Browsing by Author "Mavhiza, Grace"

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    Adolescents’ identity development through literature: A study of pedagogy and canon in the Grade 11 English FAL poetry classroom
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Mavhiza, Grace; Nkealah, Naomi
    The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ identity development in the Grade 11 English First Additional Language (FAL) poetry classroom. Despite the well-documented benefits of poetry (Femer, 2003; Pushpa & Savaedi, 2014; Antika, 2017), this study identified the problem that poetry is not realising its potential as a subject in the schools in relation to the identity development of adolescents. The school is a place where adolescents spend much of their time and there are many factors which shape adolescents’ identities within the school context. This qualitative study focused on pedagogy and canon among these many factors. The study was designed as a dual case study and set up within the interpretivism paradigm which allowed different interpretations of the data about the effect of pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ development. The complexity of the study meant a dual focused theoretical framework. Thus, the study used a combination of the theories of identity development by Erik Erikson (1963; 1968) and critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire (1970). Purposive sampling was used to identify the cases for this study. The two schools selected happen to be within Ekurhuleni District. In one school the teacher applied traditional pedagogy while in the other school the teacher employed the modern pedagogy which included multimodality, multiliteracies and new literacies. Qualitative data was collected using three tools, namely, participant observation, questionnaire, and reflective journals. Descriptive and thematic analyses of data were conducted, and the results show that there are limitations and affordances of both the traditional and modern pedagogies. In relation to the impact of the poetry pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ identity development in the Grade 11 English FAL poetry classroom, key findings reveal that traditional pedagogy takes away adolescents’ opportunities to explore their personal identities. In addition, the modern pedagogy is preferable among the Grade 11 English FAL poetry adolescents who participated in this study. The study concluded that the current Grade 11 English FAL poetry canon is alienated from the lives of adolescents who participated in this research. Learners yearn for new poetry which speaks to their daily experiences.
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    Changes in how English FAL learners appreciate poetry when indigenous poetry is brought into the classroom: a practitioner case study of grade 11 learners in Gauteng
    (2019) Mavhiza, Grace
    A vigorous poetry tradition has existed throughout South African history. It represents in many ways a truly original contribution to the literature in the English first additional language (FAL) classroom. The benefits of poetry in enhancing intellectual, emotional social and linguistic development in learners are well documented. Surprisingly, there is a negative attitude towards poetry by learners and teachers as they prefer other literary genres particularly in a secondary school where this research was carried out. I have realised that the oral traditional poetry which is an African form of poetry practice is largely absent in the classroom today. Through a practitioner case study, this research sought to elicit the Grade 11 learners’ changes in appreciation of classroom poetry when indigenous poetry is brought into the English FAL classroom. This study presents previous research regarding perceptions accorded to classroom poetry. This is a qualitative study in which data gathered through questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, poetry texts analysis and reflective writing was presented to answer the primary question; what could be the changes in the appreciation of classroom poetry if indigenous poetry is brought into the classroom? The findings show that learners of English FAL do not appreciate classroom poetry due to the reasons that; classroom poetry is distant from the learners‘ life experiences making them struggle to interpret the poetry prescribed for them. Learners also said that classroom poetry is boring and this is due to the teaching methods employed in the classroom which are book centred and assessment driven. However, this study concluded through the intervention that encouraging learners to respond to poetry by presenting poems in a range of modes is more likely to boost their interest than focusing on the “traditional” line by line analysis of poems. The other important finding is that if indigenous poetry is brought into the classroom, learners’ attitudes towards classroom poetry will positively change