BOOK REVIEWSIsiNdebele Esiphezulu: A Manual of the Ndebele Language By N. P. Ndhlu-kula. Gwelo, Mambo Press in association with the Rhodesia LiteratureBureau, 1974, 278pp. Rh$l,70.The rate at which Ndebele has been developed as a school subject in its ownright, over the past two decades, replacing Zulu, is remarkable. There hasbeen a persistent spirit of determination among Ndebele sneakers that thisgoal should be attained and the results are highly commendable.The Ndebele Language Committee, formed in 1956, has been deeplyconcerned with the promotion of Ndebele literature for educational use, andthe Rhodesian Literature Bureau has taken practical steps to implement thispolicy by offering prizes to authors. Among outstanding writers who haveemerged, mention might be made especially of such names as N. S. Sigogo,P. Mahlangu, N. Sithole, A, Mzilethi and Lassie Ndondozi. Besides pure liter-ature in the form of poetry, plays and novels there has been also a need forpractical text books. In this field, Ndhlukula's recent contribution, IsiNdebele-Esiphezulu, is a particularly useful school language manual for youngNdebele speakers.It contains a wide range of material arranged in such a way as to main-tain interest throughout by varying the recipe constantly. Grammar is intro-duced in easily digestible, small but regular doses, interspersed agreeably witha great many selected passages of prose, and some poetry, drawn from a widespectrum of sources. Besides extracts from modern Ndebele literature, a fairsampling has been taken from works by leading Zulu authors (translated intoNdebele). In addition, the rich heritage of traditional Ndebele oral literaturehas not been overlooked: due attention is given to episodes from folk tales,to riddles and proverbs, and to traditions, customs and social conventions.Each lesson concludes with practical questions or exercises on the material.Attention is also given to matters such as letter writing (both formal andinformal), to the art of precis, and to practical approaches to specimen aues-tions from examination papers dealing with set books. The book has beenneatly and efficiently produced and should certainly fulfil a valuable role fora long time to come.School of Oriental and African Studies, LondonD. K. RYCROFTAssessment of English Proficiency in the African Primary School By /. E.Hofman. Salisbury, University of Rhodesia, Series in Education Occa-sional Paper No. 3, 1974, 75pp. Rh$2,00.The situation investigated by Professor Hofman is one in which Shona-speaking African children in Rhodesia are receiving their primary schooleducation through the medium of English from teachers who are non-nativespeakers of English. After a brief outline of the circumstances leading to theexisting language medium situation, Hofman sets himself the task of discover-ing the extent to which the policy of 'earlv-English-cum-universal-permeation-eum-instructional-innovation' has been effective.For purposes of this research he uses the cloze technique developed by121122BOOK REVIEWSTaylor in 1953 and which has now been accepted as an accurate measureof the integrated skills of reading and writing. It is claimed that this testreveals both comprehension and proficiency in respective and productiveskills and that it adequately covers the constituents of language performance.The test is an extremely simple one to administer. It comprises a passageof suitable level of comprehension in which every n'th word is omitted: thetestee's task is to supply the missing word or a contextually meaningfulreplacement.In the testing programme undertaken by Hofman the passages were basedon curriculum material used in schools. The tests were administered at 10African schools in the Mashonaland area and in 2 European schools in Salis-bury which were to serve as a measure of proficiency exhibited by nativespeakers. Tests for the first three grades revealed a slightly lower level of re-liability than did those above the third grade, although in all cases reliabilitywas at an acceptable level. The tests also reveal high item-total correlationswhich is an indication of their ability to elicit comparable scores. AcceptingAnderson's standards for the fixing of an independent reading level by means ofthe cloze test, Hofman found that whilst the average European children in thesamples tested, attained levels of independent reading proficiency at Standard1 (Grade 3) only the one-third above-average readers in Grades 5-7 in theAfrican schools achieved the independent reading level. There was also agreat range in individual differences within the same class. Another interest-ing finding was that whilst there were no differences between male and femalescores noted in Grades 2 and 3, the girls' norms were generally higher thanthose of the boys in Grades 4 and 5 (the middle primary school) with theopposite picture existing for Grades 6 and 7 (upper primary school).The author proffers some possible reasons for the high