Faculty of Humanities (ETDs)
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37922
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Audio-visual speech perception amongst bilingual speakers(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Seedat, Ammaara; Ramona, Kunene NicolasWhy does a face articulating the syllable [ga] presented alongside an auditory /ba/ syllable result in a perceived /da/ syllable/? Language is more than words, and the human face has shown enormous communicatory significance as a mode of nonverbal communication. Multisensory integration is used in audio-visual speech perception when auditory and visual information are integrated at the same time. This integration, however, can be viewed as an involuntary process that occurs automatically. The audio-visual benefit effect occurs when auditory and visual information is synchronized, this is when the visual cue is congruent with its auditory counterpart. Literature on audio-visual speech perception, states that the magnitude of visual influences on audio-visual speech perception varies not only across languages but also across developmental stages. The reasons underlying cross-linguistic and developmental differences in audio-visual speech perception however remain unclear. With bilingualism becoming the norm rather than the exception around the world (Grosjean & Byers-Heinlein, 2018), strong research foundations for spoken-word comprehension in bilinguals have been carried out. These foundations have been grounded in classical frameworks from monolinguals and formalised in models such as the Bilingual Model of Lexical Access (BIMOLA) (Léwy, 2008) and the Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech (BLINCS) (Shook & Marian, 2013). Bilinguals may experience increased audio-visual integration when using their less dominant language because less familiarity with a language creates a greater reliance on the visual channel to make sense of auditory input. This study will therefore examine the extent to which young adult bilinguals benefit from audio-visual speech. We examine how different listening conditions affect how L2 bilinguals perceive audio-visual speech. Participants in this study were L1 English speakers learning L2 isiZulu between 17-29 years of age. Each participant was introduced to four different conditions. Namely, an audio only condition, a visual-only condition an and audio-visual condition and an incongruent condition. In the audio-only condition, the stimuli were only auditory, in the visual-only condition the stimuli were perceived without an auditory stimulus. The audio-visual stimulus was made up of both an auditory and visual stimulus whilst the incongruent stimulus was created through dubbing the audio of one word over the visual of another word. The results of the study highlighted the importance of audio-visual speech in late L2 bilingual acquisition. The differences in the phonetics and phonology of language systems might play an important role in how late L2 bilinguals perceive language in different conditions.Item Investigation of complex multilingual practices of learners and teachers in a Johannesburg school(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Matariro, Mariyeni; Makalela, LeketiThis thesis investigates the experiences and affordances of using more than two languages for literacy development for Grade 8 learners in a Johannesburg multilingual school. It investigates how languages are used in the teaching and learning of multilingual senior phase learners and what this affords them in the development of literacy in selected subjects. Underpinned by the sociolinguistic view of literacy the study adopted translanguaging and Ubuntu translanguaging as both conceptual and theoretical frameworks. A Johannesburg high school was purposefully chosen as the research site. Adopting an ethnographic case study design a single class was purposefully chosen to participate in this study. Over a period of 16 weeks data was collected in the form of observations, semi structured interviews, metacognitive reflections, focus group discussions and mediated translanguaging. Three teachers who taught this class, Natural Sciences, English, and Social Sciences also took part in this study. Data was collected using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The collected data was analysed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In analyzing the collected data, the thesis demonstrated a huge mismatch between the learner’s language practices and the ways they are expected to use language in the school setting. The hegemony of the English language is overpowering even though the context is a rich multilingual space among both the teachers and the learners. This was evident in classroom language use, school notices, classroom display charts and the absence of any other language except English and very little Afrikaans within the school. Besides this, teacher practices indicated a huge monolingual bias which favors English even though both learners and teachers are fluent in the same languages that are not languages of the school. The study also demystifies the myth that learners do not want to be associated or to learn in their own languages. This cohort of learners who participated in this study demanded the use of their languages within the school for teaching and learning. However, for as much as the learners would want their languages included, they are not familiar with the orthography of the languages and as a result they cannot read or write in those languages. The study also found that translanguaging and UT are a good starting point for teaching learners with complex linguistic profiles. However, besides the work on UT there is very little translanguaging work that is informed by research carried out in Africa. Consequently, most translanguaging work refers to the use of two languages, a Western view that does not hold in this context. The study gravitates from this weak view of translanguaging and calls for further research for translanguaging work, which delves deeper into the realities of African contexts to understand and appreciate the pervasiveness of multilingualism in this context and leverage on it as a resource for teaching and learning.Item Phonetic verbal fluency in Multilingual speakers(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Banjo, Hillary Pelumi; Ferreira-Correia, AlineVerbal fluency is a core neuropsychological function that assess a person's ability to locate precise information under specific search criteria. This study aimed to investigate the differences in performance of multilingual individuals who report English as their first language and individuals who report other languages as their first language on a phonemic fluency test assessed by the COWAT FAS. Whilst also investigating the influence of the covariates (age, gender, years of formal education, and code switching) on the performance of these individuals. To address these aims a sample of 60 participants were recruited through purposive and snowballing sampling. The results of the study revealed a statistically non-significant difference in the performance between multilingual individuals who report English as their first language and individuals who report other languages as their first language as well as a statistically non-significant (p >.05) difference in performance between males and females. The Spearman rho correlation revealed a significant correlation (p < .05) between the age of participants and their COWAT FAS total score, while a non-significant correlation was observed between the code switching of participants and their COWAT FAS total score. Similarly, the Pearson product correlation revealed a significant positive correlation between the years of formal education of participants and the COWAT FAS total score. Overall, this study provides fresh insight into the performance of multilinguals in South Africa as well as demographic factors that influence performance on this test which creates a foundation for more studies to be conducted on this topic.