Thesis (M.Sc.)(Clinical Psychology) --University of Limpopo, 2005. / This study aims at finding out whether Black Northern Sotho speaking mothers of children diagnosed with behavioural problems cope differently from their English speaking counterparts, and whether the Black mothers have more support than their control group. Forty-eight Northern Sotho speaking Black African mothers with children diagnosed with behavioural problems were drawn using a convenience sample method. Thirty-two English speaking White mothers who have the same type of children were used as the control group. Participants were drawn from clinical populations in public hospitals in the Limpopo Province (Mankweng, Polokwane, Groothoek, and Lebowakgomo hospitals). All participants were given a questionnaire. The questionnaire had the following sections: bibliographical data of the mother and family; Social Support Scale (Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983); Ways of Coping Scale (Billings & Moos, 1981) and an in-depth interviewing schedule. Ten subjects from the forty-eight were interviewed using the in-depth-interviewing schedule. The ten were selected by choosing every fifth numbered participant from the experimental group until the tenth participant. Results show that White mothers (control group) of children with behavioural problems coped better than the Black mothers (experimental group). Age of the mothers and the mothers’ perception of the level of health significantly influenced scores on the Coping Scale. As the mothers’ ages decreased, their scores on the Coping increased (they coped better) and as the perceived level of health increased (more positive), the Coping score increased. However, Black mothers have more support than their control group. The perceived level of health was the only factor that significantly influenced the scores on the Social Support scale. As the perceived level of health decreased, the Social Support received increased. It is also found that the Black mothers’ use of external locus of control in their explanations of the causes of their children’s problems led to a number of feelings in the mothers. Feelings for example, of not being in control of the situation, feelings of dissatisfaction with family life, decreased motivation together with feelings of guilt and self-blame. It appears a process of acculturation could be involved in the difficulties the Black mothers experience. This acculturation process and the effect of the problematic child on their system (school, family, and parents) need to be addressed further so they could be incorporated into future intervention programmes. Due to the limitations of the study, the findings should be used with caution. Further research should be done to shed more light on the coping strategies of mothers of children with behavioural problems. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

This study examined the teaching experiences of six elementary student interns from Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR during fall and winter quarters, 1991. The primary intent of the study was to examine critically the roles and effects of mind styles as applied in actual classroom instruction and learning, in terms of feasibility and student outcomes. The research focus was to examine the roles and effects of mind styles in an elementary educational setting by addressing the following questions: (1) Do elementary school students exhibit mind styles that are dominant or less dominant and which vary among individuals, as has been found in adults; (2) do mind styles exist among elementary students, (3) are mind styles determinable among elementary students; (4) can a researcher-developed self-assessment instrument for elementary students be used to accurately identify their dominant mind styles? The research methodology was qualitative. Specifically, the nature of the invisible driving forces that shaped students behavior within the classroom setting were observed. Data was gathered through journals and lesson plans from the student interns, video tapes of teaching experiences, task analyses, field notes, and maintenance of a diary by the researcher. The Self-Assessment Children's Instrument was administered to each elementary student who took part in the study, involving them in self-ranking themselves in relation to a variety of qualities. The research methodology and instrument were field-tested with satisfactory results. After testing 129 students and completing 43 observations on each student in six classrooms, the following was concluded from the results of the research: 1) Some learners are generalists who enjoy understanding the big picture before focusing on specifics. They want a context in which to put new ideas, and they are good at seeing relationships as they learn. 2) Some learners display an active, hands-on, exploratory pattern. These students learn physically and through concrete experiences and activities. 3) In every classroom there are students for whom personal relationships are important. These learners enjoy helping each other and working in groups. 4) Other students are structured and systematic in their approach. These students want rules for new materials to be presented clearly and logically with examples that build from the simple to the complex. / Graduation date: 1994

No description available.

