OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "McKinney, Carolyn"

Browsing by Author "McKinney, Carolyn"

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'Bridging discourses' in a bilingual South African mathematics classroom with a collaborative teaching model
(2012) Tyler, Robyn; McKinney, Carolyn
The majority of South Africa's learners have to access a curriculum in a language which is not their home language. Research has been conducted into several aspects of the challenge that this poses to educators and learners alike and how classroom discourse reflects this reality. This case study of a rural, bilingual Mathematics classroom in a holiday programme run by an NGO focuses on classroom talk to identify bridging discourses (Gibbons, 2006) used by the teacher, learning facilitator and learners. These bridging discourses serve to draw together the 'everyday' language of the learners and the subject-specific language of school Mathematics as well as to mediate between the culturally and linguistically disparate learners and teacher. I draw on a sociocultural view of learning, in particular the notion of mediation (Vygotsky, 1978), to frame this study. Classroom talk is conceptualised as a means of jointly constructing meaning (Mercer, 1995) which is framed by different discursive practices in different cultural settings (Gee, 1999; Alexander, 2001). Hence my research question is: within the particular discursive space of this classroom, how is mathematical meaning mediated through 'bridging discourses'?
Open Access
Designed to fail: evaluating grade 1-3 English first additional language textbooks as preparation for English medium grade 4 natural sciences and technology in South Africa
(2021) McAravey,GenéBarnard; McKinney, Carolyn
Despite official school language policies mandating English as the medium of instruction from Grade 4 onwards, nearly half of South Africa's English Language Learners (ELLs) are obtaining less than 50% in their final (matric) English examinations. These same students are writing all of their other high school examinations in English. It seems clear that the majority of students do not have an adequate mastery of written English. What is the nature of the English language instruction these children are receiving? Especially in the earliest years of schooling? Are children being adequately prepared to learn through the medium of English? To investigate these issues, the research question for this study asked: 'Does children's learning of English in the subject English First Additional Language (EFAL) in Grades 1-3 prepare them to make sense of a Grade 4 Natural Sciences and Technology (NST) textbook?' This study employed content and discourse analysis, specifically relating to school textbooks and curriculum documents. The focus was on evaluating the readability of one Grade 4 NST textbook, in relation to the language resources provided by a Grade 1-3 English Language Teaching (ELT) scheme. The methodology employed was mixed methods, with elements of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Findings revealed that for all three key areas relating to text accessibility, namely Vocabulary, Genres and Syntax, the subject EFAL in Grades 1-3 does not adequately prepare learners to make sense of a Grade 4 NST textbook. Based on this, I recommend that learners no longer be made to transition to English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) in Grade 4. Instead I recommend that children receive bilingual instruction throughout primary school in all learning areas, and that LTSMs and teacher training be updated to support this approach. I also recommend that EFAL and other home and additional languages be consolidated into a single language arts period and also taught bilingually. Alternatively, I recommend that learners be given two to three additional years to study EFAL before using it as a LOLT and that the EFAL course of study be revised to align more closely with the language and literacy demands of content subjects.
Open Access
Discourses of language acquisition and identity in the life histories of four white South African men, fluent in isiXhosa
(2012) Botha, Elizabeth Katherine; McKinney, Carolyn
A post-structuralist framework (Foucault, 1976; Weedon, 1997) is used to explore language acquisition and identity construction in the life histories of four multilingual white South African men, who became fluent in the African language of isiXhosa in the racially-divided world of Apartheid South Africa, at a time when law and policy made fluency in an African language unusual for whites. Theories used within the 'social turn' in Second Language Acquisition (Block, 2003; Norton, 2000), as well as the social learning theory of Lave and Wenger (1991), support an exploration of how the men acquired this language on the farms in the Eastern Cape where they spent their early years. The identity implications of the men's multilingualism are examined using post-colonial studies of race, 'whiteness' and hybridity (Bhabha, 1994; Frankenberg, 1993; Hall, 1992a). The study was undertaken using Life History methodology (Hatch & Wisniewsky, 1995) and biographic interviewing methods developed within the Social Sciences (Wengraf, 2001). Poststructuralist discourse analysis (Wetherell & Potter, 1992), together with aspects of narrative analysis (Brockmeier, 2000), were used to analyse the data. The study contributes to research into naturalistic language acquisition, using theories from the 'social turn', and analysing a bilingual context in which language, power, race and identity interact in unique ways. The findings endorse the importance of a post-structuralist framing for the Communities of Practice model (Wenger, 1998), and show that participation in target-language communities requires investment by learners in identities which ameliorate the inequities of power relations. The study shows that isiXhosa can become linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1991) for white South Africans, depending on context and the isiXhosa register they use. It demonstrates that Apartheid discourse ascribes to the men an identity which is indisputably white, but that early experiences shared with isiXhosa-speakers shape their lives and form a potentially antihegemonic facet of their identities.
