ABSTRACT This study mainly sets to explore how English second language students grade 12 learners at Randfontein Secondary School develop critical literacy awareness (CLA) by reading ‘bumper’ stickers found in mini-bus taxis commonly known as taxis. Data used in this project was mainly collected through interviews with research participants namely; students, taxi drivers, bumper sticker manufacturers and taxi commuters. The teacher/researcher required students to collect literary texts from their environment for use in their critical literacy class. This research project mainly employs Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis model as an analytical model, which holds that CDA should include the socio-cultural contexts in which texts are produced and read. Data was analysed by all the students in class, especially the six students who were selected for the focus group. The researcher (myself) analysed the students’ reading of texts so as to establish the extent to which they were developing critical literacy awareness. The research found that my students resisted bumper stickers as a discourse that differed from their own ideological positions. Data in this study reveals that the students approached the bumper stickers from a position of estrangement because they were reading from an urban social context that differs from the taxi drivers’ rural social context. This study showed that getting students to be researcher themselves can be a very fruitful and developmental learning experience.

Triathlon status symbols allow community members to gain prestige. The accrual of paraphernalia, such as race apparel and bumper stickers, provide individuals with a means to display their accomplishments for non-participants, too. Ethnographic fieldwork, questionnaires and interviews provided insight into a variety of experiences. The individual nature of the sport is reflected by a participant's decision to display status markers. Car signs (e.g., bumper stickers and license plate frames) are displayed by a quarter of race participants. They come in a variety of forms allowing the car's driver to communicate with triathletes and non-triathletes while driving on the road. The most prestigious triathlon is the Ironman. The M Dot Ironman logo appears as a decal on vehicles and as a mark of permanence on the body. Tattoos act as a formal communication system in a similar manner to car signs. Triathletes display status symbols to garner respect from their peers and separate themselves from the larger society. / by Adam Slotnick. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.