variability andlow levels of proficiency noted in the black groups. Amongst these are auto-matic promotion, inadequacy of teacher preparation, crowded classes, lackof reading material and insufficient motivation. His findings call into questionthe desirability of schooling for black Rhodesian children through the mediumof English from the beginning of their school careers. He raises the point thatthe initial decision to adopt this policy was based on political expediencyand opinion rather than empirical research. This is obviously an area re-quiring an early and thorough reappraisal.The tests as developed by Hofman would appear to be a reliable measureof reading and writing ability for black Rhodesian children in the primaryclasses, particularly from the third grade upwards, with the most satisfactorylevel being reached at Grades 6 and 7. These tests could with certain adapta-tions, offer an inexpensive, simple and much-needed tool for the testing ofEnglish proficiency in the skills of reading and writing amongst black primaryschool children throughout Southern Africa and enable comparisons to beundertaken between the various language groups.Hofman's assertion that reading and writing tests are sufficient evidenceof general language proficiency does receive support from such authorities asOiler and Tullins, but it is one which cannot boast general acceptance. Noconclusive evidence has been advanced supporting the contention that theability to read and write a second language presupposes verbal and listeningfluency in that language. On the contrary, it is a common phenomenon inblack schools to find that because of the teaching methods adopted and theabsence of teachers who are native speakers of English, the skills of listeningand speaking tend to be neglected whilst those of reading and writing arepromoted. Darnell's development on the cloze procedure which he has namedClozentropy, whilst retaining the tests in their simple form and still allowingBOOK REVIEWS123for easy administration, does provide the research worker with a highly re-fined scoring procedure which the author might well be able to utilize infurther research in this field.University of Natal, PietermaritzburgJ. M. Z. MICHAURhodesia's Pioneer Women (1859-1896) Compiled by /Ł M. Lloyd, revisedand enlarged by C. Parry. Bulawayo, The Rhodesia Pioneers' and EarlySettlers' Society, 1974, 105pp., no price indicated.Profiles of Rhodesia's Women Salisbury, National Federation of Business andProfessional Women of Rhodesia," 1976, 176 pp., illustrated, Rh$5,5O.The first of these books is a new edition, enlarged by some 360 entries, of theoriginal edition of 1960. In all there are some 1 100 entries for women whoentered Southern Rhodesia, mainly, of course, in the years 1892-6. The sec-ond book, published to mark International Women's Year 1975, is also anew edition, in effect, of the National Council of Women's publication in1953, Women of Central Africa, which celebrated those who had made theirmark in the first half of the century. The book contains entries of a hundredor so women lately prominent in Rhodesian life and also describes the mainwomen's organisations. Neither book aims at being more than a biographicalrecord, but the diversity of activities described in passing does throw somelight on a situation in which 36 per cent of married European womenaie now actively employed economically.R.S.R.Agricultural Research and Development in Southern Rhodesia, 1924-1950By H. Weinmann. Salisbury. University of Rhodesia. Series in ScienceOccasional Paper No. 2, 1975, 240pp., 29 Tables, Rh$5,00.This is the second volume by Dr Weinmann on this subject; the first coveredthe period 1890-1923 and was published in 1972 as a University of RhodesiaOccasional Paper.Together these two volumes provide a detailed factual and chronologicalrecord of technical development in Rhodesia's agriculture. For this reasonthey can be described as histories but they will be more valuable as a sourceof information for the practising agricultural scientist or student; the his-torian will not find enough speculation or opinion on the causes, effects orimportance of the various technical achievements described, to permit extra-polation in social or political terms and will therefore not be as interested.Dr Weinmann's description of Rhodesia's agricultural development from1890-1923 left me with three main impressions. First, the surprising fact thatin spite of the great disparity in age between European and Rhodesian agri-culture, research in agriculture was started in Rhodesia less than 60 yearsafter its beginnings in Europe. What appears to be the main reason for theearly initiation of agricultural research locally, makes the second impression,namely that as early as the turn of the century it was realised that mineralwealth would not, after all, be the draw card and that settlers would have tobe attracted by the country's agricultural potential. The third impression is