Doctoral Degrees (Afrikaans and Dutch)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Afrikaans and Dutch) by Subject "Afrikaans language -- Semantics"

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    Die verband tussen kontekstuele en buitetekstuele faktore en die doeltreffende aanwending van gewone taal
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Burger, Johanna Maria; Marais, Amanda; Lourens, Amanda; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Afrikaans and Dutch.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : The focus of this study is the use of plain language in different contexts. The study wanted to determine if the understanding, usability and respondents’ experience of plain language documents are affected by the context in which the document is situated, as well as the respondent’s qualification level, income, home language, variety of Afrikaans that they speak and involvement with the document. For this research, legal, medical and financial contexts were studied. The empirical research was conducted with brochures, information sheets and forms that are available in the three contexts. In the survey research-based study, 506 respondents completed a quantitative questionnaire that recorded the usability and understandability of the brochures, information sheets and forms, and recorded respondents’ experience of the different documents. The questionnaire also recorded respondents’ demographic information. The results of the study indicate that there is a relationship between the context in which a plain language document is situated and the usability, understandability and experience of the respondents of plain language documents. The complex nature of the financial and legal contexts played a tempering role on the understandability and experience of the respondent of plain language documents, while plain language documents in the medical context were the most understandable and respondents had the best experience with the documents in the medical context. The analyses of the relationship between extratextual factors and usability, understandability and experience indicate that there is not a relationship between usability and any of the extratextual factors, but that there is a relationship between qualification level, variety of Afrikaans and involvement and understandability, and that there is a relationship between qualification level, involvement and home language and experience. Future studies can examine these relationships further.