Graphicacy as a form of communication in the primary school
- Authors: Wilmot, Pamela Dianne
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: School children -- South Africa Visual communication Perception in children Visual literacy Pictures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1551 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003433
- Description: Children of today inhabit a multi-dimensional world, and in order to communicate effectively in it, they need the ability to utilise four forms of communication namely, oracy, literacy, numeracy and graphicacy. Communicating in graphic form requires an ability to both encode and decode spatial information using symbols, which requires the utilisation and application of spatial perceptual skills and concepts. The acquisition of graphic skills has been influenced by traditional developmental perspectives; increasingly the assumptions underpinning these have been challenged by more recent international research findings. The draft Curriculum Framework for General and Further Education and Training (1996: 18) identifies graphic literacy as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. For graphic literacy to be an achievable outcome of the new curriculum, we need to investigate the skills and concepts underpinning this form of communication. The goal of this research is to investigate graphicacy as a form of communication in South African primary schools. However, given the scope of a research project of this nature, it was decided that rather than dealing with graphicacy per se, pictures as the most frequent and concrete type of graphic communication encountered by young learners would be focused on. In seeking to investigate pictures, the first stage of the study is concerned with diagnosing and illuminating children's graphic skill development through identifying: what skills they use; how they use and apply these when communicating through and interpreting symbols; and the difficulties they experience when, firstly, encoding spatial information through a series of practical and drawing tasks; and secondly, when reading and interpreting pictures. The second stage of the study investigates the extent to which children's early childhood experiences may or may not have impeded or enhanced the acquisition of skills necessary for understanding and communicating about space. The research findings, evaluated according to existing and emerging theoretical perspectives on graphicacy, will help to illuminate the current situation regarding the graphic literacy of South African primary school children. The study may contribute to wider international debates about graphicacy as a form of communication and the development of graphic literacy, from a South African perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Wilmot, Pamela Dianne
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: School children -- South Africa Visual communication Perception in children Visual literacy Pictures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1551 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003433
- Description: Children of today inhabit a multi-dimensional world, and in order to communicate effectively in it, they need the ability to utilise four forms of communication namely, oracy, literacy, numeracy and graphicacy. Communicating in graphic form requires an ability to both encode and decode spatial information using symbols, which requires the utilisation and application of spatial perceptual skills and concepts. The acquisition of graphic skills has been influenced by traditional developmental perspectives; increasingly the assumptions underpinning these have been challenged by more recent international research findings. The draft Curriculum Framework for General and Further Education and Training (1996: 18) identifies graphic literacy as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. For graphic literacy to be an achievable outcome of the new curriculum, we need to investigate the skills and concepts underpinning this form of communication. The goal of this research is to investigate graphicacy as a form of communication in South African primary schools. However, given the scope of a research project of this nature, it was decided that rather than dealing with graphicacy per se, pictures as the most frequent and concrete type of graphic communication encountered by young learners would be focused on. In seeking to investigate pictures, the first stage of the study is concerned with diagnosing and illuminating children's graphic skill development through identifying: what skills they use; how they use and apply these when communicating through and interpreting symbols; and the difficulties they experience when, firstly, encoding spatial information through a series of practical and drawing tasks; and secondly, when reading and interpreting pictures. The second stage of the study investigates the extent to which children's early childhood experiences may or may not have impeded or enhanced the acquisition of skills necessary for understanding and communicating about space. The research findings, evaluated according to existing and emerging theoretical perspectives on graphicacy, will help to illuminate the current situation regarding the graphic literacy of South African primary school children. The study may contribute to wider international debates about graphicacy as a form of communication and the development of graphic literacy, from a South African perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Using the local environment for outcomes-based education: issues raised for INSET by teachers' perceptions of agents of change
- Authors: Burton, Noreen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: In-service education and training for teachers Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1818 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003704
- Description: South African education is in the process of undergoing what has become known as a "paradigm shift", requiring a change from the familiar transmission method to outcomes-based education (OBE) founded on social constructivist theories oflearning and teaching. Teachers, (45% of whom are poorly qualified), "will play a pivotal role in the success or failure of this change. There is therefore an urgent need to re-educate in-service teachers in the philosophy, and related methodologies underpinning Curriculum 2005. To this end, in-service education courses need to be developed "which will encourage teachers to reconstruct their beliefs about teaching and learning. INSET programmes in the past were aimed at either "topping up" qualified teachers, or "adding on" for under qualified teachers - neither of which have proved successful. It is therefore unlikely that applying similar methodologies to support teachers in the shift to OBE will meet with success, nor will simply "training" teachers to use the new learning programmes. Government documents on Education Policy are calling for teachers to become reflexive practitioners, able to guide learners in their efforts to achieve the critical outcomes which are intended to develop a competent citizenry of lifelong learners. Therefore, teachers ought to be empowered as curriculum developers in their own right. This interpretative case study hoped to find out from teachers themselves what aspects of an activity-based environmental education course acted as change agents in assisting them to begin the shift to constructivist theories of teaching and learning. A variety of research tools were used, including questionnaires, interviews, journals, narratives and concept maps, all of which provided a rich source of data for interpretation. From what was gained from four participants in this research, tentative suggestions for incorporation into the next cycle of action research in future INSET programmes are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Burton, Noreen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: In-service education and training for teachers Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1818 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003704
- Description: South African education is in the process of undergoing what has become known as a "paradigm shift", requiring a change from the familiar transmission method to outcomes-based education (OBE) founded on social constructivist theories oflearning and teaching. Teachers, (45% of whom are poorly qualified), "will play a pivotal role in the success or failure of this change. There is therefore an urgent need to re-educate in-service teachers in the philosophy, and related methodologies underpinning Curriculum 2005. To this end, in-service education courses need to be developed "which will encourage teachers to reconstruct their beliefs about teaching and learning. INSET programmes in the past were aimed at either "topping up" qualified teachers, or "adding on" for under qualified teachers - neither of which have proved successful. It is therefore unlikely that applying similar methodologies to support teachers in the shift to OBE will meet with success, nor will simply "training" teachers to use the new learning programmes. Government documents on Education Policy are calling for teachers to become reflexive practitioners, able to guide learners in their efforts to achieve the critical outcomes which are intended to develop a competent citizenry of lifelong learners. Therefore, teachers ought to be empowered as curriculum developers in their own right. This interpretative case study hoped to find out from teachers themselves what aspects of an activity-based environmental education course acted as change agents in assisting them to begin the shift to constructivist theories of teaching and learning. A variety of research tools were used, including questionnaires, interviews, journals, narratives and concept maps, all of which provided a rich source of data for interpretation. From what was gained from four participants in this research, tentative suggestions for incorporation into the next cycle of action research in future INSET programmes are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
A case study of English/Xhosa code switching as a communicative and learning resource in an English medium classroom
- Authors: Marawu, Sithembele
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Code switching (Linguistics) -- South Africa Language and education -- South Africa Education, Bilingual -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1436 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003317
