Investigating the Transparency of Language for Place Value Understanding Comparing Indigenous Southern African Languages and European-based Languages
- Larkin, Kevin, Vale, Pamela, Ladel, Silke, Westaway, Lise, Graven, Mellony, Kortenkamp, Ulrich
- Authors: Larkin, Kevin , Vale, Pamela , Ladel, Silke , Westaway, Lise , Graven, Mellony , Kortenkamp, Ulrich
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482410 , vital:78648 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2024.2438452
- Description: In this article we investigate the transparency of language in learning place value in either a Southern African indigenous language (isiXhosa, Setswana, Oshiwambo or Emakhuwa) or a European-based language (Afrikaans, English, German or Portuguese). Since language is a key mediator in developing place value understanding, it is important to investigate the ways in which the transparency of various languages may impact place value learning. A review of pertinent literature and an analysis of literal translations of number words (to thousands) of our eight languages lead us to the conclusion that Southern African indigenous languages are more accessible in their meaning, in relation to place value, than the four European-based languages spoken in Southern Africa, which we analysed. We identified two key advantages in the indigenous languages: (i) there was transparency of the ‘places’ in how numbers are named; and (ii) there was logical alignment between the spoken and symbolic representation of numbers. Despite this, many Southern African learners learn mathematics in English, Afrikaans or Portuguese even though this is not their home language (L1). This means that many learners are denied access to the transparency of the place value concepts that exist in their L1 and must manage learning place value, not only in a yet to be learned ‘foreign’ language, but also in one where they must learn to decode the idiosyncratic ‘irregularities’ of the way those languages name numbers. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of these findings for the teaching of place value in Southern African classrooms, in which indigenous learners are often learning in a European-based language that is not their L1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
- Authors: Larkin, Kevin , Vale, Pamela , Ladel, Silke , Westaway, Lise , Graven, Mellony , Kortenkamp, Ulrich
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482410 , vital:78648 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2024.2438452
- Description: In this article we investigate the transparency of language in learning place value in either a Southern African indigenous language (isiXhosa, Setswana, Oshiwambo or Emakhuwa) or a European-based language (Afrikaans, English, German or Portuguese). Since language is a key mediator in developing place value understanding, it is important to investigate the ways in which the transparency of various languages may impact place value learning. A review of pertinent literature and an analysis of literal translations of number words (to thousands) of our eight languages lead us to the conclusion that Southern African indigenous languages are more accessible in their meaning, in relation to place value, than the four European-based languages spoken in Southern Africa, which we analysed. We identified two key advantages in the indigenous languages: (i) there was transparency of the ‘places’ in how numbers are named; and (ii) there was logical alignment between the spoken and symbolic representation of numbers. Despite this, many Southern African learners learn mathematics in English, Afrikaans or Portuguese even though this is not their home language (L1). This means that many learners are denied access to the transparency of the place value concepts that exist in their L1 and must manage learning place value, not only in a yet to be learned ‘foreign’ language, but also in one where they must learn to decode the idiosyncratic ‘irregularities’ of the way those languages name numbers. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of these findings for the teaching of place value in Southern African classrooms, in which indigenous learners are often learning in a European-based language that is not their L1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
The Legal and Social Context of Urban Movement, Housing, and Coping Mechanisms through Inheritance Practices amongst Women from Phokeng, Gugulethu, and Fingo Village
- Authors: Hellemann, Phemelo C
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484263 , vital:78890 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2024.2420216
- Description: South Africa’s urban restrictions in the twentieth century under colonial and apartheid administrations disenfranchised African women by limiting their mobility and access to housing. Oppressive land policies, pass laws, and patriarchal customary practices assigned low status to African women. The article uses an African feminist lens to analyse how colonial, racial, and traditional structures determined African women’s legal status in acquiring housing in urban areas. It then examines the strategies that women of Phokeng, Gugulethu, and Fingo Village used to access housing despite these restrictions. The Phokeng case examines how women navigated the dual identity of urban and rural living. The Gugulethu case shows how multigenerational living and matrilineal inheritance strategies around leasehold property empowered women to embrace female headship in the home from 1948. The Fingo Village case demonstrates the unconventional customary practices by which women could become custodians of family freehold property. These case studies demonstrate how inheritance became a mode of power and agency for African women. This African feminist comparative account adds to the literature on African women’s urban land narratives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
- Authors: Hellemann, Phemelo C
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484263 , vital:78890 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2024.2420216
- Description: South Africa’s urban restrictions in the twentieth century under colonial and apartheid administrations disenfranchised African women by limiting their mobility and access to housing. Oppressive land policies, pass laws, and patriarchal customary practices assigned low status to African women. The article uses an African feminist lens to analyse how colonial, racial, and traditional structures determined African women’s legal status in acquiring housing in urban areas. It then examines the strategies that women of Phokeng, Gugulethu, and Fingo Village used to access housing despite these restrictions. The Phokeng case examines how women navigated the dual identity of urban and rural living. The Gugulethu case shows how multigenerational living and matrilineal inheritance strategies around leasehold property empowered women to embrace female headship in the home from 1948. The Fingo Village case demonstrates the unconventional customary practices by which women could become custodians of family freehold property. These case studies demonstrate how inheritance became a mode of power and agency for African women. This African feminist comparative account adds to the literature on African women’s urban land narratives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
Refining out-of-school youth sexualities empowerment programmes using a sexual and reproductive citizenship lens: the Masizixhobise toolkit
