(Published - 17 October 2018)
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) congratulates Professor Zannie Bock for being nominated for the HELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa) National Teaching Excellence Commendation.
Earlier this year Professor Bock was awarded the UWC Excellent Lecturer Award at the Academic Achievers’ Awards function held in April 2018.
Individuals who received commendations are deemed to have made significant contributions to university teaching and learning, and to be able to share their philosophy, insights and innovative ideas with academics across the sector. Every year National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards are presented by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and HELTASA. The prestigious event recognises the importance of excellent teaching at universities.
Zannie Bock is Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department at UWC where she has worked for the past twenty years. She focuses largely on the department’s robust first-year programme. She is the co-editor of Language, Society and Communication: An Introduction - the first southern African textbook in the field of linguistics.
Additional foci of Professor Bock’s are undergraduate and postgraduate modules which develop students’ abilities to critically analyse text, and her mentorship of postgraduate students as both student researchers and tutors. She considers the dialectic between her teaching and research to be a defining characteristic of her practice, and her current research publications include work on narrative and discourse analysis, with a focus on racialising discourses among university students and emerging styles in youth instant messaging chats.
Her earlier publications include discourse analyses of testimonies given before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She also has a long-standing interest in adult education, curriculum and materials development, and worked in the adult basic education sector for seven years before joining UWC.
“We are delighted that Prof Zannie Bock has received a Teaching Excellence nomination from HELTASA. This is indicative of how seriously we take excellence in learning at UWC. Prof Bock’s innovative approach to teaching sets her apart and it is evident from her teaching portfolio how mindful she is of the success of her students, ” said UWC Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, Professor Vivienne Lawack.
