3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Working memory and divergent thinking as predictors of academic achievement: exploratory study(2018) Abrahams, Jaime J.This study explored the relationship between working memory, divergent thinking and academic achievement. The aim was to determine which variable (working memory or divergent thinking) better predicts academic outcomes within the context of Johannesburg, South Africa. In addition to this, the study explored the relationship of gender, types of schooling (public and private) as well as socioeconomic status with the aforementioned variables. Participants were 65 school learners across three schools (2 public and 1 private). Participants included were English first and second-language speakers, all however being educated in English. Results showed that (1) divergent thinking had a greater impact on academic achievement than working memory, it was found that as divergent thinking abilities increased academic achievement scores decreased; (2) no significant relationship between working memory and academic achievement was found; (3) gender had an influence on academic achievement, in favour of females; and (4) socioeconomic status and academic achievement were negatively correlated. The researcher then split the sample into two groups, one being participants from public schools and the other being participants from private schools. When split it was found that (1) divergent thinking significantly correlated with academic achievement in the private school; (2) socioeconomic status had a significant relationship with working memory in the government schools; and (3) gender had a significant relationship within the private schooling system with working memory and academic achievement. The findings provide a theoretical contribution in understanding the relationship between these variables and thereby potentially impacting on how academic achievement is understood.Item A comparative case study of the academic development and student support initiatives and programmes in two schools at the University of the Witwatersrand(2017) Nayager, AneshreeStudent success at university is dependent on various academic and non-academic factors. Some students may face barriers to their success due to these factors. Academic development for students and staff, as well as student support programmes can play an important role in helping students to overcome the barriers they may be experiencing. This study aims to differentiate between different forms of academic development and student support, and their functions as well as to understand how these types of programmes or initiatives were conceptualised and operationalized at WITS. An important aim was to understand the provision of academic development and student support from the top-down, through examining WITS‟s policies on these issues. This was done through a comparative case study of two Schools in different Faculties at WITS. A series of interviews was conducted with practitioners working within programmes, at Faculty and School-level, and those who have had extensive experience within the field. What emerges from this research is that there are different programmes or initiatives in place in both Schools. These include teaching and learning development initiatives, student academic development programmes and student support programmes. However, without a policy or guidelines, the nature of academic development and student support tends to be uneven and each of the practitioners had varied perspectives based on their experiences in the field. There are various challenges faced by the programmes, but these are navigated differently by the practitioners given their context and agency. This unevenness and the varied experiences of the practitioners in this study tend to suggest the need for a policy to guide the implementation of academic development and student support.Item Academic motivation, psychological distress and student adjustment in black female first year university students living on campus(2017) Rasoaisi, LeratoThis study was aimed at investigating the relationship between academic motivation, psychological distress, and various aspects of adjustment. The specific aim of this research was to explore the unique contributions of each of the seven types of academic motivation, depression, anxiety and stress in predicting each of four types of student adjustment in the first year of university education. Quantitative data collection methods were used to collect data from a sample of predominantly Black, first-year female students residing within the Wits University campus. The collected data were analysed utilising Pearson’s product moment correlations and step-wise multiple regression analyses. Results suggested that psychological distress, particularly depression was a critical factor in academic, personal emotional and attachment adjustment, whereas anxiety and stress were mostly strongly related to social adjustment. A motivation and the lack of certain types of intrinsic motivation were also found to be risk factors for poorer adjustment. Implications of this research as well as limitations and directions for future research are discussedItem Access with success: the reaching for excellence and achievement program at the University of the Witwatersrand(2017) Ndaba, MthobisiSince the debut of democracy, there has been an increase in the number of historically marginalised Black students in South Africa’s higher education institutions. However, this has not been accompanied by a corresponding success rate. Higher education’s response to this success crisis has largely been academic