Investigating grade R teacher institutional identity presented in policy and expressed through narrative in a time of transition
- Authors: Long, Roxanne
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Early childhood education -- South Africa , Early childhood education -- Government policy -- South Africa , Child development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/171346 , vital:42051 , 10.21504/10962/171346
- Description: This study investigated Grade R (reception year) teacher institutional identity presented in policy and expressed through teacher narratives. The study was conducted in the context of a major national policy transition that involved the physical and contextual shift of Grade R out of the Early Childhood Development sector and into the formal schooling sector. This study highlighted the way in which this shift has resulted in mixed policy messages, which have implications for Grade R teachers’ institutional identities and learning trajectories across their landscapes of practice. The thesis begins by exploring the South African Education context in general as well as the Early Childhood Development context in particular. In order to understand the institutional identities of Grade R teachers as both storied by others (in policy) and by themselves, the study conducted a documentary analysis of policy relating to Grade R teachers and Grade R teacher narrative expressions of their identities. The methodological approach of the study involved a qualitative approach, drawing on grounded theory analytical techniques to closely examine policy documents and teacher generated data gathered through interviews and questionnaires. The study was guided by a sociocultural perspective and drew on three key sociocultural theorists whose work provided complementary perspectives on teacher identity. Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) operationalization of identity as narratives was used to define the unit of analysis for the study (i.e. identities as stories). Gee’s (2000) definition and conceptualization of institutional identity was supplemented with Wenger-Trayner, Fenton-O'Creevy, Hutchinson, Kubiak, and Wenger-Trayner’s (2015) notion of identity as journeying across landscapes of practice. This complementary framing allowed for focused and detailed analysis of policy documents and Grade R teacher identity stories. The study addresses the research gap of an under-representation of identity research in early childhood teacher education and particularly in the South African context. This study is significant as it is the first study of its kind to explore the importance of identity formation for Grade R teachers as newcomers to the formal schooling landscape. Findings from the policy analysis point to mixed messages moving across a spectrum of descriptors from the not yet qualified ‘mothers and ‘caregivers’ to qualified ‘specialised’ educators. These descriptors have implications for the differentiated roles and responsibilities (institutional identity) of Grade R teachers. The findings from teacher identity narratives highlighted tension in the navigation of the policy promoted institutional identities. Teacher narratives pointed to vastly contrasting experiences of teachers with specialised and qualified institutional teacher identities to those with not yet qualified institutional identities. For the former, there were high levels of confidence in their job security and in terms of recognition received from others. For the latter, however, there was vulnerability in terms of the stability of their jobs and remuneration as well as low levels of recognition from others. The study draws on the findings from the analysis to suggest recommendations for Grade R policy, Grade R teacher education (both inservice and pre-service); as well as Grade R professional development initiatives.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Long, Roxanne
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Early childhood education -- South Africa , Early childhood education -- Government policy -- South Africa , Child development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/171346 , vital:42051 , 10.21504/10962/171346
- Description: This study investigated Grade R (reception year) teacher institutional identity presented in policy and expressed through teacher narratives. The study was conducted in the context of a major national policy transition that involved the physical and contextual shift of Grade R out of the Early Childhood Development sector and into the formal schooling sector. This study highlighted the way in which this shift has resulted in mixed policy messages, which have implications for Grade R teachers’ institutional identities and learning trajectories across their landscapes of practice. The thesis begins by exploring the South African Education context in general as well as the Early Childhood Development context in particular. In order to understand the institutional identities of Grade R teachers as both storied by others (in policy) and by themselves, the study conducted a documentary analysis of policy relating to Grade R teachers and Grade R teacher narrative expressions of their identities. The methodological approach of the study involved a qualitative approach, drawing on grounded theory analytical techniques to closely examine policy documents and teacher generated data gathered through interviews and questionnaires. The study was guided by a sociocultural perspective and drew on three key sociocultural theorists whose work provided complementary perspectives on teacher identity. Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) operationalization of identity as narratives was used to define the unit of analysis for the study (i.e. identities as stories). Gee’s (2000) definition and conceptualization of institutional identity was supplemented with Wenger-Trayner, Fenton-O'Creevy, Hutchinson, Kubiak, and Wenger-Trayner’s (2015) notion of identity as journeying across landscapes of practice. This complementary framing allowed for focused and detailed analysis of policy documents and Grade R teacher identity stories. The study addresses the research gap of an under-representation of identity research in early childhood teacher education and particularly in the South African context. This study is significant as it is the first study of its kind to explore the importance of identity formation for Grade R teachers as newcomers to the formal schooling landscape. Findings from the policy analysis point to mixed messages moving across a spectrum of descriptors from the not yet qualified ‘mothers and ‘caregivers’ to qualified ‘specialised’ educators. These descriptors have implications for the differentiated roles and responsibilities (institutional identity) of Grade R teachers. The findings from teacher identity narratives highlighted tension in the navigation of the policy promoted institutional identities. Teacher narratives pointed to vastly contrasting experiences of teachers with specialised and qualified institutional teacher identities to those with not yet qualified institutional identities. For the former, there were high levels of confidence in their job security and in terms of recognition received from others. For the latter, however, there was vulnerability in terms of the stability of their jobs and remuneration as well as low levels of recognition from others. The study draws on the findings from the analysis to suggest recommendations for Grade R policy, Grade R teacher education (both inservice and pre-service); as well as Grade R professional development initiatives.
