The study proposes an alternative way for elementary school educators to instruct students in spelling. It suggests that spelling instruction should allow ample time for students to manipulate letters and patterns in their spelling words and provide time for writing. It also offers a two-week lesson plan of spelling instruction backed by research. The study was conducted using a mixed design with a predominantly Hispanic 6th grade class at a Title I school, with 60% of the students classified as English Language Learners. The study design consisted of observations of the students manipulating the spelling words, anecdotal notes taken while observing the students, and the collection of writing samples across time. Data was collected by four formal language arts tests and bimonthly spelling assessments.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Several studies have investigated the contentious issue of language preference in the education domain, particularly in South Africa. African indigenous languages seemed to be overlooked as well in the country. As one of the scarce skills subjects, the Department of Education (DoE) developed a strategy to curb the decline of African indigenous languages by introducing Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme. This research study sought to investigate language preferences of student teachers who specialise in English and an African language (Sepedi, TshiVenda and Xitsonga) for future employment among third and fourth year language student teachers. My assumption was that these language teachers have been in the teaching practice, hence their preference might be instigated by their experience in teaching. A purposive sampling using semi-structured interviews was selected for this study. Furthermore, a research journal and a voice recorder were used during the research interviews. The research findings illustrated that majority of participants (70%) preferred to teach African indigenous languages while the remaining percentages preferred to teach English at their future schools. These showed a promising future for the indigenous languages for being promoted and sustained. However, their preference of a particular language over the other was founded on different individual motivation or interest. It was also found that Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme served as a motivational component for producing student language teachers. These findings provide valuable information for promoting and sustaining African indigenous languages

Thesis (M. A. (English)) -- University of Limpopo, 2011. / In 2008, the National Department of Education in South Africa introduced a new curriculum known as the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) in the Grade 12 classes. Prior to the introduction of this new curriculum, the writing of essays in Grade 12 classes was treated as a once-off activity. The focus on essay activities was mainly on the product and after the assessment of such product-driven essays, teachers had no further interest in them except for recording marks when necessary. The paucity of interaction between teachers and learners may have contributed to the majority of learners writing incoherent essays and achieving low marks. This research study investigates whether teachers in the Moroke Circuit understand and implement the process approach in the writing of English essays in rural Grade 12 classes as prescribed by the NCS. The NCS advocates the use of the process writing approach in essay writing. The process writing approach encourages a partnership between teachers and learners. Teachers are expected to treat learners’ essays as improvable objects through pre-writing activities, self and peer assessment which Kasanga (2004:64) refers to as “multiple-draft multiple-reader writing instruction”. To achieve the aim of the study, learners’ essays were checked against the process writing checklist and the teachers’ responses in the questionnaire they were requested to complete as part of the study. The findings revealed that teachers in the Moroke Circuit do not fully understand the process writing approach and thus they do not fully implement it as advocated. There are various factors which may contribute to the learners’ poor writing skills, the main of which appear to be the teachers’ inadequate training and poor understanding of the process writing approach. Some teachers attended short training courses on NCS and others did not attended any. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers should receive adequate training in the process writing approach for it to be implemented as effectively as the NCS prescribes. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Over the past several decades, research that explored various teaching-and-learning contexts has provided valuable insights into teacher-learner interactional practices in second language classrooms. Many of these practices focus on learners’ language accuracy by targeting the correct answer, a worthy but perhaps insufficient goal; an additional teacher responsibility is to encourage learners to build on their understanding by reasoning through that correct answer. This current study adds to previous research by examining how one experienced teacher and her adult ESL students in a community language program in the U.S. engage in a particular type of interactive, collaborative work on understanding that moves beyond what is correct to why it is correct, which I call “digging.” Based on a conversation analytic examination of 15 hours of video-recorded classroom interaction, the findings showcase two complementary types of teacher-led digging that are preceded by a critical “pre-digging” phase, during which the teacher redirects learners’ attention and constitutes a group that will work together as a collective. The first type of digging zooms in on one particular language issue which the teacher frames as a language challenge for the group and works collaboratively with the collective toward resolving it. The second type of digging, by contrast, zooms out from a specific language issue to a larger pattern in either the learners’ native languages or the target language, English. In both types of digging, exploratory talk and various scaffolding techniques are employed to promote participation and learner agency. The findings contribute to the literature on classroom interaction by specifying, in fine-grained detail, the how-to of these teacher interactional practices during whole group work on understanding which involves the intricate work of every gaze, every gesture, every posture shift, every utterance, and every second of silence. Such specifications also enrich teacher educators’ pedagogical content knowledge by providing them a common language to talk about, and illuminate the complexity of, teaching as they guide students to “see” such complexity.

