ETD Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/104


Please note: Digitised content is made available at the best possible quality range, taking into consideration file size and the condition of the original item. These restrictions may sometimes affect the quality of the final published item. For queries regarding content of ETD collection please contact IR specialists by email : IR specialists or Tel : 011 717 4652 / 1954

Follow the link below for important information about Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Library Guide about ETD

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Literacy programs--South Africa

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Lecturers’ perceptions of their role in addressing academic literacy challenges faced by first year students at a Johannesburg Institute of Higher Education
    (2018) Pinnoy, Jane
    This report presents an investigation carried out to determine lecturers’ perceptions of their role in addressing academic literacy challenges faced by first year students at a Johannesburg Institute of Higher Education. A phenomenographic qualitative framework was used to collect data at the Institute of Higher Education from five lecturers to elicit their perspective of the role they play in addressing academic literacy challenges. Due to the qualitative nature of the study the unstructured interview was used as the instrument for the collection of rich narrative data from the lecturers. Furthermore, this study used Lea and Street’s Academic Literacies approach as the conceptual framework, in order to gain insights into the lecturer’s thoughts, observations and experiences that influence and explain their perceptions of the role they play to address the academic literacy challenges of the students. While academic literacy has been well researched it is most often studied with the student or the academic literacy interventions as the object of study. There appears to be a dearth of research that considers the academic literacy of students from the lecturer’s perspective. This study aims to gain insights into the perceptions lecturers have of their role in the academic literacy in students and hopes to serve as a catalyst for other similar research. The results of this study confirm that lecturers mostly perceive the academic literacy challenges of their students as being limited to the surface characteristics of language such as grammar, vocabulary and syntax without recognising students’ sociocultural identities in specific contexts. Lecturers therefore perceived themselves as playing a limited role in the academic literacy challenges of their students, most often referring students to the traditional, generic or decontextualised academic literacy interventions offered by the institution.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The feminist classroom: women's action in the reinvention of adult learning spaces
    (2017) Shubane, Letlhabile Monica
    My focus is on working women in post democracy education and training programmes. Due to societal gender roles, rights for women, in both education and opportunity, should materialise in adult education systems. In order for women to be exposed to work opportunities as well as to maintain the domestic and child-rearing roles they play in society, these systems and spaces must be reinvented. I hope to defi ne indigenous feminist theories, and then to manifest these in the creation of learning spaces. Th rough deconstructing the hugely diverse lived experiences of women in their social roles, I will question educational subject matter, women’s representation as learners, workplace roles, domestic and child-rearing roles, and fi nally challenge the idea of the widely accepted school and classroom model as a centralised institution. Alternative practices of learning and knowing possibly have great impact on transformation for women. Th e ties between education and work lead me to choose factories as my site of interest. Th e site of Jeppestown is appropriate because it is where the light industrial practices about which I am talking, continue to exist. With this thesis I aim to propose an alternative model for working- women as students and educators. I aim to reinvent the systems and spaces in which women learn and in which contextualised feminist theories are manifested.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Achieving sustainability in an Adult Basic Education (ABE) Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO): a case study of Project Literacy
    (1998) Andrews, Dorothy
    This research report explores how Project Literacy, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), involved in adult basic education, was able to achieve sustainability by engaging in a comprehensive and ongoing restructuring process. It was mainly the new political dispensation as well as changes in funding policies for NGOs that necessitated the restructuring process. The principal aims o f the study were to document how this organisation managed its change process and what other measures it took to enhance the sustainability of its organisation. The research has been conducted in the qualitative research approach. The case study was selected as a major technique. A questionnaire and interviews with key staff were the main dava gathering methods. Triangulation was achieved by the use of various organisational documents such as independent evaluations among other?. Research findings suggested that without the restructuring process Project Literacy would not have been sustainable. The findings illustrated that the ability to change and adapt continuously was imperative. It also showed that any NGO needs a clear vision, a good product, sound management practices and motivated and efficient staff.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Materials development training for ABET workers.
    (2014-03-06) Alkenbrack, Betsy
    The aim of this study was to develop a high-quality, experience-based, accredited training course that would bring black literacy workers into the ABET materials writing field. The report begins by setting the context of ABET in South Africa, then describing the literature on a wide variety of materials development projects in South Africa and other developing countries, some of which can be used as models for the proposed course. Training courses in fields outside ABET also inform the study. Through a combination of questionnaires and interviews, the study explores the needs of institutions concerned with ABET materials as well as the needs and skills of potential trainees. Ten specialists were interviewed: Seven were ABET practitioners representing a tertiary institution, NGOs and government and three were involved in educational publishing.They identified the need for relevant practical materials in all South African languages and learning areas, and said a training course should stress thinking skills, writing skills, visual literacy and a firm grasp of the process and economics of book production. Thirty eight potential trainees were contacted through questionnaires and focus groups. They were positive about the proposed course and alerted the researcher to logistical issues regarding finances and timing. All respondents said the course must be accredited in line with NQF requirements. The main tension that arose in the interviews was around priorities. While all the experts said training in the production of materials was important, it had to viewed as a luxury in light of extremely limited resources and urgent demands for delivery. Finally a proposed course is described, consisting of a 12-module, part-time course lasting approximately one year.