Instructions: Use the online Discussion Forum to submit this assignment.
Assignment 01
Year Mark: 20%
Tool: Discussions
Check your assessment plan document found in the Additional Resources for Unit
0. You will find a separate document for Semester 1 and a separate document for
Semester 2 which has suggested start dates and due dates for each
assignment. Ensure you look at the document for the correct semester.
How do you upload this assignment?
Go to the Discussions tool, by clicking on the tool in the left-hand panel of this
webpage. Look under “Assignment 01” and Click to open the Discussion Forum.
Click again under the topic “Assignment 01”. Do not under any circumstances
create your own topic.
You will see a message from Dr Nene with instructions to go to the topic,
“Assignment 01”, click “Reply” below J Nene and type your assignment in the
message box. When you are finished typing your assignment, scroll down and click
“Publish”.
To comment on other student’s posts, go to that specific post, press “Reply” and
type your comment in the message box. Then click “Publish”. Remember to
address the person to whom you are commenting.
Do not copy any text or even one sentence from another student’s assignment,
from the internet or from any other source. It is called plagiarism and you will
be penalised with a 0% mark for that assignment and face a disciplinary
hearing from the university. All statements that are not your own should be
correctly referenced.
Ensure that you submit the correct assignment as you will not be given an
opportunity to resubmit.
Assignment 01: Discussion Tool
Task 1 should be in an essay format. Your main discussion should be structured in
terms of the Rubric, “Assessing Discussion Forums” found in the Additional
Resources. Conduct your research into the theory and concepts found in the study
unit and beyond the AFL1501 study guide. (Lessons-Study Guide).
Your Task 1 discussion should be a minimum of 500 words (the more accurate
detail and in-depth your discussion, the better).
Task 1
Conservation of the self is preserving or maintaining who we are, how we organise
and adapt to our relationships and patterns of behaviour. Whenever we use
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language, we reflect who we are in terms of our own frame of reference and blue
print. This is done when we view language as a process in terms of identity of the
self, the speech situation and the process underlying the language of survival and
coordination.
Human beings are linked to each other and the world they share through language,
the symbols used to represent and describe things and events. Distinctions and
descriptions in language generate the phenomena that we observe and this should
alert us to the incredible power inherent in the human ability to use language.
Language may be used to create contexts of creativity, reconciliation, destruction,
mutual confirmation, war and so on. Maturana and Varela (1987:248)
“… every human act takes place in language”.
Look at the various South African languages.
Which languages are you familiar?
How does it reflect your linguistic environment?
Discuss your linguistic identity in terms of your linguistic
environment with reference to: “Whenever we use language, we reflect
who we are”.
For example, your linguistic background will be that which you were raised in, a
linguistic environment where you used a specific language e.g.: IsiZulu at home and
English at school. However, now you find yourself in a different linguistic
environment where you need to use Sesotho and/or Afrikaans, which may change
your linguistic environment because you now use IsiZulu at home, English at work
and Sesotho/Afrikaans with friends and colleagues socially.
Introduction: (5%)
In your introduction, share a glimpse into your linguistic background; in your
discussion – body, include responses to the following:
Body: (30%)
Which South African language/s are you familiar?
How do these languages reflect your identity and linguistic environment?
Discuss your linguistic identity and environment and how it has changed
over the course of your life, give examples.
Continue your discussion around the power of language in terms of the following
questions:
How does language support the structure of community, culture and
identity?
Can language transcend cultures and identities? For example, in a time of
crisis or emergency?