Browsing by Author "Prinsloo, Mastin"
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- ItemOpen AccessThe change of medium of instruction from Chichewa to English in primary schools in Malawi and its impact on pupils' academic performance(2007) Chiphanda, Paul Ellimelech Kankhumbwa; Prinsloo, MastinMalawi adopted a Free Primary Education Policy in 1994 with the ushering in of a multi-party system of government. Since then primary schools have been flooded with many pupils. The current language policy in Malawi. allows learners to be taught through local languages from Standards 1 to 4 and through English from Standard 5 upwards (Mtenje 2002). Teachers' guides for all subjects from STD 1 to 8 are written in English except for Chichewa as a subject. Teachers write their lesson plans for all subjects in English except those of Chichewa as a subject (Mchazime 1996). However, classroom observation suggests that teachers use Chichewa as a medium of instruction even in classes where they are expected to use English (Standard 5 onwards). Similarly. pupils fail to express themselves in English and they answer questions in Chichewa (Mtenje 2002). As a result. learners fail to participate and contribute fully during lessons. This scenario makes the teachers talk more than the learners: hence the lessons become teacher-centred. Pupils are largely passive in class. Many pupils are absent from school they fail examinations and some drop out from school mainly when they reach the upper classes (Standard 5 to 8) of primary education. This dissertation examines what effect the change of medium of instruction made in Standard 5 from Chichewa to English has on the academic achievement of the learners of Standard 5 pupils in primary schools in Malawi. Specifically. the study examines whether or not the use of English results in better academic performance of pupils and whether this change contributes to pupil attrition (the drop-out rate). To investigate how the change of language of instruction affects the academic performance of Standard 5 learners, I used a case study methodology, with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. Then data were collected through questionnaires administered to teachers and Standard 5 learners respectively: by comparing tests results in Mathematics and Social Studies of pupils who learnt through Chichewa in Standard 4 and through English in Standard 5. respectively; through classroom observations; and by interviewing teachers in two primary schools. This work is based on the theory developed by Jim Cummins (1991) which states that learners should acquire a conceptual foundation in their first language to facilitate the acquisition of the second language to positively achieve academic performance. The research came up with the following findings: Firstly, Standard 5 pupils in Malawi performed better in Mathematics and Social Studies when they learnt through the medium of Chichewa than through the medium of English. Secondly, Standard 5 learners lacked the necessary English proficiency to cope with the cognitive demands of Mathematics and Social Studies. As a result the lessons observed were teacher-centred and pupils became passive participants in the learning process. Teachers agreed that pupils participated less in class when they were learning through the medium of English than when the same pupils were learning through the medium of Chichewa. In addition, teachers and learners are not motivated to learn through the medium of English. Furthermore. teachers are not sufficiently trained in how to start teaching Standard 5 learners through English. As a consequence, Standard 5 pupils perform poorly in Mathematics and Social Studies. In comparison, Standard 5 pupils perform at a lower level in Mathematics than in Social Studies when they learnt through the medium of English. From these findings it was concluded that Standard 5 learners, who are taught through the medium of English, are not sufficiently proficient in English to cope with the cognitive academic demands of learning content subjects like Mathematics and Social Studies in Malawi. These results confirm my hypothesis. The results are also congruent with other studies already done in Malawi (Mchazime 2004, Kachaso 1988).
- ItemOpen AccessCongolese migrant learners' language, literacy and learning in a primary school in Cape Town(2015) Mafandala, Mbembi Joel; Prinsloo, MastinWhen children whose first or home language is a minority language begin their school careers, they are commonly taught through the medium of a majority language for varying purposes, including the requirement that they be assessed in school through the medium of a recognised national language. For immigrant children and for children of immigrants, learning through the medium of a national language is part of their assimilation in to the society they are growing up in. However, often these children are taught only in this second or foreign language, and little support is offered to help them to gain sufficient competence in that language.This research studies how Congolese migrant learners in primary school encounter language, literacy and learning in poor schools in Cape Town, with what sorts of implications for their chances of schooling success? I conducted a qualitative case study observing three Congolese learners, who are still learning to read and write: Maboko and Mabele (in grade three) and Goya (in grade two), over a period of four weeks in a low status but functioning inner-city school. I draw on a sociocultural approach to literacy as contextualised social practice. This implies that children learn language and literacy through everyday interaction, therefore language and literacy should be studied as it happens in social life. I also look at the theoretical approaches to understanding language and literacy learning, such as reading theories, emergent literacy, as well as emergent biliteracy to understand the experiences of Congolese learners in South African primary schools.