- Description: Research on code switching (CS), the use of more than one language in a single piece of discourse, has focused on various aspects of the phenomenon. For example, research has concentrated on switching that occurs between turns of interlocutors in a piece of discourse, sometimes between sentences within a single tum and sometimes within a sentence. Researchers have approached this discourse behaviour from various perspectives. For instance, some investigate the social functions of the switches, others explore the linguistic constraints on the switches. Furthermore, most of this research has examined CS in non-educational contexts. Research on classroom CS, the focus of this study, took hold in the mid 1970s. Researchers began to investigate the communicative functions of CS and the frequency with which teachers and learners used certain languages to perform different functions. Recent studies on classroom CS focus on the sequential flow of classroom discourse and "the way in which codeswitching contributes to the interactional work that teachers and learners do in bilingual classrooms" (Martin-Jones 1995:91). The approach used in these studies is the conversational analytic approach grounded in ethnographic observation. In South Africa little research has been done on classroom CS, though it makes an important contribution to the interactional work of teachers and learners in classrooms. This study explores the use of English and Xhosa in the classroom as a learning and communicative resource. Its focus is on the communicative functions of the switching behaviour of a teacher as she interacts with her pupils. In other words, this study looks at how the research subject uses English and Xhosa to get things done in the classroom. As the classroom situation observed is dominated by the teacher, this study concentrates mainly on her communicative repertoire. It does not attempt a full linguistic description of the switches made by the research subject, for example, it does not deal with linguistic constraints on CS. One of the major findings noted in this study is that the research subject does not use CS so as to avoid using English. She uses CS as a learning resource. It has also been noted that CS is used by the research subject as a contextualisation cue, for example, we noted the way it co-occurs with other contextualisation cues like nonverbal communication cues. This is in line with Martin-Jones' (1995) viewpoint that CS is not used by bilingual teachers simply to express solidarity with the learners but to negotiate and renegotiate meaning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Marawu, Sithembele
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Code switching (Linguistics) -- South Africa Language and education -- South Africa Education, Bilingual -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1436 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003317
- Description: Research on code switching (CS), the use of more than one language in a single piece of discourse, has focused on various aspects of the phenomenon. For example, research has concentrated on switching that occurs between turns of interlocutors in a piece of discourse, sometimes between sentences within a single tum and sometimes within a sentence. Researchers have approached this discourse behaviour from various perspectives. For instance, some investigate the social functions of the switches, others explore the linguistic constraints on the switches. Furthermore, most of this research has examined CS in non-educational contexts. Research on classroom CS, the focus of this study, took hold in the mid 1970s. Researchers began to investigate the communicative functions of CS and the frequency with which teachers and learners used certain languages to perform different functions. Recent studies on classroom CS focus on the sequential flow of classroom discourse and "the way in which codeswitching contributes to the interactional work that teachers and learners do in bilingual classrooms" (Martin-Jones 1995:91). The approach used in these studies is the conversational analytic approach grounded in ethnographic observation. In South Africa little research has been done on classroom CS, though it makes an important contribution to the interactional work of teachers and learners in classrooms. This study explores the use of English and Xhosa in the classroom as a learning and communicative resource. Its focus is on the communicative functions of the switching behaviour of a teacher as she interacts with her pupils. In other words, this study looks at how the research subject uses English and Xhosa to get things done in the classroom. As the classroom situation observed is dominated by the teacher, this study concentrates mainly on her communicative repertoire. It does not attempt a full linguistic description of the switches made by the research subject, for example, it does not deal with linguistic constraints on CS. One of the major findings noted in this study is that the research subject does not use CS so as to avoid using English. She uses CS as a learning resource. It has also been noted that CS is used by the research subject as a contextualisation cue, for example, we noted the way it co-occurs with other contextualisation cues like nonverbal communication cues. This is in line with Martin-Jones' (1995) viewpoint that CS is not used by bilingual teachers simply to express solidarity with the learners but to negotiate and renegotiate meaning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
A case-study of principal succession : the experience of a high school principal and staff
- Authors: Dowding, Susan Patricia
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership School principals -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1440 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003321
- Description: This is a study of a principal succession In a non-racial, multicultural High-School in the North West Province of South Africa, formerly the independent homeland known as "Bophuthatswana". I was employed at the school at the time and am, therefore, a complete member-researcher. I use a qualitative research approach which relies mostly on in-depth interviews, individually and in groups. I chose my sample by administering a short biographical questionnaire. I have sought to establish "what is happening?" in the succession process by reporting the insights and experiences of a staff and its new principal. While I use the stage frameworks of more traditional researchers in succession to provide a coherent structure for my analysis, I use the organisational socialisation perspective extensively to analyse the insights provided by the staff and principal. Unlike other principal succession studies, I include the insights of both the principal and the staff. The organisational socialisation approach emphasises that succession is an interactive, multidirectional process. My study reinforces many of the observations of other researchers in leadership succession, whether in business or Education. However, two elements of succession emerge which appear to be unique in terms of other succession literature. These elements include the impact of socio-political events and what I call "ethno-cultural" aspects on the succession socialisation process. I provide examples of the influence these factors exert in this principal succession. This study is therefore of potential significance to administrators in both Education and business in the South African context where there are significant changes taking place in the power structures and ethnic makeup of relevant organisations. I also identify a number of areas for further research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Dowding, Susan Patricia
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership School principals -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1440 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003321
- Description: This is a study of a principal succession In a non-racial, multicultural High-School in the North West Province of South Africa, formerly the independent homeland known as "Bophuthatswana". I was employed at the school at the time and am, therefore, a complete member-researcher. I use a qualitative research approach which relies mostly on in-depth interviews, individually and in groups. I chose my sample by administering a short biographical questionnaire. I have sought to establish "what is happening?" in the succession process by reporting the insights and experiences of a staff and its new principal. While I use the stage frameworks of more traditional researchers in succession to provide a coherent structure for my analysis, I use the organisational socialisation perspective extensively to analyse the insights provided by the staff and principal. Unlike other principal succession studies, I include the insights of both the principal and the staff. The organisational socialisation approach emphasises that succession is an interactive, multidirectional process. My study reinforces many of the observations of other researchers in leadership succession, whether in business or Education. However, two elements of succession emerge which appear to be unique in terms of other succession literature. These elements include the impact of socio-political events and what I call "ethno-cultural" aspects on the succession socialisation process. I provide examples of the influence these factors exert in this principal succession. This study is therefore of potential significance to administrators in both Education and business in the South African context where there are significant changes taking place in the power structures and ethnic makeup of relevant organisations. I also identify a number of areas for further research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
A phenomenological investigation into educational leaders' perceptions of themselves, their followers, and their organisational contexts
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1697 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003580
- Description: Leadership is a richly researched ana widely covered topic, attracting the attention of virtually every discipline within the human sciences. Research which focuses on leadership within an educational context is, however, a relatively recent development. Most of the leadership research conducted in this century has been driven by the needs of industry. Consequently, leadership theories have tended to emphasise the instrumentality, measurability and effectiveness of leadership. Leadership models, intent on being prescriptive and 'learnable', have been inclined to oversimplify the complexity of the leadership phenomenon. Another factor which accounts for these features is the research approach adopted by researchers, which has largely been positivistic. This study is an attempt to investigate the underlying dynamics of educational leadership. It is an in-depth study of five educational leaders' perceptions of themselves as leaders, of the people with whom they interact, and of the organisations within which they work. The study is conducted along the lines suggested by phenomenology, a highly qualitative, anti-positivistic research approach, which encourages the researcher to set aside pre-conceived notions of the phenomenon, and to describe what is found exactly as it presents itself. My findings have highlighted a wide and richly varied range of psychological, emotional and cultural factors which seem to play significant roles in how leaders perceive themselves, others and their environments. Most of these factors have been either entirely ignored or very scantily covered in mainstream leadership literature. Educational leadership emerges as a complex, virtually undefinable phenomenon; new and challenging research approaches and methods have the potential for increasing our understanding of how leaders lead, which in turn will have implications for leadership education and selection.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Van der Mescht, Hennie
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1697 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003580
