latter document states that:

‘Reading will then become a means of developing language and of experiencing a wider world than that in which the learners find themselves. Important social issues are encountered and explored from early on in the learning process. … Texts vary from short pieces to full-length literary works. All literary genres (novels, poems, plays, folklore, etc.) are relevant along with features such as character, plot, style, language etc. In the Intermediate Phase², shorter texts (not excluding shorter novels and plays) will be chosen for both Home and Additional Languages, while in the Senior Phase, longer works will be used’ (Teacher’s Guide 2003, 24).

The implication is that the reading and analysis of novels is included in senior phase language teaching. The Teacher’s Guide goes on to advise educators to take a text-based approach to the teaching of languages:

A text-based approach explores how texts work. It involves reading, viewing and analysing texts to understand how they are produced and what their effects are. … The purpose of a text-based approach is to enable learners to become competent, confident and critical readers, researchers, viewers and designers of texts’ (Teacher’s Guide 2003:26).

The Revised National Curriculum Statement for Languages – English First Additional Language advises that in ‘grades 7, 8 and 9, learners will start reading setworks’ (Languages – English First Additional Language, 83). However, it does not stipulate the number of setworks nor does it suggest how these should be selected. It does, however, list the genres to be studied. These written genres include books (fiction and non-fiction), newspapers, magazines, poems, play-scripts, diaries, postcards, letters, procedural texts, factual descriptions, reports etc. Fiction, therefore, features as just one of the genres to be studied.

The National Department of Education (DoE) sets ‘uniform norms and standards for the education of learners at schools and the organisation, governance and funding of schools throughout the Republic of South Africa’ (South African Schools Act 1996, 1) and thus develops policy. The provincial departments of education, although able to enact legislation in accordance with the constitution (South African Schools Act 1996, 2) are expected to implement national policy. Therefore, the DoE does not compile or distribute subject specific guidelines. Instead it leaves this task to provinces.

Despite this, the nationalization of some school leaving examinations means that the DoE has begun to prescribe setworks for national grade 12 examinations. However, it is important to note that there is no national prescription of class readers in lower grades. This competency rests with the provincial departments of education.

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) prescribes specific genres as well as the number of titles to be studied in the senior phase. For example, grade 7,8 and 9 Home Language learners must study texts from at least three genres which include poetry, plays, short stories and novels.

The WCED also distributes lists of recommended reading for phases besides the senior secondary. While it is prescriptive with regard to genre, it is more flexible with its titles. In its guidelines for grades 7–9, it states that ‘although books have been arranged according to the GRADES for which they have been prescribed, schools may select books from any grade in the General Education and Training (GET) lists to suit their needs’.

The WCED further includes ‘titles that are considered to be particularly suitable for 1^st or 2^nd Language pupils, but may also be chosen for Home Language pupils according to individual school situations’ and that ‘a school that would like to use a book not on this list must discuss the possible use of that book with the English Curriculum Adviser servicing that particular school’ (Final lists of Literature Study for Grades 7,8,9,10,11 and 12 for 2008, 3).

The data obtained from the lists of books prescribed by the WCED consists of fiction from different countries, as follows:

Table 1: Analysis of fiction recommended by the WCED

Gr 7 titles	46	%
South African	18	39.1
British	14	30.4
American	8	17.4
Other	6	13.0
		100.0
Gr 8 titles	39
South African	16	41.0
British	15	38.5
American	5	12.8
Other	3	7.7
		100.0
Gr 9 titles	38
South African	11	28.9
British	17	44.7
American	3	7.9
Other	7	18.4
		100.0
(Western Cape Final Lists … 2008, 7-14)

Although South African texts are well represented, British and American texts considered separately are equally well represented and when put against the South African texts, outweigh these, as shown in the graph:

Another provincial department of education, namely Kwa Zulu Natal, recommends fiction as part of reading schemes. It explains that Head Office prepares and distributes a catalogue from which Section 20 schools may order (A guide to Norms and Standards … 20.., 51).

The following table indicates the readers for grade 7. No distinction is made between Home and Additional English for readers. Similar recommendations are made for grades 8 and 9.

Table 2: Grade 7 readers recommended by KZN Department of Education

Series	Number of readers	Publisher
Living Earth	7	Clever Books
Living Health	4	Clever Books
Junior African Writers Series (JAWS)	9	Heinemann
New Windmills Series, Pack A	9	Heinemann
New Windmills Series, Pack B	8	Heinemann
Red ribbon	5	Heinemann
Reading Worlds	5	Macmillan
MacTracks, Set B	7	Macmillan
MacTracks, Set C	8	Macmillan
Teaching Young Lives	7	Macmillan
Young Africa Series Gr 7 readers Set 1	4	Maskew Miller Longman
Young Africa Series Gr 7 readers Set 2	4	Maskew Miller Longman
Today’s children	4	Nasou Via Afrika
Siyagruva, Pack 1	6	New Africa
Siyagruva, Pack 2	6	New Africa
Oxford Reading Tree Classics Pack A Stage 16	6	Oxford
Oxford Reading Tree Classics Pack B Stage 16	6	Oxford
Oxford Reading Tree: Treetops Readers: Stge 16 Pack E6	6	Oxford
Oxford Reading Tree: Treetops Readers: True Story Pack 3 Stage 15-16	6	Oxford
Read Afrika Tales	13	Reading Matters
Open Eye Series	6	Solo Collection

(KZN Learning Teaching Support Material … 2008, 284-286)

Many of the series listed above are also prescribed for grade 8 learners. South African books are overwhelmingly represented. Some of the readers can be classified as non-fiction books. The fiction titles include abridged classics while others are written specifically for additional language learners. Another interesting observation is that most of these books are written specifically for the educational, not the trade market and thus many of them never appear in book shops.