- ItemOpen AccessA constrastive case study of orthodox and alternate adult literacy initiatives, as regards their assumptions about literacy, pedagogy, and curriculum(2009) Fine, Zelma; Prinsloo, MastinThe aim of this study was to investigate and contrast two sites of literacy tuition, the one being an orthodox night school, set-up and run according to departmental requirements, and the other, an innovative endeavour situated within the walls of the South African Museum. My concern was to examine how different constructs of what literacy is and how it should be taught manifested themselves in curricula, pedagogy, and organisation at the two sites. I used ethnographic-style methods to gather data at the two sites. From the perspective of orthodox literacy instruction, as it has developed in adult education, the emphasis in literacy instruction is on the transmission and acquisition of a set of skills, imparted to learners in order that they might 'become literate'.
- ItemOpen AccessConstructing the gap between past and present literacy practices in the South African Police Service(2002) Arend, Abdul Moeain; Kell, Catherine; Prinsloo, MastinThe study seeks to answer the research question: "What constructs the gap between past and present literacy practices in the South African Police Service (SAPS)?" To answer the research question, ethnographic methods were employed to gather data in a police station on the Cape Flats, renamed Phatisanani police station. In researching the gap between past and present literacy practices of police officers in the station, the effects the shift in institutional discourses from the early years of the South African Police (SAP), to after the 1994 democratic elections in South Africa had on police officers' professional discourses and their associated literacy practices were illuminated. The study suggests that institutional discourses after 1994 are conflicting with the professional discourse and associated literacy practices of police officers at Phatisanani police station. The research argues that the conflict between contemporary institutional discourses in the SAPS and the professional discourse of police officers in the station is leading to 'disorder of discourses' (Wodak, 199B). Drawing on theories from the New Literacy Studies the research concludes that the gap between past and present literacy practices in the SAPS is embedded in the 'disorder' between contemporary institutional and professional discourses, the 'disorder' between the social roles of 'insiders' and 'outsiders'; and the recontextualisation of literacy practices across various sites of practice in the SAP prior to 1994.
- ItemOpen AccessA contrastive ethnographic case study of homes in Cape Town(2012) Lemphane, Polo Adelina; Prinsloo, MastinThis study contrasts children’s digital communicative literacy practices in two homes in Cape Town, South Africa. It aimed to find out whether children’s early engagement with digital media in home settings might vary across socio-economic settings, with implications for their subsequent school-based engagements with reading and writing practices. An ethnographic style contrastive case study approach was employed to investigate the nature and implications of children’s home digital literacy practices across socio-economically divergent settings, namely, in one working class family, where neither of the parents were formally employed in wage labour, and one middle class family, where the parents were both employed professionals. While the two families shared a common relation to South Sotho/Setswana as their family heritage language, they differed widely in other respects, because of different social locations as middle class/working class families, including everyday language use and the social expectations of their young children.
- ItemOpen AccessCurrent literacy instructional practices in a Grade One classroom within the context of the South African Outcomes-based curriculum : a case study(2004) Rutgers, Linda; Prinsloo, MastinImproving the level of literacy for all learners, including those from diverse socio-cultural and economic backgrounds, is high on the list of priorities for education in South Africa. Grade One teachers are currently working within an outcomes-based educational and literacy framework. This implies that teachers have to know and understand what is entailed in each of the learning areas and they have to plan the content of the learning programmes according to the expected outcomes. While traditional literacy instruction focuses on skills development, contemporary approaches advocate language and literacy practices that reflect a socially constructed model of learning and knowledge. The latter emphasizes interaction through language, between the learners and their cultural worlds, in as well as outside the classroom. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of classroom talk in effective literacy instruction, by observing how literacy is presented and modelled by one teacher in a particular Grade One classroom.
