The use of video as a resource for the development of L1 Foundation Phase Literacy in isiXhosa: a digital multimodal discourse approach
- Authors: Schafli, Sasha-Lee
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Xhosa language Study and teaching , Oral reading , Literacy , Functionalism (Linguistics) , Discourse analysis , Educational technology South Africa Eastern Cape , Video recordings in education
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467105 , vital:76815 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467105
- Description: Videos as a resource for African language L1 literacy development are strikingly absent from the South African school curriculum for the Foundation Phase (Grades 1 to 3). Furthermore, an overall lack of isiXhosa same language subtitling (SLS) practices in South Africa for videos poses questions as to the benefits and challenges of SLS for L1 early grade readers of isiXhosa. The aim of this research was to test, describe and analyse the efficacy of five isiXhosa YouTube story videos with SLS for the development of literacy in isiXhosa at the Grade 2 and 3 L1 levels. In this mixed-methods study, the five videos were exposed to Grade 2 and 3 learners at a school in the Eastern Cape in a quantitative two-group experimental design in a three-month intervention. This was to determine whether video exposure resulted in significant difference for learners' literacy, focusing particularly on word recognition, Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores and broad semiotic awareness between the linguistic and visual modes. The five videos were also analysed with a Digital Multimodal Discourse Analysis (DMDA), illustrating potential areas in which these five videos could assist or pose challenges to literacy learning in this context. While learners’ reading scores improved over the three-month intervention, nonparametric t-test results indicate SLS video exposure did not make a significant difference in learners’ reading improvements. Results from both methods were triangulated with cognitive theories of multimodal literacy and Mayer’s principles of learning with multimedia. The analysis highlights that while the videos’ design may be conducive for learning, the subtitle rate in the videos is far greater than the learners’ reading scores in this study or reading speed benchmarks expected of Grade 2 and 3 learners. This can result in these videos being ineffective as a resource to improve literacy in isiXhosa for this level. This research highlights the importance of the integration of multiple methods of analysis for multimodal resources, as well as the importance of subtitle rate as a system within a multimodal analysis for literacy research. Furthermore, Comparative Relations in Intersemiotic Texture is proposed as a useful system for examining learning resources. This research further suggests areas of focus for future video design in potential L1 Foundation Phase literacy resources for isiXhosa and other African languages. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 2024
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Exploring pre-service teachers’ reflective practice in the context of video-based lesson analysis
- Authors: Chikiwa, Samukeliso
- Date: 2020-04-30
- Subjects: Pre-service teacher education , Reflective practice , Video recordings in education , Mathematics teachers Training of South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/355357 , vital:64492
- Description: This study explored the development of reflective practice in foundation phase pre-service teachers in the context of video-based lesson analysis at a university in South Africa. The study was conducted in the field of mathematics education, responding to the urgent need to equip pre-service South African teachers with the knowledge and skills for effective mathematics teaching. The research is foregrounded by the continuing poor performance of South African learners in mathematics at all levels of education in the country, which has been linked to the inadequate knowledge and skills of mathematics teachers. Pre-service teacher education is putting considerable effort into improving the preparation of mathematics teachers and developing their ability to reflect on their teaching practice is one of the strategies being employed for this purpose. Research has demonstrated the importance of reflective practice (RP) in both developing and extending teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. This study therefore contributes to current research that supports the development of RP as a professional skill for promoting the acquisition of knowledge for teaching in pre-service teacher education. The study adopted a qualitative case study approach with two phases of data collection. In Phase 1 I collected and analysed three sets of 19 pre-service teachers’ written reflections to establish the nature of the reflections that they developed when analysing video-recorded mathematics lessons of experienced teachers’ practice. Phase 2 was conducted with four PSTs who reflected on video-recorded mathematics lessons of their own practice, and similarly sought to investigate the nature of the reflections they developed when reflecting on practice. The four PSTs wrote one set of reflections on their own lessons, went through three sessions of facilitator-guided reflections, then wrote another set of reflections to establish if the support provided in small group facilitator-guided sessions improved their reflections. Iterative content analysis was employed to analyse the PSTs’ written reflections, using an analytic tool that I developed for this purpose through merging Lee’s (2007) and Muir and Beswick’s (2007) levels of reflection frameworks. My model had four levels of reflection: description, explanation, suggestion and reflectivity. The names of each of the levels connect to the key indicator for that level. PSTs’ written reflections were coded and analysed according to these levels. The study found that PSTs’ initial reflections were mostly description of general classroom events with little reflection at the levels of explanation and suggestion, and an absence of reflectivity. Most reflections focused on general events in the lesson rather than mathematical events, even though the six lens framework they were given to guide their reflections prompted them to steer their attention towards mathematical events. The second and third sets of reflections, although mostly still at level 1, showed some shifts towards explanation and suggestion, although an increased focus on mathematical events though reflectivity was still largely absent. No PST reached the fourth level of reflectivity in Phase 1. However, in Phase 2, the PSTs’ reflections after the three small group facilitator-guided sessions included some evidence of reflectivity. The findings suggest the need for pre-service teacher educators to make a concerted effort to teach PSTs what reflection is and how to reflect on their practice. The findings also showed the need for small group facilitator-guided support in the development of PSTs’ reflective practice. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2020
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