Browsing by Author "Lilley, Warren"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Discovering the development of self-regulation through play: an exploratory case study among Grade R South African learners
    (2025) Macmillan, Joseph; Lilley, Warren
    This dissertation explores the emergence of self-regulation (SR) in early childhood development (ECD) among a group of Grade R Foundation Phase learners in a Quintile 5 school, in Cape Town. As described within Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), this study sought to understand the role of sociodramatic play, the leading activity of children between the ages of three to six – this study focusing solely on Grade R, ages five to six – in developing SR as a higher mental function (HMF). Additionally, the influence of educator pedagogical approaches for advancing play practices is analysed, as SR is essential in determining school-readiness. The last major intervention in South Africa attending to self-regulation (Harrison & Muthivhi, 2013) is from over a decade ago which underscores this study's relevancy. Within this ethnographic case study, three vignettes exploring in-class activities to dynamic outdoor play are presented with accompanying CHAT analyses. Each analysis draws extensively upon the research of Fleer (2010, 2019, 2023a, 2023b) and Bodrova and Leong (2007, 2003b, 2015; Leong & Bodrova, 2012). Through Germeroth et al. (2019), a CHAT-informed framework, the Mature Play Observation Tool (MPOT), gives shape to each of these analyses. Findings from this study identify how play is often applied merely as a “prop” in contrast to being the foundation for a fully-fledged play pedagogy (Fleer, 2021; Bodrova & Leong, 2007). Insights from the Grade R class teacher illustrate a pervasive belief that children should “self- direct” their play as their own isolated activity, while CHAT research calls for educators to engage in the dramatic process of play (Kravtsova, 2014; Vygotsky, 2004). This dissertation identifies sources of political pressure between “institutional practices” (Hedegaard, 2012). Recommendations are made for enriching ECD play programmes (Zaporozhets, 1986).
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    English language instruction as ‘co-creation': a new CHAT model for integrating mobile technologies in advanced TEFL
    (2020) Lilley, Warren; Hardman, Joanne
    English Language education within South African universities currently faces a crisis of access. The #Must Fall movements have highlighted the many historical, economic, political and English language barriers local students face in meeting the demands of higher education. At the same time, universities face an issue of funding, where, to remain accessible requires further internationalisation and a commitment to English language instruction. Research has advocated that pedagogies employing emerging technologies (ETs), like mobile devices, may be able to overcome these issues of access as they are not hindered by limited student space and can be immediately deployed. However, there is a paucity of research which demonstrates how ET's affordances can be meaningfully mobilised in English language instruction, especially within postcolonial contexts. In this thesis, I seek to understand and find drivers for local, English language pedagogical change which draws on mobile technology. This study is anchored within the critical tradition of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and its encompassing Expansive Learning theory of development. Using a participatory, formative approach to research-interventions, I describe a seven-week, ‘blended' adaptation of CHAT's Change Laboratory (CL) method. The CL chronicles language teachers', from a South African university's language centre, development towards meaningful integration of mobile technologies for instructing Advanced language students. Applying a CHAT lens, I critically trace the development of participants' expansive agency towards the model's creation as well as highlight influential aspects of the ‘blended' CL design I employed. Findings from this research-intervention suggest that relations of power are intricately inscribed in the integration of mobile technologies for language teaching. Participants' initial primary contradictions emanated from the object towards the rules, division of labour and mediators, which centralised teachers' positions in their classrooms. The meaningful integration of mobile technologies was only realised by participants when these contradictions were unpacked, resulting in a language pedagogy emphasising instruction as ‘co-creation' between students and teachers. I propose this pedagogical model holds significant potential for the meaningful use of mobile technologies in similar postcolonial contexts. Moreover, I stipulate that the ‘blended' CL method is a significant development for future formative interventions in the modern workspace.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Missed opportunities: a cultural-historical activity theory study of the use of authentic literature as a tool for dialogic pedagogy
    (2025) Roberts, Katy; Lilley, Warren