- ItemOpen AccessEarly language and literacy learning in a peripheral African setting : a study of children's participation in home and school communicative and literacy practices in and around Manzini, Swaziland(2009) Dlamini, Sikelela Moses; Prinsloo, MastinThis thesis is an ethnographic study of the early literacy development of four children from low-income families in and around Manzini, Swaziland. It investigated the orientations to literacy, language, and communication that children brought to school from home, vice versa, and the sorts of consequences that such traversing of sites has for the children's literacy development and schooling. It is the first study of literacy and children's literacy carried out in Swaziland from a socio-cultural perspective. The study joins a growing body of New Literacy Studies research into the social practices that shape children's early literacy learning and a smaller body of such work from Africa. I used evidence from four children's home and school literacy lives, systematically collected by means of in-depth ethnographic case studies and used an interpretive analytical frame of enquiry. This study breaks with previous research in Swaziland by detailing the situated ways that reading and writing happen in specific socio-cultural contexts.
- ItemOpen AccessEducators' perceptions and practices regarding early literacy instruction and language issues in a Cape Town township primary school(2011) Xhalisa, Thabisa Patricia; Prinsloo, MastinThis thesis examines the teaching practices and ideas about language and teaching that Foundation Phase educators hold as regard literacy and language issues, and the effect of these ideas and practices on children’s learning. An ethnographic-style case study approach was used to examine classroom-based literacy and language practices. Qualitative classroom-based data indicated a disjuncture between educators' conceptualisations about early learning and their literacy teaching practices and that the teaching practices that were evident did not facilitate successful learning on the part of the learners despite the availability and use of isiXhosa as a medium of instruction. Instead, classroom literacy lessons were limited to rote learning and memorisation, which resulted in learners being passive recipients of literacy knowledge. The study concludes that home language instruction does not of itself guarantee academic success, as learners struggle to learn when are not given the freedom to participate in classroom activities and to become active learners, despite being taught in their home language.
- ItemOpen AccessAn examination of classroom practices for the development of writing in English as a second language in a Malawian primary school(2008) Nthara, Ivy Jeb; Prinsloo, Mastin; Plüddemann, PeterThis study arises out of an awareness of the history of Malawi' s language in education policy from the era of British colonialism to the present multilingual era. English is given a high status in schools despite the fact that many more teachers and pupils speak local languages. Malawi's new language in education model stipulates that "English should be offered as a subject from Standards 1 to 3; English should be offered as medium of instruction from Standards 4 to 8" (MOE. 1996). The Malawi in education bilingual model is thus subtractive, which impacts negatively on second language learning. I discuss various theories that underpin the teaching of literacy in a second language. namely bilingualism and cognition, social learning, and theories with an educational or classroom orientation to establish a framework for my empirical investigation.
- ItemOpen AccessGender identities at play : children's digital gaming in two settings in Cape Town.(2013) Pallitt, Nicola; Walton, Marion; Prinsloo, MastinThis thesis investigates children's gaming relationships with peers in out-of-school settings, and explores their interpretation of digital games as gendered media texts. As an interdisciplinary study, it combines insights from Childhood Studies, Cultural Studies, Game Studies, domestication and performance theory. The concept ludic gendering is developed in order to explain how gender "works" in games, as designed semiotic and ludic artefacts. Ludic gendering also helps to explain the appropriation of games through gameplay, and the interpretation of gendered rules and representations. The study expands on audience reception research to account for children's "readings" of digital games. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used to study gaming relationships. Combining SNA with broadly ethnographic methods provided a systematic way of investigating children's peer relationships and gendered play.
