Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37987

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    Teacher pedagogies for literacy acquisition amongst EFAL learners in Grade 3 in two schools in the Western Cape
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Dooms, Anastasia Chloe; Martin, Cameron
    The issue of literacy and language development is still a pressing concern within South African education. Many South African learners that are required to attend school and learn in their first/second additional language (FAL) as opposed to their home language (HL) are disadvantaged and comparatively excluded compared to their peers that learn in their HL. In the foundation phase, literacy acquisition is seen as a building block to education and therefore teachers need to ensure that learners have acquired adequate oral vocabulary and phonological awareness in English to enable a strong literacy foundation for their transition from their HL to English (EFAL). This study analysed the pedagogical practices used by four Grade 3 educators from two non-English schools in the Western Cape during their EFAL lessons. The research intended to identify the pedagogical approaches used by these educators to assist learners in learning and adequately acquiring their FAL to the level of proficiency needed for English as the language of instruction from Grade 4 onwards. A qualitative approach was used and incorporated the use of two EFAL lesson observations (per educator), lesson plan analyses, and semi-structured interviews. The main findings were analysed through the lens of Pedagogical Link-Making (PLM) (Scott et al., 2011). PLM as an evaluation tool was used to guide and thereafter analyse the observations and the post-observation interviews. This was used to establish the effective pedagogies used by Grade 3 educators to establish meaning amongst their learners. The findings gave insight into promising pedagogical actions that should be incorporated into teaching and learning EFAL to facilitate meaning making amongst learners and ensure adequate language and literacy acquisition. The inclusive education field will benefit from further research being conducted into PLM, with particular interest in language and literacy development. This may aid the field of education to find new ways for educators to adapt their pedagogical practices to foster inclusion within their classroom and hinder the exclusionary practices faced by EFAL learners due to learning barriers imposed by language.
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    The Effects of Mathematical Modelling and its Application in Algebraic Functions on Grade 11 Learners’ Performance
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Ngubane, Sibongiseni; Ekol, George
    To explore the effects of mathematical modelling on Grade 11 learners’ academic performance in algebraic functions, teachers’ self-efficacy and their overall perceptions, is the purpose of this research study. For the achievement of this goal, the research study followed a mixed method for both collecting and analyzing data. However, a pre-test and a post-test, interviews, and a questionnaire were used to collect data. The study content was limited to mathematical modelling in algebraic functions, learners doing pure mathematics in Grade 11, and mathematics teachers in the FET phase only. Eighty-seven (87) Grade 11 learners doing mathematics from one (1) selected school under the ILembe district in KwaZulu Natal participated in the research study, where 44 (51%) formed an experimental group and the other 43 (49%) learners formed a control group. Findings revealed that the experimental group taught through modelling with a guided discovery approach outperformed the control group that was taught through a direct instruction approach to learning. Hence, the difference between the modelling and direct instruction teaching approaches is statistically significant. Six (6) learners from the experimental group were purposively sampled to participate in the semi-structured interviews for the researcher's purposes of exploring learners’ perceptions about mathematical modelling. Learners reported that modelling could improve their level of cognition. Thirty-three (33) mathematics teachers in the FET phase from fourteen (14) high schools in KwaZulu Natal participated in the study by completing a questionnaire about modelling. Findings revealed that teachers have positive attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions about modelling in mathematics education even though there are no teachers’ professional development workshops provided to encourage them based on modelling. This study recommended that the department of education put more efforts into supporting and motivating teachers to implement modelling in mathematics classrooms, provide teachers with professional development workshops based on modelling, design and distribute teaching and learning support documents to all schools providing mathematics, and do follow-up to check the progress in teachers’ developments.
