Negotiating a nuanced task-based communicative syllabus of Setswana as an additional language

Abstract

South Africa promotes multilingualism as one of the means for creating a common national identity in the country but with regard to the teaching of indigenous African languages as additional languages, there is a dearth of teaching material for carrying out this ideal. This article is about negotiating the design of a nuanced communicative Setswana syllabus for learners to whom Setswana is an additional language. The insight gained from data collection obtained through literature review, a questionnaire, and semi-structured individual and group interviews, is used to negotiate the design of the syllabus in question. The syllabus is nuanced by making it involve an overt teaching of grammar and critical language awareness. The study could be used to inform syllabus design for teaching South African indigenous languages as additional languages and to help promote the use of multilingualism South Africa seeks for creating a common national identity.

Keywords: syllabus design, teaching methodology, task-based, additional language, Setswana, adult learners, needs analysis