- Macleod, Catriona I, Mthethwa, Thobile
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Mthethwa, Thobile
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/460998 , vital:76072 , https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2024.2412666
- Description: Out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes are viewed by UNFPA as important in empowering youth. These programmes may, however, be critiqued for, firstly, inadvertently equating empowerment with individual agency to the exclusion of social justice; and, secondly, using the word empowerment as a self-evident signifier. We propose that empowerment be conceptualised within a critical sexual and reproductive citizenship (CSRC) framework that draws on feminist and queer re-workings of the principles of citizenship. To operationalise this conceptualisation, we developed the Masizixhobise toolkit from the five key issues outlined in the CSRC framework. The aim of the toolkit is to aid in the design and refinement of theoretically embedded empowerment CSE programmes. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of the toolkit. To do so, we analyse the Partners in Sexual Health’s (PSH) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights facilitator’s manual. A template analysis was conducted on this manual using a priori of themes from the toolkit. We sift through the PSH manual’s alignments or misalignments with the CSRC framework and make recommendations for enhancing the empowerment components of the manual. This example may assist others in designing and refining theoretically embedded and socially just youth empowerment CSE programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Mthethwa, Thobile
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/460998 , vital:76072 , https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2024.2412666
- Description: Out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes are viewed by UNFPA as important in empowering youth. These programmes may, however, be critiqued for, firstly, inadvertently equating empowerment with individual agency to the exclusion of social justice; and, secondly, using the word empowerment as a self-evident signifier. We propose that empowerment be conceptualised within a critical sexual and reproductive citizenship (CSRC) framework that draws on feminist and queer re-workings of the principles of citizenship. To operationalise this conceptualisation, we developed the Masizixhobise toolkit from the five key issues outlined in the CSRC framework. The aim of the toolkit is to aid in the design and refinement of theoretically embedded empowerment CSE programmes. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of the toolkit. To do so, we analyse the Partners in Sexual Health’s (PSH) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights facilitator’s manual. A template analysis was conducted on this manual using a priori of themes from the toolkit. We sift through the PSH manual’s alignments or misalignments with the CSRC framework and make recommendations for enhancing the empowerment components of the manual. This example may assist others in designing and refining theoretically embedded and socially just youth empowerment CSE programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Relationship between land use and water quality in a tropical urban catchment of the Congo Basin: A case study of N'Djili River catchment
- Sani, Zouera, Katshiatshia, Haddy M, Tshimanga, Raphael M, Basamba, Twaha A, Odume, Oghenekaro N
- Authors: Sani, Zouera , Katshiatshia, Haddy M , Tshimanga, Raphael M , Basamba, Twaha A , Odume, Oghenekaro N
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484540 , vital:78931 , https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2024.080
- Description: This study focuses on N'Djili River catchment, a vital water source in Kinshasa that undergoes anthropogenic pressure and land use changes. The lower course of the river is particularly affected by uncontrolled urbanization, informal settlements, improper waste management practices, and vegetation degradation. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between land use and river water quality in this catchment. Water samples were collected for physico-chemical and bacteriological analysis from 10 sampling sites along the river course. Land use categories were determined using Sentinel-2 land cover imageries and buffer scaling techniques. A redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted to determine the relationship between land use categories and water quality variables.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Sani, Zouera , Katshiatshia, Haddy M , Tshimanga, Raphael M , Basamba, Twaha A , Odume, Oghenekaro N
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484540 , vital:78931 , https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2024.080
- Description: This study focuses on N'Djili River catchment, a vital water source in Kinshasa that undergoes anthropogenic pressure and land use changes. The lower course of the river is particularly affected by uncontrolled urbanization, informal settlements, improper waste management practices, and vegetation degradation. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between land use and river water quality in this catchment. Water samples were collected for physico-chemical and bacteriological analysis from 10 sampling sites along the river course. Land use categories were determined using Sentinel-2 land cover imageries and buffer scaling techniques. A redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted to determine the relationship between land use categories and water quality variables.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
A review of antibiotic resistance among Campylobacter species in human, animal, and water sources in South Africa: a One Health Approach
- Chibwe, Mary, Odume, Oghenekaro N, Nnadozie, Chika F
- Authors: Chibwe, Mary , Odume, Oghenekaro N , Nnadozie, Chika F
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484622 , vital:78977 , https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2022.146
- Description: Campylobacter species are among the aetiological agents responsible for 400–500 million human diarrhoea cases per annum. The risk of dissemination of antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter species between humans, animals, and the environment is anticipated, given its transmissibility through these sources. The objective of this paper is to present a situation analysis that reports the current patterns and determinants of Campylobacter antibiotic resistance in South Africa. This review applies the One Health (OH) Approach to systematically review and collate the current antibiotic resistance status among Campylobacter spp. in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Chibwe, Mary , Odume, Oghenekaro N , Nnadozie, Chika F
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484622 , vital:78977 , https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2022.146