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    The role of TPACK in enhancing students' knowledge of the design process: A case study of Grade 9 Technology Educators
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Modise, Refilwe; Dewa, Alton
    The department of basic education is making efforts to transform educator pedagogy by introducing the use of digital technology in South African classrooms. Thus, the utilisation of digital tools in the technology classroom is likely to improve the students‟ comprehension of the design process. Educators need a well-developed Technological pedagogical content knowledge to meaningfully integrate Technology in their classrooms. The core purpose of this research is to investigate the role of the TPACK body of knowledge in enhancing grade 9 student understanding of the design process to improve learner achievement and to allow learners to design models that are fit-for-purpose and usable beyond the classroom. This is a qualitative research study aimed at capturing rich-data to answer the main research questions of the study. The TPACK framework was used in this study to determine the role of TPACK in enhancing the knowledge of students when they learn the design process. The data collection method used was interviews, where five grade 9 educators were purposively sampled from Sedibeng east to establish the role of TPACK in the Technology classroom. The study is underpinned by constructivism and social constructivism learning theory that follows a learner centred approach to teaching the design process. The finding of the study reveal that educators are interested in using digital tools in their classroom, however they are constrained by the lack of technological support, limited access to digital tools and the lack of Technological pedagogical content knowledge. The findings further reveal that educators are attempting the integration of technology in the classroom but they do not appropriately articulate the affordances of digital tools that will enhance the learners understanding of the design process. To answer the research question, the role TPACK cannot be meaningfully measured as the educators showed a lack of Technological pedagogical content knowledge. According to the educators‟ point of view, students became interested in the lesson when they used digital tools therefore, if they can be trained in using digital tools, they will be able to enhance the understanding of students in the design process. This would allow learners to design and make models that fit-for-purpose and come up with solutions that show a deeper understanding of the problem they had to investigate. The finding further shows that if the TPACK can be used meaningfully, it will play an important role in learning of the design process. In future Pre-service and in-service educators must be equipped with TPACK body of knowledge and more digital tools must be available in the Technology classroom for the learners to meet the learning outcomes of the design process.
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    Grade 10 Learners errors when operating Integers
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Naidoo, Sheldon Samuel; Pournara, Craig
    This study focuses on learners’ errors in integers and explores the changes in their errors during their grade 10 year. The data utilised in this study was collected by the WMCS project in 2018. The data was collected from learners of 15 low-performing schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Part of this study consisted of a comparison of two groups of learner responses. The first group comprised of learners of teachers who participated in a professional development course offered by the project in 2016/2017 (TM group) and the second group are learners whose teachers did not attend the course (CNT group). These schools had no prior relationships with the Wits Maths Connect Secondary (WMCS) project. I looked at the responses that grade10 learners made when ordering and operating on integers at two different points of a school year. The tests were written in February and September of the same year and were analysed from a random sample of 196 grade 10 learners from 40 low-performing secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Test items dealt with ordering of integers and operating on integers. Working from a Vygotskian perspective, a framework dealing with concept formation of negative numbers was developed to analyse learners’ test responses. In this study, I focused solely on the responses given by the learners of the two groups and explored the persistency of errors within each group as well as the type of errors found across the groups. Having this data point per learner allowed for further investigations regarding persistent errors and errors which were remediated and waned during the year. Furthermore, it provided an opportunity to detect new errors arising which would impact the learning of other topics. This framework made it possible to identify seven types of errors. The findings show that while learners’ performance improved from pre-test to post-test, many grade 10 leaners still have difficulty with the concept of negative numbers.
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    IsiZulu High School Learners’ Attitudes Towards Learning IsiZulu Folktales: A Case Study of a High School in Soweto
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Simelane, Nomkhosi Swelihle; Ntombela, Sipho Albert
    The Department of Basic Education leaves it to indigenous language teachers to decide on the genre they prefer to teach between novels and folklore, consisting of traditional poetry, idioms, proverbs, riddles, and folktales. However, there is no study that has been conducted to investigate isiZulu learners’ attitudes towards learning isiZulu folktales. Consequently, this study serves to fill a gap in extant literature. Its purpose was to investigate isiZulu high school learners’ attitudes towards learning isiZulu folktales in School X. Two research tools (a questionnaire and structured interviews) were used to collect data and the Thematic Content Analysis was used to analyse it. The results of the study were the following: (1) Most isiZulu high school learners in school x have a positive attitude towards learning isiZulu folktales; (2) isiZulu learners’ attitudes towards learning isiZulu folktales were influenced either positively or negatively by the contents of folktales, environments and the teachers’ attitudes; (3) the learners’ viewpoints were that teachers need to change their teaching methods and negative attitude towards isiZulu folktales. However, more studies need to be conducted to find out how isiZulu teachers teach isiZulu folktales in different grades, and how student teachers are prepared by the South African universities to teach isiZulu folktales.
