DEFINITION
Language is a tool for thought and communication. It is through language that cultural diversity and social relations
are expressed and constructed. Learning to use language effectively enables learners to think and acquire
knowledge, to express their identity, feelings and ideas, to interact with others, and to manage their world.
PURPOSE
In view of the linguistic and cultural diversity of South Africa, its citizens must be able to communicate across
language barriers and foster cultural and linguistic respect and understanding. The country’s linguistic diversity
is acknowledged and valued in the constitutional recognition of eleven official languages and the Language in
Education Policy of additive multilingualism. Learners are obliged to include at least two official languages as
Fundamental subjects and further languages may be taken as Core and/or Elective subjects.
In the General Education and Training Band, a thorough knowledge of the learners’ home language is developed,
which provides a sound base for learning additional languages. By the time learners reach Grade 10, they have
experienced and explored additional languages and may have used an additional language for learning. The
curriculum for the Further Education and Training band provides opportunities for learners to strengthen and
develop their multilingual skills. As learners move through the grades, they are required to use language with
increasing fluency, proficiency and accuracy in a broadening range of situations. They take greater responsibility for
their own learning and apply their language skills in more challenging and complex ways.
The range of literacies needed for effective participation in society and the workplace in the global economy of the
twenty-first century has expanded beyond listening, speaking, reading, writing and oral traditions to include various
forms such as media, graphic, information, computer, cultural, and critical literacy. The Languages curriculum
prepares learners for the challenges they will face as South Africans and as members of the global community.
The Further Education and Training curriculum enables all learners to meet many of the requirements of the
Critical and Developmental Outcomes, including the following objectives:
■ Broaden and deepen language competencies developed in the General Education and Training band,
including the abstract language skills required for academic learning across the curriculum, and the
aesthetic appreciation and enjoyment of texts, so that learners are able to listen, speak, read/view and
write/present with confidence. These skills and attitudes form the basis for life-long learning.
■ Use language appropriately in real-life contexts, taking into account audience, purpose and context.
■ Express and justify their own ideas, views and emotions confidently in order to become independent and
analytical thinkers.
■ Use language and their imagination to represent and explore human experience. Through interacting with a
wide range of texts, learners are able to reflect on their own lives and experiences and to consider
alternative worldviews.
■ Use language to access and manage information for learning across the curriculum and in a wide range of
other contexts. Information literacy is a vital skill in the ‘information age’ and forms the basis for lifelong
learning.
■ Use language as a tool for critical and creative thinking. This objective recognises that knowledge is
socially constructed through the interaction between language and thinking.
■ Express reasoned opinions on ethical issues and values. In order to develop their own value system,
learners engage with texts concerning human rights and responsibilities such as the rights of children,
women, the disabled, the aged and issues linked to race, culture, ideology, class, belief systems, gender,
HIV/AIDS, freedom of expression, censorship and the environment.
■ Interact critically with a wide range of texts. Learners will recognise and be able to challenge the
perspectives, values and power relations that are embedded in texts.
■ Recognise the unequal status of different languages and language varieties. Learners will be able to
challenge the domination of any language or language variety and assert their language rights in a
multilingual society.
Course Features
- Lectures 14
- Quizzes 0
- Duration 43 weeks
- Skill level All levels
- Language English
- Students 280
- Assessments Yes