- Description: Campylobacter species are among the aetiological agents responsible for 400–500 million human diarrhoea cases per annum. The risk of dissemination of antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter species between humans, animals, and the environment is anticipated, given its transmissibility through these sources. The objective of this paper is to present a situation analysis that reports the current patterns and determinants of Campylobacter antibiotic resistance in South Africa. This review applies the One Health (OH) Approach to systematically review and collate the current antibiotic resistance status among Campylobacter spp. in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
A scoping review of the changing landscape of doctoral education
- McKenna, Sioux, Van Schalkwyk, Susan
- Authors: McKenna, Sioux , Van Schalkwyk, Susan
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482864 , vital:78696 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2168121
- Description: A scoping review to identify models of doctoral supervision as described in the literature (2000 and 2021) was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step framework. Four bibliographic databases generated 2102 potential studies. Further screening identified 81 articles for inclusion. The findings highlight that despite differences in terminology, an international move towards more collaborative and structured approaches is identifiable. Benefits detailed in the literature include: better throughput, the mitigation of loneliness and power issues implicated in one-on-one approaches, and the possibility for a stronger research foundation and interdisciplinary work. Concerns were also noted about increasing managerialism whereby support structures focus on efficiencies rather than quality and growing ties between industry and doctoral education without much critique of possible conflicts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: McKenna, Sioux , Van Schalkwyk, Susan
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482864 , vital:78696 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2168121
- Description: A scoping review to identify models of doctoral supervision as described in the literature (2000 and 2021) was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step framework. Four bibliographic databases generated 2102 potential studies. Further screening identified 81 articles for inclusion. The findings highlight that despite differences in terminology, an international move towards more collaborative and structured approaches is identifiable. Benefits detailed in the literature include: better throughput, the mitigation of loneliness and power issues implicated in one-on-one approaches, and the possibility for a stronger research foundation and interdisciplinary work. Concerns were also noted about increasing managerialism whereby support structures focus on efficiencies rather than quality and growing ties between industry and doctoral education without much critique of possible conflicts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
A socio-political and historical perspective of linguistic prescriptivism in relation to the African languages of southern Africa
- Kaschula, Russell H, Mokapela, Sebolelo, Nkomo, Dion, Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mokapela, Sebolelo , Nkomo, Dion , Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468042 , vital:77002 , ISBN 9781003095125 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003095125-22/socio-political-historical-perspective-linguistic-prescriptivism-relation-african-languages-southern-africa-russell-kaschula-sebolelo-mokapela-dion-nkomo-bulelwa-nosilela
- Description: Major languages in southern Africa evolved from oral to the written mode within particular socio-cultural and political milieu from the eighteenth century. In the postcolonial period, some African countries established regulatory bodies, while others maintained those established during the colonial period to oversee the development and use of African languages. The quest for uniformity manifested itself in a prescriptive approach to the orthographies and grammars of southern African languages. This chapter looks at how prescriptivism emerged from those socio-political and historical processes to become a feature in the development and use of African languages in southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mokapela, Sebolelo , Nkomo, Dion , Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468042 , vital:77002 , ISBN 9781003095125 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003095125-22/socio-political-historical-perspective-linguistic-prescriptivism-relation-african-languages-southern-africa-russell-kaschula-sebolelo-mokapela-dion-nkomo-bulelwa-nosilela
- Description: Major languages in southern Africa evolved from oral to the written mode within particular socio-cultural and political milieu from the eighteenth century. In the postcolonial period, some African countries established regulatory bodies, while others maintained those established during the colonial period to oversee the development and use of African languages. The quest for uniformity manifested itself in a prescriptive approach to the orthographies and grammars of southern African languages. This chapter looks at how prescriptivism emerged from those socio-political and historical processes to become a feature in the development and use of African languages in southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Grade R Teacher Expressions of Themselves as Teachers of Early Numeracy Participating in an Intervention Programme
- Long, Roxanne, Graven, Mellony
- Authors: Long, Roxanne , Graven, Mellony
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482388 , vital:78646 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2224138
- Description: This paper explores Grade R teacher expressions of themselves as teachers of numeracy, and as teachers working in the transition phase of schooling, after their participation in a research-informed numeracy-focused professional development (PD) intervention. The Early Number Fun (ENF) programme had 33 teachers from 17 Eastern Cape schools participating monthly over 18 months. Inclusion of Grade R to schooling is relatively new following policy changes in Early Childhood Development. In-service support tends to be subsumed within the Foundation Phase without attention to the specialised nature of Grade R that emphasises learning through play. ENF focused on the development of specialised teacher knowledge to support the development of early number sense through play, particularly with conceptual manipulatives. Data sources include three pre-, during, and post-PD questionnaires. Findings reveal that participation in ENF, and access to multiple research informed numeracy resources, supported teachers in their relationship with numeracy and the teaching thereof. Questionnaire responses indicate greater confidence in themselves as knowledgeable teachers of numeracy and that belonging to the ENF community supported navigation of positive professional identities within the mixed messages of policy. The findings contribute to the community-supported field of Grade R PD research and early numeracy teaching and learning. In concluding we discuss implications of this research for Grade R PD and for policy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Long, Roxanne , Graven, Mellony
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482388 , vital:78646 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2224138