development programs. While extensive research has been done on academic development programs, more especially quantitative research in disciplines like maths, natural sciences, and economics, not much qualitative research has been done on extracurricular academic development programs in the humanities and the social sciences. In this study, I explore the role of the Reaching for Excellence and Achievement Program (REAP) in students’ journeys graduation. REAP is an extracurricular academic development program at the University of the Witwatersrand. The findings show that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are not a homogeneous group and that this influences the types of challenges that they encounter at university. They show that REAP played a significant role in facilitating these students’ progress to graduation. They also reveal that academic development programs by themselves are not enough to address the success crisis facing students from disadvantaged backgrounds because the root causes of some of the challenges they encounter can only be addressed at a structural level. Based on the lessons learned from the findings of this study, I make recommendations for future academic development programming. Keywords: Access, Success, Academic Development, Under-preparedness, Educational Inequality, Higher EducationItem Effects of an integrative learning model on grade 12 learners' conception of vertical projectile motion(2017) Chinorumba, HenryNational diagnostic reports have shown that learners perform dismally in Physical sciences, with Vertical projectile motion as one of the most problematic topics (National Senior Certificate Diagnostic reports, 2012-2015). Yet, there is no clear-cut instructional strategy aimed at improving the conceptual understanding of the topic in South Africa, in spite of learners’ misconceptions and alternative frameworks being well documented in the extant literature including yearly NSC diagnostic reports. The study explored the impact of an Integrative learning model - an intervention study I designed, underpinned by Toulmin’s argumentation pattern (TAP), Predict-Observe-Explanation (POE) and Contiguity argumentation theory (CAT) - designed to shift students’ perceptions towards scientifically accepted ideas though dialogical argumentation. The benefits of dialogical argumentation in sense-making are well documented (Msimanga and Lelliot, 2012). The pinnacle of the ILM, itself embedded on dialogical argumentation, is eliciting for learners’ pre-conceived ideas and crafting an instructional package based on these ideas. Two Grade 12 classes from one school in Gauteng province, South Africa were involved in the study: one as an experimental group (n=38) and the other as a control group (n=36). Data were collected using a pre-post test approach in the main and focus group interviews on selected learners, making it a mixed method approach. Data were analyzed using the cross tabs method, from which Chi square values and bar graphs were obtained. The level of significance for Chi square values was set at 0.05. By comparing the performance of the two groups in the pre-test using Chi square values, it was discovered that – save for only three items – learners shared common pre-instructional ideas on most items, confirming that the two groups shared common ideas possibly gained from similar experiences with falling objects. This was understandable given that participants came from similar backgrounds, hence potentially share similar or closely related experiences, making it possible to do inter-group performance in the pre-post test on items where the two groups performed comparably. Three items that showed huge significant differences were excluded from discussion involving inter-group comparison of performance to improve results validity. Further, the findings confirm that learners have common misconceptions, lack of skills and alternative conceptions about vertical projectile motion, some of which are resistant to change in the wake of instruction. This confirms findings in NSC diagnostic reports. In addition, these misconceptions were then characterized and further probed using focus group interviews with a view to gaining deeper insights in learners’ thinking reflective of these misconceptions. The reasoning behind the misconceptions was probed using focus group interviews. The analysis was mixed-method approach since it combined quantitative and qualitative techniques, with the former being the predominant analysis method used in this study. The success of the Integrated learning method (LIM) – an instructional strategy proposed in this study - on the EG group was more significant on most items judging by the Chi-square values obtained from comparing the impact of the two teaching methods namely the ILM and the traditional methods in the post-test. Thus, the ILM produced more learning gains on the experimental group than the learning gains realized from the traditional methods on the control group. For instance, the ILM produced significant learning gains on item 4 (see Appendix A), while traditional methods failed to produce any shifts towards the science view on the same item, pointing to the effectiveness of the ILM in comparison to traditional methods. However, it was difficult to use the TAP to assess and compare the quality of arguments of learners in the two groups on the topic. This was because most learners struggled to construct at least level 2 arguments, restricting themselves instead to lower level argumentations. This calls into question the need to develop teachers on how to use argumentation-based lessons in the teaching of science