Divide and rule: on the rationalization of vocabulary teaching

Abstract

Aangesien Engels die verkose onderrigmedium van die oorgrote meerderheid van Suid-Africa se nie-Engelstaliges is, is 'n besondere poging nodig om leerlinge vir die oorgang na Engels vroeg in hul skoolloop-bane voor te berei—'n oorgang wat juis saamval met 'n radikale toe-name in die leksikale eise wat aan leerlinge gestel word. Hoe nodig dit ookal mag wees, was woordeskatonderrig nog altyd 'n verwaarloosde aspek van taalonderrig. 'n Rede wat hiervoor aangevoer word, is dat woordeskat nie, soos byvoorbeeld grammatika, aan stelselmatige strukturele ontleding onderworpe is wat tot die fasilitering van onderrig aangewend kan word nie. In 'n poging om die monolities-gewaande aard van die leksikon te toets, is 'n korpus, saamgestel uit 48 Engelse laerskoolteksboeke, aan sekere woordseleksiekriteria onderwerp, en kon vyf vakspesifieke sub-korpora geïdentifiseer word. Die data word bespreek in 'n poging om 'n bydrae te lewer tot die rasionalisering van nie slegs woordeskatonderrig nie, maar ook van die gebruik wat teksboekskrywers van die leksikon maak.

The fact that English is the preferred medium of instruction of the vast majority of non-English-speaking South Africans necessitates special efforts to prepare pupils for the transition to English early in their school careers—a transition coinciding with a radical increase in the lexical demands made on pupils. Vocabulary teaching, though manifestly necessary, has always been a neglected aspect of language instruction, one of the purported reasons being that, unlike grammar, vocabulary defies systematic structural analysis and is therefore difficult to teach. In an effort to split up the perceived lexical monolith, a corpus comprising 48 English primary school text books was subjected to certain word selection criteria whereby sub-corpora, specific to each of five subjects, were identified. The data are discussed in an endeavour to contribute to rationalization, not only of vocabulary teaching, but also of the use that the authors of text-books make of the lexicon.