UWM's Du Plessis Provides Online Tool for Learning Less Common Languages
Jacques du Plessis
Assistant Professor Jacques du Plessis is making it easier for people to learn a less commonly taught language with an innovative web site that he created, Learn Afrikaans Online (www.afrikaans.us), which has been up and running for a year.
Du Plessis, whose native language is Afrikaans, has 15 years of experience teaching the South African language. His self-guided, comprehensive, multimedia site will allow learners to reach an intermediate level of the language.
But more importantly, he thinks he may have hit upon an online model that could allow UWM students to learn less studied languages, such as Lao or Hmong, without the travel or even a textbook. And he currently is developing a “challenge exam,” which would test for proficiency levels and possibly award UWM credit. This would also allow students from other universities to study the language.
Before arriving at UWM in 2002, du Plessis taught language acquisition at Brigham Young University. He adapted the nontraditional language instruction methods outlined in one of his two textbooks to an e-learning format. He teaches instructional and information technology in the School of Information Studies.
His motivation was simple: He had many years of resources to offer and wanted to make the information available to people who would not otherwise be able to access or afford language instruction. But the site also makes cultural literacy accessible.
“This could be a prime site for elementary and high school students to learn about other cultures,” he said.
Learn Afrikaans Online guides the student through four basic areas: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and culture. Du Plessis incorporates various approaches and activities to learning the language, including:
- listening to music sung in Afrikaans by several popular artists, including pieces by his mother, an accomplished opera singer in South Africa
- listening to short stories and poetry while following the text simultaneously
- participating in online discussions with other learners around the world
- using a Learner’s Network which allows speakers with high Afrikaans proficiency levels to serve as mentors to beginning learners.
“I can give you things here that you can’t get in a traditional classroom,” du Plessis said. “For optimal results, I believe that both the foreign language teacher and the Internet need each other. They are both great in their own right.”
In the future, he hopes to make the site more efficient and self-sustaining by nurturing interaction between members of the learning community and by creating an archive of common questions and answers that students encounter when learning the language.
With additional funding, du Plessis would like to add features to the site such as:
- allowing learners to keep track of their progress
- recruiting students from South African high schools and universities to volunteer as pen pals
- including more original material from South African popular culture
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URL: http://www.uwm.edu/News/Features/06.03/Afrikaans_Online.html
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