The Future of South African e-learning is in Part Rooted in the Nation’s Troubled Past

Dr John Senior

THE PROBLEM FOR STUDENTS: W.S.U. data

deregistered

not admitted

absent

passed overall

failed

WHAT IS THE BIG PICTURE?

There seems to be a rough parallel between the percentage of students being lost to the system, shown in the early pie chart, and the split among the student body in terms of English linguistic ability.

Students %City 25Township 39Rural 36Derg./ab 34

Further investigation needed

WSU DATA: Assessment questions correctly answered %

English only no contextual assist.

English with contextual assist.

English and Xhosa contextual assist.

Maths Comp. Maths Comp. Maths Comp.

46.8% 19.1% 50.9% 35.0% 57.7% 36.2%

WSU Student responses to survey

Excellent

Very Helpful

Somewhat helpful

Not helpful

Definitions in English answers 18% 36% 39% 7%

Definitions in English text 13% 21% 50% 8%

Translations of difficult words to Xhosa

22% 28% 35% 15%

WSU Student survey

yes no

BB set up with Definitions in English 43 3

BB set up with Definitions in Xhosa 27 22

WSU language data:

Xhosa Mixed Engl. & Xhosa

English Other

Language spoken at home

78% 18% 0 4%

UFS student data: Language spoken by students Sesotho Xhosa English Afrikaans Other

40% 17% 1% 7% 35%

ASSESSMENT: FREE STATE

A special method was used to translate parts of the assessments presented to students.

Free State Data: questions answered correctly

Maths question

Reading comp.

Sesotho/Xhosa question

English question

Sesotho 31.5% 36.6% 34.3% 23.4%

Xhosa 37.4% 42.7% 36.9% 12.9%

Englishcontrol

29.1% 36.1%

Point of Interest:

The Sesotho translations used did not use the student corpus based translation methods used for the Xhosa translations.

Interestingly, the English control group and Sesotho group have almost identical assessment scores.

Whereas the Xhosa group at Free State score better on the translated texts.

Attempt at a solution

By creating bi-lingual learning materials using student input and student language.

This is where the interesting difference between the Sesotho respondents and Xhosa respondents is important.

The materials development process

STUDY MATERIALS

TRANSLATIONS CHECKED BY BILINGUAL STAFF

STUDENTS IDENTIFY VOCAB /CONCEPTS TRANSLATE

LANG STAFF MODIFY

ACADEMIC. DEPT. MATERIALS

Student responses Xhosa:

Yes noDo you think the module is useful to study

with? 88 0Does having the information translated into

home lang. help you understand? 85 2Does having sound with the module help you

to understand? 85 0Does being able to click on a word and have

the meaning in English help? 95 0

Student responses Sesotho

yes noDo you think the module is useful to study

with? 93 7

Does having the information translated into Sesotho help you understand? 84 8

Does having sound with the module help you to understand? - -

Does being able to click on a word and have the meaning in English help? 93 7

QUESTIONS?