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    Teachers’ understanding of advantages and disadvantages of implementing inclusive education in one selected mainstream primary school in Ekurhuleni South district
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Makama, Bathobile; Aloka, Peter
    Inclusive education was set to bring about change that has yet to be effective in the field. Many South African policies were created to guide it, but the contradiction has left many confused and teachers at the forefront with no support. This study aimed to investigate teachers’ understanding of advantages and disadvantages of implementing inclusive education in one selected mainstream primary school in Ekurhuleni South district. To achieve this goal, three research objectives were set to govern the study, namely: to explore teachers’ understanding of inclusive education in the selected mainstream primary school; to examine teachers’ understanding of the advantages of implementing inclusive education in the selected mainstream primary school and finally, to explore teachers’ understanding of the disadvantages of implementing inclusive education in the selected mainstream primary school. This study used the interpretive research paradigm. The design that was used in this study is a case study because it dealt with contemporary phenomena. The sample size of 7 teachers allocated to the intermediate phase from Grade 4- 7 were obtained by using the purposive sampling method. The research instruments adopted comprised of a semi-structured interview for three teachers and one focus group discussion for the other four teachers. The data was analysed by employing a thematic analysis framework to enable analysis of interview data. The findings of the study indicated that teachers have multiple understandings of what inclusive education such as; holistic teaching, team teaching, effective communication and understanding, accommodation of diverse learners, creation of special schools for learners with disabilities and dumb down content for support. The findings of the study also reported teachers understanding of advantages of inclusive education as; caters for diverse needs of all learners, enhances intrapersonal understanding of learners with special needs, enhances self-esteem of disabled learners and provides equal opportunities for all learners. The study highlights teachers understanding of implementing inclusive education to include; lack of teacher training, overcrowded classrooms, limited class time, overloaded curriculum, lack of support, lack of resources, incorrect infrastructure, teaching by trial and error amongst others. The study recommends that the Department of Education should provide continuous in-service teacher training on inclusive education.
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    Applying critical literacy theory to examine English Further Education and Training short story textbooks
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Sekgobela, Adolph; Nkealah, Naomi
    Textbook authors have worked hard over the years to produce quality work. However, it has been a challenge in South African basic education to use these textbooks to train learners to be critical thinkers, which means that learners struggle to cope when they reach higher education. Basic education assesses basic knowledge, without learners themselves being challenged to engage creatively with content and interpret it through a critical lens. This study researched on three short story textbooks, namely Fabulous, Short Story Anthology and Changes using the qualitative method. These are short story textbooks used in public schools in South Africa, as part of English First Additional Language subject content. Purposive sampling was used to make selection of short stories. Within each book, the Department of Basic Education prescribed eight stories for learning. This study selected two of the eight prescribed stories from each book, making six short stories selected for the research. These stories were analysed with their activities against critical literacy theory. It was found that short story activities, especially those studied in Grade 11 and 12, do not assist learners to develop skills such as problem-solving, creative writing, and critical literacy, and that the Grade 10 stories do in some instances promote critical literacy skills development. On the whole, it was found that all short stories limit learners from being creative beings who are able to rewrite, rethink and reconstruct the world around them.
