A study to determine whether an activity program can be carried on under adverse conditions in a first grade classroom.

An intervention, which targeted three- and four-year-old children's oral language, was developed for this study. The intervention was run over twice-weekly sessions, for ten weeks. Incorporating good Early Years practice, the first session in the week was a group shared storybook reading session with a puppet, where dialogic discussion took place and the children practised sequencing the story using visual prompts. The second weekly session consisted of planning, acting out and reviewing a planned pretend play episode based on the storybook which was read in that week's first session. Ninety-four children were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group and were tested at pre- and post-test on a battery of vocabulary and narrative assessments. The results of a Randomised Control Trial were positive in favour of the intervention. The most important of these results was a statistically significant effect on the receptive vocabulary of the children in the treatment group, with a large effect size, as measured by the standardised British Picture Vocabulary Scales (Dunn et al., 1997). There was also a significant effect on productive vocabulary, as measured by a Researcher-Designed Vocabulary Test (RDVT). This test was devised for the purpose of this study, testing one-word vocabulary, taken directly from the storybooks in the intervention. As this is not a norm-referenced, standardised test, caution is advisable in the interpretation of this result. A further positive effect concerned the narrative skills of the children in the treatment group, when compared to the children in a control group - the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) score was higher in the treatment group, with a medium effect size. By examining the intervention by Randomised Control Trial, this study responds to the call from Lillard et al (2013) for more experimental research on pretend play and narrative. The acknowledgement of the role of the adult in the intervention coupled with the positive effect on the children's MLU and receptive vocabulary mean that the intervention, with further development, has the potential to be used as a Professional Development tool for supporting language development in the Early Years in the UK, in the future.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis (D.Phil.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2010 / Due to various reasons, today’s learners lead a passive life that results in movement deprivation and poor motor development. Motor development contributes to cognitive development, which can also contribute to school readiness. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, researchers have indicated that there is an increase of learners with motor problems, which can develop into learning problems. The primary aim of the study was to determine the influence of a 10 week Judo intervention programme on Grade 1 learners with motor restraints. The formal standardised test, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test for Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) with its eight subscales, was used for this purpose. A total of 140 learners took part in the programme: 70 learners formed part of the control group and 70 learners formed part of the experimental group. All the learners took part in the pre- and post-tests (the BOTMP). The experimental group took part in the Judo intervention programme. The importance of Judo with regard to motor aspects has been highlighted. It promotes self-confidence and self-control, and has a significant influence on learning behaviour and learning of movement. This sport emphasises body awareness and spatial orientation, and develops sensory-motor activities, as well as cognitive and physical movements. Furthermore, Judo consists of a great number of motor movements and, as a result of this diversity, the participant develops on a motor, cognitive, social and emotional level. To determine whether the Judo intervention programme had any impact on the learners, t-tests were applied. These tests were done on independent and nonindependent groups. The data was statistically processed and depicted in table or graph format. The results indicated a significant improvement in five of the eight subscales of the BOTMP. The motor variates that showed improvement were balance, bilateral coordination, reaction speed, visual motor control, and upper limb speed and dexterity. The means were statistically different on the 5% level. Furthermore, the average of two variates differed on a 1% level, namely balance and bilateral coordination. Running speed and agility, as well as strength, did not show significant signs of improvement. From the results, it can be concluded that an affordable and achievable Judo intervention programme has a significant impact on the gross, gross-fine and fine motor development of Grade 1 learners with motor restraints. The study indicated that Judo as a sport indeed has an effect on the motor skills of these learners. It is recommended that such a programme should be marketed to educators and be included in the Life Orientation Programme.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education