A case study of a grade three teacher's mediation of RAVE-O and Instrumental Enrichment
Date
2014-10-27
Authors
Durbach, Fleur
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Abstract
This research examines how a Grade Three teacher mediates the RAVE-O and Instrumental Enrichment (IE) programmes to promote effective learning to enhance children’s literacy and thinking. RAVE-O is an acronym for Reading, Automaticity, Vocabulary, Engagement plus Orthography. It is a cognitive and behavioural reading intervention programme. Instrumental Enrichment is a programme designed to teach cognitive skills. The research aimed to examine how a teacher used mediation in the classroom, the frequency and types of Mediation and the language used to mediate across RAVE-O, IE and THEME lessons. This research used a qualitative case study design in one classroom in an Independent Remedial School in Johannesburg. Data was collected from videotaped lessons and interviews with the teacher and children. The data highlighted the critical issue of ‘Classroom Talk’ as a tool to facilitate a deeper understanding of the world and how meaning is constructed. This research has shown the value of working with well researched programmes that can improve, teacher practice, the level of cognitive functioning in this remedial school as well as mainstream education.