- Description: Leadership is a richly researched ana widely covered topic, attracting the attention of virtually every discipline within the human sciences. Research which focuses on leadership within an educational context is, however, a relatively recent development. Most of the leadership research conducted in this century has been driven by the needs of industry. Consequently, leadership theories have tended to emphasise the instrumentality, measurability and effectiveness of leadership. Leadership models, intent on being prescriptive and 'learnable', have been inclined to oversimplify the complexity of the leadership phenomenon. Another factor which accounts for these features is the research approach adopted by researchers, which has largely been positivistic. This study is an attempt to investigate the underlying dynamics of educational leadership. It is an in-depth study of five educational leaders' perceptions of themselves as leaders, of the people with whom they interact, and of the organisations within which they work. The study is conducted along the lines suggested by phenomenology, a highly qualitative, anti-positivistic research approach, which encourages the researcher to set aside pre-conceived notions of the phenomenon, and to describe what is found exactly as it presents itself. My findings have highlighted a wide and richly varied range of psychological, emotional and cultural factors which seem to play significant roles in how leaders perceive themselves, others and their environments. Most of these factors have been either entirely ignored or very scantily covered in mainstream leadership literature. Educational leadership emerges as a complex, virtually undefinable phenomenon; new and challenging research approaches and methods have the potential for increasing our understanding of how leaders lead, which in turn will have implications for leadership education and selection.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Detached harmonies : a study in/on developing social processes of environmental education in eastern southern Africa
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1939 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007726
- Description: Long-term social processes are explored to examine the shaping of environmental education in eastern southern Africa. The study opens with early Nguni social figurations when 'to conserve was to hunt.' It then examines colonial conservation on the frontiers of imperial expansion and developing struggles for and against wildlife preservation. These processes shaped an inversion of earlier harmonies as declining wildlife was protected in island sanctuaries of natural wilderness and 'to conserve was not to hunt.' Inside protected areas, conservation management struggles shaped new harmonies of interdependence in nature, enabling better steering choices in developing conservation science institutions. Here more reality congruent knowledge also revealed escalating risk which was linked to a lack of awareness amongst communities of 'others' outside. Within continuing conservation struggles, education in, about and for the environment emerged as new institutional processes of social control. The study examines wilderness experience, interpretation, extension, conservancies and the development of an environmental education field centre, a teacher education programme and a school curriculum. Naming and clarifying the emergent education game for reshaping the awareness and behaviour of others is examined within a developing figuration of environmental education specialists. Particular attention is given to academic and statutory processes shaping environmental education as a field of objective principles and rational processes within modernist continuities and discontinuities into the 1990's. An environmental education field centre, an earth-love curriculum and research on reserve neighbour interaction are examined as political sociologies developing within a declining power gradient and wide ranging socio-political change. Into the present, a final window on a local case of water pollution examines shifting relational dynamics revealing how environment and development education models of process may have little resonance amidst long-term socio-historical struggles and shifting controls over surroundings, others and self. A concluding review suggests that grounded critical processes engaging somewhat blind control over surroundings may yet reshape self-control and social control amongst others. The trajectories of these clarifying struggles must remain open-ended as sedimented myth and memory is reshaped within ongoing processes of escalating risk and global intermeshing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1939 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007726
- Description: Long-term social processes are explored to examine the shaping of environmental education in eastern southern Africa. The study opens with early Nguni social figurations when 'to conserve was to hunt.' It then examines colonial conservation on the frontiers of imperial expansion and developing struggles for and against wildlife preservation. These processes shaped an inversion of earlier harmonies as declining wildlife was protected in island sanctuaries of natural wilderness and 'to conserve was not to hunt.' Inside protected areas, conservation management struggles shaped new harmonies of interdependence in nature, enabling better steering choices in developing conservation science institutions. Here more reality congruent knowledge also revealed escalating risk which was linked to a lack of awareness amongst communities of 'others' outside. Within continuing conservation struggles, education in, about and for the environment emerged as new institutional processes of social control. The study examines wilderness experience, interpretation, extension, conservancies and the development of an environmental education field centre, a teacher education programme and a school curriculum. Naming and clarifying the emergent education game for reshaping the awareness and behaviour of others is examined within a developing figuration of environmental education specialists. Particular attention is given to academic and statutory processes shaping environmental education as a field of objective principles and rational processes within modernist continuities and discontinuities into the 1990's. An environmental education field centre, an earth-love curriculum and research on reserve neighbour interaction are examined as political sociologies developing within a declining power gradient and wide ranging socio-political change. Into the present, a final window on a local case of water pollution examines shifting relational dynamics revealing how environment and development education models of process may have little resonance amidst long-term socio-historical struggles and shifting controls over surroundings, others and self. A concluding review suggests that grounded critical processes engaging somewhat blind control over surroundings may yet reshape self-control and social control amongst others. The trajectories of these clarifying struggles must remain open-ended as sedimented myth and memory is reshaped within ongoing processes of escalating risk and global intermeshing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Environmental education : a strategy for primary teacher education
- Authors: Wagiet, Razeena
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary) Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1512 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003394
- Description: This research focuses on environmental education in initial teacher education, and is grounded in three interlinked and widely recognised assumptions. First, that education for sustainable living can assist in resolving some environmental problems that are contributing to the environmental crises of sustainability currently facing South Africa and the rest of the world. Second, that education for sustainable living can assist in the establishment of a new environmental ethic that will foster a sustainable way of living. Third, that teacher education is a vital process for the attainment of both. These assumptions inform the aim of this research, which is to explore the potential for the implementation of education for sustainable living, and to identify a strategy for this, for initial teacher education, for senior primary school student teachers in the Western Cape. The strategy is derived following the grounded theory approach, developed through the case study method. In the process of identifying the strategy, this study establishes that there are challenges at macro, meso and micro levels that are obstructing the changes necessary for education for sustainable living. Change theory provides the basis for explaining these shortcomings, by helping to identify the barriers that might obstruct the realisation of the changes that are necessary for education for sustainable living. These challenges need to be perceived in the light of overcoming three sets of barriers in the way of the potential implementation of education for sustainable living in teacher education. First are those that can be ascribed to the formal education system that, while clinging to Western, Eurocentric values on the one hand, bave also failed to secure a policy for environmental education on the other. Second are the barriers ascribed to the teacher educators themselves, with the whole notion of their powerlessness at its core. Finally, there are the logistical barriers, which encompass, for example, time and financial constraints. With these barriers as a backdrop, to facilitate the incorporation of environmental education into initial teacher education, the study identifies a need for the development of a strategy to secure that education for sustainable living assumes its rightful place in the curriculum for initial teacher education. This framework emerges from the theory grounded in the interviewees' responses during the research, and from the theory grounded in the literature. Central to this framework is for education for sustainable living to contribute to the realisation of real change, change that would further the transformation of our conflict-riddled and inequitable society towards a more democratic and just one. This thesis demonstrates that the realisation of the changes necessary for education for sustainable living demand a reconstruction of current teacher education in order to secure and to sustain an appropriate and sound education ethic to form the basis of a trans formative teacher education curriculum for sustainable living within initial teacher education. Except formal policy, but central to overcoming these barriers, is the need for professional development programmes for teacher educators. A strategy in this regard, is outlined.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Wagiet, Razeena
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary) Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1512 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003394
- Description: This research focuses on environmental education in initial teacher education, and is grounded in three interlinked and widely recognised assumptions. First, that education for sustainable living can assist in resolving some environmental problems that are contributing to the environmental crises of sustainability currently facing South Africa and the rest of the world. Second, that education for sustainable living can assist in the establishment of a new environmental ethic that will foster a sustainable way of living. Third, that teacher education is a vital process for the attainment of both. These assumptions inform the aim of this research, which is to explore the potential for the implementation of education for sustainable living, and to identify a strategy for this, for initial teacher education, for senior primary school student teachers in the Western Cape. The strategy is derived following the grounded theory approach, developed through the case study method. In the process of identifying the strategy, this study establishes that there are challenges at macro, meso and micro levels that are obstructing the changes necessary for education for sustainable living. Change theory provides the basis for explaining these shortcomings, by helping to identify the barriers that might obstruct the realisation of the changes that are necessary for education for sustainable living. These challenges need to be perceived in the light of overcoming three sets of barriers in the way of the potential implementation of education for sustainable living in teacher education. First are those that can be ascribed to the formal education system that, while clinging to Western, Eurocentric values on the one hand, bave also failed to secure a policy for environmental education on the other. Second are the barriers ascribed to the teacher educators themselves, with the whole notion of their powerlessness at its core. Finally, there are the logistical barriers, which encompass, for example, time and financial constraints. With these barriers as a backdrop, to facilitate the incorporation of environmental education into initial teacher education, the study identifies a need for the development of a strategy to secure that education for sustainable living assumes its rightful place in the curriculum for initial teacher education. This framework emerges from the theory grounded in the interviewees' responses during the research, and from the theory grounded in the literature. Central to this framework is for education for sustainable living to contribute to the realisation of real change, change that would further the transformation of our conflict-riddled and inequitable society towards a more democratic and just one. This thesis demonstrates that the realisation of the changes necessary for education for sustainable living demand a reconstruction of current teacher education in order to secure and to sustain an appropriate and sound education ethic to form the basis of a trans formative teacher education curriculum for sustainable living within initial teacher education. Except formal policy, but central to overcoming these barriers, is the need for professional development programmes for teacher educators. A strategy in this regard, is outlined.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Environmental perceptions and knowledge among political leaders in the Eastern Cape Province and some implications for environmental policy