There may be several consequences of the ‘reader approach’ as opposed to ‘title approach’. Learners may not read South African young adult fiction unless the school selects a South African series. Books written as readers may emphasise language development over plot. Abridged books may be weaker versions of the original stories. The series may not comprise a wide variety of genre and story.

It must be noted that KZN Section 21 schools³ receive the departmental allocation directly and may purchase their own textbooks or may use the departmental catalogues (A guide to Norms and Standards … 20.., 53). These schools may therefore possibly choose more challenging and interesting works of fiction for their classrooms than the Section 20 schools.

The other provincial departments of education do not prescribe class readers for the senior phase. The Gauteng and Northern Cape departments of education include some reading material in their catalogues but do not give specific recommendations. No information was obtained regarding Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West education departments.

Across the country in self-governing schools, a governing body may apply to the state ‘to purchase textbooks, educational materials or equipment for the school’ (South African Schools Act, 1996,  10). Thus in Section 21 schools, the educators themselves are responsible for the selection of class readers. In practice, the function of selecting class readers has been passed on to educators in public schools as well because they select from catalogues.

Delegation of the selection of class readers to educators may have several consequences which could include inadequate reading of texts, prolonged use of texts that were prescribed in the past, over-use of the classics, over-emphasis of British and American texts and under-use of contemporary South African works of fiction. Admittedly, this may not be the case in all schools. There certainly are some educators who adopt innovative approaches to the teaching of literature, who continually read new books and who challenge their classes in their choice of class readers.

The Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy (2001, 7-56) identifies sixteen strategies for familiarising young South Africans with the values of the Constitution (Manifesto 2001, 7-56). These strategies are expressed in the Revised National Curriculum Statement and include:

‘Nurturing a culture of communication and participation in school.

…

Ensuring that every South African is able to read, write, count and think.

Infusing the classroom with a culture of human rights.

…

Learning about the rich diversity of cultures, beliefs and world views within which the unity of South Africa is manifested.

Making multilingualism happen.

…

Promoting anti-racism in schools.

Freeing the potential of girls as well as boys.

Dealing with HIV/AIDS and nurturing a culture of sexual and social responsibility.

…

Promoting ethics and the environment.

Nurturing the new patriotism, or affirming a common citizenship.’ Policy Handbook for Educators … 2003,  473).

The above strategies could be realised partly through the inclusion of South African works of fiction as class readers.

It is therefore proposed that through including South African fiction as class readers, learners can:

1. Develop understanding of various cultures.

2. Become more socially aware of South African issues.

3. Develop understanding of South Africans as individuals.

4. Learn about South Africa’s past.

5. Relate to South African settings.

6. Identify with South African characters.

7. Find out about conserving the South African environment.

8. Explore genre in a South African context.

9. Explore Africa.

10. Read accessible texts (written for additional language learners).

12. Enjoy reading

In present day South Africa with its racial and religious divisions, it is essential for learners to develop understanding of different cultures. Brown emphasises this and says that ‘Literature provides a powerful means by which we can ‘walk in another’s shoes’ and begin to understand what another experiences. For this reason, we feel that the study of literature for young adults enhances the discovery not only of the self but also discovery of the social context’ (Brown 1995, 5).

Young adult books that could develop understanding of the various cultures of South Africa include Belinder Hollyer’s Long walk to Lavender Street (2002) which tells the story of children from a mixed marriage and Lesley Beake’s A cageful of butterflies (1989) which explores an interracial friendship. Michael Williams’ The eighth man (2002), although mainly about solving a crime, touches on the cultural practice of initiation in modern South Africa.

Literature helps learners to become socially aware. The Revised National Curriculum Statement attempts to be sensitive to issues of poverty, inequality, race, gender, age, disability, and such challenges as HIV and AIDS (Policy Handbook for Educators … 2003, 474).

A number of books have been written by South Africans about how young people are being affected by HIV and AIDS, for example Jenny Robson’s Praise song (2006), Lutz van Dijk’s Stronger than the storm (2000) and Crossing the line (2006) as well as Onne Vegter’s Whitney’s kiss (2004).

There are some examples of South African works of fiction in which characters have social conflicts such as the hero’s conflict with a local gang in Peter Slingsby’s Jedro’s bane (2002). Other books deal with current problems faced by today’s teenagers, such as Emily’s eating disorder in Shelley Davidow’s Spirit of the mountain (1996) and Beatrice’s relationship with food in Edyth Bulbring’s The summer of Toffie and Grummer (2008).

Young Adult books reflect the complex time of adolescence as the body changes, relationships develop and horizons expand. Some of the changes in our society affecting adolescents include:

• variations in the family structure
• changes in gender roles
• ethnic and cultural diversity
• educational opportunities
• increased consumerism
• access to alcohol and drugs
• changing sexual practices and dangers from sexually transmitted diseases (Brown 1995, 48).

The sound of new wings (1998) by Robin Malan deals with the sensitive issue of gay relationships while Patricia Schonstein’s Skyline (2000) is about refugees from the rest of Africa flooding South Africa.

Books help learners to develop understanding of others as individuals. They can help children to understand that not everyone is the same and thus challenge stereotyping. The hero of Sarah Britten’s Welcome to the Martin Tudhope show (2002) features a non typical white boy from a poor family who gets a bursary to attend a posh private school where he becomes friends with a wealthy black girl. Jenny Robson’s Because pula means rain (2000) may help learners to understand the pain of an albino boy who faces discrimination.

Many books provide opportunities for learning about South Africa’s past. Kagiso Malope’s Dancing in the dust (2002) is about growing up in a South African township, David Donald’s Call on the Wind (2007) tells the story of a Griqua fishing community on the Tsitsikamma coast in the first half of the twentieth century. Dianne Hofmeyr’s books, Fish notes and star songs (2005) and The Waterbearer (2001), explore the effect of the past on our lives today. Reviva Schermbrucker’s Lucky Fish (2003) describes how a boy grows up as the child of anti-apartheid workers and Guy Butler’s Rackety Colt (1989) explores the challenges of settler life in the Eastern Cape. There are also several significant books about the Bushman, for example The joining (1996) by Peter Slingsby.