Open Access
Engaging differences linguistic diversity and critical literacy pedagogy in the classroom
(2012) Williams, Cristan; McKinney, Carolyn
This study developed out of my own experiences as a high school English teacher and my engagements with the intertwined issues of language and diversity in the classroom.The study foregrounds the nature of students' and teachers' engagements with linguistic diversity and the role of the teacher in critical literacy. In South Africa there is very little classroom based research which shows how students and teachers are engaging with issues of diversity, power and inequality, post-apartheid. This research focuses on how my students and I interact with issues of linguistic diversity in an English Home Language, Grade 8 classroom context using critical literacy pedagogy as the means by which to engage with these issues.
Open Access
How English as first additional language is taught and used in quintile one primary school in Grade 4 where learners officially change from isiXhosa to English as the language of instruction: a case study
(2014) Marshall, Alexander Carlton; McKinney, Carolyn
This study explores how learners in a township primary school learn, and are taught through the medium of English, in a community of pre-dominantly Xhosa speakers, and where English is seldom spoken or heard. The school is typical in the sense that learners from Grade 1 to Grade 3 are taught in isiXhosa as home language, with English as subject, after which they switch to English as the language of teaching and learning from Grade 4 onwards. The study concerns itself with the language and literacy practices at this pivotal switch-over point, and investigates to what extent learners in the Grade 4 English classes have learnt / been taught / have developed sufficient basic inter-personal communication skills, BICS, (Cummins, 1984), in English to make the switch to learning all subjects in English. The study also includes analysis of data gathered in two Natural Science lessons, in search of how the same Grade 4 learners learn, and are taught subject- specific knowledge in English. Classroom discourse patterns, which includes safetalk (Chick, 1996) and safetalk and safetime (Hornberger and Chick, 2001) and the kind of teaching practices prevalent in schools in post-colonial countries are examined to explain the low proficiency level of the typical Grade 4 learner at this critical point in English language learning.
Open Access
Interactive reflective journal writing as a tool for mentoring and teacher professional development : a case study
(2011) Guzula, Xolisa; McKinney, Carolyn
This dissertation explores interactive reflective journal writing as a tool for teacher professional development and mentoring. The aim of this case-study is to ascertain whether and how one grade two teacher's practice developed as a result of keeping an interactive reflective journal during the process of on-site coaching.
Open Access
Language ideologies and the positioning of learners in a multilingual Grade 1 classroom: a case study
(2014) Layton, Laura; McKinney, Carolyn
This study is motivated by the under theorization of language and the impact that perception and discourse about languages have on diverse language users in the classroom. It draws on the theoretical understanding of Bourdieu's linguistic capital, as well as language ideology and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). I argue that there is a link between the micro and macro-level discourses that circulate a specific type of language ideology that affects the positioning of diverse language users in the classroom. For the investigation of language ideologies and learner positioning, I observed a multilingual grade one classroom in a township school in the Cape Flats, South Africa for five weeks, and later interviewed the participating classroom teacher. I transcribed video-recorded data from the classroom as well as the teacher interview and used CDA for analysis. Supported by the analysis of my non-participant observations and interview of the classroom teacher, my study suggests that the discourses of languages as separate and bounded entities that must remain pure limit the teaching of language and literacy, and inhibit the students from using their full linguistic repertoire in the classroom, reducing students to deficient monolingual speakers. At the same time, discourse about students being deficient furthers their negative positioning. The teacher's language background plays a role in the way she connects with the children and the way that children are positioned. I conclude that macro-level discourses and perceptions of languages and students of diverse languages have a large impact on the micro-level context of a classroom. In order to create a more positive learning environment I suggest the need for teachers to have more exposure to theorization of language thereby gaining a better understanding of language, and an awareness of the impact of discourse on learner positioning in order for change to take place.