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    The representation of father and son relationships in African fairy tales
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Nkosi, Hlengiwe; Nkealah, Naomi
    This research project examines the representation of father and son relationships in African fairy tales. The purpose of this research is firstly to analyse how father and son relationships are portrayed in African fairy tales. The second purpose of this research is to determine the types of father and son relationships portrayed in the African fairy tales and how those relationships expand, challenge or support the existing knowledge about what it means to be a father and a man. I used ten fairy tales to conduct this study. Three of the fairy tales are from Ethiopia, one fairy tale is from Kenya, four are from South Africa, one from Zimbabwe, and one from Ghana. I analysed the data for this study using a thematic content analysis method. My findings were that there are five types of father and son relationships: dysfunctional father and son relationships, detached father and son relationships, distanced father and son relationships, absent father and son relationships, and positive father and son relationships. There are five factors that determined the father and son relationships; these factors are hard work, wisdom and knowledge, obedience and disobedience, communication, and reckless behaviour. The types of father and son relationships portrayed in the African fairy tales affirm, contest and extend existing knowledge on fatherhood and masculinity in different ways.
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    Exploring learner errors and misconceptions in algebraic expressions with Grade 9 learners
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Stemele, Bulelwa Penelope; Makonye, Judah; Asvat, Zaheera Jina
    Mathematics is a crucial skill for the acquisition of relevant skills in society and is required for admission to South African universities and other higher education institutions. However, South African learners’ performance in mathematics on local and international educational achievement tests has been a major source of concern. Algebra is one area of mathematics that learners struggle with. Algebra is challenging because it is a more abstract form of mathematics and learners are unable to relate it to their daily lives. Algebra is essential because it serves as the foundation for further study in mathematics and other disciplines. Learners in Grade 9 struggle with the variables, equations, and abstract concepts found in algebra. Most errors and misconceptions that learners commit in mathematics stem from a lack of algebra background knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore algebraic expression errors and misconceptions in Grade 9. The study was based on the Vygotskian sociocultural theory of learning. According to the Vygotskian sociocultural theory, teachers and mathematics manipulative plays an essential role in facilitating learning in their learners Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). A mixed-methods study was used to explore the errors and misconceptions committed by Grade 9 learners when solving algebraic expressions. The data was collected through tests and learner interviews from a class of 22 Grade9s. After analysing the pre-test data and identifying common errors and misconceptions, an intervention involving the use of algebra tiles to teach algebraic expressions was implemented. Firstly, my study supports the error types identified in the literature. Secondly, my study demonstrates an improvement in performance on the post-test following an intervention using algebra tiles. According to research, the use of manipulatives helps learner construct a conceptual understanding by consolidating abstract ideas. This study adds to previous research indicating the usefulness of manipulatives in mathematics classrooms.
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    Investigation of how the teaching of climatology concepts in grade12 through multimedia is done: Cases of four schools in Johannesburg North, Gauteng Province
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Sethole, Mokurubane Simon; Mbatha, Khanyisile; Ndlovu, Nokulunga S.
    The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within education system in the 21st Century has been a motivating and encouraging phenomenon, which has completely revolutionised the way in which teaching and learning happen within the classroom. With ICT comes the usage of multimedia that has proven its significance due to its positive impact on the teaching and learning processes. This study explores and compiles good teaching practices that Grade12 educators demonstrate when teaching the climatology concepts using multimedia. Four qualified and well-experienced Geography Educators were selected from good performing schools that has ICT infrastructure. Teacher’s lessons of about 35 to 45 minutes where they taught climatology concepts using multimedia, were observed and recorded. Qualitative data collected were analysed using thematic analysis whereby categorization and combining of the trends was applied. The findings of the study reveal that the teachers under study have similar pedagogical practices during instruction when using multimedia even though their approach and multimodalities were different. This highlights the uniqueness of each individual teacher and thus proves that there is no linear way in which multimedia teaching should happen. In addition, the findings of the study reveal that the teachers valued the importance of investing time in designing multimedia adequately. They argue that teacher’s knowledge of which multimedia to use during instruction, and how such multimedia should be used, are significant to the effectiveness of their teaching of climatology concepts in Geography. Moreover, the lesson observations revealed that multimedia was used as a centralised tool to reinforce concepts taught during the lesson - in particular, the infographic. Even though teachers used different multimodalities at different stages of their lessons, it seems that teachers used multimedia as a reference tool or point. It is evident that teaching of climatology concepts with multimedia is multifaceted and it involves detailed and systematic planning, well thought instruction through efficient design and implementation and careful interactions between the teachers, students and multimedia (didactical triangle).