Learners should be able to relate to the settings of at least some of the books that they read. Marguerite Poland explains, ‘When I was small I longed for books that spoke about my world, the plants and animals and people that I knew. I found very few and when I did they were extremely precious. Since I have begun publishing books I have realised that I am not the only one who feels that way’ (Poland 1993, 18).

Who killed Jimmy Valentine?(1998) features detectives working in a South African setting while another of Michael Williams’ books, Hijack City (1999) deals with people taking the law into their own hands.

South African books enable learners to easily identify with the characters. Prof. Tötemeyer cites Madison who reports that educators engaged in multi-racial education find that positive literary images concerning blacks provide identification, inspiration and self-confidence for black children, and also promotes understanding and appreciation amongst white children for black children (Tötemeyer, 1988, 188).

In Zakes Mda’s Melville 67 (1997), the hero works as a gardener for a suburban family while attending a previously Model-C school and in Mending season (2005) by Kagiso Malope a black female learner deals with discrimination in a private school.

Books can also teach learners about conserving the South African environment. For Example, Peter Slingsby’s Leopard Boy (1989) describes  ‘a boy who escapes the social ills of the modern world by putting on a leopard skin and going into the mountains to lead a feral existence’  (Jenkins).

There are enough South African texts available to provide the opportunity for learners to explore different genres. While many people might be aware of the realistic and historical fiction, they may not know about Jenny Robson’s science fiction titles, Savannah (2004) and The denials of KOW-TEN (1998) or about the Robin Saunders’ Sons of Anubus (1998) which is set in an imaginary future world. Novels such as Homeward Bound by Lawrence Bransby, The worst day of my life – so far (2000) by Sarah Britten and The diary that got me in trouble (1996) by Julie Frederikse are written in diary format whereas Sound of wings (1998) by Robin Malan is told through letters, discussions, pieces of school work as well as narration.

It is important for learners to explore Africa besides Europe and other parts of the First World in their reading. Beverley Naidoo’s The other side of truth (2000) tells the story of twelve-year-old Sade and her ten-year-old brother, Femi, who are sent out of Nigeria after their mother is shot and their journalist father’s life is in danger. Burn my heart (2007) is set in Kenya and sheds light on the Mau Mau uprising and the reaction of white settlers.

The South African context requires that some books are needed in additional language classrooms and series such as the Siyagroova novels with their meaningful content and easy language do this. Other works of fiction such as Lesley Beake’s Jakey (1997) are written so simply and clearly that they are particularly suitable for additional language learners.

More important than all the above benefits of South African books, is that they should promote the enjoyment of reading. While learners need to be able to analyse literature in higher classes, this aspect of literature study is less important in the intermediate and senior phases. As suggested by Lemmer (1988, 281), literature in these years should not be an object of textual study but should provide private satisfaction to the reader.

Welcome to the Martin Tudhope Show (2002) by Sarah Britten and Babyshoes (2003) by Dawn Garisch are examples of realistic works that include humour. Besides humorous books, young adults enjoy many different kinds of books covering a range of subjects and these should form part of their reading programmes.

Radebe (1995, 198) makes the point that what appeals to children of all social classes is what is funny and well-written. She emphasises that good books are those which centre around fantasies and situations that have universal relevance to every child (Radebe 1995, 163).

This paper has suggested that there are a number of South African works of fiction that could be used in grade 7-9 classrooms. However, it also recognises that there are many books which will appeal to learners because of their universal themes. It therefore proposes a balance between national and international literature.

It would not be a good idea to only study South African books. Not all the class readers for a grade should be set in South Africa because as Thuli Radebe says

‘ … if we subscribe to the principle of familiarity we are depriving black children of the opportunity to have their imagination stimulated and nourished.’ She also advocates that many South African children who are exposed to violence and many other forms of abuse should be given the opportunity to escape and enjoy, even if only in fantasy, a world they dream of attaining one day (Radebe 1996, 193).

While there are a number of worthwhile and challenging South African books that could be used as class readers for grades 7-9, it is worrying that the provincial departments of education do not specifically advise schools regarding these or in fact any books to be read in the senior phase. This lack of guidance may impact on education in ways yet to be measured.

Notes

1. Grade 7-9

2. Grades 4-6

3. Self-managing or self-reliant schools

Works cited

Brown, J.E. 1995. Teaching young adult literature: sharing the connection. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Department of Education. 19.. The Instructional Programme for English Second Language, Standard 5-8, English 2^nd Language, 120582005. Pretoria: DoE.

Department of Education. 2001. Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy. Pretoria: DoE.

Department of Education, 2003. Teacher’s Guide for the Development of Learning Programmes: Languages. Pretoria: DoE.

Department of Education. 2002. Revised National Curriculum Statement Grade R-9 Schools. Languages. English – First Additional Language. Pretoria: DoE.

de Vos, P. 1993. ‘Humour is no laughing matter,’ in Towards More Understanding: The Making and Sharing of Children’s Literature in Southern Africa. Kenwyn: Juta & Co.

Jenkins, E. 2006. National Character in South African English Children’s Fiction. New York: Routledge. (We apologise for the omission of this reference in the first publication of this article on this site. Ed.)

Jermieson, A. 1993. ‘On trying to write for young adults; also featuring publishers, reviewers, booksellers, covers and storybuses,’ in Towards More Understanding: The Making and Sharing of Children’s Literature in Southern Africa. Kenwyn: Juta & Co.

Kwa Zulu Natal Department of Education. 2008. Learning and Teaching Support Material – Catalogue for 2008 Academic Year. Pietermaritzberg. KZN DoE.

