Call for postgraduate applications: Strategic Early Literacy Imperative: Linguistic and social partnerships in Foundation-Phase Learning in African languages.
The Department of English Language and Linguistics invites applications to the postgraduate Strategic Early Literacy Imperative: Linguistic and social partnerships in Foundation-Phase Learning in African languages.
Masters, PhD, Postdoctoral and Honours scholarships available 2013—2015.
The following scholarships are available for 2013:
1 x Postdoctoral/PhD scholarship (1 year & tax free)
2 x Masters Scholarships (2 years & tax free)
Multiple teaching-assistant scholarships for postgraduates at any level.
Deadline for applications is 5 December 2012.
South African foundation-phase literacy is in a deep crisis – especially literacy in African languages. (see http://www.ru.ac.za/englishlanguageandlinguistics/research/sandisaimbewu/). Although this is a multifaceted problem requiring input from policy analysts, political scientists, education specialists, child psychologists and sociologists, this project focusses on the specific contributions that can be made by linguists. This includes the following dimensions:
- Sociolinguistic-dialectological dimension which interacts with language standardization and the mismatch between home languages and language of education
- Morpho-syntactic dimensions: the mismatch between psycholinguistic and orthographic representations of words and morphemes with the attendant need for thorough linguistic analysis of African languages within descriptive and theoretical frameworks.
- Linguistic-educative dimensions: the complete lack of educational resources such as reading norms, vocabulary lists, graded texts, testing instruments, comprehension tests, Flesch-Kincaid scores etc.
- Other dimensions.
Eligibility: This funded, three-year, multi-disciplinary research project welcomes applications from anybody who has an interest in the specific contributions that Linguistics can make to early literacy, specifically as they relate to African languages. Suitable background includes ANY type of linguistics (including descriptive linguistics, formal/theoretical/generative linguistics, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics etc.) and competence in an African language would be an advantage. Applicants with a background in a cognate field will also be considered (e.g. Education, psychology, academic development, languages etc.).
Curriculum: Given the broad scope of the project, research projects may be either applied or theoretical in nature. Postgraduate degrees usually consist of a combination of thesis and coursework modules to be chosen in consultation with your supervisor. There are also opportunities for fieldwork, community engagement, conference attendance, as well as teaching and tutoring to develop your academic profile.
How to apply: To apply, please follow the following TWO steps. (a) Contact the postgraduate coordinator, Dr Sally Hunt (s.hunt@ru.ac.za) for additional information and also apply to the university via the registration process (Details and forms are at http://www.ru.ac.za/applying/postgraduates/). (b) Send an email to Mark de Vos (m.devos@ru.ac.za) containing your name and contact details, an initial title of your research project/dissertation and a short outline or proposal of what you envisage your research to be. Note that this is simply an initial outline and that your research topic may change substantially over time as you develop as a postgraduate student.
For more details, contact Dr Mark de Vos (m.devos@ru.ac.za). You can also read more about the project and its rationale at http://www.ru.ac.za/englishlanguageandlinguistics/research/sandisaimbewu/
More information about the Department can be found at: (http://www.ru.ac.za/englishlanguageandlinguistics/postgraduates/)
More information about studying at Rhodes University can be found at:
(http://www.ru.ac.za/rhodes/introducingrhodes/whychooserhodes/
View this call on the LinguistList (http://linguistlist.org/support/get-supports.cfm?SubID=4554612)
