3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The 'social' in Piaget's genetic epistemology(2014-04-04) Court, JenniferIn opposition to the historically accepted view that Piaget failed to theorise the ‘social’ in his theory of cognitive development this research report shows that the ‘social’ is central to his genetic epistemology and that his conceptualisation of the ‘social’ has interesting implications for educational thinking. Specifically, the report shows that not only did Piaget include the social dimension in his genetic epistemology but that his understanding of the role of the ‘social’ in the development of cognition raises interesting possibilities for future psychological and educational research.Item Pills of wisdom: an investigation of pharmacist-patient interactions in a South African antiretroviral clinic(2009-02-19T12:11:43Z) Watermeyer, Jennifer MaryABSTRACT Successful communication with patients in a multicultural, multilinguistic environment is a challenge to health professionals, particularly in the context of HIV/Aids and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. Although the introduction of ARVs has brought hope, high levels of adherence are required to ensure treatment success and numerous barriers to adherence exist. Pharmacists play an important role in encouraging adherence to ARV treatment regimens by providing education and counselling. However, previous research indicates that interactions are often dominated by the pharmacist. Also, verification of patients’ understanding of information is infrequent and that patients are often passive recipients of instructions. This study aims to identify and describe interactive processes in pharmacy interactions while considering the impact of the disease and macro context on communication. Twenty-six cross-cultural, cross-linguistic pharmacist-patient interactions from a South African HIV/Aids pharmacy are described. Data collection included video recordings, interviews with participants and ethnographic observations in the pharmacy. A hybrid analytical approach incorporated aspects of Conversation Analysis (CA) and Discourse Analysis (DA). The results of this study are particularly encouraging. They demonstrate that despite the presence of cultural, linguistic and other contextual barriers, pharmacist-patient interactions can be efficient. The use of facilitative verbal and non-verbal communication strategies ensures that dosage instructions are successfully communicated by the pharmacist to the patient. In line with prior research, collaboration is promoted when pharmacists create rapport and focus on the lifeworld of the patient. The study shows that intuition and sensitivity to atmosphere in interactions is essential for achieving concordance. The disease context of HIV/Aids has a profound influence on the pharmacistpatient interaction and this study demonstrates the significant impact of the macro ii context on micro aspects of communication. The evidence suggests that the nature of humanity and the daily interface between culture and language in South Africa enables pharmacists and patients to transcend some of the barriers to communication and collaboration that have been identified in previous studies. The findings imply that the diversity of South Africa provides both hope and a resource which can inform policy and future practice.Item Exploring the English proficiency-Mathematical proficiency relationship in learners: An investigation using instructional English computer software(2007-02-16T10:13:35Z) Essien, Anthony AnietieThe difficulty of teaching and learning mathematics in a language that is not the learners' home language (e.g. English) is well documented. It can be argued that underachievement by South African learners in most rural schools is due to a lack of opportunity to participate in meaningful and challenging learning experience (sometimes due to lack of proficiency in English) rather than to a lack of ability or potential. This study investigated how improvement of learners' English language proficiency enables or constrains the development of mathematical proficiency. English Computer software was used as intervention to improve the English Language proficiency of 45 learners. Statistical methods were used to analyse the pre- and post-tests in order to compare these learners with learners from another class of 48. The classroom interaction in the mathematics class before and after the intervention was analysed in order to ascertain whether or not the mathematics interaction has been enabled or constrained. The findings of this study were that proficiency in the language of instruction (English) is an important index in mathematics proficiency, but improvement of learners' language proficiency, even though important for achievement in mathematics, may not be sufficient to impact on classroom interaction. The teacher's ability to draw on learner's linguistic resources is also of critical importance.