Kwa Zulu Natal Department of Education. 20… A guide to Norms and Standards for School Funding: Procedures and records. KZN DoE.

Lemmer, André N. 1988. ‘Children’s responses to literature,’ in Towards understanding: children’s literature for Southern Africa, edited by Isabel Cilliers. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman.

Poland, M. 1993. ‘Making stars sing,’ in Towards More Understanding: The Making and Sharing of Children’s Literature in Southern Africa. Kenwyn: Juta & Co.

Radebe, T. 1995. ‘Reading interests of Zulu-speaking Standard Two children in Pietermaritzburg.’ South African Journal of Library and Information Science, 63(4):161-182.

South Africa President’s Office. No. 1867. 15 November 1996: No. 84 of 1996: South African Schools Act, 1996. Pretoria. Government of South Africa.

van der Merwe, A. 1993. ‘Twelve golden rules regarding “The way to write for children”,’ in Towards More Understanding: The Making and Sharing of Children’s Literature in Southern Africa. Kenwyn: Juta & Co.

www.gov.education.za

www.ecprov.gov.za

www.education.gpg.gov.za

www.fsdoe.fs.gov.za

www.kzneducation.gov.za

www.limpopo.gov.za

www.mpumalanga.gov.za/education

www.nwpg.gov.za/education

www.ncedu.ncape.gov.za

First approaches to poetry

F K Diering

This article was first published in CRUX, February 1982 – a long time ago, but still of great value to teachers of English at school or tertiary level, as well as to trainers of English teachers.

Having taught poetry at school level for twenty-three years and at first-year university level for seven years, I am aware of the problems that confront both the teacher and the pupil. It is not my intention to concentrate on these problems; I wish rather to offer some positive suggestions that may be of help to the teacher of poetry at high-school level. The approach described in this article is based on extensive teaching of first-year university students, but as many of these have had second-language tuition at school and lack the background essential for successful literary studies at university level, I do not think that there is a wide gulf between what the teacher is trying to achieve at school level and what I am attempting at first-year university level.

Perhaps Coleridge’s dictum will come to our aid: ‘… could a rule be given from without poetry, poetry would cease to be poetry, and sink into a mechanical art.’ The very fact that we are not dealing with a mechanical activity should serve as a stimulus and a challenge, not only to the student but also to the lecturer. Poetry enables us to enter an exciting realm in which the intellect, the imagination and the emotions are engaged. Poetry may stir the slumbering intellects and imaginations of our students, quicken their faculties and evoke a total response which has been called ‘the multi-dimensional quality of experience’. ⁽¹⁾

To introduce our students to poetry, I normally present them with a short poem by Emily Dickinson entitled ‘Fame is a Bee’:

Fame is a bee:

It has a song –

It has a sting –

Ah, too, it has a wing.

This poem serves as an introduction to poetry imagery in the form of metaphor, that complex figure of speech the student will constantly encounter in his/her study of literature. ‘Through metaphor, an idea may be translated into an image so that we perceive the idea through our senses.’⁽²⁾ Here an abstract idea, fame, is translated into an image – a direct sense impression which enables us to see, hear and feel imaginatively. An implied comparison is involved; through the image of the bee the poet communicates something about fame.

Students should be made aware of the importance of associations in poetry. ‘All metaphor depends on associations, and a metaphor is the very life of poetry ….’⁽³⁾ What associations does the word ‘bee’ evoke? Familiarity begets confidence, and students will respond readily: buzz, honey, hive, sting, pain, nectar, flowers …. After some free discussion, attention will be focused on the poem; inappropriate associations should be discarded and the significance of the relevant ones discussed.

Close textual analysis is essential. Each line should be carefully analysed and the comparison established in line one followed out. The song of the bee may be equated with the glory and rapture fame brings, while the sting suggests the pain that accompanies fame. The nature of the pain will arouse discussion and elicit responses such as ‘jealousy’, ‘rivalry’, ‘disruption of human lives and relationships’.

‘Ah, too, it has a wing’ is often misinterpreted, students failing to capture the tone of the line and interpreting the movement as an exuberant flight into ecstasy. Once they have discussed the emotive value of ‘Ah, too’ and have examined the effect of the rhythm in relation to the meaning, they will find it easier to identify the elements of wistfulness and regret in the tone.

To explore the full meaning of the poem, students should ask themselves the following questions: (a) What does the poem say? (b) How does it say it?  A short paraphrase will help them to established the theme: fame brings glory and rapture, but it causes pain and is transient. Is the idea (what is said) exciting or original? Not particularly. If they find the poem stimulating and exciting, does the reason lie in how the idea is conveyed? One recalls A E Housman’s definition of poetry: ‘Poetry is not the thing said, but a way of saying it.’

A paraphrase would show that the factual content is only a small part of the total meaning of the poem. The vitality of ‘Fame is a Bee’ lies in its imagery, which lends concreteness, vividness and immediacy to what is being said. The poem admirably illustrates the compactness, concentration and compression that are distinctive features of poetry.

Part of the ‘how’ of a poem lies in its physical form, which should be carefully examined as it may contribute significantly to the total meaning of the poem.

Marking stressed syllables in a line of verse will inculcate an awareness of rhythm and help students in their interpretation. In the first line ‘fame’ and ‘bee’, both key words, bear stress; the position of ‘fame’ at the beginning and ‘bee’ and the end of the line enhances the importance of the words. The rhythmical similarity of lines two and three introduces and element of repetition and adds to the symmetry of the poem’ it also highlights the contrasting words, ‘song’ and ‘sting’.