- Full Text:
The place of language in supporting children’s mathematical development: two Grade 4 teachers’ use of classroom talk
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Robertson, Sally-Ann, 1952-
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Mathematics Study and teaching (Elementary) South Africa , Multilingual education South Africa , Language and education South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Language policy South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62072 , vital:28104
- Description: Measures of mathematics achievement (documented locally, and in internationally comparative terms) have shown that South African learners whose first language (L1) is different from their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) are at a significant disadvantage, most particularly learners from vulnerable or marginalised communities. This transdisciplinary case study looks at two experienced Grade 4 teachers’ mathematics classroom talk practices. It is situated within a second language (L2) teaching/learning context in which teachers and learners share the same first language, but mathematics learning and teaching takes place officially through an L2 (English). The study is located within a qualitative and interpretive framework. It brings together insights from a range of distinct but complementary theoretical disciplines in its analysis of the empirical classroom observation and interview data. Its theoretical framing derives initially from professional literature relating to L2 teaching and learning. This is then embedded within a broader theoretical frame deriving from the work of Vygotsky, Bernstein and Halliday, each of whom has focussed on the centrality of language to the teaching/ learning process, as well as contributed to a heightened appreciation of socio-cultural influences on learners’ meaning-making processes. The study illuminates some of the linguistic challenges to L2 children’s maximal participation in the learning of school mathematics. It points too to the significant challenge many South African mathematics teachers face in trying to meet curriculum coverage and pacing demands, while simultaneously facilitating their learners’ ongoing induction – in and through L2 predominantly – into mathematically-appropriate discourse. Grade 4 is a year in which such challenges are often more acutely felt. Independently of the transition across to an L2 for the majority of South African learners, this is the year also where - relative to the foundation phase years - learners encounter an expansion of knowledge areas and more specialised academic text. Many learners struggle to adjust to these higher conceptual and linguistic demands, often leading to what has been termed a ‘fourth-grade slump’. The study highlights the need for more sustained and proactive challenging of perceptions that English as LoLT is the obvious route to educational - and subsequent economic - opportunity. Recognition of the consequences deriving from the choice of English as the main LoLT for mathematics teaching and learning could help counterbalance deficit discourses implicating poor teaching as a major contributor to South Africa’s poor mathematics education outcomes. The study highlights further that, if language is genuinely to be used as the ‘tool’ for learning it is claimed to be, synergistic opportunities for the dovetailing of insights into L2 learners’ literacy/ numeracy development require further exploration. It points to the need for ongoing professional development support for teachers of mathematics (at both pre- and in-service levels) that focuses on broadening and deepening their understandings around the linguistic, and hence epistemological, consequences of learning mathematics through an L2. Expanding mathematics teachers’ repertoires of strategies for supporting learners’ developing cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in mathematics (in both L1 and L2) would involve a conception of ‘academic language’ in mathematics which goes beyond a constrained interpretation of ‘legitimate’ mathematical text as that which is in texts such as curriculum documents and text books. Especially important here are strategies which foreground the value of classroom talk in assisting L2 children towards becoming more confident, competent and explorative bilingual learners, and thereby, more active agents of their own mathematical meaning-making processes. The study argues that such meaning-making processes would be further strengthened were additive bilingualism (in place of current predominantly subtractive practices) to be genuinely taken up as core to any teaching and learning of mathematics in contexts such as those described in this case study.