- Description: This paper explores Grade R teacher expressions of themselves as teachers of numeracy, and as teachers working in the transition phase of schooling, after their participation in a research-informed numeracy-focused professional development (PD) intervention. The Early Number Fun (ENF) programme had 33 teachers from 17 Eastern Cape schools participating monthly over 18 months. Inclusion of Grade R to schooling is relatively new following policy changes in Early Childhood Development. In-service support tends to be subsumed within the Foundation Phase without attention to the specialised nature of Grade R that emphasises learning through play. ENF focused on the development of specialised teacher knowledge to support the development of early number sense through play, particularly with conceptual manipulatives. Data sources include three pre-, during, and post-PD questionnaires. Findings reveal that participation in ENF, and access to multiple research informed numeracy resources, supported teachers in their relationship with numeracy and the teaching thereof. Questionnaire responses indicate greater confidence in themselves as knowledgeable teachers of numeracy and that belonging to the ENF community supported navigation of positive professional identities within the mixed messages of policy. The findings contribute to the community-supported field of Grade R PD research and early numeracy teaching and learning. In concluding we discuss implications of this research for Grade R PD and for policy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Invasion of rocky shores by a mytilid mussel reveals an abundant‐centre distribution coupled with moderate increases in densities at its absolute range limits
- Ma, Kevin C K, Pulfrich, Andrea, Froneman, P William, McQuaid, Christopher D
- Authors: Ma, Kevin C K , Pulfrich, Andrea , Froneman, P William , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479253 , vital:78278 , https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13260
- Description: Semimytilus patagonicus is an invasive mussel on the coast of southern Africa and has extended its range in recent years. We asked whether its distribution and abundance are consistent with the abundant‐centre hypothesis (ACH). Marginal populations were located by monitoring 33 rocky shore sites in South Africa and southern Namibia in 2021. This revealed no changes to its distributional limits since 2020. At nine of these sites, population demography was measured to allow a comparison of their densities and size structure. Four were central populations on the west coast of South Africa (including the site where the species was first detected in 2009). Four were marginal populations in South Africa: two towards the cold range edge in the north and two towards the warm range edge to the south. The ninth population was in southern Namibia, representing a recent invasion event first detected in 2014. Across the species' South African range, the distribution of its abundance was generally consistent with the ACH, with the greatest abundance at its range centre and a gradual decrease towards the range edges.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Ma, Kevin C K , Pulfrich, Andrea , Froneman, P William , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479253 , vital:78278 , https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13260
- Description: Semimytilus patagonicus is an invasive mussel on the coast of southern Africa and has extended its range in recent years. We asked whether its distribution and abundance are consistent with the abundant‐centre hypothesis (ACH). Marginal populations were located by monitoring 33 rocky shore sites in South Africa and southern Namibia in 2021. This revealed no changes to its distributional limits since 2020. At nine of these sites, population demography was measured to allow a comparison of their densities and size structure. Four were central populations on the west coast of South Africa (including the site where the species was first detected in 2009). Four were marginal populations in South Africa: two towards the cold range edge in the north and two towards the warm range edge to the south. The ninth population was in southern Namibia, representing a recent invasion event first detected in 2014. Across the species' South African range, the distribution of its abundance was generally consistent with the ACH, with the greatest abundance at its range centre and a gradual decrease towards the range edges.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Microbial Community Responses to Alterations in Historical Fire Regimes in Montane Grasslands
- Gokul, Jarishma K, Matcher, Gwynneth F, Dames, Joanna F, Nkangala, Kuhle, Gordijn, Paul J, Barker, Nigel P
- Authors: Gokul, Jarishma K , Matcher, Gwynneth F , Dames, Joanna F , Nkangala, Kuhle , Gordijn, Paul J , Barker, Nigel P
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440366 , vital:73777 , https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070818
- Description: The influence of fire regimes on soil microbial diversity in montane grasslands is a relatively unexplored area of interest. Understanding the belowground diversity is a crucial stepping-stone toward unravelling community dynamics, nutrient sequestration, and overall ecosystem stability. In this study, metabarcoding was used to unravel the impact of fire disturbance regimes on bacterial and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community structures in South African montane grasslands that have been subjected to an intermediate (up to five years) term experimental fire-return interval gradient. Bacterial communities in this study exhibited a shift in composition in soils subjected to annual and biennial fires compared to the controls, with carbon and nitrogen identified as significant potential chemical drivers of bacterial communities. Shifts in relative abundances of dominant fungal operational taxonomic units were noted, with Glomeromycota as the dominant arbuscular mycorrhiza observed across the fire-return gradient. A reduction in mycorrhizal root colonisation was also observed in frequently burnt autumnal grassland plots in this study. Furthermore, evidence of significant mutualistic interactions between bacteria and fungi that may act as drivers of the observed community structure were detected. Through this pilot study, we can show that fire regime strongly impacts bacterial and fungal communities in southern African montane grasslands, and that changes to their usually resilient structure are mediated by seasonal burn patterns, chemical drivers, and mutualistic interactions between these two groups.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Gokul, Jarishma K , Matcher, Gwynneth F , Dames, Joanna F , Nkangala, Kuhle , Gordijn, Paul J , Barker, Nigel P
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440366 , vital:73777 , https://doi.org/10.3390/d15070818
