South Africa has gone through immense changes in the past two decades. The period around 1994 has been characterised by a comprehensive set of political, social and economic changes, which greatly influenced not only the lives of individuals in this county but also many businesses, organisations and companies. Further to this, South Africa has become increasingly intercultural in orientation as companies persevered in establishing intricate networks with partners in a diverse set of cultures. This has put enormous strain on organisations to remain competitive in the market. It is critical that organisations develop a more resilient workforce with greater psychological capacities to succeed in the on-going war for talent. Attracting and retaining talented employees can give organisations a sustained competitive advantage. In view of the growing intricacies in the business world, ambiguity in markets, and employees’ attitudes, it is crucial that organisations invest in psychological assessments. However, investing in valid and reliable psychological assessments has become more difficult due to vast cultural diversity South Africa comprises off. The general objective of this study was to explore social desirability in the white Afrikaans group. A qualitative design was used and a quota non-probability sampling method was implemented among white Afrikaans-speaking people of South Africa (N=60), who differed from one another with regard to age, gender and socio-economic status. The measuring instrument was a semi-structured interview, which was based on the phenomenological approach. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel. Content analysis was used to interpret the responses in socially desirable themes. Independent psychologists and language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The descriptive terms were reduced through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. In the representation of social desirability and impression management strategies within the white Afrikaner group, six main themes with sixty sub-themes in total were identified. The six themes are facilitating, gender-based, intellect-openness, interpersonal relatedness, intrapersonal relatedness and value-based. Firstly, to facilitate others by giving advice and guidance will be seen as desirable and make a favourable impression. Secondly, to display characteristics that are typically associated with males and females, such as masculinity and femininity, will be seen as desirable and can make a positive impression. Thirdly, having a unique natural ability or skill and being receptive to new and different ideas will be seen as desirable and make a good impression on others. Fourthly, remaining constructive in one’s relationships, and fifthly, remaining constructive in one’s inner thoughts and possessing inner confidence and having respect will make a favourable impression and can be seen as socially desirable. Lastly, exhibiting moral consciousness and being trustworthy, loyal and reliable will make a positive impression and will be perceived as desirable by the white Afrikaner group. Recommendations for future research and for practice were made. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Reading plays a significant role in society and currently there is worldwide pressure for higher literacy results. The focus of this thesis is reading motivation and how it relates to a learner's amount of reading, reading comprehension and academic achievement since these problematic constructs are attracting the interest of researchers internationally. Researchers have investigated the relationships among these constructs with a variety of results. These relationships, however, have not yet been investigated in a South African context with Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers, and the only information available on the reading motivation of Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers is information on their reading preferences in regard to literary texts. Hence the following three research aims were determined for this study: the compilation of a reading motivation profile of Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers, the analysis of the relationships among Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers' reading motivation and their amount of reading, reading comprehension and academic achievement in an Afrikaans Home Language environment, as well as the development of a reading motivation framework, particularly for use in the school and classroom environment, for these adolescent readers. The study was carried out in the post-positivistic research paradigm by means of a non-experimental quantitative research approach. Three methods of data collection were used, namely a structured questionnaire (based on the eleven reading motivation dimensions of Wigfield and Guthrie's (1997) Motivation for Reading Questionnaire, which for this purpose had been adapted for the South African context), two reading comprehension tests and obtaining the data regarding the academic achievement of the respondents. The 823 respondents that had participated in this study were the grade 9 learners (Afrikaans Home Language) of seven schools from the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district (North West Province, South Africa), selected by means of purposive sampling so that different quintiles and geographic areas were represented. Information obtained from a comprehensive literature study on relevant motivation theories, on reading motivation in practice and on the relationship among their reading motivation, amount of reading, reading comprehension and academic achievement, as well as from the results of an empirical investigation of the reading motivation of specific grade 9 learners, was used to compile a reading motivation profile of Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers. The motivation theories on which motivation in this study was based, were the social-cognitive theory, the self-efficacy theory, the ecological system theory of human development and the expectancy-value theory, because these theories emphasise the individual's behaviour within particular social contexts and because constructs such as self-efficacy, task value and mastery, which emanate from these theories, play a cardinal role in determining suitable reading motivation strategies for specific readers. It was essential to compile a reading motivation profile of Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers before a reading motivation framework for these adolescent readers could be compiled. The reading motivation framework recommends specific reading motivation strategies various social role-players in the school and classroom environments can implement so as to improve Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers' reading motivation levels. The various social role-players that would influence the Afrikaans-speaking adolescent reader's reading motivation and the reading motivation strategies each of them could use, was systematised (namely the Department of Education, the school principal and management team, teachers and parents). The essence of the contribution made by this study is that a reading motivation profile of a group of Afrikaans-speaking adolescent readers (grade 9 learners) could be compiled, that clear mutual relationships among the respondents' reading motivation and their amount of reading, reading comprehension and academic achievement came to the fore from this study and that a reading motivation framework could be developed by means of which to improve the reading motivation levels of these adolescent readers. / PhD (Curriculum Development, Innovation and Evaluation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