Technical devices such as alliteration (‘song’ and ‘sting’) and rhyme (‘sting’ and ‘wing’) should be related to the meaning of the poem as a whole; the rhyme, for example, serves to link and emphasise the negative aspects of fame. The poem consists of four short lines, the brevity of which may suggest the fleeting nature of fame. The extended fourth line, which breaks the monotony of the dimeter lines, is bound to elicit discussion. ‘Ah, too’, students are quick to point out, suggests a drawn-out sigh, the effect being enhanced by the long vowel sounds and pauses (introduced by the commas), which slow down the tempo of the first part of the line. As a concluding line, and because of its length, it attracts attention, hence the idea it conveys – the transitoriness of fame – is emphasied.

In a short poem entitled ‘A Decade’, Amy Lowell uses imagery that appeals to the sense of taste to present an evolving human relationship in concrete terms:

When you came you were like red wine and honey,

And the taste of you burnt in my mouth like sweetness;

Now you are more like morning bread.

Smooth and pleasant,

I hardly taste you at all, for I know your savour,

But I am completely nourished.

The poem introduces the student to the simile, and words like ‘wine’ and ‘bread’ may be used to elucidate and illustrate the terms ‘denotation’ and ‘connotation’. What associations does the word ‘wine’ evoke? Sweetness, headiness, excitement, intoxication, festivity. How does the word ‘red’ enhance the meaning? It connotes blood, passion, vigour, vitality, intensity. What does the metaphor ‘burnt’ imply about the speaker’s feelings at this stage?

‘Morning bread’ with its cluster of associations provides a contrasting image which conveys the change that has taken place in the human relationship. Why is the word ‘morning’ important?

The imagery is the vital force in this poem. Any discussion of its function will involve an exploration of its sensory, emotional and intellectual appeal.

Students sometimes ignore the title or miss its significance and are consequently unable to appreciate the change the human relationship undergoes in the course of a decade. A discussion of mood would deepen their understanding of the theme.

A poet can make his/her statement without introducing imagery as a poetic device. The following poem by James Joyce will dispel the impression that the student may have formed that every poem should contain imagery:

Because your voice was at my side

I gave him pain;

Because within my hand I held

Your hand again.

There is no word nor any sign

Can make amend –

He is a stranger to me now

Who was my friend.

From these relatively simple poems one proceeds to the more profound, subtle and complex.

By the end of the course students will have realised that they need memorise no facts and seek no rules; that an understanding of poetry demands a total response that involves the senses, the emotions and the intellect.

The following report by a student is illuminating: ‘I seem to be one of those fortunate people born with natural insight. Because of this, I had, in a sense, become lazy, expecting to understand a poem after having read it once or twice. It is especially in this respect that the poetry course helped me tremendously, for through making me look closely at a poem it has taught me to value and enjoy poetry. I now realise that one must give much of oneself before one can receive anything from a good poem; that the understanding of poetry demands the full exercise of one’s mind.’

NOTES

(1)    Brooks, C and Warren RP, Understanding Poetry, p9.

(2)    Simpson, L, An Introduction to Poetry, p1.

(3)    Boulton, M, The Anatomy of Poetry, p122.

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DO HAVE ANY IDEAS ON TEACHING POETRY? PLEASE SUBMIT THESE TO THE EDITOR AT drv@worldonline.co.za

The vagaries of the English Language

If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?

Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

If a pig loses its voice, does it become disgruntled?

Why is the person who invests your money called a broker?

Why do overlook and oversee mean opposites?

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians should  be               delighted, musicians denoted and dry cleaners depressed?

PUNCTUATION MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

Just in case you think punctuation doesn’t matter, check this out. Here are two versions of the same letter. The only difference is the punctuation.  Which type of letter would you rather receive?

DEAR JOHN LETTER ONE:

Dear John

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be yours?

Gloria

DEAR JOHN LETTER TWO:

Dear John

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours, Gloria

TET ISSUE 2 LAUNCHED

The second issue of Teaching English Today is now available to teachers of English.

Note that the previous articles are still available – go to Volume1, Issue 1.

Please do respond to the articles – no matter how briefly.  We would like as much interaction amongst English teachers as possible. And we invite you to submit articles on any relevant topic, whether practical or theoretical. We pay up to R400 for accepted articles.

Finally, please pass on the information about this website to others. If you do not receive email information about this site, please send us your email address and the addresses of any others who may be interested.

Happy reading!

Dr Malcolm Venter

EDITOR

drv@worldonline.co.za

January 2011

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

We are planning the next issue / update of TET .  We therefore call on teachers and others to submit   articles for inclusion. These can be practical or theoretical, short or long.  The success of the website depends on having a steady supply of contributors and commentators. Send to them to drv@worldonline.co.za.

Kind regards

Dr Malcolm Venter

EDITOR

Dr Diana Ayliff

Department of Applied Language Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth

diana.ayliff@nmmu.ac.za

Keywords: English second language, communicative language teaching, form-focused instruction

Introduction

In South Africa there are many learners and tertiary students who are in a similar position to our metaphorical “Johnny”. While Johnny “sounds okay”, the apparently fluent spoken variety of his discourse is not matched by his written variety. This perception that his speech is competent is probably due to the fact that during linguistic interaction in his second language (L2), he is using short utterances (shorter than a sentence) and behavioural gestures and facial expressions — or those aspects of his communication that fall into the pragmatic and paralinguistic domains — to compensate for his ill-formed utterances. His interlocutor, especially if she is an educator and Johnny a learner, often becomes a conspirator in this deception and colludes with him in the interests of social equanimity. The educator-participant might compensate for his deviant utterances by filling in the omissions of information in his discourse because of shared knowledge and the wish to maintain mutual communication. Johnny’s perception that his second language is good is thus reinforced and he is surprised when his written discourse is rejected because it lacks well-formed sentences. To use Cummins’s terms (1980), Johnny has acquired basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS), but not cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP).