Open Access
Orientations to text: how classroom discourse affords or denies the enactment of critical literacy and learner agency in an English First Additional Language classroom
(2014) Lloyd, Glynis; McKinney, Carolyn
Despite improvements in educational provision since 1994, the opportunities for learners from historically under resourced schools to gain access to powerful English resources remain limited and unequal (Prinsloo 2012), with a dearth of research into how school literacy practices in South Africa might contribute to this lack of access. This case study contributes towards the development of a detailed description of school literacy practices, with a focus on the orientations to text that are made available to learners in a black township high school. This study is informed by poststructuralist theory, in which the subject is theorised as constructed and contested in language, as well as by critical literacy theory. I draw on feminist poststructuralist theory to describe the key concepts of subjectivity, subject positioning and agency and to define the ways in which power works in language to construct difference. I describe orientations to text and theorise ways in which subject English pedagogy defines the kinds of readings of text that are possible in a particular classroom context. The case is a Grade 11 class studying English as a First Additional Language, in a black township high school in the Cape Metropolitan Area. The data was gathered from observing and recording English lessons over a four-week period, interviewing four selected learners and collecting the written work they produced over that period. My analysis of classroom discourse and text-based tasks shows that the orientations to reading that were offered were characterised by a focus on the surface meaning of the texts and by an absence of critical engagement. I found that the racial, gender and class constructions of apartheid continue to impact on how teachers teach, how they position their learners and what positions learners are able to take up in their learning. Teachers seem reluctant to enable engagements with text that challenge the ways relations of domination continue to negatively shape the lives of their learners. I produce evidence that the resources learners bring to school as a result of the multiple positions they occupy could productively be used in their learning, but are largely ignored. The orientations to text and literacy practices described and analysed in this study can be situated in a long history of unequal access to resources and I conclude that the resources afforded by critical orientations should be made available in all schools, through changes in the teacher training provision for all teachers.
Open Access
The out of school literacy practices and semiotic resources of two grade 4 boys who excel at creative writing
(2017) Abdulla, Nabila; McKinney, Carolyn
Previous socio-cultural research has shown the importance of creative writing and that children's creative writing is fuelled by their interests . It is believed that reading and writing is intimately connected and that those who can read well should be able to write well and vice versa. However, teachers have argued that those who do read tend to fill their writing with elements of popular culture, and those who read extensively aren't all capable of producing quality fictional writing either, as the skills and knowledge which they develop from reading don't necessarily translate into their writing. Through my teaching experiences I discovered a general negativity amongst South African teachers towards creative writing. Furthermore, the South African curriculum seems to provide little support for the advancement in creative writing as well. As a result I became interested in two of my learners, both boys, who excel at creative writing. Their narratives are rich in detail, contain exciting plots, and are generally entertaining and engaging reads. Both boys are avid readers as well. I questioned what contributed to their ability to produce excellent narratives as reading could not be the only factor. As I was aware of their in-school practices I decided it would be beneficial to examine their out of school literacy practices and semiotic resources and whether they affect or contribute towards their creative writing. I developed a case study based on home visits, interviews and collecting artefacts. I discovered that family social practices underpin many of the out of school literacy practices and that reading, drawing and play featured as contributing practices towards their creative writing. Furthermore through Bakhtin's notion of appropriation and Kristeva's notion of intertextuality, I analysed how popular culture featured prominently in the boy's writing as a means of expressing not only their own individual interests, but as a resource for identity work, representing the ways in which they see themselves in their official world as well. This research hopes to encourage further research into children's creative writing in order to change the way in which writing is viewed in the South African curriculum and to chal lenge teacher's perceptions on what constitutes "good" creative writing among primary school children.
Open Access
The out of school literacy practices of children with specific learning disabilities : a case study
(2011) Herman, Ilona; McKinney, Carolyn
A number of studies have been conducted on in-school and out of school literacy practices in the United Kingdom and North America within a sociocultural framework. However, there is very little research on the out of school literacy practices of children in South Africa and there is a general dearth of research on the out of school literacy practices of children with specific learning disabilities, both locally and internationally. Aiming to make a contribution towards filling this gap, this investigation explores the out of school literacy practices of children with specific learning disabilities (SLD) attending a special needs school in South Africa.