- Authors: Mbengashe, Pauline Maria
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003399
- Description: The environmental and development challenges facing South Africa are closely linked with the political and economic inequalities of the past. The achievement of sustainable. development will require social and political change. Protection and conservation of the environment, improving environmental knowledge and understanding, the participation of all citizens, effective environmental management, inclusive and implementable policies and legislation, are all necessary components of sustainable development. These requirements are in line with the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21, a programme of action coming out of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED 1992) This study explores the environmental perceptions and knowledge of some representative Eastern Cape political leaders. The aim of the study was to share views on environmental issues, concerns and strategies that might lead to improved environmental understanding, informed policy change and effective environmental management. Different environmental ideologies were also explored because of the political and ideological nature of the concepts 'environment' and 'education'. Data was collected from semi-structured interviews undertaken with ten political leaders in the Eastern Cape Province Legislature. The study revealed a general awareness and understanding of environmental issues with unsupported indepth knowledge and detailed information. The political, development, social and economic dimensions of the environment were emphasised more than the ecological and physical aspects. The need for environmental information, policies and legislation was recognised. Both formal and non-formal environmental education were emphasised. The need to redefine environmental education and make it more relevant, problem solving and action oriented was also emphasised. The challenge is to improve environmental understanding and making environmental information available to political leaders, government officials and citizens in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Mbengashe, Pauline Maria
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003399
- Description: The environmental and development challenges facing South Africa are closely linked with the political and economic inequalities of the past. The achievement of sustainable. development will require social and political change. Protection and conservation of the environment, improving environmental knowledge and understanding, the participation of all citizens, effective environmental management, inclusive and implementable policies and legislation, are all necessary components of sustainable development. These requirements are in line with the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Agenda 21, a programme of action coming out of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED 1992) This study explores the environmental perceptions and knowledge of some representative Eastern Cape political leaders. The aim of the study was to share views on environmental issues, concerns and strategies that might lead to improved environmental understanding, informed policy change and effective environmental management. Different environmental ideologies were also explored because of the political and ideological nature of the concepts 'environment' and 'education'. Data was collected from semi-structured interviews undertaken with ten political leaders in the Eastern Cape Province Legislature. The study revealed a general awareness and understanding of environmental issues with unsupported indepth knowledge and detailed information. The political, development, social and economic dimensions of the environment were emphasised more than the ecological and physical aspects. The need for environmental information, policies and legislation was recognised. Both formal and non-formal environmental education were emphasised. The need to redefine environmental education and make it more relevant, problem solving and action oriented was also emphasised. The challenge is to improve environmental understanding and making environmental information available to political leaders, government officials and citizens in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Participatory programme development at an environmental education centre through action research involving secondary school teachers
- Authors: Klein, Charmain Phillida
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1690 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003573
- Description: This mini-thesis documents and analyses an action research project which I conducted with secohdary school teachers. The teachers wished to learn more about environmental education so that they could run their own programmes. I, on the other hand, wanted to improve environmental education programmes offered at the centre where I worked. I hoped that through encouraging teacher participation and involvement, I could begin a process through which the teachers themselves could contribute to, and be in greater control of, their own learning in environmental education. As an introduction to this mini-thesis, I provide some background information on the centre, and state the reasons for having embarked on this project. In addition, I outline the literature and various research findings pertinent to this study. For the purpose of this study, I have selected emancipatory action research as a mode of research, since I believe that emancipatory action research, which embodies processes of reflection and informed action, constitutes the possibility for authentic, emancipatory change in the practice of teachers. The bulk of this thesis, therefore, documents the first two cycles of the action research process and the experiences of those involved in the process. I also briefly comment on some of the claims of action research as a method for research. An important feature of this thesis is that it addresses the possibilities of and constraints to implementing education for the environment in the teachers' practices. The existence of the latter is acknowledged and discussed from my perspective and those of the participating teachers. The study, furthermore, documents teachers' understandings of environmental education, and how this determines the kind of environmental education activities in which they engage. In the final analysis, I argue that the education system we inherited from the apartheid regime has had the effect of producing passive, disempowered and highly demotivated teachers with extremely low levels of self confidence and assertiveness. Despite this fact, I have not only had the opportunity to wltness some positive attitudinal changes occurring in teachers as the study progressed; the project has also enhanced my own understanding of environmental education and the effect the apartheid education system had in shaping my own thoughts and life.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Klein, Charmain Phillida
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1690 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003573
- Description: This mini-thesis documents and analyses an action research project which I conducted with secohdary school teachers. The teachers wished to learn more about environmental education so that they could run their own programmes. I, on the other hand, wanted to improve environmental education programmes offered at the centre where I worked. I hoped that through encouraging teacher participation and involvement, I could begin a process through which the teachers themselves could contribute to, and be in greater control of, their own learning in environmental education. As an introduction to this mini-thesis, I provide some background information on the centre, and state the reasons for having embarked on this project. In addition, I outline the literature and various research findings pertinent to this study. For the purpose of this study, I have selected emancipatory action research as a mode of research, since I believe that emancipatory action research, which embodies processes of reflection and informed action, constitutes the possibility for authentic, emancipatory change in the practice of teachers. The bulk of this thesis, therefore, documents the first two cycles of the action research process and the experiences of those involved in the process. I also briefly comment on some of the claims of action research as a method for research. An important feature of this thesis is that it addresses the possibilities of and constraints to implementing education for the environment in the teachers' practices. The existence of the latter is acknowledged and discussed from my perspective and those of the participating teachers. The study, furthermore, documents teachers' understandings of environmental education, and how this determines the kind of environmental education activities in which they engage. In the final analysis, I argue that the education system we inherited from the apartheid regime has had the effect of producing passive, disempowered and highly demotivated teachers with extremely low levels of self confidence and assertiveness. Despite this fact, I have not only had the opportunity to wltness some positive attitudinal changes occurring in teachers as the study progressed; the project has also enhanced my own understanding of environmental education and the effect the apartheid education system had in shaping my own thoughts and life.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Responding to literature: empowering girls to speak with their own voices in a multicultural context
- Authors: Foster, Lesley
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Reader-response criticism--South Africa Multicultural education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1742 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003626