concepts. Teachers will in turn train learners to engage in debates in science lessons as they co-construct knowledge through what Msimanga and Lelliot (2012) refer to as sense-making.Item Relating academic performance to L1 and L2 learners' scores on the SDRT and Raven's SPM(2017) Gangat, NabeelaThis research study investigated the relationship between first (L1) and second language (L2) learners’ academic performance and their scores on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) and the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM). The inherently different nature of using a verbal assessment and a non-verbal assessment are important to consider in relation to overall academic performance, especially in light of the different language demands of a verbal versus a non-verbal assessment. South Africa has a diverse language landscape, which does pose practical problems for choosing a standard language of learning and teaching, which could create some language issues. The concept of intelligence is unpacked and discussed in relation to both academic performance and reading, which requires careful navigation due to its links to both these concepts. Psychological testing and assessment in South Africa has an encumbered history, which makes research in this area valuable, especially in relation to the unique language diversity in South Africa combined with the lack of South African assessments . Language, reading and intelligence are important to consider in light of the role they to play in relation to overall academic achievement. The results revealed that L1 learners performed better compared to L2 learners on both the SDRT and the RSPM. L1 learners also performed better academically compared to their peers. These results indicated some serious implications showing that L2 learners have not been able to bridge language and learning gaps, after at least five years of being taught in English. The results also revealed that the SDRT was a better predictor of academic performance for both L1 and L2 learners. This highlighted the importance of reading within the South African school system. The under researched area of the exact impact that reading has on overall academic performance showed that South Africa’s curriculum is reading heavy, which does emphasise the importance of reading to achieve academic success.Item The role of family dynamics in schooling and academic success: the stories of black postgraduate women(2016) Otukile, AgisanyangThis study explored the stories of South African black female postgraduates, in particular, focusing on family dynamics in their childhoods and the role these relationships played in their academic development. South African higher education is a site of contestations as access opens up for students previously excluded from universities. However access and success continue to be racialized and gendered hence black women are unevenly represented in higher education particularly at postgraduate level. This study brings forth stories of women who have succeeded in this context, exploring questions of social and cultural capital (Bourdieu 1994).Thematic analysis highlights predominant themes across the narratives of these women. There is a very strong thread across the narratives that these women feel that their academic achievement is primarily due to hard work and a ‘natural’ or intrinsic intellectual talent that was recognised by their families and teachers from a young age. Despite the emphasis on individual aptitude, the findings also highlight participants’ recognition of the value of support from family in their schooling and even continuing into their lives as young adult postgraduate students. The nature of family dynamics in these women’s childhood and adult lives was revealed, including, the friendship that characterises daughter-mother relationships, the absence of fathers, and the role of grandmothers and other members of the extended family and community networks . It is worth noting that all participants talk of the sudden movement from public township schools to private or Model C schools that disrupts their narratives of schooling. The lack of reading in the childhood homes of some of these women contradicts the common assumption that a reading home environment is vital for the development of the appropriate cultural capital necessary for academic success. Instead, it is evident that these multigenerational families provide a range of support that allows learning to take place, including emotional and financial support, providing critical social capital.Item Experiences of rural learners in accessing institutions of higher learning(2016) Munaka, PhathutshedzoPrior to 1994, education in South Africa was formally and legally segregated according to race. The post-1994 democratic government had the task of implementing educational policies to promote and facilitate equal access in the educational sector. Twenty-one years later, the expectation is that every citizen should be enjoying equal access, regardless of their socio-economic conditions. However, this is not the case, as most people are still excluded in the education sector by one factor or another. This study attempts to understand the factors that contribute to the slow transformation and access of rural learners to institutions of higher learning. Ten Grade 12 learners, consisting of five males and five females from the Vhembe District in Limpopo, were interviewed for the study. A qualitative research method was used with data collected using in-depth interviews supported by a question guide, to facilitate a discussion with the participants. From the findings of the