Johannes Sibeko

Johannes Sibeko is a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. He has been with Nelson Mandela University since July 2019. He currently teaches in the English Communication modules offered by the Department as service modules to other Faculties. Prior to joining the University, he was a high school teacher where he taught English as a first additional language and Sesotho as a home language. His research interests stemmed from his teaching experiences and include multilingualism (translanguaging and signage in particular), the assessment of creative writing, linguistic complexity and text readability.

He is currently enrolled for his PhD studies with North West University. His PhD project is an interdisciplinary project drawing from linguistics and digital humanities. The end goal of his project is the development of a metric for measuring Sesotho text readability.

Amongst other things, he is part of the Faculty of Humanities Learning and Teaching committee and Digital Humanities Hub, a member of the Digital Humanities Association of South Africa, a member of the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society. Furthermore, he has been involved in the Nelson Mandela University Humanities Faculty strategic planning in the year 2022. He also participates in the re-curriculation activities at Departmental, and School level.

He has recently been invited as a program committee member for the third Resources for African Indigenous Languages workshop 2022 that is co-located with the South African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP) 2022.

 

Qualificationsn

Master of Arts in Applied Language Studies [North West University, Vaal Triangle], Honours in Language Practice [North West University, Vaal Triangle], Bachelor of Arts in Language Practice [North West University, Vaal Triangle], and Post-Graduate Certificate in Education [UniSA]. Current: Doctor of Philosophy [North West University, Potchefstroom].

 

RESEARCH OUTPUT

Journal Publications

• Sibeko, J., 2021. A comparative analysis of grade 12 English home language and English first additional language linguistic complexity. Per Linguam, 37(2): 50-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.5785/37-2-97
• Sibeko, J., 2020. An evaluation of the assessment of creative writing essays in the Further Education and Training band. Journal for Language Teaching, 54(1): 151-173. https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.4314/jlt.v54i1.3
• Sibeko, J., 2017. A bilingual English-Sesotho rubric explanation guide for the marking of Sesotho home language creative writing essays. Journal for Language Teaching= Ijenali Yekufundzisa Lulwimi= Tydskrif vir Taalonderrig, 51(1), pp.69-93. Available at: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jlt/article/view/210007
• Sibeko, J., 2016. The use of rubrics and correction codes in the marking of Grade 10 Sesotho home language creative writing essays (Masters dissertation, North-West University (South Africa), Vaal Triangle Campus). Available at: https://repository.nwu.ac.za/handle/10394/18422

Conference papers

• Sibeko, J. and van Zaanen. 2022. Developing a text readability system for Sesotho based on classical readability metrics. Digital Humanities DH2022 conference: Responding to Asian Diversity. July, 25 – 29, 2022. University of Tokyo, Japan. [Short paper]. pp. 571 – 572. see https://dh2022.dhii.asia/dh2022bookofabsts.pdf
• Sibeko, J. and van Zaanen M. 2021. An analysis of readability metrics on English exam texts. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa 2021. November 29 – December 03. Virtual Conference. [Full Paper]. Abstract available at: https://dh2021.digitalhumanities.org.za/home/proceedings-and-book-of-abstracts/
• Sibeko, J. 2016. Synthesising teachers’ understanding of the current rubric used for marking Grade 10 Sesotho home language creative writing essays. University of the Witwatersrand International Language and Literacy Conference. [unpublished Full Paper]. Available at: https://publons.com/publon/50167877/
• Sibeko, J. 2016. Teachers’ perspectives on the markers of creativity in Sesotho Home Language essay writing. The Linguistics Society of Southern Africa (LSSA)/ Southern African Applied Linguistics Association (SAALA)/ South African Association for Language Teaching (SAALT) Conference 2016. [unpublished Full Paper]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355842254_Teachers'_perspectives_on_markers_of_creativity_in_Sesotho_Home_Language_essay_writing

Basic Language Resource Kits (BLaRKs)

• Sibeko, J. and van Zaanen, M. 2022. Sesotho syllabification systems. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://repo.sadilar.org/handle/20.500.12185/556
• Sibeko, J. and van Zaanen, M. 2022. Sesotho syllabification wordlist. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://repo.sadilar.org/handle/20.500.12185/555

Under consideration

• Sibeko, J. 2022. Tshebediso ya melao kabong ya dinoko tsa Sesotho.
• Sibeko, J. 2022. Investigating the Sesotho passive for linguistic complexity analysis.
• Sibeko, J. and Setaka, M. 2022. Overviewing Sesotho BLARK content.

Special Achievements

• Best Paper – Conference of the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa 2021.

Bursaries and Grants

• NRF nGAP Proposal development grant: 2021 - 2022 [Grant number: 128875].

He has reviewed for the following

• DH Unbound 2022 (The Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) and the Canadian Society for Digital Humanities)
• Understanding and Processing Language in Complex Settings (North West University)
• Department of linguistics and Applied Linguistics (Nelson Mandela University)
• Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society
• Department of languages (North West University)

Postgraduate Supervision

• Investigation of translation equivalence between English ST and Northern Sotho TT Law related terminology [Master of Arts Dissertation, commencing 2022]. Nelson Mandela University.

Current Projects

• Compilation of corpus on Grade 12 Reading Comprehension and Summary writing texts in South African Official Languages
• Development of a cross-lingual Sotho language group syllabification system
• Development of a regression model for the measurement of text readability in Sesotho