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the space provided by a readerresponse transaction between girls and the text, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor 1977) .. empowered pupils to tell their own stories. It also sought to identify ways in which the problems and possibilities perceived by these pupils might guide curriculum decisions in a transforming education system. In addition to engaging in reader-response activities around the text, drama and videos providing social context were integral to the programme. Related work in the subject areas of history and lifeskills was also undertaken. Data was drawn from pupils' reading journals, responses to specific passages, transcripts of small group discussions, and interviews. The study is ethnographic in nature and all the data qualitative. Theoretical insights were drawn from the felds of cultural studies, postmodern criticism, and postructural modes of cultural and social analysis inasfar as they illuminate and inform the relationship between language, knowledge and power. The research was conducted in an historically white, girls' school which adopted a nonracial admissions policy in January 1991. Despite the fact that existing traditions and values of the the school to a very large extent influence what is taught, the data suggests that pupils were becoming agents in their own learning and were taking up multiple identities both within and without the world of the school.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Responding to literature: empowering girls to speak with their own voices in a multicultural context
- Authors: Foster, Lesley
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Reader-response criticism--South Africa Multicultural education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1742 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003626
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the space provided by a readerresponse transaction between girls and the text, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor 1977) .. empowered pupils to tell their own stories. It also sought to identify ways in which the problems and possibilities perceived by these pupils might guide curriculum decisions in a transforming education system. In addition to engaging in reader-response activities around the text, drama and videos providing social context were integral to the programme. Related work in the subject areas of history and lifeskills was also undertaken. Data was drawn from pupils' reading journals, responses to specific passages, transcripts of small group discussions, and interviews. The study is ethnographic in nature and all the data qualitative. Theoretical insights were drawn from the felds of cultural studies, postmodern criticism, and postructural modes of cultural and social analysis inasfar as they illuminate and inform the relationship between language, knowledge and power. The research was conducted in an historically white, girls' school which adopted a nonracial admissions policy in January 1991. Despite the fact that existing traditions and values of the the school to a very large extent influence what is taught, the data suggests that pupils were becoming agents in their own learning and were taking up multiple identities both within and without the world of the school.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Share-net: a case study of environmental education resource material development in a risk society
- Authors: Taylor, Robert James
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education Environmental education -- South Africa Environmental education -- Activity programs -- South Africa Environmental education -- South Africa -- Information resources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003650
- Description: This narrative study reviews the development of Share-Net, an informal resource materials network, located within the developing environmental education activities of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. Historical shaping factors within the Society are discussed and changing views on conservation, environmental education and research are described. Rather than the research process being a utilitarian and outside endeavour for clarifying and monitoring, the research orientation of this study is one of grounded activity within and integrally part of processes of change. Within a developing story of resource materials and workshops, themes are traced and emergent tensions are critically reviewed. Teacher workshops from 1981 until 1995 are analysed and developing orientations are described. Within this review changes are evident from an orientation of 'us' informing 'them' to joint, collaborative endeavours within the development and use of resource materials. The study reviews and illuminates the Share-Net project around questions of project orientation and management and this is done through the narration of case studies. Principles and patterns emerging within these are examined to guide future resource development projects. Popularist notions of networking and structural functionalist notions of social change are also examined. Grand, modernist strategies designed to cause change in others are questioned and the role of small-scale nodes of resource material activity cooperating within an open network are clarified as useful alternatives. Local resourcing centres such as these have proved useful in supporting teachers in the development, use and adaptation of resource materials. The study also examines income and expenditure of the Share-Net project since 1988 to review economic sustainability. A case is made for sustaining the project conceptually and financially through the sales of products and services rather than through external donor sources. Finally the study raises questions and challenges within the project and proposes guiding frameworks for future review, in action, as the story continues.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Taylor, Robert James
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education Environmental education -- South Africa Environmental education -- Activity programs -- South Africa Environmental education -- South Africa -- Information resources
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003650
- Description: This narrative study reviews the development of Share-Net, an informal resource materials network, located within the developing environmental education activities of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. Historical shaping factors within the Society are discussed and changing views on conservation, environmental education and research are described. Rather than the research process being a utilitarian and outside endeavour for clarifying and monitoring, the research orientation of this study is one of grounded activity within and integrally part of processes of change. Within a developing story of resource materials and workshops, themes are traced and emergent tensions are critically reviewed. Teacher workshops from 1981 until 1995 are analysed and developing orientations are described. Within this review changes are evident from an orientation of 'us' informing 'them' to joint, collaborative endeavours within the development and use of resource materials. The study reviews and illuminates the Share-Net project around questions of project orientation and management and this is done through the narration of case studies. Principles and patterns emerging within these are examined to guide future resource development projects. Popularist notions of networking and structural functionalist notions of social change are also examined. Grand, modernist strategies designed to cause change in others are questioned and the role of small-scale nodes of resource material activity cooperating within an open network are clarified as useful alternatives. Local resourcing centres such as these have proved useful in supporting teachers in the development, use and adaptation of resource materials. The study also examines income and expenditure of the Share-Net project since 1988 to review economic sustainability. A case is made for sustaining the project conceptually and financially through the sales of products and services rather than through external donor sources. Finally the study raises questions and challenges within the project and proposes guiding frameworks for future review, in action, as the story continues.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Student teachers' conceptualisations of 'significant' animals
- Authors: Murtough, Neil
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Folklore Zoology -- South Africa -- Folklore
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1775 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003660
- Description: Constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are a well established component of the landscape of educational research, especially in Science education. This research took as its starting point the limited amount of social constructivist research available in the field of Environmental Education and responded to calls for further research. The research was designed within an interpretive tradition, as a critically phenomenological enquiry employing two methods; single case studies and a focus group. Data collection used progressively focused interview questions to proceed through a series of individual interview stages, starting with a simple description of conceptualisations and moving to deeper analysis of influences on, and use of conceptualisations. The focus group was designed as a forum to explore the pedagogic issues connected to the 'social negotiation of learning', based on data and insights gained from earlier interview stages. The goals of the study were to record data on the conceptualisations of animals perceived as significant by a group of Tsonga speaking students, and to seek insights into the formative influences on those conceptualisations. The research question, namely what contribution can social constructivist approaches to teaching and learning make to Environmental Education? guided an interpretation of the above data in terms of a range of social constructivist theories of learning. Theories of Radical and Social Constructivism as applied in Science education, although dominant orientations for educational research in constructivist learning, were challenged and found inappropriate as a basis to inform methodologies for Environmental Education. Instead Lave's (cited in O'Loughlin, 1992) socio-cultural approach to learning was explored as the basis to create a more useful perspective on an environmental education situation. Finally it was concluded that Lave's socio-cultural approach to learning may be a useful guide to helping a teacher- elicit the full range of conceptualisations present in an environmental education situation, but is not ultimately effective if no challenge and change comes about. Consequently, a socially critical constructivist teaching and learning approach was suggested In conclusion I commented on the interpretive research methodology employed and suggested an example of a socially critical methodology that could take this investigation further.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Murtough, Neil
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Folklore Zoology -- South Africa -- Folklore
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1775 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003660
