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.

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)

Argumentive writing is key to academic success, yet it is slow to develop and never mastered by many. Researchers investigating the development of argumentation have proposed a number of school-based interventions that aim to strengthen students’ argumentive writing. One such model is the Argue with Me (AMW) program, which focuses on the interpersonal context of argumentive discourse as a pathway to building a student’s skill in independent argumentive writing. Central to the method is students engaging deeply with a debate topic: first in peer-to-peer electronic dialogues, then with various reflective activities based on written transcripts of dialogues, and finally proceeding to individual independent writing on the topic. Previous research has shown that students who participate in the AWM program improve their argumentation skills in both the electronic dialogues and subsequent independent essays, including transfer to new topics. Epistemic understanding of the purpose and value of argumentation has also been shown to improve. While the results from previous AWM studies are positive, independent argumentive writing remains far from proficient, with students continuing to struggle with integrating counterarguments into their writing, especially on a new topic where these have not been first introduced by another person in discourse. Unlike many other intervention programs, the AWM model does not explicitly address writing. Hence, an augmented version of the AWM program was developed and evaluated in the present study. It included an experimental writing condition that was administered to twenty-three 6th grade students who participated in the AWM program during 12 class sessions over a period of 16 weeks. The remaining twenty-five students served as a comparison group. They participated in the AWM program but received no additional writing support. Participants showed engagement and motivation in completing the AWM program; final individual essays did not show superior performance by students in the experimental writing condition, relative to intervention participants in the comparison group. The discussion reviews potential program and school factors that may have contributed to this outcome. Qualitative analyses of student work provide some additional insights, leading to the possibility of future AWM studies that incorporate writing supports, as well as potential implications for classroom practice.