The assumption underlying this study is that knowledge is constructed through interaction. Small teaching groups, or tutorials, are often regarded as a particularly effective context for learning in the setting of tertiary education in that they provide an environment for free interaction between students, and thus facilitate active learning. Factors which systematically affect the degree of participation of the individual in tutorIals -directly affect the learning experience of that individual and raise questions about the equality achieved in tutorials, in terms of opportunities for learning. This study focuses on one such type of factor: culturally acquired norms of interaction. The individual is seen as a composite of cultural identities, utilising norms acquired through socialisation and experience in appropriate contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that gendered norms of interaction and those associated with the individual's mother-tongue are particularly salient. In the educational context, norms acquired through previous experience of education are likely to be carried over to the new setting of the university. Thus these factors form the focus of this study. One flrst-year tutorial from each of five departments in the Faculties of Arts and Social Science at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, was video-recorded and the data thus obtained was analyzed for patterns of interaction in terms of gender, mother-tongue and educational background. A model of utterance types was developed to provide a structured description of the patterns found in the tutorials. Interviews and video-sessions with a sample of the tutorial members were conducted, which add a qualitative dimension to the investigation and allow for triangulation. The recorded tutorials and interviews reveal a marked awareness amongst students of the composition of tutorial groups in terms of gender and ethnicity and this composition appears to affect the relative participation of students, in that members of numerically dominant groups are more willing to participate. This is particularly clear in the case of female students. With regard to second-language (L2) speakers of English, a number of factors are highlighted which tend to decrease participation. Apart from problems with English as the medium of instruction, these students tend to be reluctant to participate due to cultural norms, according to which students, as subordinates, should not take the initiative in interaction, in order to show appropriate respect. Patterns of interaction by L2 students from racially integrated schools, however, do not conform to this set of norms as strongly. It is argued that sensitivity is required to address this situation and a number of options are presented.

During the past few decades a substantial body of research has emerged in western as well as the developing nations studying the racial bias in children's texts. However, it is only recently in South Africa, with the ascendance of the ANC government, that interest has been focused on eliminating apartheid values and on promoting multicultural tenets in the school curriculum. It is undeniable that the concept of multiculturalism has been severely stigmatised in the South African educational context. Anxieties have been expressed about embracing the discourse of multicultural education within the educational system based on fears that, like the previous educational system, it too will perpetuate group differences. Nevertheless, in recent years, a clear consensus view has emerged that the implementation of multicultural education is imperative if the goal of a rainbow South Africa is to be realised. Against this background, the present study attempts to study the incorporation of a multicultural approach into contemporary textbooks. To realise this aim I selected a sample of four textbooks, one from each of the major disciplines (science, English, geography and history), and SUbjected the texts and pictures from each to content analysis. The findings of this study suggest that a multicultural approach shall at least for the foreseeable future remain a central feature of learning materials produced for the new South African curricula. The findings indicate that multicultural aspects predominate in the texts as compared to other ideologies. This applies to both text content and illustrations. Contrary to the researcher's initial expectation, however, the texts also reveal a strong tendency towards Eurocentric and patriarchal approaches. This research does not conform to traditional, 'scientific' criteria of validity and reliability; it seeks only to investigate textbook material in more depth and thereby contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the extent to which the texts subscribe to a multicultural approach. Such understanding may help both educationalists and authors in their evaluation of existing textbook material, and in the production of new texts which reflect the reality of South Africa as a multicultural society.