    This study examines the opportunities for dialogic pedagogy created using authentic literature within the South African primary school classroom. Dialogic pedagogy has been found to be a useful method for provoking higher order thinking (Alexander, 2020). Moreover, authentic literature is considered a powerful tool for engaging learners in dialogue (Miller, 2003). As indicated by the low scores of South African learners in international benchmarking assessments (Roux et al., 2021), the problem which this study sought to address is the lack of a pedagogy that provokes dialogue that leads to further cognitive development. It sought to address this by examining the use of authentic literature as a means of creating dialogue that reveals sophisticated thought. Previous research on the use of authentic literature for the provocation of dialogic pedagogy and the development of cognitive abilities has not been conducted in South Africa. This qualitative study therefore sought to address this gap in the literature by conducting semistructured interviews with three primary school teachers and observing three lessons where authentic literature was used as a pedagogical tool. The data collection took place over the course of a week at an independent primary school in Cape Town, South Africa. Using a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework and the Cam-UNAM scheme for educational dialogue analysis (Hennessy et al., 2020), the teachers' objects and actions were analysed to uncover the reasons why dialogic opportunities might be missed. The study determined that authentic literature provokes rich opportunities for dialogue. Teachers' aims of covering the curriculum and testing recall, however, encumbered learner dialogue and further psychological development. These concerns were evident in the way the teachers frequently missed opportunities for dialogue and engagement.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Preparing first-time workers for a digital economy: a case study of a South African learnership programme for IT support technicians
    (2025) Wessmann, Susarah; Lilley, Warren
    In South Africa, youth employability remains a critical issue, with increasing research evidencing that first-time workers are ill-equipped for an increasingly digital economy. Motivated by the need to better understand this disconnect between formal education and employment the study focuses on how an Information Technology (IT) Support learnership programme adequately prepares participants with the digital skills and competencies required to succeed in the contemporary work environment. Informed through Cultural-Historical Theory (CHT) this case study examines the experiences of seven participants employed by an Internet Protocol Company (IPC) in Gauteng who were enrolled in a SETA-accredited IT Technical Support programme. This study used semi structured interviews, as well as an initial and repeated task analysis to assess participants' opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills required in an ICT-orientated work environment. The study highlights important insights into aspects of formal education and the learnership programme, that can better prepare South African learners for the digital work environment. Findings indicated despite the fact that participants consider ICT a vital tool, inequality remains a fundamental issue in developing their requisite digital skills and competencies. Specifically, findings distinguished two distinct socio-cultural experiences, exposure and access to ICTs among this study's participants, which impacted them when using ICTs in learnership tasks. In light of these findings this study campaigns for the need for more contextually-sensitive and robust learnership programmes, aimed at promoting meaningful development of employable skills that will enable all individuals to reach their employability goals
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    "You focus, I'm talking" : an exploratory case study of mobile phones as mediating artefacts in an advanced EFL class
    (2014) Lilley, Warren; McKinney, Carolyn; Hardman, Joanne
    This research is concerned with how students and teachers in an Advanced South African EFL classroom construct meaning through the use of mobile phones. Drawing on CulturalHistorical Activity Theory (CHAT), I view mobile phones as cultural artefacts that learners and teachers use to engage in the construction of meaning-making practices. This use results in contradictions which potentially lead to radical transformation in the object and the subject positions offered in the classroom. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is mobilised as a tool to explore power relations within a CHAT framework. This thesis is anchored in the critical tradition of research that problematises current global EFL materials and pedagogy which demonstrate very little critical engagement with or understanding of the myriad ways learners construct meaning in classes. A discussion of the research site is presented and the activity systems observed during the study are analysed. The dissertation then moves on to describe cases of student mobile phone use where the primary contradictions to the rules and object of the classroom activity system caused the teachers observed to enforce a tighter constriction of the division of labour between student and teacher. I relate these findings to deeper relations of power and authority in the EFL classroom, specifically to the constraints of teachers' institutional roles and how teachers construct and position EFL learners within South African EFL classrooms. This research provides key insight into the ways language learners' are (re)positioned and negotiate their mobile use within EFL classrooms through teachers' institutional roles and uptake of EFL pedagogy. It argues that the constraints and affordances of mobile phone use necessitate a deeper understanding of how EFL learners are attempting to 'communicate' in class, and in turn of how teachers are equally constrained by their position and pedagogy in recognising these endeavours. This study thus argues for a pedagogy that foregrounds 'possibility' in meaning making with mobile phones.