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The emergence and expression of teachers’ identities in teaching foundation phase mathematics
- Authors: Westaway, Lise
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7000 , vital:21208
- Description: The assertion that learner performance in South African schools is in crisis may be cliched but it is certainly true. The majority of learners in the schooling system are not achieving the required outcomes, particularly in language and mathematics. I use the underperformance of learners in mathematics as the impetus for my research which seeks to understand how teachers’ identities emerge and are expressed in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. The research contributes to an emerging scholarship that strives to explain underperformance and quality in mathematics classrooms beyond structuralist theorising. Recently research, particularly in South Africa, has begun to look more closely at who the teacher is and how the teacher is key in understanding what happens in the mathematics classroom. This emerging scholarship focuses on teacher identities. Research that foregrounds teacher identities within the field of mathematics education tends to be situated within a social constructionist orientation, which assumes that our knowledge of self and the world comes from our interactions with people and not some ‘objective’ reality (Berger & Luckman, 1966). Such a perspective appears to conflate questions of how we know something with what is. In other words, it elides structure and agency, thereby making research that seeks to examine the interplay between the two in the formation and expression of teachers’ identities, practically impossible. It is for this reason, as well as the need to move beyond the hermeneutic, that my research draws on Margaret Archer’s (1995, 1996, 2000) social realist framework. Social realism posits a relativist epistemology but a realist ontology. It is underpinned by the notion of a stratified reality with structural mechanisms giving rise to events in the world whether we experience them or not. It is only through the (inter)actions of persons that such mechanisms have the tendential power to constrain or enable the projects of persons. As such, my research seeks to identify the structural and agential mechanisms that give rise to teachers’ identities and how these identities are expressed in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. In my research, teacher identity refers to the manner in which teachers express their social roles as teachers. In the research I use a case study methodology. I provide rich data on four isiXhosa teachers teaching in low socio-economic status schools. This data is gleaned through interviews and classroom based observations which were recorded as field notes and video transcripts. Analysis of the data occurs through the thought processes of abduction and retroduction (Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen, & Karlsson, 2002). These thought process enable me to (re)describe and (re)contextualise the object of study. Through the process of asking transfactual questions I identify the structural, cultural and agential mechanisms giving rise to teachers’ identities and their expression in teaching foundation phase mathematics. There are three significant findings in my research. Firstly, research that attempts to understand the emergence and expression of teacher identities should consider their broad contextual realities. The historical, economic, social and political contexts in which the teachers are born and live, influences their sense of self, personal identities and social identities (teacher identities) and as such, influences their decision to become teachers and how they express their roles as teachers of Foundation Phase mathematics. Secondly, my research suggests that teachers’ mode of reflexivity is key to understanding the decisions that they make in the classroom and how they deal with the structures that condition the manner in which they express their roles as teachers. Thirdly, collective agency is necessary to bring about change in the way in which teachers express their roles in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. My research produces new knowledge by examining the interplay of structure, culture and agency in the constitution of foundation phase teachers’ identities and their expression in teaching foundation phase mathematics. I use a social realist orientation to examine this interplay and provide an understanding of the mechanisms giving rise to the phenomenon under consideration. In this way I contribute to the extensive research on learner underperformance by focusing more explicitly on who the teacher is in the classroom.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Westaway, Lise
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7000 , vital:21208
- Description: The assertion that learner performance in South African schools is in crisis may be cliched but it is certainly true. The majority of learners in the schooling system are not achieving the required outcomes, particularly in language and mathematics. I use the underperformance of learners in mathematics as the impetus for my research which seeks to understand how teachers’ identities emerge and are expressed in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. The research contributes to an emerging scholarship that strives to explain underperformance and quality in mathematics classrooms beyond structuralist theorising. Recently research, particularly in South Africa, has begun to look more closely at who the teacher is and how the teacher is key in understanding what happens in the mathematics classroom. This emerging scholarship focuses on teacher identities. Research that foregrounds teacher identities within the field