The existence of contrarian profits is a well-documented finding across various equity markets around the world. A key question, which is the focus of this research, is - why do such profits exist? Potential answers are examined in a large number of research papers, and fall into two categories: rational (i.e. there is a difference in risks characteristics of glamour and value stocks) and behavioural (i.e. the market regularly overshoots, leading to a mis-valuation of glamour and value stocks followed by a correction). However, a consensus has not been achieved so far. This research contributes to this discussion, based on the S&P 500 constituents through 1990-2013 with the use of strategies based on past returns, fundamental ratios and valuation models. I assess the following issues: whether the use of contrarian strategies can be considered as justified by the rational behaviour of a portfolio manager, whose clients may have a cheaper option to invest in a passive strategy, like an index fund or exchange traded fund (chapter 3); whether contrarian profits are mainly the product of (i) fair value revisions in response to new information or (ii) corrections to prior mis-pricing (chapter 4); whether contrarian profits are mainly the product of expected returns as imputed from the Fama and French three factor model (chapter 5). On the first point I find that an equally weighted portfolio of all constituents of S&P 500 over a particular testing period was superior to any of the tested contrarian strategies from risk/return perspective (Chapter 3). On the second point, I find that fair value revisions to new information is less important in explaining contrarian profits than corrections to prior mis-pricing when the market rebounded in 2009 (the only year where these two influences explained a significant part of the contrarian profits for most of the contrarian strategies under review) from the 2008 financial crisis (Chapter 4). On the third point, I find that rational pricing factors (both the Fama-French three factor model, and fair value revisions to new information) are more important in explaining contrarian profits than corrections to prior mis-pricing, which is mainly due to the significance of the Fama-French three factor model (Chapter 5).

With increasing opportunities to study abroad, learning to read in a foreign language has become increasingly important for countless second language learners. International students in pursuit of higher education degrees are required and expected to read in the target language at the same level of fluency and comprehension as their native-speaking counterparts. The number of international students studying in Arabic higher education institutions has followed the general ascending trend. For these second language speakers of Arabic, good reading skills in Arabic are essential for their academic success. Since the use of reading strategies is an important component of first and second language reading, this study aimed to investigate the use of reading strategies by native and non-native speakers of Arabic when reading academic materials in Arabic. In addition, it aimed to explore possible differences in the use of reading strategies between these two groups. For this purpose, a total of 305 students participated in the study. A survey composed of 30 items was administered to 222 non-native speakers of Arabic, and the same survey with 28 items was administered to 83 native speakers of Arabic. The survey included demographic questions adapted from Mokhtari and Sheorey (2008) and employed the questionnaire SORS used by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002). These 30 items belonged to three strategy subscales: Global, Problem-solving, and Support strategies. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics and multiple independent t-tests were performed. In addition, an analysis was performed to find the most and least used reading strategies by both groups as well as possible differences between them in terms of reading strategy use. Problem-solving strategies were the most frequently used by both groups with a slightly higher use by the non-native speakers. Regarding the other two types, the native and non-native speakers showed different preferences. Specifically, Support strategies were the second most favored type among the non-native speakers, whereas for the native speakers, the second most frequently used type were Global strategies. However, even though Global strategies were the least used among non-native speakers, the non-native speakers' mean score on Global strategies use was higher than the native speaker score of use. Overall, the similarities and differences in the use of reading strategies by native and non-native speakers of Arabic deserve attention because they carry implications for both reading research and pedagogy. These empirical findings can be used by Education policy makers to create training courses and workshops that will help students improve their reading skills in general and reading strategies in particular. This study also suggests that there is a need for further research that will examine how the use of reading strategies is related to the academic performance of native and non-native speakers.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Communication Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / The study was conducted with the purpose of surveying the nature, patterns and trends of the new communication strategies to enhance marketing of fast moving customer goods (FMCG). The researcher intended to investigate current consumer behaviour with respect to fast moving consumer goods FMCG and new communication strategies for marketing of FMCG. The study focused primarily on managing FMCG to increase its availability to rural communities with the hope of addressing poverty eradication and providing some avenues for job creation. This included an investigation into new media and technology to enhance the marketing of FMCG with the intention of making these goods more easily accessible to rural communities. The study also investigated current consumer behaviour with respect to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and new communication strategies for marketing of FMCG. Unravelling methods of making FMCG easily available to rural communities would be an alternate strategy to urbanise rural communities and reduce unemployment. FMCG forms a fundamental aspect of people’s daily lives and is an ideal tool which can be used to manipulate industry to touch lives of all people throughout South Africa. The study offers thought provoking ideas on how to urbanise rural communities by using basic commodities which people use on a daily basis, and it further offers ideas for further research in this field. It also unravels contemporary methods of marketing basic commodities.