- Description: The influence of fire regimes on soil microbial diversity in montane grasslands is a relatively unexplored area of interest. Understanding the belowground diversity is a crucial stepping-stone toward unravelling community dynamics, nutrient sequestration, and overall ecosystem stability. In this study, metabarcoding was used to unravel the impact of fire disturbance regimes on bacterial and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community structures in South African montane grasslands that have been subjected to an intermediate (up to five years) term experimental fire-return interval gradient. Bacterial communities in this study exhibited a shift in composition in soils subjected to annual and biennial fires compared to the controls, with carbon and nitrogen identified as significant potential chemical drivers of bacterial communities. Shifts in relative abundances of dominant fungal operational taxonomic units were noted, with Glomeromycota as the dominant arbuscular mycorrhiza observed across the fire-return gradient. A reduction in mycorrhizal root colonisation was also observed in frequently burnt autumnal grassland plots in this study. Furthermore, evidence of significant mutualistic interactions between bacteria and fungi that may act as drivers of the observed community structure were detected. Through this pilot study, we can show that fire regime strongly impacts bacterial and fungal communities in southern African montane grasslands, and that changes to their usually resilient structure are mediated by seasonal burn patterns, chemical drivers, and mutualistic interactions between these two groups.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
SAARMSTE’s role in building and connecting Early Grade Mathematics research: A review of SAARMSTE Proceedings 2003–2022
- Graven, Mellony, Venkat, Hamsa
- Authors: Graven, Mellony , Venkat, Hamsa
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482481 , vital:78656 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2223376
- Description: This paper focuses on the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education’s (SAARMSTE’s) role as a platform supporting research dissemination and connecting researchers in early grades mathematics (EGM) in the Southern African region. A review of the Long Papers in SAARMSTE over the last 20 years supports the finding of the other review papers in this Special Issue: that there has been substantial growth of attention to EGM since 2013. However, two distinctions are marked when looking at conference papers rather than journal papers. Firstly, there is a particularly large expansion of work in the last 5 years, with a broadening base of participation in this work. Second, looking across all the formats of conference presentations indicates SAARMSTE’s role in supporting and building EGM as a key focus of research attention, and bringing together regional and international groups with interests in this area. Given that conference proceedings usually offer a broader picture of emerging interests than journal papers, we reflect on the range of foci of attention within EGM in the SAARMSTE Proceedings, and trends within this. These trends also help us to point to areas that are likely to be of key interest in the next decade.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Graven, Mellony , Venkat, Hamsa
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482481 , vital:78656 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2223376
- Description: This paper focuses on the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education’s (SAARMSTE’s) role as a platform supporting research dissemination and connecting researchers in early grades mathematics (EGM) in the Southern African region. A review of the Long Papers in SAARMSTE over the last 20 years supports the finding of the other review papers in this Special Issue: that there has been substantial growth of attention to EGM since 2013. However, two distinctions are marked when looking at conference papers rather than journal papers. Firstly, there is a particularly large expansion of work in the last 5 years, with a broadening base of participation in this work. Second, looking across all the formats of conference presentations indicates SAARMSTE’s role in supporting and building EGM as a key focus of research attention, and bringing together regional and international groups with interests in this area. Given that conference proceedings usually offer a broader picture of emerging interests than journal papers, we reflect on the range of foci of attention within EGM in the SAARMSTE Proceedings, and trends within this. These trends also help us to point to areas that are likely to be of key interest in the next decade.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Agents of Change: Journalism Education as Critical Service-Learning
- Authors: Du Toit, Jeanne E
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468250 , vital:77036 , ISBN 978-1-80071-188-4 , https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/s2055-364120220000046004/full/html
- Description: The chapter deals with a service-learning course based in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. It provides a backdrop for the case study, describing the context in which the course is based and kind of intervention that it aims to make into this context. It then maps out the theoretical framework that informs the course, explaining how this is informed by the available spectrum of approaches to service-learning. It demonstrates how the course draws on the concept of a ‘communicative ecology’, to provide itself with a language in which to reflect on the social significance of communication. The chapter then reviews the first cycle of the course which took place in 2019, drawing on insights from participants (teachers, students and community partners). It deals, firstly, with the participants’ engagement with the concept of service-learning. Secondly, it describes their experience of service-learning as a communicative process. Finally, it describes their evaluation of this process as an intervention into the local communicative ecology. It is demonstrated that service-learning enables the school to respond strategically to the need for innovative communicative practices both in their immediate environment and within the broader South African context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Du Toit, Jeanne E
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468250 , vital:77036 , ISBN 978-1-80071-188-4 , https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/s2055-364120220000046004/full/html
- Description: The chapter deals with a service-learning course based in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. It provides a backdrop for the case study, describing the context in which the course is based and kind of intervention that it aims to make into this context. It then maps out the theoretical framework that informs the course, explaining how this is informed by the available spectrum of approaches to service-learning. It demonstrates how the course draws on the concept of a ‘communicative ecology’, to provide itself with a language in which to reflect on the social significance of communication. The chapter then reviews the first cycle of the course which took place in 2019, drawing on insights from participants (teachers, students and community partners). It deals, firstly, with the participants’ engagement with the concept of service-learning. Secondly, it describes their experience of service-learning as a communicative process. Finally, it describes their evaluation of this process as an intervention into the local communicative ecology. It is demonstrated that service-learning enables the school to respond strategically to the need for innovative communicative practices both in their immediate environment and within the broader South African context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Constellations, technicality, iconisation and Eskom: A case from South Africa’s Business Day
- Siebörger, Ian, Adendorff, Ralph D
- Authors: Siebörger, Ian , Adendorff, Ralph D