- ItemOpen AccessHow efficiency is constructed and effected in the provision of health education(1994) Khan, Moonira B M; Prinsloo, MastinThe focus of this study is on the constraints encountered by health care providers situated at community centers in meeting the local community's health needs. Health education is one way of meeting these needs. This case study is an investigation into how the registered nurses as health workers of four clinics in the Grassy Park area perceive their roles and identities in relation to providing Health Education as part of Primary Health Care to meet the health needs of the community. The information obtained attempts to identify the influences and constraints which affect the way in which health workers as professionals interface between their _., organization which is also their employer, and, the community, and how they conduct their role as intermediaries at ground level.
- ItemOpen AccessAn investigation of the phonological awareness skills of third grade Xhosa language speakers, with special reference to their levels of spelling and reading skills in English(2006) Allen, Sheila; Prinsloo, MastinThe aim of the study was to examine the relationship between phonological awareness skills and literacy levels in disadvantaged third grade Xhosa language speakers who are learning to read and write in English.
- ItemOpen AccessLocal ways of knowing : schooling, language, and literacy in a marginal, culturally distinctive community in Botswana(2011) Macheng, Cornelious Binnie; Prinsloo, MastinIn this minor dissertation, I undertook to examine perspectives held by people in one, marginal, culturally distinct immigrant community in respect to schooling, language, and literacy and how these are likely to impact on their children's participation in schools. The methodological frame for both data collection and analysis for this study aligned with those employed in most 'ethnographies of literacy'. I however. settled for what is referred to as an ethnographic-style study to account for time constraints.
- ItemOpen AccessNew work practices, new literacies and new identities : a shift towards a "new work culture" in a soft drinks factory in Maputo(2003) Buque, Domingos; Prinsloo, MastinThis thesis resulted from a study of the work practices and literacy practices performed by the front-line workers of a soft drinks factory in Maputo province, in Mozambique. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify the literacy practices attached to the work among the front-line workers on the production floor, and to (2) examine such practices in order to determine how the front-line workers respond to the demands of the work as to the literacy practices as well as the accompanying social practices and working identities related to these practices. The study focuses on literacy at work in the light of the 'new work culture' and it was strongly influenced by the works of Prinsloo & Scholtz (2000) on one hand, and Hull et al (1996) on the other, whose meta-categories of literate functions I use recurrently along my report. The study was conducted in an ethnographic approach over two months observing workers and listening to them while they were carrying out their tasks in the factory. "Work events" (Hull et al. 1996) and "literacy events" (Heath. 1983) were recorded in detailed field notes. Interviews with workers from different sectors on the shop floor were tape-recorded or registered on paper. Another source of data was the range of documents collected in the company. The information gathered was continually analyzed throughout the process of data collection. In this period. hypotheses were developed, discussed and tested, to confirm and disconfirm what was found in the workplace as to the phenomena around literacy and work. The study shows that effects of globalisation as to workplace have reached Mozambique. Front-line workers in this particular industry are in the process of shifting to the 'new work order', as their changing work practices come along with new literacy practices and new working identities.
- ItemOpen AccessParticipation, collaboration and language use in English Foreign Language adult learning groups that share or do not share a common language besides English(2004) Gavron-Stadtmaer, Tanya; Prinsloo, MastinThe study attempts to answer the question: "How is learning, interaction and information exchange affected by whether learning groups are composed of people who share or do not share a common language (besides English)?" I carried out the research at English Foreign Language (EFL) classes which were held for peoples of Africa. Data were collected through audio and audio-visual recordings, field notes and semi-structured follow-up interviews. The findings indicated that learning, interaction and information exchange were affected by the composition of the group. These differences were related to the interactive and dialogic nature of exchange in the 'cross language groups' where conversational techniques (such as turn-taking) were used in order to engage in an interactive and collabortive dialogue. As a result, learning, interaction and information exchange occurred more readily in 'cross language groups' than in 'common language groups'.