South Africa has gone through immense changes in the past two decades. The period around 1994 has been characterised by a comprehensive set of political, social and economic changes, which greatly influenced not only the lives of individuals in this county but also many businesses, organisations and companies. Further to this, South Africa has become increasingly intercultural in orientation as companies persevered in establishing intricate networks with partners in a diverse set of cultures. This has put enormous strain on organisations to remain competitive in the market. It is critical that organisations develop a more resilient workforce with greater psychological capacities to succeed in the on-going war for talent. Attracting and retaining talented employees can give organisations a sustained competitive advantage. In view of the growing intricacies in the business world, ambiguity in markets, and employees’ attitudes, it is crucial that organisations invest in psychological assessments. However, investing in valid and reliable psychological assessments has become more difficult due to vast cultural diversity South Africa comprises off. The general objective of this study was to explore social desirability in the white Afrikaans group. A qualitative design was used and a quota non-probability sampling method was implemented among white Afrikaans-speaking people of South Africa (N=60), who differed from one another with regard to age, gender and socio-economic status. The measuring instrument was a semi-structured interview, which was based on the phenomenological approach. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel. Content analysis was used to interpret the responses in socially desirable themes. Independent psychologists and language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The descriptive terms were reduced through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. In the representation of social desirability and impression management strategies within the white Afrikaner group, six main themes with sixty sub-themes in total were identified. The six themes are facilitating, gender-based, intellect-openness, interpersonal relatedness, intrapersonal relatedness and value-based. Firstly, to facilitate others by giving advice and guidance will be seen as desirable and make a favourable impression. Secondly, to display characteristics that are typically associated with males and females, such as masculinity and femininity, will be seen as desirable and can make a positive impression. Thirdly, having a unique natural ability or skill and being receptive to new and different ideas will be seen as desirable and make a good impression on others. Fourthly, remaining constructive in one’s relationships, and fifthly, remaining constructive in one’s inner thoughts and possessing inner confidence and having respect will make a favourable impression and can be seen as socially desirable. Lastly, exhibiting moral consciousness and being trustworthy, loyal and reliable will make a positive impression and will be perceived as desirable by the white Afrikaner group. Recommendations for future research and for practice were made. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This dissertation is a report on a study about autobiography as genre, focusing on the voice of the white, Afrikaans-speaking woman. The point of departure for this study was a survey of the number of autobiographies written in Afrikaans by these women. With the focus on the limited number of such autobiographies three autobiographies were studied, namely, Met die Boere in die veld (Sarah Raal), My beskeie deel (M.E.R.) and 'n Wonderlike geweld (Elsa Joubert). Within the framework of the complexity systems theory the role of the observer (author/reader) was studied to determine the possibility of demonstrating that when reading/writing an autobiography, some epistemological changes may occur, manifesting as conceptual changes in the mind of the observer. It could be demonstrated that because of women's sensitivity to interpersonal relationships they are capable of acting as unique registers of the complexity of individual existence, while remaining aware of the constant influence, effect and needs of the other. / AFRIKAANS & THEORY OF LIT / MA (AFRIKAANS)

This dissertation is a report on a study about autobiography as genre, focusing on the voice of the white, Afrikaans-speaking woman. The point of departure for this study was a survey of the number of autobiographies written in Afrikaans by these women. With the focus on the limited number of such autobiographies three autobiographies were studied, namely, Met die Boere in die veld (Sarah Raal), My beskeie deel (M.E.R.) and 'n Wonderlike geweld (Elsa Joubert). Within the framework of the complexity systems theory the role of the observer (author/reader) was studied to determine the possibility of demonstrating that when reading/writing an autobiography, some epistemological changes may occur, manifesting as conceptual changes in the mind of the observer. It could be demonstrated that because of women's sensitivity to interpersonal relationships they are capable of acting as unique registers of the complexity of individual existence, while remaining aware of the constant influence, effect and needs of the other. / AFRIKAANS and THEORY OF LIT / MA (AFRIKAANS)

M.Th. (Practical Theology)

M.Th. (Practical Theology)