of mathematics education tends to be situated within a social constructionist orientation, which assumes that our knowledge of self and the world comes from our interactions with people and not some ‘objective’ reality (Berger & Luckman, 1966). Such a perspective appears to conflate questions of how we know something with what is. In other words, it elides structure and agency, thereby making research that seeks to examine the interplay between the two in the formation and expression of teachers’ identities, practically impossible. It is for this reason, as well as the need to move beyond the hermeneutic, that my research draws on Margaret Archer’s (1995, 1996, 2000) social realist framework. Social realism posits a relativist epistemology but a realist ontology. It is underpinned by the notion of a stratified reality with structural mechanisms giving rise to events in the world whether we experience them or not. It is only through the (inter)actions of persons that such mechanisms have the tendential power to constrain or enable the projects of persons. As such, my research seeks to identify the structural and agential mechanisms that give rise to teachers’ identities and how these identities are expressed in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. In my research, teacher identity refers to the manner in which teachers express their social roles as teachers. In the research I use a case study methodology. I provide rich data on four isiXhosa teachers teaching in low socio-economic status schools. This data is gleaned through interviews and classroom based observations which were recorded as field notes and video transcripts. Analysis of the data occurs through the thought processes of abduction and retroduction (Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen, & Karlsson, 2002). These thought process enable me to (re)describe and (re)contextualise the object of study. Through the process of asking transfactual questions I identify the structural, cultural and agential mechanisms giving rise to teachers’ identities and their expression in teaching foundation phase mathematics. There are three significant findings in my research. Firstly, research that attempts to understand the emergence and expression of teacher identities should consider their broad contextual realities. The historical, economic, social and political contexts in which the teachers are born and live, influences their sense of self, personal identities and social identities (teacher identities) and as such, influences their decision to become teachers and how they express their roles as teachers of Foundation Phase mathematics. Secondly, my research suggests that teachers’ mode of reflexivity is key to understanding the decisions that they make in the classroom and how they deal with the structures that condition the manner in which they express their roles as teachers. Thirdly, collective agency is necessary to bring about change in the way in which teachers express their roles in teaching Foundation Phase mathematics. My research produces new knowledge by examining the interplay of structure, culture and agency in the constitution of foundation phase teachers’ identities and their expression in teaching foundation phase mathematics. I use a social realist orientation to examine this interplay and provide an understanding of the mechanisms giving rise to the phenomenon under consideration. In this way I contribute to the extensive research on learner underperformance by focusing more explicitly on who the teacher is in the classroom.
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Investigating the nature of the linguistic challenges of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) 2013 Grade 4 Mathematics ANAs and learners’ and teachers’ experience of them.
- Authors: Sibanda, Lucy
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021312
- Description: The underperformance of South African learners in literacy and numeracy is a source of grave concern, especially at the transition from Grade 3 to Grade 4. The challenge that complicates this shift is to some extent linguistic, since at Grade 4 in South Africa the majority of learners begin learning in English, which is an additional language for most. The study adopts a sociocultural view of language and learning. Vygotsky’s influential theoretical work on language and learning, in which language is considered central to learning and learning is a social process embedded in sociocultural settings, informs the study. The introduction of the Annual National Assessments (ANAs) across primary and secondary grades in South Africa in mathematics and literacy in 2011 provides the context for this research. It is against this background that the present study aimed, through a case study approach of three Grade 4 classes of English additional language (EAL) learners, to achieve four things, namely: to investigate the linguistic challenges of the 2013 Grade 4 mathematics ANAs; to analyse the learners’ written responses to the 2013 mathematics ANA items; to explore the 2013 Grade 4 learners’ difficulties and experiences of the 2013 mathematics ANAs, and to investigate the Grade 4 mathematics teachers’ perspectives of the language of the ANAs. In order to achieve these aims, the data was collected in four phases. The first phase of the study addressed the nature of the linguistic challenges of the Department of Basic Education Grade 4 mathematics ANAs. Data collection occurred in two parts: 1) Comparing Grade 4 ANAs to exemplars provided and 2) Analysing the language of the 2013 mathematics ANAs. This was done through content analysis and Shaftel et al.’s (2006) linguistic complexity checklist. Findings for part 1 of the study revealed that there were several inconsistencies in the questioning format and language used in the ANAs and in the