- ItemOpen AccessPeripheral Normativity: Language and literacy, teaching and learning in two Grade Four classrooms in an under-resourced school in the Western Cape(2009) Ralphs, Liana; Prinsloo, MastinThis study focuses on how children in the post-Foundation phase of Primary Schooling encounter reading and writing practices and learn to be certain kinds of readers and writers in poorly-resourced school settings in the Western Cape in South Africa. The aim of this research was to investigate how literacy practices in a socially situated domain, such as a classroom in a poorly-resourced school, are shaped by both the internal dynamics of classroom teaching as well as by external factors beyond the school, relating to the social location of the school within a peripheral social context. Through an ethnographic-style case study of a multilingual context in one primary school site, this study examined how specific notions of Grade Four school-appropriate language, literacy and learning activities operated as locally normative resources that produced complex outcomes in relation to the language-of-instruction and in relation to what counted as worthwhile classroom learning. By focusing on two Grade Four classes (the 'Afrikaans class' and the 'English class'), this study investigated the ecological and cultural dimensions of the language debates that were operating at the research site, and how these influenced the children, teachers, and the school. It was found that what characterised teaching and learning at this research site involved peripheral normativity: the downscaling and localisation of educational standards and language debates to attainable local levels of possibility. The children received localised, restricted versions of language use and literacy that was context-specific. The school's educational response to the multilingual context and to the social pressure for access to high status linguistic and literacy resources was to stream the predominantly Afrikaans-speaking school community into two parallel streams where the language of learning and teaching was either 'English' or 'Afrikaans,' and these divisions reflected a broader division in the wider community between those aspiring to upward social mobility and those who more clearly constituted a social underclass. The language and literacy learning practices characteristic in both the Grade Four classes did not, however, provide the resources for school success for children in either group.
- ItemOpen AccessPreparation for school art: young children's meaning making practices in out-of-school settings(2015) Kriel, Benjamin; Prinsloo, MastinThis thesis examines children’s meaning making with art related media in the home of a set of siblings, a brother and sister, of 8 and 6 years old respectively. It is argued that children’s meaning making with art related media is a self-sustaining, multimodal and dialogic site where family narratives, identity and childhood aims and intentions converge. It is argued that when art oriented adults, who seek to promote their child’s artistic growth, are sensitive to the dynamics of child meaning making, especially those that relate to play, they can achieve a more fruitful, aligned and relevant extension of these activities toward early art related goals. In order to make this argument material is presented from a lengthy session of play dough modelling involving the two children and their father, which includes dialogue surrounding this activity, and observations gleaned from video footage and written field notes. This thesis looks at how children’s meaning making in out-of-school settings, has elements of a distinct semiotic domain; not one where ‘art’ or art related media are the focus of the domain, but rather one where play and its affordances for certain kinds of child agency lead and shape the flow of meaning making. It is found that where the end product and pictorial qualities is not the focus of meaning making, and instead other communicative modes are given expression, such as imaginative and collaborative play, children’s interest is sustained as shared cultural resources are more easily integrated into the events.
- ItemOpen AccessThe propagation of Standard Language Ideology: exploring how a Grade One teacher in an urban, linguistically diverse, English-medium primary school conceptualises language(2017) Rowley, Emma-Kate; Prinsloo, MastinIn the context of unequal access to quality education in South Africa in a first language, and policy that relies upon outdated, inaccurate conceptions of language, this study looks at how a Grade One educator at an urban English-medium school (attended by a linguistically diverse cohort of mostly non-English home language speakers) in Cape Town thinks about and talks about language in her teaching practices. The central question it attempts to answer is: how does Ms L, a Grade One educator at South Star Primary School, conceptualise language in her teaching practices? In other words, what is language for Ms L? With an eye to answering this question, I examine the language practices of Ms L alongside the assumptions implicit in her interactions with learners about (what counts as legitimate) language use and language speakers. I draw on current sociolinguistic theory which posits that language is a situated social practice, and contrast this with the conception of language as an identifiable bounded entity that is ubiquitous in policy and curriculum statements. Using concepts from sociolinguistics and applied linguistics, I analysed transcriptions from two weeks of lesson recordings in Ms L's classroom. Ms L's teaching practices pointed to a conception of language as a system of parts, as a measurable skill, and languages as separable objects. Analysis of her language practices showed the use of mainly one named language, English, except during Afrikaans lessons where she attempted to use only Afrikaans, occasionally drawing on English linguistic resources for specific purposes. Learners were strongly discouraged from using more than one language at a time, and use of different languages were strictly demarcated according to the lesson being taught. Aside from this evidence pointing to a conception similar to that evident in policy - of language as an autonomous entity, and languages as distinct and distinguishable objects - many of the ways in which Ms L spoke about language also pointed to a standard language ideology. This is incompatible with multilingualism and is a symbolic devaluing of non-standard varieties and speakers.
