Staff Profiles

PhD in General/Applied Linguistics, Indiana University (USA), (2002)

MA in Linguistics and English Language teaching, University of Leeds (1993)

Post Graduate Diploma in Education, University of Botswana, (1990)

BA in Humanities, University of Botswana, (1989)

Prof Mompoloki Bagwasi has been teaching in the English Department at the University of Botswana for the last 28 years. Her area of research and teaching is sociolinguistics. She has published a number of text books, book chapters and journal articles. Her articles are found in such journals as: Current Issues in Language Planning,  International Review of Educational Journal, Language Culture and Curriculum, and Issues in Political Discourse Analysis.She has taught courses in sociolinguistics, introduction to linguistics, grammar, phonetics and phonology as well as communication skills. Her teaching philosophy is based on the belief that content becomes more memorable where learners are allowed to interact and experiment with what they have learnt.  By analyzing data and participating in class debates and discussions the learning becomes more student centred and the learners turn into analytical and critical players in the process of teaching and learning. Analytical and critical students do not only learn from their teacher but have a lot to teach the teacher in terms of their own understanding of the concepts and their own personal experiences about what is taught.

In her teaching career, which spans over 27 years, Prof Bagwasi has taught thousands of students. She started  with classes of up to 150 students but in recent years, the classes have between 5 and 20 students. Her teaching areas are sociolinguistics and introductory grammar, phonetics, phonology and communication skills. She has also taught proficiency courses, the most recent was a proficiency course that the English Department offered to students from Mozambique.

Prof Bagwasi's research is mainly in the area of sociolinguistics wherein she has written journal articles and chapters as well as presented conference papers on the following topics; multilingualism, language policy, language and education, translanguaging, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. Her works are found in international journals such as Current Issues in Language Planning, Journal of Pragmatics, Language Culture and Curriculum, Alternation and Policy Futures in Education.

The dissertations that she has supervised are mostly in the area of sociolinguistics and they include;

The Discourse of Botswana Parliamentary Debates: An Analysis of Discourse Features; Strategies and Relations of Power

Teachers and Learners' Experiences of the Language in Education Policy in Namibia: A study of the Transition, Challenges and Strategies

The Use of Loanwords by Setswana Speakers in Gaborone and Tsetsebjwe

The Use of Language games in the English Language Classroom in Botswan

Bagwasi, M.M. 2019. “Are dialects markers of ethnic identity? The case of Setswana dialects and ethnic groups.” Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 56, pp56-77. DOI: 105842/56-0-790

Bagwasi, M. M. 2018. “The major educational policies, models and ideas that have influenced Botswana’s education system.” Policy Futures in Education, 17(3), 370–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210318807779

Bagwasi, M.M. 2016. “A comprehensive analysis of Setswana governance terms: Kgosi (chief) and tautona (president).” Issues in Political Discourse Analysis, 4(2), 171-180.

Bagwasi, M.M. 2014. “Englishising African cultures: Revisiting acculturated forms of English in Botswana.” Language, Culture and Curriculum, DOI:10.1080/07908318.2014.91452Bagwasi, M.M. (2012). “Linguistic struggles within and beyond the Southern African Development Community.” Current Issues in Language Planning. DO1:10.1080/14664208.2012.703991

Bagwasi, M.M. 2010. “Language and social capital in Botswana.” Monash Linguistic