Browsing by Author "Norton Bonny"

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ICT on the Margins: Lessons for Ugandan Education
(Language and Education, 2007) Mutonyi Harriet; Norton Bonny
In this end piece, we argue that while this special issue shifts debates on the digital divide to address students’ capacity to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for productive social purposes, access to ICT remains a major challenge in countries like Uganda, in which less than 1%of the population has access to the Internet. However, since the case studies address marginalised communities in Australia, Brazil, Greece and South Africa, the findings have relevance to Uganda and other developing countries. Five lessons, in particular, are important for curriculum planning and policy development in Uganda: the need to collect empirical data on ICT access and use; the importance of recognising local differences across rural and urban communities, male and female students; the need to promote professional development of teachers so that they can make effective use of ICT in classrooms; the importance of integrating in and out-of-school digital literacy practices; and the need to consider how global software can best be adapted for local use. We conclude that if ICT is to play its part in achieving Education for All by 2015, there is an urgent need for collaborative partnerships between a wide range of stakeholders at both the local and global level.
Languaging for life: African youth talk back to HIV/AIDS research
(Language Policy, 2008) Norton Bonny; Mutonyi Harriet
In this article, we present a case study, undertaken in Uganda, in which 12 young people debated and critiqued four research articles on HIV/AIDS relevant to Ugandan youth. The rationale for the study was to provide students with the opportunity to respond to health research that had a direct bearing on their lives. It also complements applied linguistics research that has been undertaken in resourcerich countries with adult participants. In our study, we were particularly interested in the extent to which languaging (Swain in Advanced language learning: the contributions of Halliday and Vygotsky. Continuum, London, 2006) was productive for African youth engagement in policy. We argue that this research has relevance for language policy, in the sense that language policy references not only top-down policies such as the medium of instruction in schools, but also language and linguistic practices at grassroots level that have policy implications. Insights from the students, which are supported by a broad range of literature, suggest that the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa have led many communities to rethink traditional customs and social relationships, some of which have exacerbated the spread of the disease. At a more systemic level, the students recognized that gender inequities made both females and males more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, but in significantly different ways; that poverty undermines freedom of choice; and that beliefs and practices perceived to be ‘‘western’’ should be negotiated with care. These insights have important implications for policy with respect to language, health, and education.
Multimodality and English education in Ugandan schools
(English Studies in Africa, 2006) Kendrick Maureen; Jones Shelley; Mutonyi Harriet; Norton Bonny
In all societies children have many layers of representational resources Ia vailable to them. Play, movement, song, drama, language and artistic activity are but some of the modalities by which they learn to make sense of their world (Short, Kauffman and Kahn 160). The concept of multimodal ways of communicating, however, although very much in vogue in literacy studies, is not a new model within the Ugandan communities in which we work. In many parts of Uganda, indigenous knowledge and ways of communicating have been integrated into non-formal learning contexts, particularly in Freirean-based adult literacy programmes such as UPLIFTUganda (Pokorny 10-1 1) and REFLECT (Attwood, Castle and Smythe 137- 158). Within the formal school system, however, teachers are often constrained in their ability to recognize alternative or indigenous modes of representing and communicating knowledge due to a strong emphasis on examinations, teaching to the curriculum and a lack of resources and teacher training, particularly in rural areas.
‘Talk what others think you can’t talk’: HIV/AIDS clubs as peer education in Ugandan schools
(Compare, 2007) Norton Bonny; Mutonyi Harriet
The clubs will do peer education; the clubs will be a forum for affected students to share their experiences. (HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor, Ministry of Education, 4 October 2004) The clubs extend what we do in the communities. We train the leaders so that they can do peer education. (AIDS health official, 2 October 2004) In this article, we make the case that HIV/AIDS clubs in Ugandan schools provide valuable information to students who may not have easy access to health services. As one club motto suggests, the clubs ‘talk what others think you can’t talk’. The innovative peer education methods, which include drama, popular culture and community outreach all have great appeal to youth, and provide unique opportunities for female students to raise gender issues and develop leadership skills. We conclude that innovative adaptation of the Ugandan model may complement other HIV/AIDS educational programmes in Africa and beyond.