Objectives and strategy

Objectives and strategy

The key objective of the centre is to contribute towards: The meaningful transformation of South African society through the realisation of the national ideological principles of democratisation, equity and non-discrimination. The promotion of an awareness of the fundamental role of language in public life and in the development of public administration. The promotion of a culture of research at the University of Pretoria and the establishment of a culture of knowledge and research in the community through, for example, involving members of the communities dealt with in its projects. In order to achieve these aims, CentRePoL is working towards in the following directions : Undertaking empirical research on the politics of language in South Africa and the region and Supporting similar research elsewhere in Africa. Undertaking case studies of multilingual societies in comparable countries, especially in Africa. Promoting and undertaking inter-disciplinary co-operation on issues in the politics of language, in particular with specialists in the fields of economy, education, political science and public administration, but also between researchers and government institutions within South Africa. Providing information to policy decision-makers at institutional as well as community levels and undertaking the evaluation of existing policy, thus contributing to the development of language policy planning at national, provincial and local levels. Establishing a network of scientific co-operation in South Africa, Africa and internationally. The scientific activities CentRePoL carries out include: conducting research projects, for instance on the sociolinguistic realities of particular communities, particularly from a developmental perspective. publishing research reports, articles in scientific journals and monographs. organising workshops, seminars and conferences. undertaking awareness campaigns relating to language, for example, by providing information and teaching/learning programmes to parent-teacher communities about issues such as the language of learning and teaching and the study of the indigenous languages. effecting the co-operation of leading foreign scholars from Africa and elsewhere with South African language workers. supervising MA and PhD students registered at UP doing research on any one of the topics covered by the Centre.  
 

• Objectives and strategy
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• Staff