Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study

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dc.contributor.advisorMcKinney, Carolynen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCoombes, Maryen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-02-03T18:36:21Z
dc.date.available2015-02-03T18:36:21Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis 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.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationCoombes, M. (2013). <i>Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12357en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationCoombes, Mary. <i>"Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12357en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationCoombes, M. 2013. Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Coombes, Mary AB - 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. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 T1 - Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study TI - Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12357 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12357
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationCoombes M. Undertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case study. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 2013 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12357en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Educationen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEducationen_ZA
dc.titleUndertaking hifth at a Qur'anic school for girls in Cape Town: a case studyen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMEden_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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