4.5 English Usage/Afrikaans Usage

Another component of the B. Paed degree was the course in "English Usage" and "Afrikaans Usage". These were course that were remnants of the old language policy of the former apartheid state, which expected prospective student teachers to be proficient in the then two official languages. By the early 1990s the Afrikaans Usage course was made optional. The English Usage course originally was conceived as developing the English language communicative competence of non-first language speakers of the language. The focus of the course shifted dramatically over the years from a concentration on elocution, diction and speech to the development of critical literacy skills: an examination of the phenomena of language in promoting/impeding learning; of the sociolinguistic nature of language; about dealing with multilingualism in diverse learning contexts; about language and development of thinking skills; about the socio-political nature of language and learning. The more correct nomenclature would have been "Language and Learning".