Browsing by Author "Morris, Lorna Hiles"

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    How school dictionaries treat human reproductive organs, and recommendations for South African primary school dictionaries
    (Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT), 2022-12-07) Morris, Lorna Hiles; Hiles, Lorna
    This paper is a pilot study that investigates options for treating human reproductive organs in primary school dictionaries in South Africa, with particular emphasis on illustrations. The need for this study was made apparent during research into the design of an electronic school dictionary, where some learners expressed concern about younger children being exposed to "inappropriate" illustrations in school dictionaries. This article is placed in the South African context and shows how this is a sensitive and relevant topic in South Africa, due to the different cultures that are represented. The article shows how South African school dictionaries currently treat these words, and investigates whether they should be treated any differently. The study includes interviews with primary school teachers and parents, and contains descriptions of existing school dictionary entries, both electronic and print. Literature on the following aspects is covered: taboo topics in dictionaries, cultural aspects of sex education in South Africa, and sex education in primary schools globally. The article will show why it is important to treat these terms in a school dictionary in a clear and unambiguous way, despite this causing potential discomfort to some users. The article will conclude with recommendations for the treatment of human reproductive organs in primary schools, as well as recommendations for further research in this area.
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    A model for a comprehensive electronic school dictionary for South African primary school learners
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Morris, Lorna Hiles; Gouws, Rufus H.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The vast majority of South African learners are being taught in English, which is not their first language. These learners are often not equipped to achieve in English, as they are not yet fluent enough. There is very little support in the form of language resources available in classrooms to assist these learners. There is a need for an electronic school dictionary that supports learning, text reception, and text production in learners in South African schools. Existing school dictionaries are primarily print dictionaries, and while efforts have been made to make them as supportive to second language learners as possible, they are still constrained by space restrictions and the limitations of the printed medium. The electronic medium has not yet been exploited in order to produce South African electronic school dictionaries. This dissertation presents model dictionary articles as a response to the need for a South African school dictionary that offers more support to non-mother-tongue speakers of English who are being taught in English. This study considers the current literature on pedagogical dictionaries, electronic dictionaries, and the South African education context, and combines that with interviews with Grade 5 and 6 teachers to establish what is required in an electronic school dictionary for South African learners. School dictionaries and online dictionaries are also compared and discussed in order to determine what features and components the articles contain, and whether they would be beneficial in an electronic school dictionary for South African primary school learners. A set of preliminary model articles is designed and then tested on Grade 5 and 6 learners, and presented to experts in the fields of pedagogical lexicography and electronic lexicography. The design is then modified and improved, and a final set of model articles that meet the criteria set out by the teacher interviews and current literature is presented. The result is a model for the user interface of articles in an electronic school dictionary that provides more support in the form of translation equivalents, word banks with related words, illustrations for each sense, usage notes, and word family boxes showing relationships between words. The versatility of the model means that it can be adapted for other languages and other grades. The implication for this model is that it can help to close the language gap that is found between first- and second-language English learners.