Thus Johnny “sounds okay”, but his written discourse is so poor that it has unleashed a plethora of criticism. This criticism ranges from letters to the editors of the popular press to official international reports that South African learners rank near the bottom on various tests. The Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ, 2008)[1] showed that about half of our grade-6 learners could not comprehend a standard, age-appropriate text, while South Africa is one of the twenty countries considered below standard by the Education for All (EFA, 2008)[2] global report commissioned by UNESCO. The dismal situation is acknowledged in speeches by Ministers of Education (Motshekga, 2009; Pandor, 2005[3]) while a draft report by the National Benchmark Tests Project (2009)[4] produced for the vice-chancellors’ association of Higher Education South Africa (HESA) revealed that the majority of first year students do not have the required academic literacy skills to cope at university without support.

Many of these students are what Cross has called “new students” who are unable to “express their own system of values and express themselves in the mother tongue” (Cross, 2009:15). Tertiary institutions respond to this lack of literacy and written skills in the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) by pouring more and more money into development programmes, and academics research the phenomenon and write up their findings in papers exploring “academic literacy” and “language of academic purposes” such as those by Ferreira and Mendelowitz (2009), Uys et al. (2007) and van Rooyen and Jordaan (2009). In short, Johnny has been taught to express himself, albeit inaccurately, in spoken, but not written discourse.

Why has Johnny not been taught to write?

The reasons Johnny has not been taught to write with accuracy are complex and involve multiple challenges found in our schools and communities; however, three crucial reasons explored in this article are OBE, the way English as FAL is taught and the teaching corps which is expected to teach it.

Outcomes-based Education

The Outcomes-based Education policy (OBE), introduced by Professor Bengu in 1998, has probably had unintended consequences. It has become the whipping-boy for many of the woes of the education system, (Bloch, 2009; Olivier, 2009[5]), but is probably not the problem in itself. It is an imported system that might work well in first-world countries like the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom. According to the Department of Education National Curriculum Statement (NCS) for Grades 10-12, First Additional Language (FAL) is characterised by a “learner-centred and activity-based approach” (2) that encourages both independence and group work where learners use resources such as the internet, databases, libraries and laboratories to self-discover and learn. While this is sound educational policy, it is very difficult to implement in rural and township schools because many function without libraries, the Internet or even electricity.

To compound these problems the NCSs that are founded on OBE are couched in language that is relatively difficult to penetrate as OBE-specific jargon is used.

Integration and applied competence

Integration is achieved within and across subjects and fields of learning. The integration of knowledge and skills across subjects and terrains of practice is crucial for achieving applied competence as defined in the National Qualifications Framework. Applied competence aims at integrating three discrete competences. (NCS Grades 10-12, Home Language, 3)

As Blignaut (2007:49) points out, it is “difficult to translate policy into practice”, and to implement a curriculum that is so alien to the average South African teacher’s epistemological understanding and pedagogical practice is to court disaster. I concur with Blignaut that policymakers must begin “where the teachers are” (Blignaut, 2007:55) and I suggest that they be offered a methodical syllabus reflecting the linguistic forms of English that will lead to their learners mastering accurate written discourse in that language. While OBE might work successfully in first-world countries where the numbers in the classes are relative small, schools are well resourced and teachers well qualified, it is less likely to be successful in South Africa where the opposite is often the case.

The way English-FAL is taught

For many years now second-language learners of English have been taught through a communicative meaning-based approach. This communicative approach is not unique to South Africa, but has been a trend across the world since the 1960s. The assumption, however, that a communicative meaning-based approach to teaching an L2 leads to levels of grammatical accuracy and fluent written competence has not materialised.  Some thirty years of using this kind of methodology in South Africa has exploded this myth.

The NCS for English-FAL is based on a communicative or meaning-focused approach to language teaching. This method involves language teachers having to direct their learners to the meaning of the discourse in the belief that the form, including the grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation will be acquired almost unconsciously. This method of instruction is modelled on the idea that the acquisition of an L2 is much the same process as that of an L1 where a child simply picks up the language in a seemingly effortless way while exploring and concentrating on the world around him or her.

It was argued during the 1970s and 1980s (Widdowson, 1978; Brumfit, 1984) that if children acquired their L1 by interacting with others, then by reproducing those natural conditions in the classroom, learners of L2s would acquire that language too, notwithstanding the difference in age between L1 acquisition and L2 learning. Learning, it was believed, should take place in a meaning-focused environment in which learners negotiate meaning when a gap in understanding occurs. Genuine message-focused language use should lead to language acquisition when learners participate in role-play and simulation exercises, where the message is paramount and some learners, who have the knowledge, are able to fill the information gaps of others, who lack the knowledge, by exchanging genuine messages. It was hoped that the real world of communication would thus be transplanted into the classroom. The role of the teacher in this kind of classroom is that of a supporter of the learner, who takes control of her learning and, in theory, progresses steadily along the natural route of language development (Krashen, 1985) unaffected by intrusive instruction.

It is now accepted by many researchers (e.g. Day and Shapton, 1991; Harley, 1989; Lyster, 1994; Schmidt, 1983; Spada, 1997) that while meaning-focused instruction leads to confident and apparently fluent speakers of an L2, it does not result in accuracy. Ellis, Loewen and Basturkmen (2003:151), for instance, comment that meaning-focused instruction “is not successful in enabling learners to achieve high levels of linguistic and sociolinguistic accuracy” while Laufer (2005:223) writes that the “realization by applied linguists that second language learners cannot achieve high levels of grammatical competence from entirely meaning centred instruction has led them to propose that learners need to focus on form”.

The whole thrust of the section Content and Contexts for the Attainment of Assessment Standards found in the NCS for FAL on page 47 is towards a hands-on, active approach to language learning that is “embedded in situations which are meaningful to learners and so assist learning and teaching”. In addition, while teachers are encouraged to use a wide range of texts that include visual, oral and written forms, they are also expected to encourage their learners to learn their FAL in a “natural, informal process carried over into the classroom where literacy skills of reading/viewing and writing/presenting are learned in a ‘natural’ way — learners read by doing a great deal of reading and learn to write by doing much writing”.

