3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The use of framework analysis in the alignment of the laws of rugby to skeletal development of children and adolescents(2019) Sinnett, Faye VictoriaRugby, as a contact sport, has inherent risks of injury. Children and adolescents playing rugby at schoolboy level have a developing skeletal system and therefore injuries through this age of play may result in injuries to under-developed bones. This research study looked to identify whether the laws of rugby align to protect skeletal development of children and adolescents through law adaptations. Framework Analysis was used to develop a matrix which aligned the adapted laws of rugby with bone fusion ages. In future studies this can be used as a base for other areas of development and other sports. This matrix was further analysed to determine a severity rating scale and this scale identified some bones of the skull (occipital, sphenoid and zygomatic), upper limb (scapular, glenoid and clavicle) and lower limb (sacrum and pelvic girdle) as having a higher risk for severe injury. While these bones are at severe potential risk of injury it is important to note that only one measure of maturation was used and in future additional measures of maturation should be used. In conclusion, while the adapted laws of rugby do protect some bones of the developing skeletal system, they do not protect all of the developing bones of the skeletal system. The matrix could be used to guide future law makers in their endeavour of making the game of rugby safer for children and adolescentsItem EEstimating children's weight in the emergency department using a length-based, habitus-modified system to increase the accuracy of total body weight estimation: the utility of the PAWPER tape in paediatric emergency medicine ta(2018) Wells, MikeAn accurate estimation of weight during the management of medical emergencies in children is essential to permit effective intervention and to avoid medication errors. Although older methods of weight estimation, such as age-based formulas and the Broselow tape, are still being used, they have failed to achieve an acceptable standard of accuracy. The newer, dual length- and habitus-based systems, such as the PAWPER tape system, have been evaluated in a wide variety of populations and shown to be significantly more accurate. However, some limitations in the PAWPER system have been identified including the subjectivity of habitus assessment and a relatively lower weight estimation accuracy in very obese children. The increasing prevalence of severe obesity in both first and third world countries requires a strategy to mitigate the increased risk of poor outcomes from drug dosing errors in obese children. This requires an increased sophistication from weight estimation systems as both total body weight and ideal body weight are required for appropriate drug dosing. The series of studies that make up this thesis was designed to develop an evidence base from which to refine and validate the second version of the PAWPER tape (the PAWPER XL tape). It was also intended to further clarify its optimum design as the imperative for accurate and appropriate weight estimation cannot be ignored. Since any increased complexity in weight estimation methodology may lead to heightened risk of errors, the upgraded PAWPER XL system was specifically formulated to minimise the potential for errors through developing cognitively neutral weight estimation processes, embracing technological adjuvants and advocating for adequate and appropriate training in weight estimation techniques.Item Transitional literacy in Gauteng primary schools: two collective case studies of reading and writing experiences of grades 3 and 4 learners(2016) Matavire, Juniel Shoko TangaThis study examines literacy experiences of grade 3 learners as they transition into grade 4 in two primary schools in Gauteng. In the first school IsiZulu and Sepedi are the languages of teaching and learning in the foundation phase and learners transitioned to English in grade 4, while English is the language of learning and teaching in the second school. The study poses four questions. The first explores whether reading and writing in the foundation phase adequately prepare learners for the academic and cognitive demands of the intermediate phase. The second and third questions investigate the strategies used by learners and teachers to negotiate the transition and how those strategies could be understood and explained in relation to the increasing academic and cognitive demands of the literacy curriculum. The fourth question examines the role of language as children transition into grade 4. The study draws on the ecological systems theory by Bronfenbrenner (2005) and adopts a socio-cultural orientation to literacy, drawing on scholarship in New Literacy Studies (Street, 2007). The research design was a collective case study in the qualitative paradigm. Classroom observation, interviews and document analyses gathered over 9 months comprise the data. Two grade 3 classes were observed for three months in each school before ten focus learners were identified and these children were followed into grade 4. One grade 4 class was studied in each school for six months. What emerges from the data is that, at a macrosystemic level, curriculum change is a major factor in what happens to learners as they move across grades. The time of this study coincides with a curriculum transition from the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) of 2011 and 2012. When curriculum transition was not clear to teachers, and they did not buy into it, the effect on the mesosystem was confusion, anxiety and frustration on both teachers and learners that resulted in negative attitudes and poor delivery. The choices of language of learning and teaching schools make for the literacy instruction of their learners an important factor in transition. Language alone is a huge demand and resource factor (Bronfenbrenner, 2005) in learner literacy learning. In both schools the majority of learners accessed literacy through languages that were different from their home languages. This compromised learners’ access to and conception of academic texts. There are complex physical, structural, psychological and academic transitions a learner must deal with at the mesosystemic level on reaching grade 4. Inadequate literacy skills impact negatively on learners’ academic and social transition from one phase to another in multiple ways. Psychologically, learners had a sense of fear of the next grade and when their fears were confirmed it made transition challenging when dealing with grade 4 work. Structurally, the organisation of teaching changed from one teacher to many teachers, and hence many subjects with different expectations on learners. Some teachers had inadequate pedagogical knowledge, did not communicate within and across grades, and had generally autonomous conceptions of literacy, resulting in learners’ literacy development being compromised. At the microsystemic (classroom) level learners were confronted by grade 4 academic and literacy demands that the foundation phase did not equip them for. Reading and writing practices changed in grade 4. Vocabulary, fluency and