Department of Afrikaans and Dutch

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Browsing Department of Afrikaans and Dutch by browse.metadata.advisor "De Stadler, Leon"

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    Formaliteit in bedryfstekste met verwysing na bepaalde grammatikale veranderlikes
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009-03) Smith, Wanda; De Stadler, Leon; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch.
    This study about formality in business texts is situated within the field of document design. For this reason, the definition of formality and the operasionalisation thereof in business texts are approached from a functional framework, which can lead to the realisation of useful guidelines to text producers based on the conclusions drawn from the research. With these guidelines, informed decisions can be made about formality in texts. In this study formality is defined and operasionalised in terms of the two notions context (in)dependency and deixis. Formality and deixis both involve distance. Greater distance between die text/writer and the reader or interlocutors mutually is associated with a higher degree of formality. On the other hand, a higher frequency deictic referential words such as personal pronouns (you, he, we, they), adverbs of place (here, there), direction (forwards, outside) and time (just now, only just, at present) implies a shorter social and spatio-temporal distance, and therefore a higher degree of informality. The reason for this is that deictic referential words (you, here, outside, now) and the reference to which such words refer should be deduced from the context immediately in order for the message to be understood unambiguously. For this reason, deictic referential words are context dependent in this study and because the context is immediately available and the distance thus shorter, these words are markers of informality. On the other hand, nondeictic referential words imply a greater distance and therefore a higher degree of formality. Grammatical variables that possibly have an effect on the degree of formality in annual reports and brochures, such as nouns, objective and subjective adjectives, verbs and pronouns, are divided in terms of their context dependence or context independence into one of two categories, namely a nondeictic category that is associated with context independence and formality, or a deictic category that is associated with context dependence and informality. Based on the frequencies of the various language variables in the two categories (context independent, nondeictic category and context dependent, deictic category) an empirical measure of formality is proposed with which formality (F-index) can be measured in Afrikaans business texts. Although the proposed measure should be refined, the study illustrates, among others, that the measure exhibits the capacity to point out variation based on differences in formality between the text types. The study further indicates that advice based on intuition should be regarded with caution. A survey aimed at readers showed that variables such as subject, tone, style, word choice and language usage play a greater role in the evaluation of the degree of formality of texts than grammatical variables such as the passive voice. In conclusion, the study gives clear guidelines as to how the language variables that were part of this study should be dealt with and in a sense be manipulated to ensure a suitable degree of formality of a text and thus the effective transfer of communication.
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    “Spyt kom te laat” The development and evaluation of a health-related fotonovela about methamphetamine (“tik”) use in the Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Davis, Herbert Douglas; De Stadler, Leon; Jansen, Carel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The aim of this research project was to establish if and why fotonovelas can be an effective messaging tool to communicate the dangers associated with using methamphetamine (“tik”) to Coloured communities in the Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa and persuade them to avoid this drug. A health-related fotonovela about tik, “Spyt kom te laat” (Regret comes too late), was developed for this purpose using an entertainment-education approach involving a six-step production process, incorporating inputs from the target audience and subject field experts. Fear appeal characteristics were added to help improve the fotonovela’s effectiveness. Two related studies were performed to evaluate the impact of the fotonovela. One study (N = 303) was a randomized controlled trial that compared the effects of three message conditions (a group who read the fotonovela, a group who read a traditional brochure, and a no message control group) in a between-groups experimental design. The results did not show knowledge gain in the fotonovela group to be significantly higher compared to the traditional brochure group. When compared to the control condition, both health documents did have a positive and significant effect, however, on knowledge level for those questions that did not show ceiling effects. The effects of the two health documents did not differ in terms of respondents’ attitudes. Nonetheless, intention related to interpersonal discussions of tik health messages was found to be significantly higher for those respondents in the fotonovela condition compared to those respondents in the traditional brochure condition. The results did not show attitudes and intentions in the fotonovela and traditional brochure group to be significantly higher compared to the control group. The Extended Parallel Process Model (Witte, 1992, 1998), the Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model (Moyer-Gusé, 2008), as well as theoretical assumptions about the arousal of emotions (fear, surprise, anger, sadness and compassion) from reading the fotonovela were applied to come up with explanations for differences in participants’ attitudes and intentions. The fear appeal elements threat and self-efficacy showed promise for possibly affecting attitudes related to personal health behaviour, while the emotions sadness and compassion were significant and positive predictors of intentions and attitudes related to interpersonal discussions of tik health messages, respectively. In terms of message preference, about twice as many respondents said that they preferred reading health information about tik in fotonovela format over the traditional brochure, with a clear preference for the fotonovela in the 19 years and younger and in the 35 years and older age groups. The other study was explorative in nature. In this study, the fotonovela and traditional brochure were placed in the waiting room of a primary health care clinic to measure actual preference for either document as health communication tool. In performing this study – the first of this type ever – some instructive practical problems were experienced that could not all be solved. Nevertheless, there seem to be sufficient grounds to conclude that patients preferred to take home the fotonovela over the traditional health brochure. However, this preference will have to be put to the test again in follow-up studies. The appearance of the fotonovela was highlighted as the main motivating factor as to why patients decided to read the fotonovela, while patients who chose to read the traditional brochure did so mainly because they wanted to learn more about the health subject matter. Participants who read the fotonovela remembered aspects of the storyline best, whereas readers of the traditional brochure mainly recalled health information associated with tik. Based on the preference for the fotonovela over the traditional brochure found in both studies, and on the comparable knowledge and behavioural intentions that were identified after people had actually read the information in one of these formats, it is recommended that document designers consider using fotonovelas as a health communication tool dealing with tik or similar subjects. In order to help enhance the persuasiveness of such a fotonovela, adding fear appeal characteristics to such a health document and incorporating elements to try to arouse the emotions sadness and compassion can also be considered. Furthermore, it appears that combining fotonovelas with elements from traditional brochures may increase the chances of the included health messages reaching audiences. Therefore, further research is warranted into the efficacy of, and preferences for fotonovelas that incorporate features of traditional health brochures – or the other way around.