- Description: Constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are a well established component of the landscape of educational research, especially in Science education. This research took as its starting point the limited amount of social constructivist research available in the field of Environmental Education and responded to calls for further research. The research was designed within an interpretive tradition, as a critically phenomenological enquiry employing two methods; single case studies and a focus group. Data collection used progressively focused interview questions to proceed through a series of individual interview stages, starting with a simple description of conceptualisations and moving to deeper analysis of influences on, and use of conceptualisations. The focus group was designed as a forum to explore the pedagogic issues connected to the 'social negotiation of learning', based on data and insights gained from earlier interview stages. The goals of the study were to record data on the conceptualisations of animals perceived as significant by a group of Tsonga speaking students, and to seek insights into the formative influences on those conceptualisations. The research question, namely what contribution can social constructivist approaches to teaching and learning make to Environmental Education? guided an interpretation of the above data in terms of a range of social constructivist theories of learning. Theories of Radical and Social Constructivism as applied in Science education, although dominant orientations for educational research in constructivist learning, were challenged and found inappropriate as a basis to inform methodologies for Environmental Education. Instead Lave's (cited in O'Loughlin, 1992) socio-cultural approach to learning was explored as the basis to create a more useful perspective on an environmental education situation. Finally it was concluded that Lave's socio-cultural approach to learning may be a useful guide to helping a teacher- elicit the full range of conceptualisations present in an environmental education situation, but is not ultimately effective if no challenge and change comes about. Consequently, a socially critical constructivist teaching and learning approach was suggested In conclusion I commented on the interpretive research methodology employed and suggested an example of a socially critical methodology that could take this investigation further.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Student-teachers' perspectives of the role of environmental education in geography education
- Authors: Symmonds, Joanne
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Geography -- Study and teaching -- Environmental aspects Environmental education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1776 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003661
- Description: The ideas contained in socially critical Environmental Education cannot be ignored given the current environmental crisis and the need to achieve democracy in South African society. In order to achieve this learners need to develop the skills to make informed decisions which will facilitate the achievement of a sustainable society. It is the contention of this research that a socially critical Environmental Education approach to education can facilitate the above. Teachers of formal secondary school Geography Education are in the position to implement socially critical Environmental Education into their teaching. This study therefore investigates the perspectives of student teachers regarding the role of Environmental Education in secondary school Geography Education. This was done within the Interpretative Paradigm using a case study which involved five Higher Diploma in Education Geography method students. The research has revealed that even though the Geography method students have been exposed to an Environmental Education course, in their teaching preparation and are motivated to use it, they have limited understanding of the theory underpinning Environmental Education and how to apply it to their Geography teaching. The problems of bridging theory and practice was apparent. Recommendations are made as how to best facilitate the gap between theory and practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: Symmonds, Joanne
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Geography -- Study and teaching -- Environmental aspects Environmental education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1776 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003661
- Description: The ideas contained in socially critical Environmental Education cannot be ignored given the current environmental crisis and the need to achieve democracy in South African society. In order to achieve this learners need to develop the skills to make informed decisions which will facilitate the achievement of a sustainable society. It is the contention of this research that a socially critical Environmental Education approach to education can facilitate the above. Teachers of formal secondary school Geography Education are in the position to implement socially critical Environmental Education into their teaching. This study therefore investigates the perspectives of student teachers regarding the role of Environmental Education in secondary school Geography Education. This was done within the Interpretative Paradigm using a case study which involved five Higher Diploma in Education Geography method students. The research has revealed that even though the Geography method students have been exposed to an Environmental Education course, in their teaching preparation and are motivated to use it, they have limited understanding of the theory underpinning Environmental Education and how to apply it to their Geography teaching. The problems of bridging theory and practice was apparent. Recommendations are made as how to best facilitate the gap between theory and practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
A case study of a teacher's oral error treatment strategies in an English language classroom
- Authors: Dlangamandla, F N N
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Error analysis English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1434 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003315
- Description: Theoretical perspectives on error treatment in second language acquisition research are divided on the effect and desirability of corrective feedback on the learner's output. Theorists like Krashen (1982), believe that correction hampers acquisition because it encourages the learners to avoid difficult structures and to focus on form rather than on meaning, while Long (1977) contends that error treatment possibly speeds up interlanguage development although errors disappear slowly. Edmondson (1985) asserts that bringing errors to the learner's attention helps learning and that error - treatment contributes to consciousness-raising which is important for language acquisition. Research findings present conflicting evidence on the effects of corrective feedback on those for whom correction is meant. Some researchers report no concrete findings on the relationship between corrective feedback and learning outcomes (Hendrickson (1978) and Brock, Day and Long (1986)). Others, for example, Chaudron (1977) and Crookes and Rulon (1985) report differential effects of corrective treatments. Salica, Ramirez and Stromquist and Wren (cited in Chaudron 1988) report some evidence of feedback on error resulting in the learner's ability to self-correct. However, Hendrickson (1978) reports that some direct types of corrective procedures have been found to be ineffective. This research investigated a teacher's oral error treatment policy in different types of English lessons in a situation where L2 pupils study English as a subject according to an LI syllabus. The findings of this case study reveal that the teacher's manner of correction, when he decides to correct, is subtle and indirect. Rarely does he correct overtly and explicitly as his concern is to avoid hurting the error maker's feelings. He defers treatment and ignores most of the oral errors that learners make during classroom interaction. Pupil perceptions of their teacher's corrective treatments were positive although some of the pupils reported that they found his corrections confusing and intimidating at times. Most of them expressed , a wish to have their speech errors attended to explicitly, preferably by their teacher as his treatments were found to be motivational and unabrasive. Some of the pupils were opposed to peer correction for fear of ridicule. They also felt that fellow pupils did not always provide correct treatments. All the pupils in this study were of the opinion that oral error treatment is desirable because they believe that it improves their performance in English.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Dlangamandla, F N N
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Error analysis English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1434 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003315
- Description: Theoretical perspectives on error treatment in second language acquisition research are divided on the effect and desirability of corrective feedback on the learner's output. Theorists like Krashen (1982), believe that correction hampers acquisition because it encourages the learners to avoid difficult structures and to focus on form rather than on meaning, while Long (1977) contends that error treatment possibly speeds up interlanguage development although errors disappear slowly. Edmondson (1985) asserts that bringing errors to the learner's attention helps learning and that error - treatment contributes to consciousness-raising which is important for language acquisition. Research findings present conflicting evidence on the effects of corrective feedback on those for whom correction is meant. Some researchers report no concrete findings on the relationship between corrective feedback and learning outcomes (Hendrickson (1978) and Brock, Day and Long (1986)). Others, for example, Chaudron (1977) and Crookes and Rulon (1985) report differential effects of corrective treatments. Salica, Ramirez and Stromquist and Wren (cited in Chaudron 1988) report some evidence of feedback on error resulting in the learner's ability to self-correct. However, Hendrickson (1978) reports that some direct types of corrective procedures have been found to be ineffective. This research investigated a teacher's oral error treatment policy in different types of English lessons in a situation where L2 pupils study English as a subject according to an LI syllabus. The findings of this case study reveal that the teacher's manner of correction, when he decides to correct, is subtle and indirect. Rarely does he correct overtly and explicitly as his concern is to avoid hurting the error maker's feelings. He defers treatment and ignores most of the oral errors that learners make during classroom interaction. Pupil perceptions of their teacher's corrective treatments were positive although some of the pupils reported that they found his corrections confusing and intimidating at times. Most of them expressed , a wish to have their speech errors attended to explicitly, preferably by their teacher as his treatments were found to be motivational and unabrasive. Some of the pupils were opposed to peer correction for fear of ridicule. They also felt that fellow pupils did not always provide correct treatments. All the pupils in this study were of the opinion that oral error treatment is desirable because they believe that it improves their performance in English.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
A case study of input and classroom interaction in a multilingual chemistry class at the Port Elizabeth Technikon
- Authors: Potgieter, Sally
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Interaction analysis in education Teacher-student relationships Language and languages -- Study and teaching Multicultural education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1437 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003318