comprehension skills learners brought from grade 3 became inadequate for the demands of grade 4 work. Also absent in grade 4 was the environmental print and other supports learners had in grade 3. When learners’ complex, challenging situations were compounded by poor teaching, inconsistent literacy practices, lack of resources, large classes and timetabling issues some learners lost interest, accepted their fate and developed negative attitudes to schooling. Carelessness surfaced, written work was not prioritised and often not completed, while other learners sought support from the exosystem in the form of parents and siblings to hedge the challenges of transition. Consequent to this study there was a realisation among teachers in the two schools that they could do something about transition and literacy. An appetite for knowledge and revisiting of pedagogical practices was rekindled among some teachers. Transition and literacy became topical issues in both formal and informal teacher conversations. This raises questions about the coordination and smooth cooperation between systems which further research may tap into.Item To be or not to be bilingual: cognitive processing skills and literacy development in monolingual English, emergent bilingual Zulu and English, as well as bilingual Afrikaans and English speaking children(2016) De Sousa, Diana SoaresLiteracy in multilingual contexts includes social and cognitive dimensions (GoPaul-McNicol & Armour-Thomas, 1997). Becoming literate carries with it the ability to develop and access higher-order thinking skills that are the building blocks for cognitive academic language proficiency, as well as the means that define educational opportunities (Bialystok, 2007). South Africa has 11 official languages and a multilingual education policy but South African schools are able to determine their language of instruction policy of monolingualism or multilingualism (Heugh, 2010). This raises the question of whether monolingualism or bilingualism influences children’s successful acquisition of reading. It is important to investigate the effect this has on reading processes and skills of monolingual and bilingual children because this issue has received limited research attention while it contributes to our greater understanding of how children’s cognitive capacities for literacy attainment are either constrained or promoted through broader social factors operating in a child’s literacy-learning environment (Bialystok, 2007; Vygotsky, 1978). Cognitive processing and reading skills were assessed in monolingual and bilingual children at a public school in an urban area of Johannesburg. An English-speaking monolingual group with English as the language of instruction (N = 100) was compared with a Zulu-English bilingual group with Zulu as first language (L1) speaking proficiency and English as second language (L2) literacy experience (N = 100) on measures of reading, phonological awareness, vocabulary skills, and working memory. Performance in cognitive processing and reading skills of these two groups was compared to an Afrikaans-English bilingual group (N = 100) with dual medium instruction. Tests of language proficiency confirmed that the Afrikaans-English bilinguals were balanced bilinguals and that the Zulu-English bilinguals were partial bilinguals. Aim and method: The purpose of this study was to expand knowledge in the field of second language reading acquisition and language of instruction by examining the impact of language related factors on the cognitive development and literacy competence of monolingual and bilingual children in the South African context. The central tenet of the bio-ecological approach to language, cognitive and reading assessment is that language acquisition is inseparable from the context in which it is learned (Armour-Thomas & Go-Paul-McNicol, 1997). Drawing from this approach, the present research project investigated the effects of the level of orthographic transparency on reading development in the transparent L1 and opaque L2 of biliterate Afrikaans-English bilinguals learning to read in a dual medium school setting. The effects of oral vs. written language proficiency in the L1 on the acquisition of L2 English reading was also investigated by examining whether reading processes and skills transferred from one language to another and the direction or nature of this transfer in partial and balanced bilinguals. Finally, whether a balanced bilingualism and biliteracy Cognitive processing skills and literacy development in monolingual and bilingual children in South Africa vi experience had beneficial effects on cognitive tasks demanding high levels of working memory capacity, was investigated. Results: Reading in Afrikaans – the more transparent orthography – reached a higher competency level than reading in the less transparent English. Dual medium learners and L1 English monolingual learners acquired reading skills in their home language(s) at a higher level than L2 English with L1 Zulu speaking proficiency learners did. Dual medium learners outperformed both monolingual learners and L2 English with L1 Zulu speaking proficiency learners on tests of phonological awareness, working memory, and reading comprehension. They also reached similar competency levels in tests of vocabulary knowledge than monolingual English (L1) learners. These differences translated into different relationships and strengths for reading attainment in monolingual and bilingual children. These findings provide support for a language-based and context-dependent bio-ecological model of reading attainment for South African children. Conclusions: Bilingual children who are exposed to dual medium reading instruction programmes that value bilingualism philosophically and support it pedagogically create optimal conditions for high levels of cognitive development and academic achievement, both in the first and in the L2. Absence of mother tongue instruction and English-only instruction result in a reading achievement gap between emergent Zulu-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. This effect is not observed in the biliterate Afrikaans-English bilinguals; instead, these children performed better than the English monolinguals on many English tasks and working tasks requiring high levels of executive control and analysis of linguistic knowledge, despite English being their L2 while learning to concurrently read in Afrikaans and English. Arguments for and (misguided) arguments against dual medium education are examined to identify the consequences of translating this model of education into effective schooling practices, given the socio-political contexts in which educational reforms take place at local schools and in communities (Heugh, 2002). More broadly, good early childhood education includes a rich language learning environment with skilled, responsive teachers who facilitate children’s literacy learning by providing intentional exposure to and support for vocabulary and concept development. Classroom settings that provide extensive opportunities to build children’s reading competences are beneficial for young dual language learners no less than for children acquiring literacy skills in a one-language environment (Cummins, 2000; Heugh, 2002).