Investigating the linguistic effectiveness of early reading schemes in isiXhosa: a phonological and orthographical analysis of three isiXhosa Grade 1 graded reader series
- Authors: Katz, Jennifer L
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Elementary -- South Africa , Literacy -- South Africa , Xhosa language -- Readers , Native language and education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92798 , vital:30748
- Description: Literacy in South Africa is in crisis. Inadequate learning and teaching materials, extensive curriculum changes, under-resourced schools and under-qualified teachers are all contributing factors to an alarming situation. Grade 1 African language reading schemes in South Africa are failing to provide young children with the necessary and appropriate practice required to facilitate home language literacy acquisition (NEEDU 2013). A detailed analysis of three isiXhosa Grade 1 graded reader series will show the short-comings of texts translated from English with no cognisance of isiXhosa phonic structures and little appreciation for the agglutinative nature of Nguni languages. Formulating a new, effective approach to the development of African language readers to facilitate reading literacy is urgent and of national importance. The innovative phonics-based methodology, as well as an appropriate instructional level used to develop the Vula Bula Grade 1 isiXhosa readers appears to be a viable blueprint for the development of early readers that can effectively help to ameliorate current deficient literacy levels in African languages. This research thus combines applied linguistics with literacy materials development.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An investigation into the causes of disparities in literacy readiness of learners: perceptions of pre-primary teachers
- Authors: Haingura, Hildefonsia
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Early childhood education -- South Africa , Language arts (Early childhood) -- South Africa , Literacy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7854 , vital:21311
- Description: This study investigated pre-primary teachers’ perceptions of the causes of disparities in the literacy readiness of pre-primary learners. The aim was to understand the reasons that teachers ascribe to differences in literacy readiness; ways in which teachers’ understanding of the causes may relate to their practices and to learners’ literacy readiness levels. The study drew from Bernstein’s pedagogic discourse as the theoretical framing and analytical tool for engaging with the data. The participants in the study were three pre-primary teachers practising in a variety of schooling contexts. In a quest for a deeper understanding of the causes, data for the study was generated using multiple sources. Structured interviews were employed to get the teachers perceptions, while classroom observations were aimed at discovering ways in which the teachers’ points of view related to their practices in the actual classroom. An analysis of documentary evidence was carried out to understand ways in which teachers’ practices adhered to the curriculum intentions, as well as ways in which their plans and curriculum documents supported the development of the emerging literacy skills of the learners. Findings of this study indicated that teachers attributed disparities in the literacy readiness of learners to factors external to the classroom and it was found that their pedagogic practices, as a result of these perceptions, were not supportive to the development of literacy skills that are pivotal for transitioning to Grade 1. The study has implications for curriculum reform, sensitization of stakeholders and teacher training in order to ensure a solid and promising academic foundation, and consequently, a successful academic future for all pre-primary learners.
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- Date Issued: 2017
An investigation into literacy development in Grade 4 English and isiXhosa home language textbooks : a comparative study
- Authors: Fulani, Ntombekhaya Cynthia
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Progress in International Reading Literacy Study , Literacy -- South Africa , Textbooks -- South Africa -- Criticism, Textual , English language -- Study and teaching (Elementary) , Xhosa language -- Study and teaching (Elementary)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2055 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018914
- Description: The 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) painted a gloomy picture of South African literacy when South Africa came last out of 40 countries. It was from this background that my study set out to investigate two English and two isiXhosa grade 4 home language textbooks with their accompanying teachers’ guides from two publishing houses, together with the home language curriculum documents for English and Xhosa because they are an important component in literacy development. It is important to emphasise that this study examined textbooks, not how teachers mediate such textbooks in their classrooms. In other words, my focus was on the textbooks themselves, and it was primarily through textual analysis of this stable, readily available data that I have been able to compare and analyse the potential they offer learners and teachers to achieve the literacy goals prescribed by the curriculum. The study also investigated the likelihood of differential attainment for learners as a result of using these textbooks. This was done by looking at whether the textbooks were in line with the literacy outcomes for English and isiXhosa home languages. It also looked at the kind of reader/writer envisaged in the selected textbooks and the level of challenge the selected textbooks offer and how, if at all, learners are encouraged to be critical readers and writers. The findings of the study were that the English and isiXhosa textbooks of each publishing house envisaged different learners. The English textbooks envisaged a cosmopolitan learner who has greater access to academic literacy. While the isiXhosa textbooks envisaged a parochial learner who has less access to academic literacy compared to the English learner