- Description: This study examines input and interactional modifications in a multilingual chemistry class at the Port Elizabeth Technikon. The investigation constituted observing lectures presented in chemistry and analysing the data so obtained within a framework developed from a study of current theories on the relationship between language and cognition and the role of input. It was further informed by data gathered from interviews with the lecturer, questionnaires administered to the students and separate focus group discussions with first language and second language speakers of English. The conclusion is that the lecturer's interactional and input modifications make the subject content accessible to both first language and second language learners. I have made suggestions for future research in this area in the belief that the data gathered in this case study offers some useful pointers for the retraining of teachers of multilingual classes in a tertiary context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Potgieter, Sally
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Interaction analysis in education Teacher-student relationships Language and languages -- Study and teaching Multicultural education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1437 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003318
- Description: This study examines input and interactional modifications in a multilingual chemistry class at the Port Elizabeth Technikon. The investigation constituted observing lectures presented in chemistry and analysing the data so obtained within a framework developed from a study of current theories on the relationship between language and cognition and the role of input. It was further informed by data gathered from interviews with the lecturer, questionnaires administered to the students and separate focus group discussions with first language and second language speakers of English. The conclusion is that the lecturer's interactional and input modifications make the subject content accessible to both first language and second language learners. I have made suggestions for future research in this area in the belief that the data gathered in this case study offers some useful pointers for the retraining of teachers of multilingual classes in a tertiary context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
A critical analysis of the application of total quality management principles in two schools
- Authors: Carlson, Brian Kenneth
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Total quality management School management and organization -- Case studies School management and organization -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1472 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003353
- Description: In recent years, the principles of Total Quality Management, developed by Edwards Deming and others and used with varying degrees of success in the business world, have been used in schools as part of the process to transform education in terms of school management and classroom learning. This research grew out of my experiences when St. Andrew's Preparatory School participated in a Total Quality Management training programme which highlighted for me the problems and the benefits of such training. This research was undertaken, therefore, to find out how two other schools - one a high school in Grahamstown and the other a high school in Clarke County, U.S.A. had responded to similar training. Open ended questionnaires were used and the responses were analyzed to detect patterns of thoughts, feelings and attitudes, particularly in terms of human relationships at the school and with regard to various components of school culture. Comparisons were also made between the responses from the two schools, and the findings were compared with the claims made for TQM by the theorists and other educational practitioners who have ventured into TQM in their schools. The research findings indicate that Total Quality Management training had a positive impact on the participating schools but that there are problems associated with its adaptation for education. Given the necessary leadership commitment, however, these problems are not insurmountable. Total Quality Management may well be able to contribute towards the restructing of education which seems to be more and more urgently needed both in South Africa and in their countries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Carlson, Brian Kenneth
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Total quality management School management and organization -- Case studies School management and organization -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1472 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003353
- Description: In recent years, the principles of Total Quality Management, developed by Edwards Deming and others and used with varying degrees of success in the business world, have been used in schools as part of the process to transform education in terms of school management and classroom learning. This research grew out of my experiences when St. Andrew's Preparatory School participated in a Total Quality Management training programme which highlighted for me the problems and the benefits of such training. This research was undertaken, therefore, to find out how two other schools - one a high school in Grahamstown and the other a high school in Clarke County, U.S.A. had responded to similar training. Open ended questionnaires were used and the responses were analyzed to detect patterns of thoughts, feelings and attitudes, particularly in terms of human relationships at the school and with regard to various components of school culture. Comparisons were also made between the responses from the two schools, and the findings were compared with the claims made for TQM by the theorists and other educational practitioners who have ventured into TQM in their schools. The research findings indicate that Total Quality Management training had a positive impact on the participating schools but that there are problems associated with its adaptation for education. Given the necessary leadership commitment, however, these problems are not insurmountable. Total Quality Management may well be able to contribute towards the restructing of education which seems to be more and more urgently needed both in South Africa and in their countries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
A pilot study of secondary teachers' understanding of population dynamics
- Authors: Hockey, Athol James Temlett
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa , Population -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1703 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003586
- Description: Population dynamics is a South African secondary school biology syllabus topic which deals specifically with ecology or concepts within the realm of ecology. It is currently taught in a way which largely emphasises the teaching and learning of facts and concepts, often out of any context to which students can relate. While it is important to convey scientific concepts, it is just as important to address social and political issues regarding overpopulation and the environment. This research involved the administration of a questionnaire to Std 10 biology teachers in the Department of Education and Training (DET), which sought to obtain information about various aspects of teachers' teaching of population dynamics. These included their feelings toward the teaching of the specific sections of the population dynamics syllabus, and their knowledge and views of environmental issues and human population expansion. The findings of the research suggest that population dynamics is an important topic for students to learn about. The traditional teacher-centred approach to teaching is used by the teachers in the research sample. The sections considered by the teachers to be most important for learning were also considered the most interesting and the easiest to teach. The majority of the teachers in the research sample recognised that human population growth is a global and local problem and that South Africa cannot sustain its present population growth. The teachers in the sample show a diversity of opinions about sustainable development, and have a limited understanding of the links between population, poverty and consumption. Important information gained from the research will be significant in the development of a teaching and learning module on population dynamics that reflects the aims and purpose of environmental education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Hockey, Athol James Temlett
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa , Population -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1703 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003586
- Description: Population dynamics is a South African secondary school biology syllabus topic which deals specifically with ecology or concepts within the realm of ecology. It is currently taught in a way which largely emphasises the teaching and learning of facts and concepts, often out of any context to which students can relate. While it is important to convey scientific concepts, it is just as important to address social and political issues regarding overpopulation and the environment. This research involved the administration of a questionnaire to Std 10 biology teachers in the Department of Education and Training (DET), which sought to obtain information about various aspects of teachers' teaching of population dynamics. These included their feelings toward the teaching of the specific sections of the population dynamics syllabus, and their knowledge and views of environmental issues and human population expansion. The findings of the research suggest that population dynamics is an important topic for students to learn about. The traditional teacher-centred approach to teaching is used by the teachers in the research sample. The sections considered by the teachers to be most important for learning were also considered the most interesting and the easiest to teach. The majority of the teachers in the research sample recognised that human population growth is a global and local problem and that South Africa cannot sustain its present population growth. The teachers in the sample show a diversity of opinions about sustainable development, and have a limited understanding of the links between population, poverty and consumption. Important information gained from the research will be significant in the development of a teaching and learning module on population dynamics that reflects the aims and purpose of environmental education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
A study of perceptions, knowledge and understanding of desertification and its causes among decision makers in northern Namibia
- Tshikesho, Desiderius Raimund
- Authors: Tshikesho, Desiderius Raimund
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Desertification Desertification -- Namibia Desertification -- Economic aspects -- Namibia Environmental education -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1779 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003664
- Description: This study was aimed at investigating the perceptions, knowledge and understanding of desertification and its causes among decision makers in northern Namibia. The focus of investigation was on desertification and its major causes as identified in the general literature, viz. deforestation, overgrazing and overcultivation. Particular attention was given to the socioeconomic and cultural factors which are behind these perceived 'ecological' causes of desertification. Furthermore, the respondents were also engaged in the generation of solutions to the problem of desertification and its causes. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews with the regional governors, councillors and chief headmen from the four northern regions. A qualitative approach was adopted for the research and findings are essentially descriptive and qualitative. It is anticipated that the study will make an important contribution to the current debate on desertification in Namibia, specifically with regard to the perceptions, knowledge and understanding of desertification and its causes among the decision makers in northern Namibia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Tshikesho, Desiderius Raimund