- ItemOpen AccessRevealing the Janus face of literacy: text production and the creation of trans-contextual stability in South Africa's criminal justice system(2015) Arend, Abdul Moeain; Prinsloo, MastinThe thesis researches literacy practices in South Africa's criminal justice system by focusing specifically on the production and flow of police dockets across institutional boundaries in a police station and regional courts renamed Blue Hills police station and Blue Hills regional courts in the Western Cape Province respectively. Through the use of ethnography, the production and flow of police dockets are tracked across three moments - Moment One, Moment Two and Moment Three - in the criminal justice system. The three moments also show how the production of the police docket allows humans and nonhumans to be displaced across these institutional boundaries. Apart from drawing on the New Literacy Studies (also referred to as Literacy Studies in this thesis), the research draws extensively on Actor Network Theory - a theory which argues that the social world and therefore reality are constructed through the creation of networks of associations or networks of relations consisting of human and nonhuman entities. In this study, these associations or relations are referred to as material - semiotic relations. When the relations between human and nonhuman entities achieve some form of stability, that is when they hold, they can have intended and unintended ordering effects on the social world. Therefore, the primary focus of the research is to understand how trans-contextual order is created by building the network of the criminal justice system - referred to as "the network" in this study - through the production of the police docket by police officers (Uniform Branch police officers and detectives) and state prosecutors. The three moments that are identified in the study highlight the complexity of the literacy practices which lead to the production and flow of the police docket across institutional contexts. These moments are snapshots of the possible ways in which the network can be built through assemblies of con figurations of material - semiotic relations. Moment One focuses on the opening of a police docket. During this moment the literacy practices between Uniform Branch police officers and detectives are highlighted when they attempt to classify the crime which should be recorded in the police docket after a member of the public visited the police station to report a possible crime. Moment Two deals with the investigation of crimes. This moment documents the literacy practices of detectives as they attempt to produce written witness statements for inclusion in the police docket from potential state witnesses. The literacy practices that are highlighted here focus on the strategies detectives employ to encode potential state witnesses with meaning and their strategies to ensure that witnesses do make it to court to act as spokespersons on behalf of the network and circulate in the network. Moment Three, the final moment, deals with how state prosecutors animate witnesses and their written witness statements in court so that the network can secure a successful prosecution. By highlighting the literacy practices and text production that characterize the three moments, the research concludes that network stability is contingent on three factors which are inter-related. The first, 'material durability', refers to the level at which material - semiotic relations are successful at staying intact. The second, 'strategic durability', refers to the successes of various strategies (which include specific literacy practices) employed by officials to ensure that entities in the network perform their specific functions in order to ensure trans-contextual stability. Finally, 'discursive stability' refers to institutional ways of measuring productivity in the criminal justice system and which must have trans - contextual reach and ordering effects on literacy and literacy practices across the three moments so that the network can achieve some form of stability.
- ItemOpen AccessSkills development training and its impact on employee self-image : a case study of employee responses to training in the wholesale and retail sector in the Western Cape(2006) Cole, Jennifer Elizabeth; Prinsloo, MastinThe aim of this study was to determine what impact training, undertaken in terms of the Skills Development Act in South Africa, has on trainees. Particular attention was paid to the way in which trainees interpreted changes to their self-image, confidence and sense of self-worth. A case study approach was used to obtain information about experiences of four research participants. The study data were gathered by means of qualitative open-ended and biographical interviews.