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- Date Issued: 2015
Knowledge and knowing in the public management and public administration programmes at a comprehensive university
- Authors: Lück, Jacqueline Catherine
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Knowledge and learning , Public administration -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Knowledge, Sociology of , Learning, Psychology of , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational equalization -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Literacy -- South Africa , Technical institutes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013166
- Description: Knowledge is often tacit and under researched in educational fields. In order for student access to knowledge and its related academic discourses to be facilitated, a deep understanding needs to be gained of the form that this knowledge takes. This study interrogates the ways in which knowledge is constituted in the first year of a Public Management Diploma and a Public Administration Degree at a comprehensive university in South Africa. The study takes a social realist approach that understands reality as fact but sees our knowledge thereof as a social phenomenon. The study was concerned with knowledge structures and knower structures as it argues that these have not been adequately accounted for in the sociology of education research. But this study comes to this concern from a strongly ideological view of student reading and writing. This study calls on a social practices approach that sees literacy as embedded within specific academic discourses, which vary from context to context. It uses this ideological understanding of literacy as the orienting framework for the study of knowledge. The study takes place in a Higher Education mileu that has begun to transform from its divisive past. The transformation brought about new institutional formations such as the comprehensive university, with its mix of vocational, professional and formative programmes and varied emphasis on contextual and conceptual curriculum coherence. Increasingly, the transformation agenda also shifts concern from simply providing physical access to a previously disenfranchised majority to ensuring full participation in the context of high attrition rates in first year and low retention rates. The data was analysed using the Specialisation Codes of Legitimation Code Theory to see what was being specialised in the Diploma and Degree curricula of the Public Management and Administration fields. These fields are characterised in the literature by ongoing tensions about focus, and perceptions of there being a theoretical vacuum and an inability to deal adequately with challenges in the South African public sector. Analysis of lecturer interviews and first-year curriculum documentation showed that both the Public Management Diploma and Public Administration Degree have stronger epistemic relations (ER), with an emphasis on claims to knowledge of the world. The data showed relatively weak social relations (SR), in that there was not the valuing of a particular lens on the world or a specific disposition required for legitimation within this field. The combination of ER+ and SR- indicates that these curricula are Knowledge Codes, where legitimation is through the acquisition of a set of skills and procedures. The programmes were characterised by fairly low-level procedural knowledge, which may point to a workplace-oriented direction that is dominant in the comprehensive university. In keeping with concerns raised in the literature about this field, there was little evidence of theoretical or propositional knowledge in the Public Management Diploma and while the Public Administration Degree had some evidence of this, it was arguably not to the extent expected of a degree as described in the National Qualifications Framework. This study was limited to the first-year of the Diploma and Degree and subsequent years could present different findings. Lecturers showed awareness of student challenges with literacy practices and made concerned attempts through various interventions to address this but they were found to value the surface features of writing practices over personal engagement with the knowledge. Though the expectations of student literacy practices in tests and assignments were aligned to the ways in which knowledge was constructed in the curriculum, there was little evidence of student induction into disciplinary discourses of the field as knowledge was presented as being neutral and student writing primarily took the form of retelling objective facts. The implications of these findings could include student exclusion from higher-level academic discourse, more powerful knowledge in the workplace and, finally, constrain them from becoming producers of knowledge.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Applicability of a health literacy test from the U.S. in a South African population
- Authors: Lecoko, Motlalepule Lebogang Elizabeth
- Date: 2001 , 2013-04-29
- Subjects: Literacy , Literacy -- South Africa , Literacy -- Ability testing , Reading -- Ability testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3824 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005931 , Literacy , Literacy -- South Africa , Literacy -- Ability testing , Reading -- Ability testing