South Africa’s borders were opened up in 1994 after Nelson Mandela became president. Since then South Africa has been battling xenophobia as immigrants from African nations started to come to the rainbow nation for a better life away from persecution, civil wars, and extreme poverty. Still, up until 2008 when massive riots broke out in Alexandria Township in Gauteng, xenophobia was an unknown word to most people outside academic, social work, and government circles. This has all changed now as 2008 will in all likelihood be remembered as the year when xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa and became a general feature in our daily media bulletins, prime time television broadcasts, and in our society as a whole. The South African university where the current study took place was also affected by xenophobia although without any displays of public violence. The current study sought to understand and describe the lived experience of xenophobia by individual, international, African students at a South African university. The study adopted a qualitative approach and the methodology used was multiple case studies employing Tesch’s model of content analysis. The findings of the study showed that the research participants, as a combined group, have lived through a wide range of xenophobic experiences excluding physical violence and that the research participants’ personal characteristics influenced their exposure to and experience of xenophobia. The study contributed to the understanding of the lived experience of xenophobia within a South African university by international, African students.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Bibliography: pages 123-132. / The dissertation reports on a study of the classroom practice of four Grade One teachers who teach in multilingual classrooms. The report seeks to provide a descriptive analysis of what these teachers say and do as they teach their pupils a concept of print. Increasing numbers of teachers in South African schools find themselves teaching linguistically diverse groups of pupils. While these teachers are most often unable to speak or understand the home languages of all of the pupils in their classes, they are faced with the task of teaching pupils to read in a language which may not be equally familiar to all of them. The reading lessons of four teachers in four schools were observed over a period of six months as they taught Grade One pupils to read. Instruments in the form of observation schedules, questionnaires, miscue analysis schedules and a schedule of indicators were designed to collect information on both the teachers' practice and pupil outcomes. A Vygotskian theory of teaching and learning is used to interrogate the data. The study shows that there are differences in the ways that these teachers demonstrate an understanding of print to their pupils as well as in the ways in which the teachers mediate a concept of print. The study further shows that the teachers' understanding of the task of teaching children to read and their understanding of teaching and learning has significant pedagogical implications for the ways in which they develop pupils' concept of print. The study concludes that the teachers' demonstrations of the way in which print works have a greater impact on their pupils developing a concept of print than their own inability to speak and understand the home languages of all of the pupils in their classes.

Masters of Education by dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / The researcher explored the role of pedagogical documentation in a multimodal Grade R classroom. The purpose of the research was to see how pedagogical documentation would work together with a multimodal approach to enhance learning in Grade R children in an urban South African school. A qualitative case study was conducted at a private girls’ school in Johannesburg with a class of 22 Grade R children over the time frame of eight weeks. The children were exposed to a multimodal approach and pedagogical documentation was used in the classroom to make learning visible and to create a focus for discussion and planning. The research focused on an in-depth analysis of five participants although all the children in the class were part of the data collection process. The children demonstrated an ability to make decisions regarding their learning and the curriculum developed around their interests rather than being predetermined by the teacher. The children also developed a willingness to reflect on their learning processes. They took complete ownership of their environment and were able to use all available resources: the environment, the materials, and those emerging from collaboration with their peers and reflecting on their own learning. An open curriculum was successful with children of this age. However, it is proposed that pedagogical documentation together with a multimodal approach would be more effective in collaborative whole school interventions. / MT2017

Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Orthpedagogics)

Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Orthpedagogics)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is set at a school where the population of a formerly Afrikaans medium school has radically changed as a result of new education policies in South Africa. An immediate consequence is that English is now used as a parallel LoLT. This research sets out to recount and interpret the lived experience of five teachers in responding to the challenges of teaching in a multilingual classroom. First selected literature on multilingualism and multiculturalism, both pre-set and inset teacher preparation for such contexts, and language policy in education in South Africa are reviewed. The case study uses structured interviews and classroom observation to generate data. A broadly narrative mode is used in exploring and analysing the data. The experiences of the five teachers varied greatly. Important factors in colouring their experience are the degree of facility (or otherwise) in using languages other than their mother tongue to mediate learning, their beliefs on teaching, and their openness or bias towards particular cultural groups. All of them felt that they would have benefited from specific training or development in teaching in a multilingual/multicultural environment. In the final chapter the argument is presented that teachers need support to develop and enhance their teaching strategies. Ideally pre-service teacher education courses should reflect the demographics of South Africa. At the very least all pre-service courses should include a module on multilingualism and offer the knowledge and skills necessary for successful teaching in the new South Africa. In-service courses should also create opportunities for teachers to develop dynamic ways of meeting the challenges they face in the multilingual classroom. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vir hierdie studie is ‘n voormalige Afrikaansmediumskool gebruik waarvan die skoolbevolking radikaal verander het as gevolg van die nuwe onderwysbeleid in Suid-Afrika. ‘n Onmiddellike gevolg was dat Engels nou as ‘n parallelle taal vir onderrig en leer gebruik word. Die navorsing handel oor en interpreteer die werklike ervarings van vyf onderwysers in reaksie op die uitdagings om in ‘n multitalige klas onderwys te gee. Eerstens word geselekteerde literatuur oor multitaligheid en multikuturaliteit, die voorbereiding van sowel voordiens- as indiensopleiding van onderwysers vir sodanige kontekste en taalbeleid in die onderwys in Suid-Afrika bespreek. Vir die gevallestudie is gestruktureerde onderhoude en klaskamerwaarneming gebruik om data te genereer. ‘n Breë narratiewe modus is gebruik on die data te ondersoek en ontleed. Die ondervindings van die vyf onderwysers het baie verskil. Belangrike faktore wat ‘n invloed gehad het op hulle ervarings is die mate van bekwaamheid ten opsigte van hulle gebruik van tale wat nie hulle moedertaal is nie om leer te medieer, hulle seining oor die onderwys, en hulle openhartigheid of vooroordeel teenoor bepaalde kulturele groepe. Almal het gevoel dat hulle sou gebaat het by spesifieke opleiding of ontwikkeling ten opsigte van onderrig in ‘n multitalige of multikulturele omgewing. In die laaste hoofstuk word dit gestel dat onderwysers ondersteuning benodig om hulle onderrigstrategieë te ontwikkel en te versterk. Ideaalgesproke behoort onderwyseropleidingsprogramme die demografie van Suid-Afrika te reflekteer. Alle onderwyseropleidingsprogramme behoort ten minste ‘n module oor multitaligheid in te sluit en die kennis en vaardighede aan te bied wat benodig word om ‘n suksesvolle onderwyser in die nuwe Suid-Afrika te wees. Indiensopleiding behoort ook geleenthede te skep vir onderwysers om dinamiese werkswyses te ontwikkel om die uitdagings wat hulle in die multitalige klas gaan teëkom te hanteer.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Education, Technikon Natal, Durban, 2001. / This study filled a void in the existing educational management literature and highlighted the communication problems that exist between the educators, learners, and parents in multicultural secondary schools, especially when the educator, learner and the parent belong to different cultural groups. The communication problems between educators, learners and parents pose a serious challenge to management as they impede the progress of teaching and learning in the classrooms. The thorny issue of language in education in South African schools has not been given much emphasis. Neither have educationists and policy makers given much attention to the problem of communication in multicultural schools. Opening schools to all cultures did not solve the communication problems, but created new ones. The main method used in this investigation was the literature study. Using the investigative methods associated with qualitative studies, the researcher attempted to investigate data collected from a number of sources. Research on co-operation in the multi-ethnic classroom revealed that pupils of different ethnic groups preferred to socialize in their own language groups. This study confirmed that culture and language influenced not only which peers pupils choose to play with, but also who they deliberately excluded from their games. In many schools, there are few systematic attempts to enhance pupils' cross-ethnic friendships and this may work to consolidate the evident 'own race and language preference' of a large portion of pupils. Thus there is a need for communication to enhance cross-cultural friendships. There is an increasing need for educators to encourage intercultural communication. Educators should use the language of instruction to learn about each others' culture and language so that there are mutual respect and tolerance. Teaching in multicultural classrooms demands a high level of expertise among educators. Culturally diverse learners may have prior learning experiences that predispose them to learn in ways that may not be compatible with some methods of instruction in common use in many classrooms. Therefore, educators need to adopt an inclusive and flexible approach to instruction, observing their pupil's responses and adjusting instructions to meet the needs of individuals and groups in the classroom. It is now becoming clear that even educators and school managers need guidance and assistance in coping with communication in the multicultural school. The more people of different cultures communicate with each other, the more they discover how similar they are. This study examined some of the communication problems present in multicultural schools, the possible causes of the problems and management solutions to some of the problems. / M