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Desertification Desertification -- Namibia Desertification -- Economic aspects -- Namibia Environmental education -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1779 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003664
- Description: This study was aimed at investigating the perceptions, knowledge and understanding of desertification and its causes among decision makers in northern Namibia. The focus of investigation was on desertification and its major causes as identified in the general literature, viz. deforestation, overgrazing and overcultivation. Particular attention was given to the socioeconomic and cultural factors which are behind these perceived 'ecological' causes of desertification. Furthermore, the respondents were also engaged in the generation of solutions to the problem of desertification and its causes. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews with the regional governors, councillors and chief headmen from the four northern regions. A qualitative approach was adopted for the research and findings are essentially descriptive and qualitative. It is anticipated that the study will make an important contribution to the current debate on desertification in Namibia, specifically with regard to the perceptions, knowledge and understanding of desertification and its causes among the decision makers in northern Namibia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
An investigation into teachers' perceptions of female secondary school principals in Kwazulu-Natal
- Authors: Ngcobo, Thandi Moira
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Women school principals -- South Africa Sex discrimination in employment -- South Africa Teachers -- South Africa -- Attitudes School management and organization -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1601 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003483
- Description: There are few female teachers who hold principal positions in schools, especially in secondary schools. This study investigates teachers' perceptions of secondary school female principals' leadership abilities and styles.It also investigates whether teachers' perceptions are influenced either by their sexes or experience or lack of experience of working with female principals. The reseacher hopes that this research findings will help to either: develop and improve female leadership (where it is found to be wanting); and or influence authorieties to appoint more female teachers to head secondary schools. The literature surveyed revealed that the appointment of principals in seconday schools is discriminatory against female teachers. It further revealed that principals (mainly male) do not prepare female teachers for management and leadership positions. As a result female potential leaders become demotivated. This is unfortunate as research has found that female principals are as effective as leaders as male principals are. One disadvantage of having a small number of female leaders in education is that this results in an education that only reflects the male perspectives and values. This in turn alienates girls' perspectives from education. In order to establish teachers' perceptions of female secondary school principals a survey of the percptions of teachers in the Maphumolo circuit of female principals in this area was first carried out by means of a questionnaire. This was followed by a case study of one female principal. In depth, semi-stuctured interviews were undertaken with the principal and three teachers working with her in order to establish this principal's leadership style and the teachers' feelings towards her. A statistical analysis of the survey and a conten~ ~alysis of the case study were carried out. These revealed that the majority of teachers perceive female principals as effective and transformational leaders. These perceptions were found to be minimally influenced by either the teachers' sexes or experience of working with female principals. The..majority of those teachers who perceived female principals negatively tended to be males and to be from a group of teachers who had never worked with female principals. Recommendations for the increase of the number of female principals in secondary schools and for the improvement ofleadership in these schools are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Ngcobo, Thandi Moira
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Women school principals -- South Africa Sex discrimination in employment -- South Africa Teachers -- South Africa -- Attitudes School management and organization -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1601 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003483
- Description: There are few female teachers who hold principal positions in schools, especially in secondary schools. This study investigates teachers' perceptions of secondary school female principals' leadership abilities and styles.It also investigates whether teachers' perceptions are influenced either by their sexes or experience or lack of experience of working with female principals. The reseacher hopes that this research findings will help to either: develop and improve female leadership (where it is found to be wanting); and or influence authorieties to appoint more female teachers to head secondary schools. The literature surveyed revealed that the appointment of principals in seconday schools is discriminatory against female teachers. It further revealed that principals (mainly male) do not prepare female teachers for management and leadership positions. As a result female potential leaders become demotivated. This is unfortunate as research has found that female principals are as effective as leaders as male principals are. One disadvantage of having a small number of female leaders in education is that this results in an education that only reflects the male perspectives and values. This in turn alienates girls' perspectives from education. In order to establish teachers' perceptions of female secondary school principals a survey of the percptions of teachers in the Maphumolo circuit of female principals in this area was first carried out by means of a questionnaire. This was followed by a case study of one female principal. In depth, semi-stuctured interviews were undertaken with the principal and three teachers working with her in order to establish this principal's leadership style and the teachers' feelings towards her. A statistical analysis of the survey and a conten~ ~alysis of the case study were carried out. These revealed that the majority of teachers perceive female principals as effective and transformational leaders. These perceptions were found to be minimally influenced by either the teachers' sexes or experience of working with female principals. The..majority of those teachers who perceived female principals negatively tended to be males and to be from a group of teachers who had never worked with female principals. Recommendations for the increase of the number of female principals in secondary schools and for the improvement ofleadership in these schools are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
An investigation into the development, principles and practice of environmental interpretation in South Africa: a case study of the National Parks Board
- Authors: Milne, Ian Bertram
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: National parks and reserves -- South Africa Environmental education -- South Africa National parks and reserves -- Interpretive programs Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1604 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003486
- Description: This study looks firstly at the historical background to conservation, particularly in the South African National Parks Board, and relates this to developments in interpretation in the National Parks. These are evaluated against international norms as they appear in the current literature. The aim is to establish a platform upon which future developments in interpretation may be built, avoiding the mistakes of the past, while capitalising on the strong points. Current views of what interpretation is, and what it should be, are reviewed. Knowing who the audience is, in terms of cultural background, education, needs and interests, as well as sound planning, clear objectives and ongoing evaluation of interpretive programmes, emerge as essential prerequisites for effective interpretation. Through reviewing the development and current status of interpretation in the National Parks, the study finds that although the view has been expressed by management, both past and present, that interpretation in the national parks is of great importance, the past and current status of interpretation does not reflect that view. Generally, interpretation appears to be regarded as a non-essential service. This report argues that environmental interpretation should be given a higher status in the National Parks Board and that it should form an important part of the conservation strategy and management plan for the national parks. The researcher contends that a greater investment in interpretation could lead to a decrease in the need for further, increased investment in law enforcement in the parks. The researcher is also of the opinion that interpretation aimed at all levels of personnel of the National Parks Board is at least as important as interpretation aimed at visitors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: Milne, Ian Bertram
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: National parks and reserves -- South Africa Environmental education -- South Africa National parks and reserves -- Interpretive programs Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1604 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003486
- Description: This study looks firstly at the historical background to conservation, particularly in the South African National Parks Board, and relates this to developments in interpretation in the National Parks. These are evaluated against international norms as they appear in the current literature. The aim is to establish a platform upon which future developments in interpretation may be built, avoiding the mistakes of the past, while capitalising on the strong points. Current views of what interpretation is, and what it should be, are reviewed. Knowing who the audience is, in terms of cultural background, education, needs and interests, as well as sound planning, clear objectives and ongoing evaluation of interpretive programmes, emerge as essential prerequisites for effective interpretation. Through reviewing the development and current status of interpretation in the National Parks, the study finds that although the view has been expressed by management, both past and present, that interpretation in the national parks is of great importance, the past and current status of interpretation does not reflect that view. Generally, interpretation appears to be regarded as a non-essential service. This report argues that environmental interpretation should be given a higher status in the National Parks Board and that it should form an important part of the conservation strategy and management plan for the national parks. The researcher contends that a greater investment in interpretation could lead to a decrease in the need for further, increased investment in law enforcement in the parks. The researcher is also of the opinion that interpretation aimed at all levels of personnel of the National Parks Board is at least as important as interpretation aimed at visitors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996