exemplars. Findings of the content analysis done on the 2013 mathematics ANA test items using Shaftel et al.’s (2006) linguistic complexity checklist and Vale’s (2013) Linguistic Complexity Index formula point to many linguistic complexities in several test items, particularly in relation to recurrent use of: 7 or more letter words, homophones, prepositional phrases and specific mathematics vocabulary across the majority of questions. In phase 2, the analysis of 106 learners’ written responses for the 2013 mathematics ANA questions revealed that for many of the questions the language used was unfamiliar for Grade 4 learners using English as an additional language. This was aggravated by the inclusion in the ANAs of linguistic forms learners would not have encountered in their workbooks or exemplars intended to prepare the learners for the assessments. Therefore, linguistic complexity of items was a key contributing factor to learners’ poor performance in the test. In the third phase, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the 26 learners’ interviews revealed that during the task-based interviews, learners experienced difficulties in the following skills: reading, comprehension, transformation, process and encoding. The greatest difficulties were experienced in comprehension and in reading, especially in the two classes where the learners were less proficient in the English language. The fourth phase, in which two Grade 4 mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the linguistic demands of the Grade 4 mathematics ANAs were presented and analysed, the teachers’ perceptions indicated that the mathematical language was mostly too difficult for the Grade 4 learners. Teachers also were of the opinion that learners’ reading skills were poor and they struggled to comprehend what they read. A dilemma regarding whether teachers should assist learners during the ANAs, satisfying the local needs for mediating the language or whether they should comply with the ANA policy which states that they may not assist learners was expressed by one of the teachers. A range of language challenges that teachers managed with various strategies were raised. These included one teacher’s use of code-switching during the teaching of mathematics. The study concludes with implications and recommendations. These include that test designers should minimise the language complexity of test items, especially in the early transition grades of learning in English. Research should be conducted on possibilities for allowing teachers to provide linguistic mediation to ANA questions in these transition years of learners learning in English.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Sibanda, Lucy
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021312
- Description: The underperformance of South African learners in literacy and numeracy is a source of grave concern, especially at the transition from Grade 3 to Grade 4. The challenge that complicates this shift is to some extent linguistic, since at Grade 4 in South Africa the majority of learners begin learning in English, which is an additional language for most. The study adopts a sociocultural view of language and learning. Vygotsky’s influential theoretical work on language and learning, in which language is considered central to learning and learning is a social process embedded in sociocultural settings, informs the study. The introduction of the Annual National Assessments (ANAs) across primary and secondary grades in South Africa in mathematics and literacy in 2011 provides the context for this research. It is against this background that the present study aimed, through a case study approach of three Grade 4 classes of English additional language (EAL) learners, to achieve four things, namely: to investigate the linguistic challenges of the 2013 Grade 4 mathematics ANAs; to analyse the learners’ written responses to the 2013 mathematics ANA items; to explore the 2013 Grade 4 learners’ difficulties and experiences of the 2013 mathematics ANAs, and to investigate the Grade 4 mathematics teachers’ perspectives of the language of the ANAs. In order to achieve these aims, the data was collected in four phases. The first phase of the study addressed the nature of the linguistic challenges of the Department of Basic Education Grade 4 mathematics ANAs. Data collection occurred in two parts: 1) Comparing Grade 4 ANAs to exemplars provided and 2) Analysing the language of the 2013 mathematics ANAs. This was done through content analysis and Shaftel et al.’s (2006) linguistic complexity checklist. Findings for part 1 of the study revealed that there were several inconsistencies in the questioning format and language used in the ANAs and in the exemplars. Findings of the content analysis done on the 2013 mathematics ANA test items using Shaftel et al.’s (2006) linguistic complexity checklist and Vale’s (2013) Linguistic Complexity Index formula point to many linguistic complexities in several test items, particularly in relation to recurrent use of: 7 or more letter words, homophones, prepositional phrases and specific mathematics vocabulary across the majority of questions. In phase 2, the analysis of 106 learners’ written responses for the 2013 mathematics ANA questions revealed that for many of the questions the language used was unfamiliar for Grade 4 learners using English as an additional language. This was aggravated by the inclusion in the ANAs of linguistic forms learners would not have encountered in their workbooks or exemplars intended to prepare the learners for the assessments. Therefore, linguistic complexity of items was a key contributing factor to learners’ poor performance in the test. In the third phase, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the 26 learners’ interviews revealed that during the task-based interviews, learners