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Some reading problems encountered by Ciskeian second language English readers in subject content areas, with special reference to geography at the Standard Six level

  • Authors: Pillay, Lionel Franklin
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Content area reading , Language arts -- Correlation with content subjects , Language and education , Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1368 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001434
  • Description: Since in our educational system a great deal of learning is supposedly dependant upon a child's ability to read and assimilate information from textbooks, this study investigated what reading skills are required by a second language reader of English to read textbooks with comprehension and understanding in relation to the reading skills of a competent reader and how Ciskeian Standard 6 pupils perform in relation to a Geography text prescribed at that level. A test, designed to measure eight reading comprehension skills, was given to a sample of 250 children from four schools in Zwelitsha, Ciskei, to establish whether the subjects are able to: a) give the literal meaning of words; b) derive the appropriate meaning of an ambiguous word from the context in which it appears; c) find answers to questions by making direct reference to the text; d) identify the major points and details in a text; e) use the information in the text to predict what the writer is going to talk about next; f) find the referent for anaphoric terms; g) use discourse markers to predict information/meaning to come, and see the relationships between what they have just read and what they are about to read; h) activate and use the background knowledge and schemata that they have to understand the text topic.The results of this study indicate that these children are: a) unfamiliar with the structure of expository texts; b) linguistically bound to a text and that they fail to use linguistic and contextual clues even when they are explicit in the text. The study also shows that the ability to make inferences and predictions is determined to a large extent by the prior knowledge and background experience that a pupil brings with him to the text and by his ability to activate that background knowledge. The findings suggest that in the English classroom, in an English as a second language (L2) medium situation, the L2 teacher has a responsibility to prepare the child for the study, which includes reading, writing, listening and speaking, of all subjects across the curriculum through the second language, which is the medium of instruction
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Equilibrium, expectations and information : a study of the general theory, the neo-classical synthesis and modern classical macroeconomics

  • Authors: Torr, Christopher
  • Date: 1984
  • Subjects: Macroeconomics Equilibrium (Economics) Economics
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1035 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004515
  • Description: From Introduction: It is now nearly 50 years since the appearance of Keynes's General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and the stream of articles and books on what Keynes really meant or didn't mean shows no sign of abating. In part, this dissertation is a contribution to this voluminous literature, but what follows is hardly an attempt to provide an exhaustive interpretation. Instead the General Theory is examined from a certain angle, with the title "Equilibrium, Expectations and Information" providing the framework for the investigation. That the title has been borrowed from G.B. Richdrdson's 1959 Economic Journal article is no accident. Richardson's work has been unduly neglected and his trichotomy serves as a convenient platform from which to analyse Keynes's method and those of his interpreters, in particular the approaches stemming from the work of Clower and Leijonhufvud. The information structure of the Walrasian type of general equilibrium model is also examined as the latter forms the basis of both the neo-classical interpretation of Keynes's contribution and the rational expectations approach that will be discussed. Finally Richardson's framework is applied in an analysis of two modern classical schools of thought, namely the rational expectations approach headed by Lucas, and the neoRicardian school amongst which Garegnani, Eatwell and Milgate, for example, are prominent. In a sentence, therefore, what follows is an examination of the General Theory and certain interpretations thereof as well as an analysis of modern classical macroeconomics, with the equilibrium-expectations-information framework providing the unifying theme. As will become apparent, the framework does not consist of three watertight compartments. For example, whether a system is in equilibrium or not will depend on whether the expectations of those who have the ablility to effect change are realised. The specification of which agents have this power will depend on the information with which the model builder endows the agents in the model. In discussing this, attention is drawn to Keynes's important distinction between an entrepreneur economy and a cooperative economy. The distinction between the information available to the model builder and that with which he endows the agents in the model is also emphasized.
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The recording, retrieval and analysis of some electrophysiological measures relevant to psychology

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