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SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
REGISTERED QUALIFICATION: 

Master of Arts in African Languages for Professional Contexts 
SAQA QUAL ID QUALIFICATION TITLE
24389  Master of Arts in African Languages for Professional Contexts 
ORIGINATOR
Stellenbosch University 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
CHE - Council on Higher Education  HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework 
QUALIFICATION TYPE FIELD SUBFIELD
Master's Degree  Field 04 - Communication Studies and Language  Language 
ABET BAND MINIMUM CREDITS PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL QUAL CLASS
Undefined  240  Level 8 and above  NQF Level 09  Regular-Provider-ELOAC 
REGISTRATION STATUS SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
Registered-data under construction  EXCO 0324/24  2024-07-01  2027-06-30 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2028-06-30   2031-06-30  

Registered-data under construction

The qualification content is currently being updated for the qualifications with the status “Registered-data under construction” or showing “DETAILS UNDER CONSTRUCTION” to ensure compliance with SAQA’S Policy and Criteria for the registration of qualifications and part-qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) (As amended, 2022). These qualifications are re-registered until 30 June 2027 and can legitimately be offered by the institutions to which they are registered.

 

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.  

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION 
Rationale for the qualification

The purpose of the programme is to equip students with the kind of knowledge and applied competencies in the African languages, that will enable them to have a principled understanding of the factors relevant to the successful planning, implementation and management of discourse practices for African languages in professional contexts (government, private sector, education) in relation to multilingual language policy.Given the broad purpose outlined above, the specific purposes of the programme are:

(a) to equip students with an advanced knowledge of the sub-disciplines of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse and genre analysis, and the ethnography of communication with respect to professional discourse in multilingual contexts;

(b) to enable students to integrate a wide variety of information about the planning and management of higher-function discourse practices for African languages;

(c) to equip students with a specialised understanding of the problems pertinent to the development and use of the African languages for functioning in professional contexts, and to guide students to participate in the search for innovative solutions to these problems;

(d) to establish a basis for independent investigation through a capacity for advanced theoretical thinking and the ability to select and utilise critically appropriate applied competencies for performing complex tasks and problem-solving relating to discourse practices in African languages. 

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
A three-year BA-degree with an African language as a major subject.

Recognition of Prior Learning:
See above 

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING? 
Y 

QUALIFICATION RULES 
N/A 

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES 
GENERIC/CRITICAL CROSS-FIELD OUTCOMESThe graduate will:

(a) demonstrate the ability to identify, formulate and solve problems of a theoretical or practical nature in the area of professional discourse practices;

(b) demonstrate competencies in the independent analysis, organisation and critical evaluation of information relevant to the successful planning, implementation and management of projects and policies;

(c) demonstrate the ability to develop and present arguments for communication with both subject specialists and non-specialists in the subject .

SPECIFIC OUTCOMES

The graduate will have:
(a) advanced theoretical knowledge of the pragmatics of discourse practices in African languages in professional and public contexts;

(b) familiarity with the literature on sociolinguistics, the ethnography of communication, pragmatics, and discourse and genre analysis, and its application to the African languages in relation to multilingual language policy;

(c) a principled understanding of how the use of the African languages in professional contexts encodes ideologies, values, attitudes, social identities and relationships.The graduate will be able:

(d) to interpret, analyse and construct written and spoken discourses in African languages for the purpose of both internal and external communication in institutional and organisational contexts;

(e) to relate professional discourse practices in African languages to broader issues concerning language and society and the implementation of multilingual language policy;

(f) to identify and analyse issues relevant to developing and maintaining multilingual language policy in institutional and organisational contexts in order to create a culture sensitive to discourse practices in African languages. 

ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 
  • The assessment used for this qualification complies with the stated purposes of the qualification.
  • A range of formative and summative assessments is used, but the emphasis falls on a thesis or interrelated series of assignments in which students have to display the desired outcomes. Written and oral examinations and presentations, role-playing, simulations, assignments, and case studies may also be used as instruments of assessment.
  • The appropriate kinds of assessment are used in an integrated manner to determine whether the specified outcomes have been achieved (see section 8 below).The assessment used meets the standard and level of achievement for NQF level 8a.

    Integrated assessment

    Integrated assessment is accomplished by evaluation of a series of interrelated assignments that reflect the desired outcomes. The series of assignments represent an integrated summation of the level of knowledge and insight gained by the successful student as well as his/her academic and communicative abilities 
    		•

    INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY 
    The departments involved in presenting this programme each has various areas of expertise which will be combined and co-ordinated to present a programme of international standard.Several staff members of the departments involved in presenting the programme have extensive experience in teaching and study guidance at postgraduate level within their respective areas of expertise in the broad field of language and discourse practices. 

    ARTICULATION OPTIONS 
    Vertical Articulation
  • No articulation is possible with the Honours programme (NQF level 7) in African languages in the NQF field 04 Communication Studies and Language.

    The proposed MA programme entails the study of the use of the African languages in professional contexts as the central problem statement from the four-fold perspective of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse and communication analysis. Language use in professional contexts constitutes a highly specific sub-field within the broad field of linguistics and it is characterised by a unique, delimited set of research problems.

    These unique research problems relating to the use of the African languages in professional contexts are not included in the existing Honours programme. The existing Honours programme in African languages consists of four mutually exclusive streams (options), each of which has a specific focus, namely:
    (i) literature,
    (ii) (selected sub-fields of) formal linguistics,
    (iii) language teaching, and
    (iv) (the broad field of) human communication as socio-cultural practice (see p. 130-132 of the Calendar).

    No articulation exists between the proposed MA programme and any one of the streams in the existing Honours programme in African languages.The programme gives access to the D.Litt programme (NQF level 9) in African languages in the NQF field 04 Communication Studies and Language

    Horizontal Articulation

    No articulation is possible with other programmes. The existing Master's programme in African languages represents a progression in advanced study following the Honours in African languages and entails the study of a particular research problem and the writing of an assignment or thesis about this problem. The study of the existing Master's degree therefore depends on the selection of a specific research question as progression in advanced study from one sub-field in a stream (option) in the Honours programme (see p. 132-135 of the Calendar).

    No articulation is therefore possible with the proposed MA programme which entails a wider scope of study of the use of the African languages in professional contexts from the four different but complementing sub-fields of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, discourse and communication analysis. 
    		•

    MODERATION OPTIONS 
    a) The University of Stellenbosch has a system of external peer review and evaluation of departments. One of the aspects of the system is an evaluation of the standards and assessment practices of the department. 

    CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS 
    N/A 

    REREGISTRATION HISTORY 
    As per the SAQA Board decision/s at that time, this qualification was Reregistered in 2006; 2009; 2012. 

    NOTES 
    N/A 

    LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION: 
     
    NONE 


    PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.
     
    1. Stellenbosch University 


    All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.