experienced difficulties in the following skills: reading, comprehension, transformation, process and encoding. The greatest difficulties were experienced in comprehension and in reading, especially in the two classes where the learners were less proficient in the English language. The fourth phase, in which two Grade 4 mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the linguistic demands of the Grade 4 mathematics ANAs were presented and analysed, the teachers’ perceptions indicated that the mathematical language was mostly too difficult for the Grade 4 learners. Teachers also were of the opinion that learners’ reading skills were poor and they struggled to comprehend what they read. A dilemma regarding whether teachers should assist learners during the ANAs, satisfying the local needs for mediating the language or whether they should comply with the ANA policy which states that they may not assist learners was expressed by one of the teachers. A range of language challenges that teachers managed with various strategies were raised. These included one teacher’s use of code-switching during the teaching of mathematics. The study concludes with implications and recommendations. These include that test designers should minimise the language complexity of test items, especially in the early transition grades of learning in English. Research should be conducted on possibilities for allowing teachers to provide linguistic mediation to ANA questions in these transition years of learners learning in English.
- Full Text:
Learners' numeracy progression and the role of mediation in the context of two after school mathematics clubs
- Authors: Stott, Deborah Ann
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , After-school programs -- South Africa , Numeracy -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Learning, Psychology of , Education -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017181
- Description: National and international assessment results, research studies and reports point to South Africa as having educational challenges, specifically with mathematics, science and language. Addressing some of these issues is a key aim for the SANC project at Rhodes University, the context in which this study takes place. Working from a broad Vygotskian perspective of learning and development, this study had a dual focus and investigated how Grade 3 learners’ mathematical proficiency progressed (or not) whilst participating in after school maths clubs over the course of a year, and explored how the mediation offered in the clubs enabled or constrained the emergence of zones of proximal development (ZPD) and thus learning for the club learners. Methodologically, this study works within a largely qualitative, interpretive research paradigm and is designed using a longitudinal case study research strategy. Two after school maths clubs formed the empirical field. The study drew on a range of data collection methods to investigate the dual nature of the research questions for Grade 3 learners. Examples include adapted one-to-one mathematical proficiency interviews and paired task based interviews. The study highlighted the relationship between the multiple roles I played both within the research study and within the SANC project context and emphasises the influence and future implications for these various roles within the SANC project and beyond in terms of my own role as club mentor, for the future design of the SANC project maths club programme and for broader teacher and club facilitator development within and beyond the project. This study has offered insight into how mathematical proficiency may develop in Grade 3 South African learners and as such is an important contribution to the newly developing field of both numeracy and primary educational research in Southern Africa. Additionally, the research findings point to the clubs, as an example of an out-of-school time (OST) programme, providing potentially enabling spaces for both recovery and extension of mathematical proficiency in learners as these spaces are free from several contextual constraints that teachers face in their classrooms. Furthermore, it was found that learners showed development of their conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and adaptive reasoning as proposed by Kilpatrick, Swafford and Findell (2001). The use of various elements of the Maths Recovery (MR) programme (Wright, 2003) in the research process has highlighted various important contributions for broader research. For example, the need to investigate less time consuming approaches to both diagnostic assessment and learner mathematical profiling. Findings from this study support Meira and Lerman’s (2001, 2009) recently developed notion that catching attention is key to the creation or emergence of a ZPD. The study found that a combination of ‘attention catching’ and ‘tuning in’ enabled the creation (emergence) and sustainment of ZPDs in club learners. The study proposed the notion of tuning in where participants in a mathematical interaction continually adjust to each other in order to communicate mathematically. Furthermore, the study found that when attention is not caught or the participants are not tuned in, the learning activity may still be useful in assisting learners to consolidate their existing learning and / or build confidence and as such is particularly relevant to the South African context where fluency in calculating is weak (Hoadley, 2012; Schollar, 2008). This emergent notion of ‘flow’ additionally can play a supporting role in the emergence of a ZPD. The study also found that the manner in which the mediation was offered is important. The results show that the mathematical contributions learners make during interactions captured the mentors’ attention and resulted in mediation that was intentional but spontaneous, flexible, responsive and in-the-moment. This study makes theoretical and methodological contributions to various aspects of mathematics education research particularly with regard to how ZPDs emerge and are sustained and how mediation is offered to facilitate the emergence of ZPDs. Additionally, some aspects of the Learning Framework in Number (LFIN) as part of the Maths Recovery programme have been extended to work in a South African after school club context and to provide useful information for both learner progression over time and for planning of club activities. As such this study thus also contributes to the newly developing field of primary mathematics research in South Africa and to the body of research on primary after school learning programmes both locally and internationally.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Stott, Deborah Ann