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469337 , vital:77233 , https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2022.2040369
- Description: This article uses Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to explore interactions between various resources for building economic and political knowledge in a 2015 article from Business Day, a South African newspaper, concerning the country’s energy crisis. We use LCT to observe how three constellations are built in the article: a ‘developmental state’ constellation; a ‘neo-liberal’ constellation; and another underarticulated constellation that selectively draws ideas from both the preceding constellations. These constellations are built through the unfolding of the text using various linguistic resources, which we describe using SFL, including technicality and iconisation. We identify instances where words are charged with both ideational and axiological meaning concurrently, challenging existing understandings of the process of iconisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Siebörger, Ian , Adendorff, Ralph D
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469337 , vital:77233 , https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2022.2040369
- Description: This article uses Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to explore interactions between various resources for building economic and political knowledge in a 2015 article from Business Day, a South African newspaper, concerning the country’s energy crisis. We use LCT to observe how three constellations are built in the article: a ‘developmental state’ constellation; a ‘neo-liberal’ constellation; and another underarticulated constellation that selectively draws ideas from both the preceding constellations. These constellations are built through the unfolding of the text using various linguistic resources, which we describe using SFL, including technicality and iconisation. We identify instances where words are charged with both ideational and axiological meaning concurrently, challenging existing understandings of the process of iconisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Developing Relationships for Community-Based Research at Rhodes University: Values, Principles and Challenges
- Hornby, Diana, Maistry, Savathrie M
- Authors: Hornby, Diana , Maistry, Savathrie M
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433524 , vital:72981 , ISBN 978-3-030-86401-9 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86402-6_6
- Description: Post-apartheid education policy in South Africa mandates that universities should become more responsive to the socio-economic development of the country, positioning community engagement as a core function of higher education. Community engagement in all its forms, and particularly in the form of community-based research, should develop the social responsibility of both students and the institution by providing opportunities for partnering in community-based projects to promote the social good, thus narrowing the gap between universities and communities. The Community Engagement Division at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, supported by the highest level of management of the institution, was fully aware that removal of the ‘ivory tower’ image was a herculean task. Thus, they developed a set of values and principles to guide the establishment of community partnerships with the community the university serves. This chapter explains these values and principles, using the Reviving Schools community engagement initiative as an example. It discusses some of the challenges experienced and how they were overcome to build research relationships and a sense of ‘community’ between Rhodes University and its external partners in Makhanda.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Hornby, Diana , Maistry, Savathrie M
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433524 , vital:72981 , ISBN 978-3-030-86401-9 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86402-6_6
- Description: Post-apartheid education policy in South Africa mandates that universities should become more responsive to the socio-economic development of the country, positioning community engagement as a core function of higher education. Community engagement in all its forms, and particularly in the form of community-based research, should develop the social responsibility of both students and the institution by providing opportunities for partnering in community-based projects to promote the social good, thus narrowing the gap between universities and communities. The Community Engagement Division at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, supported by the highest level of management of the institution, was fully aware that removal of the ‘ivory tower’ image was a herculean task. Thus, they developed a set of values and principles to guide the establishment of community partnerships with the community the university serves. This chapter explains these values and principles, using the Reviving Schools community engagement initiative as an example. It discusses some of the challenges experienced and how they were overcome to build research relationships and a sense of ‘community’ between Rhodes University and its external partners in Makhanda.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Inter-and intra-specific trophic interactions of coastal delphinids off the eastern coast of South Africa inferred from stable isotope analysis
- Caputo, Michelle, Bouveroux, Thibaut N, Van der Bank, Megan, Cliff, Geremy, Kiszka, Jeremy J, Froneman, P William, Plön, Stephanie
- Authors: Caputo, Michelle , Bouveroux, Thibaut N , Van der Bank, Megan , Cliff, Geremy , Kiszka, Jeremy J , Froneman, P William , Plön, Stephanie
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466545 , vital:76745 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105784
- Description: Dietary tracers, such as bulk stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes, can be used to investigate the trophic interactions of marine predators, which is useful to assess their ecological roles within communities. These tracers have also been used to elucidate population structure and substructure, which is critical for the better identification of management units for these species affected by a range of threats, particularly bycatch in fishing gears. Off eastern South Africa, large populations of Indo-Pacific bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) co-occur and are thought to follow the pulses of shoaling sardines (Sardinops sagax) heading north-east in the austral winter. Here we used δ13C and δ15N to investigate the trophic interactions and define ecological units of these two species along a ≈800 km stretch of the east coast of South Africa, from Algoa Bay to the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Common and bottlenose dolphin dietary niche overlapped by 39.7% overall in our study area, with the highest overlap occurring off the Wild Coast (40.7% at Hluleka).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Caputo, Michelle , Bouveroux, Thibaut N , Van der Bank, Megan , Cliff, Geremy , Kiszka, Jeremy J , Froneman, P William , Plön, Stephanie
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466545 , vital:76745 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105784
