The Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) and University of Cape Town's Language Plan (2001) suggest that language is central to our social and academic engagement at every level: to our communication with...The Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) and University of Cape Town's Language Plan (2001) suggest that language is central to our social and academic engagement at every level: to our communication with those around us, to our learning, and to our identities. The purpose of this paper is to show how the medical school, after making progress towards implementing the University of Cape Town's Language Plan of 2001, is compelled to encourage isiXhosa language developers to develop the necessary and relevant vocabulary responding to the needs of the target users. In some cases, there is a need to adopt terms that are already available and being used by the speech community to align them in the curriculum. Research conducted by analyzing field notes, having plenary discussions with students, observations during clinical practice, reflecting on the curriculum and study materials material. Results indicated the significance of teaching isiXhosa drawing from the medical jargon understood amongst patients, doctors, and nurses. This paper discusses the status enjoyed by isiXhosa to date, language teaching and teaching matters pertaining to isiXhosa, and reflection on whether there is benefit in learning isiXhosa.展开更多
文摘The Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) and University of Cape Town's Language Plan (2001) suggest that language is central to our social and academic engagement at every level: to our communication with those around us, to our learning, and to our identities. The purpose of this paper is to show how the medical school, after making progress towards implementing the University of Cape Town's Language Plan of 2001, is compelled to encourage isiXhosa language developers to develop the necessary and relevant vocabulary responding to the needs of the target users. In some cases, there is a need to adopt terms that are already available and being used by the speech community to align them in the curriculum. Research conducted by analyzing field notes, having plenary discussions with students, observations during clinical practice, reflecting on the curriculum and study materials material. Results indicated the significance of teaching isiXhosa drawing from the medical jargon understood amongst patients, doctors, and nurses. This paper discusses the status enjoyed by isiXhosa to date, language teaching and teaching matters pertaining to isiXhosa, and reflection on whether there is benefit in learning isiXhosa.