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , After-school programs -- South Africa , Numeracy -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Learning, Psychology of , Education -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017181
- Description: National and international assessment results, research studies and reports point to South Africa as having educational challenges, specifically with mathematics, science and language. Addressing some of these issues is a key aim for the SANC project at Rhodes University, the context in which this study takes place. Working from a broad Vygotskian perspective of learning and development, this study had a dual focus and investigated how Grade 3 learners’ mathematical proficiency progressed (or not) whilst participating in after school maths clubs over the course of a year, and explored how the mediation offered in the clubs enabled or constrained the emergence of zones of proximal development (ZPD) and thus learning for the club learners. Methodologically, this study works within a largely qualitative, interpretive research paradigm and is designed using a longitudinal case study research strategy. Two after school maths clubs formed the empirical field. The study drew on a range of data collection methods to investigate the dual nature of the research questions for Grade 3 learners. Examples include adapted one-to-one mathematical proficiency interviews and paired task based interviews. The study highlighted the relationship between the multiple roles I played both within the research study and within the SANC project context and emphasises the influence and future implications for these various roles within the SANC project and beyond in terms of my own role as club mentor, for the future design of the SANC project maths club programme and for broader teacher and club facilitator development within and beyond the project. This study has offered insight into how mathematical proficiency may develop in Grade 3 South African learners and as such is an important contribution to the newly developing field of both numeracy and primary educational research in Southern Africa. Additionally, the research findings point to the clubs, as an example of an out-of-school time (OST) programme, providing potentially enabling spaces for both recovery and extension of mathematical proficiency in learners as these spaces are free from several contextual constraints that teachers face in their classrooms. Furthermore, it was found that learners showed development of their conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and adaptive reasoning as proposed by Kilpatrick, Swafford and Findell (2001). The use of various elements of the Maths Recovery (MR) programme (Wright, 2003) in the research process has highlighted various important contributions for broader research. For example, the need to investigate less time consuming approaches to both diagnostic assessment and learner mathematical profiling. Findings from this study support Meira and Lerman’s (2001, 2009) recently developed notion that catching attention is key to the creation or emergence of a ZPD. The study found that a combination of ‘attention catching’ and ‘tuning in’ enabled the creation (emergence) and sustainment of ZPDs in club learners. The study proposed the notion of tuning in where participants in a mathematical interaction continually adjust to each other in order to communicate mathematically. Furthermore, the study found that when attention is not caught or the participants are not tuned in, the learning activity may still be useful in assisting learners to consolidate their existing learning and / or build confidence and as such is particularly relevant to the South African context where fluency in calculating is weak (Hoadley, 2012; Schollar, 2008). This emergent notion of ‘flow’ additionally can play a supporting role in the emergence of a ZPD. The study also found that the manner in which the mediation was offered is important. The results show that the mathematical contributions learners make during interactions captured the mentors’ attention and resulted in mediation that was intentional but spontaneous, flexible, responsive and in-the-moment. This study makes theoretical and methodological contributions to various aspects of mathematics education research particularly with regard to how ZPDs emerge and are sustained and how mediation is offered to facilitate the emergence of ZPDs. Additionally, some aspects of the Learning Framework in Number (LFIN) as part of the Maths Recovery programme have been extended to work in a South African after school club context and to provide useful information for both learner progression over time and for planning of club activities. As such this study thus also contributes to the newly developing field of primary mathematics research in South Africa and to the body of research on primary after school learning programmes both locally and internationally.
