Welcome to LPRA 311

The subject group Language Practice in the School of Languages of the Faculty of Humanities in Mahikeng Campus welcomes you to this module. By means of its educational activities, the School of Languages strives towards the integration of existing and new knowledge, thereby guiding students to think in a discerning and critical manner so that they may gain knowledge and understanding of basic and applied language and literary studies and language-practice study. The ultimate aim of this is to train and educate students who can make a unique contribution to the language challenges of the developing South African society.

Teaching Policy of the North-West University

The educational policy of the North-West University emphasises the role of facilitated independent study, in which the lecturer is the facilitator and the student is an active co-worker. You will therefore have to learn to work independently. The lecturer’s function is to guide you in the learning process.

The success of any module depends on your involvement with the presentation of the material as well as your willingness to turn each opportunity into a unique learning experience.

You will be expected to:

• thoroughly prepare for the contact sessions;
• do assignments as indicated in the study guide and in class, and submit the required number of assignments for assessment;
• participate in class discussions; and
• inform the lecturer in good time if there are sections of the work that you do not understand.

Purpose of the course in Language Practice

Language practice as a subject is taught together with the other language subjects in an undergraduate course with the aim of delivering practitioners who are trained in the theory and practice of a variety of career-oriented language skills. These skills include translation, text editing, interpreting, subtitling and audio-description. The aim is to equip graduates to fulfil professional roles in a developing multilingual society. Training in the use of technological resources for language practice, particularly computer-assisted translation tools, forms an integral part of the skills-development process.

The following career possibilities exist for language practitioners:

• Translators and text editors may work for translation companies, advertising companies, the press, publishers, and the provincial and national legislatures. There are also many freelance opportunities for translators and text editors.
• Interpreters may work in government institutions such as courts, and in legislatures and community projects on a national, provincial and local level.
• The demand for people who are qualified in creating subtitles or audio-described material for television programmes and films is increasing. Such people can work freelance, or for media companies.

This is a 16-credit module and will take approximately 160 hours to complete. The following table

shows an outline of the module:

It is your responsibility to ensure that you know the dates and times of contact sessions as well as the deadlines for submission of assignments.

LPRA 211 and LPRA 221 apply as prerequisites. The other usual prerequisites for admission to language and literary studies also apply to this course.

The following are regarded as essential for a course in language practice:

• good natural language skills;
• a well-developed writing style;
• willingness to work hard; and
• good general knowledge.

Baker, M. 2011. In other words: A coursebook on translation. 2^nd edition. London: Routledge. (See http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/baker/ for the companion website.)

Munday, J. 2016. Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications. 4^th edition. London: Routledge. (See http://www.routledge.com/cw/munday-9780415584890/ for the companion website.)

Venuti, L., ed. 2012. The translation studies reader. 3^rd edition. London: Routledge.

Additional reading will be specified in the study units themselves. The lecturer will upload additional reading material on eFundi.

The NWU regards academic integrity as an integral part of all academic endeavours for both staff and students. The NWU's Policy on Academic Integrity (2018) defines academic integrity as "the adherence to ethics of honest scholarship and the ability to work independently; to give credit to the ideas of others and the re-use of one's previous work; and the submission of original research products for assessment, examination and review" (2018:4).

Accepting academic responsibilities with integrity include:

• proper understanding of the task or assignment instruction through task analysis;
• thorough planning and analysis of the assessment task;
• adequate time management towards all academic responsibilities;
• reading towards writing;
• practising academic writing skills, i.e. proper paraphrasing and correct sentence and paragraph construction;
• aligning student and lecturer expectations in terms of the desired outcome(s) of the assessment task;
• diligently completing assignments with careful consideration of the specific assessment guidelines as instructed by lecturers;
• developing the ability and confidence to seek help when needed; and,
• utilise feedback from lecturer to improve learning and the quality of future assessments.

By adopting and practising the attributes listed above, students should be able to steer clear of cheating and plagiarism. Still, more importantly, students should be able to demonstrate accountability and autonomy in their academic work.

Warning against plagiarism

Assignments are individual tasks and not group activities unless it is explicitly indicated in the instructions as a group activity.

Copying of text from other students or from other sources (for instance, the study guide, prescribed material or directly from the internet) is not allowed. You should reformulate existing text and use your own words to explain what you have read. It is not acceptable to retype the existing text and acknowledge the source in a footnote – you should be able to relate the idea or concept, without repeating the original author to the letter.  

The aim of the assignments is not the reproduction of existing material but to make sure you are able to integrate texts, add your own interpretation and/or critique of the texts and offer a creative solution to existing problems.

Be warned: Students who submit copied text will obtain a mark of zero for the assignment and disciplinary steps may be taken by the Faculty and/or University. It is also unacceptable to do someone else’s work, to lend your work to them or to make your work available to them to copy – be careful and do not make your work available to anyone!

Plagiarism forms

ENG-Group-Declaration_against_plagiarism.pdf|  AFR-Groep-Plagiaatverklaring.pdfENG-Plagiarism form.pdf  |  AFR-Plagiaatvorm.pdf

Referencing Guide

AFR-Verwysingsgids-NWU.pdfENG-reference-guide-NWU.pdf 

NWU Referella - Learn more about referencing and how it works

NWU Plagiarism Policy

NWU Library undergraduate student support: Plagiarism

NWU Libary and Information Services
NWU Library Services