Browsing by Subject "discourse analysis"

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    Exploring the potential of mind joy as a Generative AI socratic tutor: fostering 21st-century skills in the general education certificate mathematics curriculum
    (2025) Van Der Merwe, Joricke; Gachago, Daniela; Gachago, Daniela
    This qualitative interpretive study explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed many aspects of modern life, yet its potential within South Africa's General Education Certificate (GEC) Mathematics curriculum remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to explore the feasibility and potential of Mindjoy, a Socratic generative AI-enabled tutor, within the GEC Mathematics curriculum for Grade 9 learners. The focus was on understanding its impact in fostering key 21st-century skills: collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. This qualitative study is grounded in social constructivism with Laurillard's (2013a) conversational framework as an epistemological approach. Twenty-six learners were asked to complete online questionnaires on online platforms. Furthermore, the study made use of an AI-enabled Socratic learning environment, which exposed learners to two types of mathematics activities. On Day 2 of the study, 26 learners interacted with Mindjoy based on structured mathematical activities. On Day 3 of the study, 10 learners aim to solve problem-based learning activities in collaboration with Mindjoy. Data were coded through thematic inductive analysis using Discourse Analysis and Computational Grounded Theory approaches. Findings revealed that Mindjoy's ability to act as a Socratic tutor is impacted by the ability of the learners to prompt, as well as the type of mathematical activity that learners engage in. The findings highlighted that teachers need to be intentional about their choice of teaching approaches when implementing Socratic AI tutors in mathematics learning. The study illustrated that Socratic questioning delivered by Mindjoy showed potential for guided learning and elicitation; however, its full potential as an AI-powered pedagogical tool revealed limitations, especially during structured mathematical learning concepts. Recommendations include a pre- trained AI mathematics-specific tutor that will probe learners to think critically and help to maintain focus on the learning of mathematics. Additionally, it is recommended that a critical AI literacy framework be implemented to guide both teachers and learners in using AI in a useful, ethical, responsible, and respectful way. Reviewing the current GEC curriculum and assessment framework to include AI literacy as a 21st-century skill was also recommended.
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    Open Access
    Race and assessment practice in South Africa: understanding black academic experience
    (Taylor & Francis, 2012) Jawitz, Jeffrey
    Despite efforts to transform the racialised system of higher education in South Africa inherited from apartheid, there has been little research published that interrogates the relationship between race and the experience of academic staff within the South African higher education environment. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and critical race theory, this article traces the experience of two black male academics in relation to the assessment practices of their colleagues at a historically white university in South Africa. The interviewees, both graduates from the departments in which they teach, reflected on their experience of their departmental assessment practices both as black students and black academics. The analysis concludes that despite their differing perceptions and experiences they both regard the assessment practices of some of their white colleagues as undermining of their black students' efforts to succeed.
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    (Un)-African: queering South Africas approach to SOGI rights
    (2022) Berry, Neil Alexander; Smith, Karen
    This study uses Queer Theory to explore the inconsistencies in South Africa's approach to the international protection of people of non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGI). It seeks to understand why South Africa's support for SOGI rights in the international system has been inconsistent, by answering the following question: How can we understand South Africa's inconsistent approach to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) rights in the United Nations using Queer Theory? Using queer critical discourse analysis and Weber's queer logics of statecraft (Weber, 2016a; 2016b), SOGI rights discourses were studied at three levels. Firstly, the genesis of SOGI rights adoption within the post-apartheid South African policy and legislative frameworks. Secondly, providing contextual background, across the African continent since 1994. Thirdly, within dedicated SOGI debates at the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council since 2011, focussing on South African and African Group contributions. This analysis determined that SOGI rights have been challenged by claims of cultural, historical and religious traditions, which on the African continent have been framed as un-African and a rejection of neocolonialism from the global North. Despite the fallacy of this un-African claim, it has impacted on South Africa as it sought to re-establish its Africanness and anti-neocolonial credentials whilst also promoting its moral leadership on human rights. It has further been established that the South African approach to SOGI rights was informed by the demands of local rather than international SOGI rights NGOs. This approach has disappointed those who anticipate the Western model of SOGI rights promotion, which South Africa has critiqued for its coercive and counter-productive punitive measures. By using Queer Theory, this study concluded that South Africa's identity can be understood beyond monolithic binaries, that South Africa's support for SOGI rights in the UN has endeavoured to find a balance between the competing aims of SOGI rights and African solidarity by presenting itself as an African and/or un-African state. This study contributes to the emerging Queer Theory literature within International Relations and to literature on queer African sexualities and genders, human rights, and foreign policy.