This dissertation contemplates the radical shifts and changes in language and education due to and during the Sri Lankan civil war (1983-2009), utilizing the detailed method of classroom ethnography in postwar Jaffna to comprehend macro-perspective problems about language and nationalism in postwar Sri Lanka. It attempts to answer some of the following questions: In a country trying to heal and recover from the trauma of war and violence based on ethnolinguistic difference, what does postwar education and schooling look like? In a region of the country that has a proud history and heritage of Tamil language and culture, yet a simultaneous colonial and postcolonial tradition of English language education and schooling, and now, a continued postwar Sinhalese military and police presence, how do people negotiate and navigate these three distinct linguistic spheres of practice? From the perspectives of research informants and interlocutors, what does life look like in contemporary postwar Jaffna? I find that almost three decades of war and outmigration have resulted in an ongoing transformation concerning learning, language, and life in the Jaffna peninsula. The decline in English language education combined with the predominantly monolingual Tamil-speaking environment that Jaffna provides for school children solidifies their ethnoreligious identities while limiting opportunity. However, we see a transformation in local economies due to war and emigration and the influx of remittance income, which has created new patterns and habits in consumption and even a shift in priority and work ethic. Therefore, we see the emergence of a new generation in northern Sri Lanka navigating this postwar space, embracing cultural changes that have been brought about by these processes of war, migration, and increased interconnectedness in what is still the most conservative and traditional region of the country.

Thesis ( M.A. (Translation Studies and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / Bilingual dictionaries often do not meet the needs of dictionary users because they contain information that is not well presented. This poses as a challenge to the users because they end up retrieving the wrong information. Divergence is one of the most important equivalent relation in bilingual dictionaries and lexicographers often take it for granted. This study analyses the presentation of divergence in selected Northern Sotho/English bilingual dictionaries with reference to Pharos Popular Northern Sotho Dictionary and Oxford Northern Sotho/English Bilingual Dictionary. This study further analyses the use of structural markers in bilingual dictionaries because the correct/incorrect use of structural markers also have an impact on the presentation of divergence. This study reveal that bilingual dictionaries can become user-friendly and meet the needs of the users if lexicographers can apply appropriate strategies when compiling dictionaries as this will lead to communicative success

The purpose of this study was to set up equivalent groups of conventional and experimental classes in English in order to test both groups with certain standardized tests before and after a definite period of instruction, and to evaluate the relative efficiency of the two teaching methods in light of the statistical evidence.

Es el propósito de este informe presentar una descripción de los métodos y materiales usados para la enseñanza del inglés en el Insituto Chileno-Británico de Cultura de Santiago conseguida a través de personales observaciones de clases y entrevistas con el profesorado y la administración del Instituto durante un período de residencia de nuevo semanas en la ciudad de Santiago. Se debe advertir que la exactitud de las observaciones y la cantidad de datos obtenidos estuvieron limitados por el corto tiempo de estadía en Chile (desde el 15 de junio hasta el 20 de agosto de 1970) durante el cual el Instituto estuvo cerrado por una semana debido a las vacaciones semestrales.

This experimental study is designed to obtain objective data which may be useful in facilitating improved academic counseling of high school seniors. It is concerned with the average of some standard objective test scores obtained by testing a selected sample of high school seniors who were tested in a regular classroom situation; and with the average academic grades earned by the same sample of students during their first semester and their first year in college. The experiment will seek to establish or refuse statistical significance between the average scores obtained by the objective tests and the prade-point averages earned during the two time-periods established. The purpose of the study is: (1) analyse and evaluate selected objective tests as a predictor of the success or failure of college students: (2) interpret the use that the tests might serve to facilitate academic counseling.

PhD (English) / Department of English / See the attached abstract below