- Description: Dietary tracers, such as bulk stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes, can be used to investigate the trophic interactions of marine predators, which is useful to assess their ecological roles within communities. These tracers have also been used to elucidate population structure and substructure, which is critical for the better identification of management units for these species affected by a range of threats, particularly bycatch in fishing gears. Off eastern South Africa, large populations of Indo-Pacific bottlenose (Tursiops aduncus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) co-occur and are thought to follow the pulses of shoaling sardines (Sardinops sagax) heading north-east in the austral winter. Here we used δ13C and δ15N to investigate the trophic interactions and define ecological units of these two species along a ≈800 km stretch of the east coast of South Africa, from Algoa Bay to the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Common and bottlenose dolphin dietary niche overlapped by 39.7% overall in our study area, with the highest overlap occurring off the Wild Coast (40.7% at Hluleka).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Liberation philology: decolonizing Classics in Africa, a native view from the South
- Van Schoor, David J, Ackah, Kofi, Okyere Asante, Michael K
- Authors: Van Schoor, David J , Ackah, Kofi , Okyere Asante, Michael K
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468479 , vital:77064 , https://doi.org/10.1093/bics/qbac005
- Description: If you were a manumitted slave, the child of a slave or de-scendant of enslaved or dispossessed people or, say, you were a member of your society’s lowest castes and you were given the opportunity to study, and perhaps even to take up scholarship as your life’s work, your vocation, what subject would you, should you elect to learn? William Sanders Scar-borough was born in slavery in the deep South of the United States. His father, Jeremiah, was libertus, a freeman. None-theless, William De Graffenreid, the owner of Scarborough’s mother Frances, magnanimously allowed Jeremiah to marry her, his property. She gave birth to her son in Macon, Geor-gia, in 1852. Scarborough would go on to become one of the first Black Hellenists in the United States. Over a productive life he was a schoolteacher, a professor at Wilberforce Uni-versity in Ohio, an early Black member of the American Philo-logical Association (the first was Richard Greener, his friend and fellow classicist), the first Black member of the Modern Languages Association, the president of Wilberforce, and a founding member of the Negro Academy and of the NAACP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Van Schoor, David J , Ackah, Kofi , Okyere Asante, Michael K
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468479 , vital:77064 , https://doi.org/10.1093/bics/qbac005
- Description: If you were a manumitted slave, the child of a slave or de-scendant of enslaved or dispossessed people or, say, you were a member of your society’s lowest castes and you were given the opportunity to study, and perhaps even to take up scholarship as your life’s work, your vocation, what subject would you, should you elect to learn? William Sanders Scar-borough was born in slavery in the deep South of the United States. His father, Jeremiah, was libertus, a freeman. None-theless, William De Graffenreid, the owner of Scarborough’s mother Frances, magnanimously allowed Jeremiah to marry her, his property. She gave birth to her son in Macon, Geor-gia, in 1852. Scarborough would go on to become one of the first Black Hellenists in the United States. Over a productive life he was a schoolteacher, a professor at Wilberforce Uni-versity in Ohio, an early Black member of the American Philo-logical Association (the first was Richard Greener, his friend and fellow classicist), the first Black member of the Modern Languages Association, the president of Wilberforce, and a founding member of the Negro Academy and of the NAACP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Measuring human capital in South Africa using a socioeconomic status human capital index approach
- Friderichs, Tamaryn J, Keeton, Gavin R, Rogan, Michael
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477962 , vital:78141 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1941779
- Description: The Human Capital Index (HCI) developed by the [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019] provides a measure which can be used to study human capital (HC) productivity gaps between countries. The HCI uses measures of survival, education and health to estimate, at a country level, the HC ‘a child born today can expect to attain by her/his 18th birthday, given the risks of poor health and poor education where she lives’ [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019, 2]. The socioeconomic disaggregated human capital index (SES-HCI), an extension of the HCI, provides a means for analysing HC inequalities within countries. This study estimates SES-HCIs for South Africa by income quintiles, school quintiles, geographical area, gender and race. The main driver of HC inequalities in all the SES indicators is found to be the quality of schooling. Factors to address the inequalities and the limitations of the measuring instruments are identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/477962 , vital:78141 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1941779
- Description: The Human Capital Index (HCI) developed by the [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019] provides a measure which can be used to study human capital (HC) productivity gaps between countries. The HCI uses measures of survival, education and health to estimate, at a country level, the HC ‘a child born today can expect to attain by her/his 18th birthday, given the risks of poor health and poor education where she lives’ [World Bank, 2018a. The human capital project. World Bank. https://hdl.handle.net/10986/30498 Accessed 26 February 2019, 2]. The socioeconomic disaggregated human capital index (SES-HCI), an extension of the HCI, provides a means for analysing HC inequalities within countries. This study estimates SES-HCIs for South Africa by income quintiles, school quintiles, geographical area, gender and race. The main driver of HC inequalities in all the SES indicators is found to be the quality of schooling. Factors to address the inequalities and the limitations of the measuring instruments are identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Shrub Detection in High-Resolution Imagery: A Comparative Study of Two Deep Learning Approaches
- James, Katherine M F, Bradshaw, Karen L
- Authors: James, Katherine M F , Bradshaw, Karen L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440326 , vital:73766 , ISBN 9783030955021 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95502-1_41