Open Access
Positioning students as (non)writers: A case study of disengaged pedagogy in a suburban primary school
(2017) O'Leary, Rachel; McKinney, Carolyn
Given the challenges facing the South African education system, suburban schools are often assumed to be sites of excellence, and therefore seldom the objects of research. This notion, as well as the persistently poor literacy rates in South African primary schools and the need for more research on the teaching and learning of writing at the upper-primary level across school systems, motivates this case study. This research maintains a sociocultural view of literacy and learning. The linguistic ethnographic approach, carried out with classroom observations, field notes, video-recording and semi-structured interviews, necessitated particular attention to the specific practices of this 'niche' (Nystrand, Gamoran & Carbonaro, 1998) environment. Therefore, although I planned to analyse classroom discourses and students' writing to determine if and how students identify as writers, the teacher's profound disengagement with her pedagogy, her dominant procedural discourse and the closing down of opportunities for her students to take up positions as writers needed to be centred. This focus was particularly important, as in the broader context of her school and the South African education system, Miss King is perceived to be a 'good teacher;' this notion was substantiated by the feedback Miss King received from the Department of Basic Education representative who inspected the school during my field work. Critical Discourse Analysis (Gee, 2008; Janks, 1997; Rogers et al., 2005), Positioning Theory (Davies & Harré, 1990) and Ivanič's (2004) Discourses of Writing were used as conceptual resources in the analysis of the data gathered. These tools enabled an examination of how the participants in a Grade 6 classroom use and navigate discourses to position themselves and others. The teacher self positioned as the authoritative 'knower' through her use of monologic speaking turns and a restrictive Initiation-Response-Evaluation discoursal structure. Despite her assessment driven language and her insistence on students using the process approach when writing, her disengagement from her pedagogy, inability to talk about her learners as writers and unnecessarily prescriptive parameters for compositions, demanded an adaptation of Ivanič's Discourses of Writing framework; in order to capture the superficiality of her discourse, I have added a 'procedural discourse' category. Through this discourse, Miss King can be seen to position her students as nonwriters. In spite of the limiting opportunities to engage meaningfully with their teacher and their learning, the students' abilities to reposition themselves illustrate their continued agency in this space. That they control the classroom discourses during writing sessions, after the teacher delivers her introductions, demonstrates their power in this classroom, their ability to manage their teacher. Still, that some students are able to resist Miss King's positioning to maintain identities as writers occurs despite her pedagogy, not because of it; and those who struggle to reposition themselves are unfairly denied access to identities that should be open to them within the space of the classroom.
Open Access
Silent Reading: A Case of Sustained Silent Reading in a Western Cape Grade 5 Classroom
(2021) Motjuwadi, Shadi; McKinney, Carolyn
"Well-developed Reading and Viewing skills are central to successful learning across the curriculum" (Department of Basic Education, 2011: 10). Previous sociocultural research as well as the South African Department of Basic Education has shown the importance of reading- both in terms of achievement and general student well-being. However, the South African curriculum seems to provide little in the way of detailing how to foster a culture of reading in schools and what this reading should look like. As a result, I became interested in schools in the Western Cape area that seemed to have a good reading culture to see what they did to foster reading. It became clear that such schools made the move to incorporating reading for pleasure into the school day and curriculum. One of the ways was through daily Sustained Silent Reading periods (SSR-periods). Cattus Primary, a primary school in an affluent Western Cape suburb, had both a strong reading culture and held daily SSR-periods and it became the site of the case study. The case study focused on one class of Grade five students, their teacher and the librarian in a Western Cape suburban school who were observed, interviewed and (in the case of the students) given a questionnaire to determine what happened during the mandatory, daily SSR-periods. The focus, during observation and interviews, was on how SSR was enacted, the participants' sentiments regarding reading, how their actions contradicted or supported these sentiments and finally the role of the library with reference to the SSR-periods. Observing and analysing through the lens of the sociocultural perspective and new literacy studies (NLS) of literacy events, I discovered that although SSR-periods were being held, literacy events like the SSR-periods are not reducible to observable parts of literacy because "they also involve values, attitudes, feelings and social relationships" (Barton, 2006: 7-8). I discovered that identity performance, attitudes towards reading as well as the teacher's involvement played a major role in the SSR-periods success and more so the reader/student's motivation to read during these periods. Furthermore, the library played a crucial role in school reading culture and could be used as a supplementary to the SSRperiod, or as a third space (Moje et al 2004).