These goals are there to promote high standards that are spelled out in the section on Language levels (NCS for HL:11). There it is stated that the FAL should be of such a standard that it may be used as the language of learning:

Learning Outcomes for the First Additional Languages provide for levels of language proficiency that meet the threshold levels necessary for effective learning across the curriculum, as learners may learn through the medium of their First Additional Language in the South African context. (NCS for FAL:11)

So, while teachers are encouraged to use a communicative meaning-focused approach, they are also expected to raise the level their learners achieve in their FAL to one that is acceptable at a formal academic level.

Certainly, the way the communicative meaning-focused approach has been applied in South Africa has generally not produced high levels of grammatical competence, nor has it produced learners who are able to operate in a cognitively demanding academic domain in their FAL. This is a serious situation since English is the de facto lingua franca of South Africa and the language of learning in most tertiary institutions and schools. Despite the movement amongst some academics (Webb, 2004; Prinsloo, 2007) to convince the language policy makers and parents of school-going learners that the mother-tongue should be the language of learning for as long as possible, English remains dominant.

The teaching corps

South African teachers, especially those in rural areas and townships, are faced with multiple challenges. These have been explored by many, for example, Chrisholm (2005), Knowles, Nieuwenhuis and Smit (2009), and Nel and Theron (2008) and are well documented. They include problems within schools, such as large numbers of learners in classes, ill-discipline, lack of resources, and administration overload for teachers. These problems are partly caused and certainly exacerbated by conditions external to the schools, such as poor socio-economic conditions, unsupportive and illiterate parents or caregivers, dysfunctional home environments, and historical and political challenges. Given these overwhelming odds it is hardly surprising that some teachers are apathetic and unenthusiastic about their profession.

These challenges have resulted in stressed teachers who lack accountability. Steyn and Kamper (2006) give an overview of stress amongst South African teachers and cite various studies that show the high number of teachers (up to 20% in some regions of South Africa) who suffer from severe stress. The cumulative effect of these challenges has resulted in teacher and learner absenteeism, a lack in the culture of teaching and learning and a dearth of professional pride on the part of the teachers in some areas.

Quo vadis?

Given this scenario it is hardly surprising that “Johnny can’t write”. The problems are multiple; however, part of the solution involves changing the meaning-focused communicative curriculum in English FAL to one that focuses on the form of the language. This will help to support our overworked and stressed teachers by giving them a curriculum that is easier to implement, in that it is more methodical than the free-for-all environment in which the teacher is encouraged to collude with the learner in a conspiracy that accurate communication has been achieved.

What is form-focused instruction?

Form-focused instruction refers to any deliberate concentration on syntactic or morphological aspects of language by learners or by the teacher. Attention is drawn to the form of the language, rather than the meaning alone. This distinction is a matter of degree rather than an absolute, as linguistic forms are used to convey meaning. While at one end of the continuum linguistic forms may be taught as discrete linguistic structures in separate lessons, at the other end of the continuum there is a focus on form approach in which structures are dealt with incidentally, during the course of a lesson that is primarily directed to communicating the lesson content.

Form-focused instruction has its roots going back to a paper (unpublished in its original form) presented by Long at the 1988 European-North-American Symposium on Needed Research in Foreign Language Education, Rockefeller Centre, Bellaggio, Italy. A decade later he, in collaboration with Robinson, wrote:

Focus on form refers to how focal attentional resources are allocated. Although there are degrees of attention, and although attention and attention to meaning are not always mutually exclusive, during an otherwise meaning-focused classroom lesson, focus on form often consists of an occasional shift of attention to linguistic code features — by the teacher and/or one or more students — triggered by perceived problems with comprehension or production. (Long & Robinson, 1998:23)

Long and Robinson, then, see the focus on form to be a temporary side-stepping from the important business of the lesson, which is the meaning and the communication of that meaning. Although they do say in the above extract that “attention and attention to meaning are not always mutually exclusive”, there seems to be the perception that the linguistic form can be separated from the meaning. While the learner’s attention is taken up by the lesson content there might be an occasional, and fairly fleeting, detour to focus on a feature such as the plural -s that the teacher notices is missing from a learner’s interlanguage while the class is concentrating on a lesson on South African geography.

These incidental foci on form occurrences are the implied approach laid down in the NCS for FAL:

Thus, in a text-based approach, language is always explored in texts, and texts are explored in relation to their contexts. The approach involves attention to formal aspects of language (grammar and vocabulary) but as choices in texts and in terms of their effects, not in an isolated way. (NCS for FAL:47)

This approach can include a range of teaching techniques such as recasts by the teacher, a simple indication that something is incorrect, to more explicit techniques such as rule explanations and examples.

The problem with this incidental focus on form occurrence is that the learners’ concentration is redirected from the lesson content to an aspect of linguistic form and he might not have the capacity to process both simultaneously. He will therefore probably choose to concentrate only on the one which he perceives as the most pressing at the time, and this will probably be the meaning whether it is the meaning of a line of poetry or how to set out at formal letter. In the lower grades, where the same teacher takes the class for most learning areas, it might be a mathematical problem or how plant species cross-pollinate. The learner, who is trying to cope with the lesson content in his additional language, is now also asked to process new information about linguistic form.

The teacher will also need to make a quick decision as to whether to divert from the meaning-focused content of the lesson to deal with a question of linguistic form. She must weigh up whether she has sufficient examples for the form, a succinct and clear enough explanation to hold the class’s concentration, the time to discuss the form and whether there are sufficient numbers in the class who need the tuition on this point of grammar. It would seem that in the average South African classroom, where the language of learning is not the home language of the majority of the learners, the lesson content will take priority every time.