- Description: A common task in high-resolution remotely-sensed aerial imagery is the detection of particular target plant species for various ecological and agricultural applications. Although traditionally object-based image analysis approaches have been the most popular method for this task, deep learning approaches such as image patch-based convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been seen to outperform these older approaches. To a lesser extent, fully convolutional networks (FCNs) that allow for semantic segmentation of images, have also begun to be used in the broader literature. This study investigates patch-based CNNs and FCN-based segmentation for shrub detection, targeting a particular invasive shrub genus. The results show that while a patch-based CNN demonstrates strong performance on ideal image patches, the FCN outperforms this approach on real-world proposed image patches with a 52% higher object-level precision and comparable recall. This indicates that FCN-based segmentation approaches are a promising alternative to patch-based approaches, with the added advantage of not requiring any hand-tuning of a patch proposal algorithm.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: James, Katherine M F , Bradshaw, Karen L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440326 , vital:73766 , ISBN 9783030955021 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95502-1_41
- Description: A common task in high-resolution remotely-sensed aerial imagery is the detection of particular target plant species for various ecological and agricultural applications. Although traditionally object-based image analysis approaches have been the most popular method for this task, deep learning approaches such as image patch-based convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been seen to outperform these older approaches. To a lesser extent, fully convolutional networks (FCNs) that allow for semantic segmentation of images, have also begun to be used in the broader literature. This study investigates patch-based CNNs and FCN-based segmentation for shrub detection, targeting a particular invasive shrub genus. The results show that while a patch-based CNN demonstrates strong performance on ideal image patches, the FCN outperforms this approach on real-world proposed image patches with a 52% higher object-level precision and comparable recall. This indicates that FCN-based segmentation approaches are a promising alternative to patch-based approaches, with the added advantage of not requiring any hand-tuning of a patch proposal algorithm.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
An Examination of the Nexus between Environmental Knowledge and Environmental Learning Processes
- Chitsiga, Christina, Schudel, Ingrid J
- Authors: Chitsiga, Christina , Schudel, Ingrid J
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435086 , vital:73129 , ISBN 9781928502241 , https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/64082
- Description: Previous chapters in this book have discussed the complexity of environmental content (see Schudel and Lotz-Sisitka, Chapter 2; Isaacs and Olvitt, Chapter 4) and Chapter 8 (Schudel) has highlighted the significance and key elements of active and critical approaches to learning. The primary purpose of this chapter is to draw these two approaches together; that is, to explore the nexus of environmental content and environmental learning processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Chitsiga, Christina , Schudel, Ingrid J
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435086 , vital:73129 , ISBN 9781928502241 , https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/64082
- Description: Previous chapters in this book have discussed the complexity of environmental content (see Schudel and Lotz-Sisitka, Chapter 2; Isaacs and Olvitt, Chapter 4) and Chapter 8 (Schudel) has highlighted the significance and key elements of active and critical approaches to learning. The primary purpose of this chapter is to draw these two approaches together; that is, to explore the nexus of environmental content and environmental learning processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Barriers to Implementing Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Managing Small to Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs): the Case of Hogsback, Eastern Cape,SouthAfrica
- Authors: Mxunyelwa, Siyabonga
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Hogsback, South Africa Small and medium-sized enterprises Small Business Information Communication Technology (ICT) Computer File
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6031 , vital:45083 , https://www.ijicc.net/images/Vol_15/Iss_10/151057_Mxunyelwa_2021_E_R.pdf
- Description: Information Communication Technology is recognised worldwide for its contribution towardsSMTEs development and the economy. However, the level of ICT implementation as a management tool, its contribution and the extent of benefits on SMTEs is a debateable phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to the implementation of ICT within the context of small and medium tourism enterprises in Hogsback. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied in this study. Questionnaire interviews were conducted with owner/managers in Hogsback. The stratified sampling methodwas utilised to collect data. The study indicates that (46.2%) of the business respondents wereoperating the accommodation establishments. The findings of the study underscores that (25.6%) of the business owners identified the barriers of ICT appears to be high costs. Further(23.1%) stated that accessing technology was also an impediment. Moreover, the study elucidates that (94.9%) of the SMTE concur that implementation ICT as a management tool helps to meet objectives of the business for the daily operations of the business. It is therefore recommended that ICT be implemented as a management tool for small and medium tourism enterprises. Furthermore, the study recommends that the managers/owners should invest in technology to ensure the success of the SMTEs in all aspects. Furthermore, the study serves asthe basis for future studies in the area of ICT within the SMTE sector
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Mxunyelwa, Siyabonga
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Hogsback, South Africa Small and medium-sized enterprises Small Business Information Communication Technology (ICT) Computer File
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6031 , vital:45083 , https://www.ijicc.net/images/Vol_15/Iss_10/151057_Mxunyelwa_2021_E_R.pdf
- Description: Information Communication Technology is recognised worldwide for its contribution towardsSMTEs development and the economy. However, the level of ICT implementation as a management tool, its contribution and the extent of benefits on SMTEs is a debateable phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to the implementation of ICT within the context of small and medium tourism enterprises in Hogsback. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied in this study. Questionnaire interviews were conducted with owner/managers in Hogsback. The stratified sampling methodwas utilised to collect data. The study indicates that (46.2%) of the business respondents wereoperating the accommodation establishments. The findings of the study underscores that (25.6%) of the business owners identified the barriers of ICT appears to be high costs. Further(23.1%) stated that accessing technology was also an impediment. Moreover, the study elucidates that (94.9%) of the SMTE concur that implementation ICT as a management tool helps to meet objectives of the business for the daily operations of the business. It is therefore recommended that ICT be implemented as a management tool for small and medium tourism enterprises. Furthermore, the study recommends that the managers/owners should invest in technology to ensure the success of the SMTEs in all aspects. Furthermore, the study serves asthe basis for future studies in the area of ICT within the SMTE sector
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021