- Full Text:
Primary maths teacher learning and identity within a numeracy in-service community of practice
- Authors: Pausigere, Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Student-centered learning -- South Africa , Communities of practice -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017183
- Description: This study focuses on the processes of primary maths teacher learning and how their identities and practices evolve in relation to participation in a primary maths focused in-service teacher education programme, called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE).Additionally it investigates activities, relations and forms of participation within the Community of Practice (CoP) which enable or constrain evolving primary maths identities and practices and how these relate to the broader context. The study draws from the situative-participationists (Lave, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Wenger et al, 2002) theoretical framework supplemented by Bernstein’s (2000) pedagogic identity model. Using a qualitative educational interpretive approach I sampled 8 primary teachers drawn from NICLE and gathered data through participant observations, interactive interviews, document analysis and reflective journals. Analysing the key data themes that emerged from teacher learning stories, which I have called stelos, the study explains the nature of the primary maths teachers’ learning, transformation and participation experiences in NICLE using the synonyms reinvigoration and remediation and activation and relating these semantics to the teachers’ mathematical identities and histories. The study also explains the processes through which primary maths teacher identities evolve in relation to participation in an in-service CoP as ‘insiding’ and ‘outcropping’. Interpreting qualitative data from the empirical field indicates that teachers participating in NICLE mostly took-up into their maths classrooms key numeracy-domain concepts, resources and issues presented by primary maths experts which are informed by research and theory that link to practices. Teachers collaboratively and actively engaged in a range of activities that relate to classroom practices. Teacher learning was also enabled when teachers engaged in maths overlapping communities of practice, shared classroom experiences in friendly ways with fellow NICLE teachers and engaged with NICLE presenters who mutually respected and regarded them as professionals. Such affordances were said to enable teachers to engage learners in maths classes and improve their understanding of specific primary maths concepts. On the other hand teachers felt challenged by the travelling distance, limited time and also raised the tension of how to scale-up maths professional development initiatives to include schools from their community. The study makes a theoretical contribution by illustrating how Bernstein’s pedagogic identity model and its elaboration by Tyler (1999) provides analytical tools to interrogate macro educational changes and connect these to the micro processes and teacher identities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Pausigere, Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Student-centered learning -- South Africa , Communities of practice -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017183
- Description: This study focuses on the processes of primary maths teacher learning and how their identities and practices evolve in relation to participation in a primary maths focused in-service teacher education programme, called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE).Additionally it investigates activities, relations and forms of participation within the Community of Practice (CoP) which enable or constrain evolving primary maths identities and practices and how these relate to the broader context. The study draws from the situative-participationists (Lave, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Wenger et al, 2002) theoretical framework supplemented by Bernstein’s (2000) pedagogic identity model. Using a qualitative educational interpretive approach I sampled 8 primary teachers drawn from NICLE and gathered data through participant observations, interactive interviews, document analysis and reflective journals. Analysing the key data themes that emerged from teacher learning stories, which I have called stelos, the study explains the nature of the primary maths teachers’ learning, transformation and participation experiences in NICLE using the synonyms reinvigoration and remediation and activation and relating these semantics to the teachers’ mathematical identities and histories. The study also explains the processes through which primary maths teacher identities evolve in relation to participation in an in-service CoP as ‘insiding’ and ‘outcropping’. Interpreting qualitative data from the empirical field indicates that teachers participating in NICLE mostly took-up into their maths classrooms key numeracy-domain concepts, resources and issues presented by primary maths experts which are informed by research and theory that link to practices. Teachers collaboratively and actively engaged in a range of activities that relate to classroom practices. Teacher learning was also enabled when teachers engaged in maths overlapping communities of practice, shared classroom experiences in friendly ways with fellow NICLE teachers and engaged with NICLE presenters who mutually respected and regarded them as professionals. Such affordances were said to enable teachers to engage learners in maths classes and improve their understanding of specific primary maths concepts. On the other hand teachers felt challenged by the travelling distance, limited time and also raised the tension of how to scale-up maths professional development initiatives to include schools from their community. The study makes a theoretical contribution by illustrating how Bernstein’s pedagogic identity model and its elaboration by Tyler (1999) provides analytical tools to interrogate macro educational changes and connect these to the micro processes and teacher identities.
- Full Text:
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