The NCS for FAL (grades 10-12) lays down that learners are expected to understand how “texts are constructed” and “need to be able to interpret and respond to produce a range of different genres” (DoE, 2003[aa1] b:47). They are also expected to have a “meta-language” to “describe different aspects of grammar, vocabulary and style, [so that they may] talk about different genres”. So while teachers are exhorted to teach in a manner that is close to the focus on form end of the continuum, they are also expected to produce learners, who are able to employ the terms used to describe grammatical concepts, types of style and literary conventions. These high ideals are laudable, but they are far from the reality attained by the majority of those who have passed the matriculation examination.

If learners are to succeed in mastering these abstract concepts in their FAL, it is important that the teachers are given a curriculum that encourages attention to the form of the language. South Africa needs a curriculum that promotes a more structured and logically paced method of instruction in English as FAL to ensure that as many of the major linguistic structures (tenses, sentence types, prefixes, punctuation marks) are covered in an age-appropriate way. This would provide the more balanced curriculum that de Clercq discusses in her article in Perspectives in Education (2008). It would be a support intervention targeted at giving teachers a curriculum that provides a framework of which linguistic forms to teach. These language activities must be complemented by plenty of practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a variety of domains. Such a curriculum would provide for a mix of form-focused and meaning-focused methods of instruction that promote both accuracy and creativity.

Has the focus on form approach been tried and tested?

The body of research that began in the late 1980s interrogating this approach is now considerable and the debate has moved from whether to use a form-focused approach in L2 teaching, to how it should be implemented. Theoretical issues such as the importance of “noticing” and the “teachability hypothesis” underpin whether a reactive versus a proactive focus on form approach should be used, and how explicit the instruction should be.

Noticing is important because the learners should recognise when their output is non-target-like. Schmidt (1995) hypothesises that there is no learning without understanding and he claims that there is no understanding without noticing. He defines noticing as implying a “recognition of a general principle, rule or pattern”, while “understanding refers to a deeper level of abstraction related to (semantic, syntactic, or communicative) meaning” (Schmidt, 1995:29).

Pienemann’s teachability hypothesis (1985) claims that learners can be speeded up if they are taught at the stage just beyond their current stage. The difficulty with this hypothesis is that the research is at too early a stage to predict exactly which of the multitude of structures in all the human languages follows which. There is an intuitive, common sense reasoning, however, that militates against attempting to teach forms that are way beyond the learner’s stage of interlanguage development.

While most researchers have recommended that form-focused instruction should take place within meaning-focused instruction, some, such as Laufer, have explored ways of complementing this kind of instruction by planned “pure” form-focused lessons unrelated to any other task and concentrated on one particular form. It is this kind of form-focused instruction that needs to be incorporated into the English curriculum for FAL, particularly in the higher grades where learners have the cognitive and conceptual abilities to absorb the theory. As a rule of thumb, in the lower grades there should be an emphasis on communicative meaning-focused activities that build confidence and relative fluency, while in the higher grades the emphasis should be on form-focused activities that build accuracy and sound standard syntactic knowledge.

Conclusion

There should be no apology called for in studying language as an object in itself, but it should not be studied as an end in itself at school level. There is nothing wrong with learners coming to grips with the internal workings of a particular language system in its standard form and coming to understand that form encapsulates meaning. Ideally, by focusing on the form of the FAL, the learner will come to master that language more completely and by doing so convey his or her message precisely. When learners have mastered the linguistic structures of their FAL, and they are both fluent and accurate, they should come to the realization that how they say something impacts on what they say.

It is, thus, difficult to draw dividing lines between such concepts as thought, intention, language and style. The relationship between language and thought, and how meaning is made, has been explored by many and goes back to Plato and Aristotle in Western thought. If our learners are not able to master the correct standard forms their meaning will become blurred and muddled. This is particularly the case with the written form of the language as without the help of paralinguistic aids such as gestures, voice tone, and other pragmatic and deictic markers the written words stand alone, unadorned, and usually in unrelenting black and white.

In our English FAL classrooms there should be far greater emphasis on form to promote accuracy. This may be achieved by adapting the present NCS so that it itemises the forms that should be covered in each learning phase as it has been shown that the meaning-focused methodology has not promoted accurate grammatical competence. Intervention is required to tighten and order the curricula for English as FAL at all learning phases as they are currently too vague and woolly. Teachers would probably welcome more supportive curricula that would help them to achieve the outcomes in a more guided, ordered and predictable way. Only by mastering the form accurately will our grade 12s cope with abstract, symbolic levels of thought needed in English in higher education and professional circles.

References

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Brumfit CJ 1984. Communicative methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bloch G 2009. The toxic mix. Cape Town: Tafelberg.

Chrisholm L 2005. The state of South Africa’s schools. In: J Daniel, R Southhall & J Lutchman (eds). State of the nation: South Africa 2004-2005. Cape Town: HSRC.

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Endnotes:

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[1] Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). Retrieved from http:// www.sacmeq.org/about.htm/ on 14 October 2009.

[2] Education for All Monitoring Report (EFA) 2008. A UNESCO report commissioned by the Southern African Regional Universities Association. Retrieved from <http://www.sarua.org/?q=content/2009-education-all-global-monitoring-report-focuses-inequalities> on 14 October 2009.

[3] Pandor N 2005. Speech in parliament introducing the debate of the education budget, vote 15, National Assembly, 19 May. Retrieved from http://www.kzneducation.gov.za/news/2006/19-05-2006.pdf on 20 September 2009.

[4] National Benchmark Tests Project 2009. Report produced for the vice-chancellors’ association of Higher Education South Africa (HESA). Retrieved from http://www.hesa-enrol.ac.za/about.htm on 6 October 2009.

[5] Olivier B 2009. Why OBE has not worked in South Africa. Retrieved from http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/bertolivier/2009/09/05/why-obe-has-not-worked-in-south-africa/ on 23 October 2009.

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[aa1]2003a or 2003b? b