- Description: This thesis investigates the suitability and applicability of a health literacy test from the U.S. in a black, Xhosa-speaking, South African population. The concept of literacy is a controversial one which has been much debated, as it is not easy to classifY people as simply either literate or illiterate. As a result there are a number of definitions of literacy that vary with purpose and culture, but the most common one is that a person is literate if he/she can read and write. Estimating literacy from years of schooling is an inexpensive method but is also unreliable, since people generally read 3 to 5 grades below their stated educational level. This method affords little insight into the ability of patients to adequately function in a health care enviromnent, an ability which is referred to as functional health literacy. A number of health literacy tests such as the REALM (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine) test have been developed to assess this skill. The REALM test is a word recognition test which places people into a relevant grade range estimate according to the number of words pronounced correctly. It appears to assume understanding of the word if the person is able to read that word correctly. In this project 125 black Xhosa-speaking respondents of varying educational levels who were literate in English were interviewed with the aid of an interpreter. Comprehensive demographic data were collected. Respondents were first asked to read all 66 words aloud during which time pronunciation was checked, and thereafter they were asked to explain each word. It was found that the ability to automatically decode and read the words did not necessarily guarantee comprehension of these words. Many of the words proved to be unfamiliar to the majority of the Xhosa respondents who were able to pronounce them correctly, but could not explain them. These tended to be phonetically transparent words which were therefore more accessible to the unfamiliar reader. This research has proven to be of great value in helping identify such words which should be substituted with simpler words for use in health information materials. A number of words could neither be pronounced nor understood by the population majority and, interestingly, a small group of words could not be pronounced but were satisfactorily explained by some respondents. The results showed an extremely poor correlation between the stated educational level and the REALM grade range estimate. This emphasizes the inappropriateness of years of formal schooling as an indicator of functional health literacy. The criteria were established for deciding cases in which the REALM test could be applied (or succeeds) and when it is inapplicable (or fails). It was found to be inapplicable in 41% of cases which clearly indicates that, in its current form, it is not a valid, reliable test to use in determining health literacy in this English second language population. It can, however, be used as a basis fur the development of a more appropriate test. Recommendations for future research direction are presented and an alternative structure for a health literacy test is suggested. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
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- Date Issued: 2001
An investigation into the visual literacy skills of Black primary-school children from an informal settlement in Cape Town, with particular reference to visual imagery in educational textbooks
- Authors: Griffiths, Corona Gracelyn
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Textbooks Illustrations , Visual literacy , Literacy -- South Africa , Visual literacy -- South Africa , Visual communication , Black people -- Education (Primary) -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2403 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002199 , Textbooks Illustrations , Visual literacy , Literacy -- South Africa , Visual literacy -- South Africa , Visual communication , Black people -- Education (Primary) -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa
- Description: This thesis provides evidence that learning difficulties some. black primary-schoolchildren may experience with certain textbooks, can be attributed, in part, to the visual text (imagery). These difficulties were established by eliciting responses from educationally dlscfdvantaged urban black primary learners to selected examples of visual texts using the Research Interview method. To further establish if these difficulties were attributable either to poorly executed/unrecognizable visual text, or to low levels of learned educational visual literacy skills - white primary-school children were also interviewed - as it was anticipated that they would be familiar with Western pictorial material due to their consistent exposure to books from an early age. The difficulties experienced by the black interviewees were attributed mainly to their level of learned pictorial perceptual skills and to a lesser extent to poorly/inadequately illustrated visual texts. It was found from interviews with the developers of visual texts - publishing personnel and illustrators - that the former were not entirely certain e.xactly which aspects of visual text were difficult for black primary learners to comprehend, while the latter were generaUy very uncertain. The procedure for visual text development by the developers (including textbook authors), was found to be problematic due to the lack of synthesis and consultative decision making in the process- between these persons. The limited time allocated to illustrators for producing visual text, as well as their professional isolation, were found to be factors which can give rise to ineffective and inadequate visual texts. Most publishers and authors, if they trial (field-test) materials, generally do not trial the visual text. The visual text is usually decided upon ultimately by the poblishers and produced after trialling and/or consultants have examined the written text. Consequently incongruent meanings and inconsistencies can result between written and visual text, which can affect the learning effectiveness of the composite text. Trialling (field-testing) of visual and written text together, was recommended to identify and address any difficulties experienced by learners prior to final publication of the textbook. Recommendations were provided for textbook selection committees, authors, teachers, publishers and illustrators.
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- Date Issued: 1997