research, three themes emerged, which participants indicated were constraints in accessing institutions of higher learning. These included educational factors, economic factors and socio-cultural factors. The research found that these factors cannot be treated in isolation from one another. This is supported by General Systems Theory, which argues that everything is connected to everything else (Dawson, 2006). Therefore, in addressing the issue of access to institutions of higher learning, improving the quality of school teachers will not automatically lead to access, as factors such as poverty and unemployment will still be prevalent. Thus, a broader more purposeful approach to social reform, as well as more comprehensive and equitable strategies of redistribution of wealth and income are required, to empower disadvantaged communities to access institutions of higher learning in South Africa.Item Realizing potential: retrospective narratives of successful black female university students from disadvantaged backgrounds(2016) Fish, TebogoTransformation initiatives in South African higher education institutions are informed by literature which has thus far explicated the high failure and attrition rates amongst Black university students with discourses asserting that the major contributing factors are disadvantage and language of origin. The current study endeavoured to investigate the learning histories of a group of high achieving Black female university students from socio- economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in order to inform current transformation initiatives at South African higher education institutions. Seven female students who had previously participated in an academic development programme in the faculty of humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Reaching for Excellent Achievement Programme (REAP), volunteered to participate in this study. Despite being second language students and coming from less advantaged backgrounds, these students achieved excellent academic marks and acceptance into various post- graduate programmes. Semi- structured interviews with an episodic narrative style were conducted. The method of data analysis found to be most appropriate for this study was thematic content analysis. The results revealed the importance of the influence of high school teachers on students’ perceptions of school and school subjects; the pace of adjusting to university; the significance of effective lecturing styles; the formation of an academic identity; acquiring academic literacy; and the importance of having social support (especially from university lecturers) for the successful academic performance of the participants in this study. This study suggests that perhaps there is more than individual effort that is required for academic success at university level. Further, it suggests that higher education institutions need to improve the lecturing styles of their lecturers, should ensure that all students are able to successfully adjust to the university environment early in their first year of study, should offer compulsory academic literacy courses to all first year students, and should consider providing all students with mentors who are university personnel.Item Evidence for a bi(multi)lingual advantage on working memory performance in South African university students(2016) Wigdorowitz, MandyDue to linguistic diversity within South Africa, multilingualism is becoming increasingly prominent. Since South Africa is host to 11 official languages, it is the norm rather than the exception that South Africans are exposed to more than one language. This has social, educational and cognitive implications. Specifically, research indicates that the acquisition of additional languages to an individual’s mother tongue has a positive effect on working memory – the short-term storage and manipulation of information during the performance of cognitive tasks – which may confer a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ and could improve academic performance. Consequently, the aim of this study was to determine whether working memory ability differs significantly between students who are monolingual or multilingual, while statistically controlling for intellectual ability and socio-economic status between these groups. Participants were 78 undergraduate students, comprising English first- (monolingual, Mage = 20.06 years, SD = .88) and second- or additional-language (multilingual, Mage = 20.03 years, SD = 1.03) speakers, matched for age, gender and socio-economic status. Language groups were compared on the Automated Working Memory Assessment (Alloway, 2007) and subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition (Wechsler, 1997). One-way between-group ANCOVAs showed that (a) the multilingual group outperformed the monolingual group across five of six non-verbal subtests, namely Mazes Memory and Block Recall (non-verbal simple span), and Odd One Out, Mister X and Spatial Recall (non-verbal complex span), (b) the multilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on two verbal subtests, namely Digit Recall (verbal simple span) and Listening Recall (verbal complex span), (c) the language groups performed equivalently on verbal simple and complex tasks of Word Recall, Non-word Recall, Counting Recall and Backwards Digit Recall. The findings contribute to the extant literature confirming a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ in executive functioning. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of academic performance. Keywords: working memory, monolingualism, multilingualism, bi(multi)lingual advantage, South Africa