Open Access
Teachers' understanding of critical language awareness and their enactment of this understanding in the classroom
(2014) Petersen, Lucia; McKinney, Carolyn; Dornbrack, Jacqui
This study was prompted by my role as Afrikaans Curriculum Advisor which is inter alia to identify and address shortcomings and needs in the professional development of teachers. One of my immediate interventions was to help teachers understand critical literacy in order to implement Critical Language Awareness (CLA) as defined in the newly revised CAPS curriculum. Teachers need to master teaching CLA before its implementation in terms of the curriculum, introduced incrementally in 2012 in Grade 10. In order to determine teachers' understanding of CLA I selected three Afrikaans Lead Teachers who attended most of the sessions presented as part of the Grade 10 and 11 CAPS orientation. The research question therefore looks at selected teachers' understanding of CLA and their enactment of this understanding in the classroom. The theoretical framework for the study draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) which views language not only as a form of social practice, but as a socially conditioned and conditioning process. (Fairclough, 2001, p. 19). The data collected for the three case studies were audio taped individual interviews with each teacher to probe their personal understanding of CLA, as well as video recorded complete lessons of CLA taught by each teacher. For my data analysis I drew on Fairclough's model for CDA as interpreted by Janks (1997). Analysis revealed how two of the teachers approached texts as though meaning is singular, and the third constructed meaning as multiple. Teachers' approaches to meaning in text were found to either close down or open up opportunities for critical class discussion. Another significant finding is how teachers' identities and personal histories impacted on their selection of texts for the critical literacy lesson, and their pedagogies. I explore how these pedagogies restricted/enabled classroom interaction. An implication for teacher education is that teachers should not only be trained in content and pedagogy, but should be made aware of and assisted in dealing with their own identity issues which might emerge while teaching critical literacy.
Open Access
Teaching literacy and language in a functioning Western Cape quintile one school : a grade one case study
(2010) De Cerff, Eleanor Virginia; McKinney, Carolyn
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) provides compelling evidence that many learners fail to achieve at the required grade level in South African primary schools. Although there are various factors that might contribute to this, the teaching and classroom practices of the teacher must be regarded as a highly significant factor in learners? achievement.This dissertation examines the literacy and language pedagogy of a South African Grade one teacher, in a Quintile one school with a history of relatively good performance on the Grade three provincial systemic assessments. The study asks the question: How does a Grade one teacher of learners who are not proficient in the language of learning and teaching (LoLT), English, teach literacy in the first term in a high performing Quintile 1 school?
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UCT Accents
(2018-06-29) Bangeni, Abongwe; Hutchings, Cathy; Madiba, Mbulungeni; McKinney, Carolyn; Rycroft, Alan
During 2015, students and staff at UCT drew attention to a wide range of forms of discrimination, including racist and sexist practices experienced across the institution. One of the issues include prejudice on individuals accents when communicating in English. This short video is expressing the findings of the investigation on the issues of accents at UCT presented in a report by Glynnis Lloyd.
Open Access
Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study
(2013) Coombes, Mary; McKinney, Carolyn
This small-scale case study focuses on the language and literacy practices that constitute hifth (the memorisation of the Qur'an) as it is practised at a Qur'anic school in Cape Town. The research aims to identify the language and literacy practices of hifth at this school, as well as investigate how selected girls orient themselves to these practices. The fieldwork was undertaken over two school terms at the girls' campus of a Qur'anic school in the city. It focused on three senior students undertaking hifth at this school, each of whom was in a different class and at a different stage of her hifth. Individual and group interviews were conducted with these students. The data set included field notes taken during classroom observations, transcripts of interviews with the participants, and physical artefacts, including one participant's copy of the Qur'an. The theoretical framework for this research is drawn from New Literacy Studies (NLS) (cf. Heath, 1983; Street, 1984), communities of practice (cf. Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), and a poststructuralist approach to literacy and identity (cf. Norton Peirce, 1995; Norton, 2000). Using these lenses enabled me to identify the language and literacy practices that constitute hifth at this school, as well as describe and interpret participants' identifications and investments in their literacy practices. Following Brandt and Clinton (2002), local Qur'anic literacy practices are located in the broader context of global practices. I have theorised how literacy artefacts, such as the written Qur'an, connect this local school community and its literacy practices to other places across the country and the world, and to Qur'anic literacy practices there. I found that the girls were actively involved in a range of hifth related literacy practices both at school and at home. Through their participation in these practices, they were learning to take an appropriate embodied orientation in their engagement with the Qur'an as readers, reciters and listeners. Each of them described the cognitive effort that was required to accurately memorise the Qur'an, while retaining recall of an increasingly longer part of the text. Their accounts contrast sharply with assumptions about memorisation or 'rote' learning as 'mindless' or undemanding and mechanical, rather than cognitively challenging and taxing.
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.

Browsing by Author "McKinney, Carolyn"

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