Language learning strategies have been given a large role in the Swedish curriculum for modern languages and the usage of strategies is one of the requirements for getting a passing grade in the subject. However, language learning strategies is a term that is hard to grasp when seeing it without a context. Even in a context it can be hard to explain what is really meant. This study tries to explain what language learning strategies are in relation to the Swedish school system and aims to find out if these strategies are to be found and how they are used in two Swedish-German textbooks.The study shows that there are no explicit examples where a certain type of languagelearning strategy is to be found. Nevertheless, there are multiple instances where both books offer assignments that can lead to the usage of said strategies.

Life history theory attempts to explain between- and within-species variation in maturational and reproductive patterns, whereas sexual selection attempts to explain between- and within-sex differences in intersexual mate choice and intrasexual competition for members of the opposite sex. These two expansive evolutionary theories have been used by developmental scientists and social/personality psychologists to explain the variation observed in human reproduction, including the timing of reproductive events and individual differences in orientation toward mating and parenting. In Part I of the following paper, I review research related to life history theory and sexual selection in humans. I then show how integrating the principles of sexual selection with life history models of human reproductive strategies can address existing limitations. In Part II, I empirically examine many of the unique propositions that emerge from theoretical integration using a longitudinal dataset on adolescent development. Under investigation is an expanded model of sociosexual development that incorporates key principles from Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper's (BSD) psychosocial theory and sexual selection theory. I specifically examine the role of early rearing conditions within the home, as specified by BSD, and self-perceived mate value, as highlighted by a sexual selection perspective, on timing of sexual debut and sexual risk taking. The current study combines variable-centered and person-centered methods to assess specialized developmental trajectories. In total, the study provides novel support for BSD theory, while also highlighting needed revisions to account for the role of self-perceived mate value on adolescent sexual behavior.

Ineffective reading takes place if the reader does not understand what he reads. Therefore it is important for everybody to be able to make sense of what they read. Teachers often do not pay enough attention to the teaching of comprehension in schools. Reading comprehension is an aspect that has been the least adequately explained arid therefore it is the most difficult one to teach. Even students think of it as only another exercise of English and rush through it just to finish as soon as possible. Teachers hand back the exercises and give the correct answers without instructing students on how to improve their comprehension. By teaching students different reading strategies their proficiency in comprehension may improve. Most of the students are unaware of reading strategies and they don't know how to implement them in their comprehension.• This study offers an empirical investigation into the teaching of four specific reading strategies to students in an attempt to help them to improve their reading comprehension. The literature on language learning strategies and reading strategies, as well as the teaching and learning of reading strategies, is surveyed. The results of an empirical investigation into the teaching of four reading strategies (guessing the meaning of the word from the context, finding the main idea in a passage, making inferences and generalizing) indicate that, although there was only a marginal improvement in reading comprehension, it is clear that the teaching of reading strategies has enormous potential. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement the teaching of reading strategies to develop their students' proficiency in reading comprehension. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1996

Ineffective reading takes place if the reader does not understand what he reads. Therefore it is important for everybody to be able to make sense of what they read. Teachers often do not pay enough attention to the teaching of comprehension in schools. Reading comprehension is an aspect that has been the least adequately explained arid therefore it is the most difficult one to teach. Even students think of it as only another exercise of English and rush through it just to finish as soon as possible. Teachers hand back the exercises and give the correct answers without instructing students on how to improve their comprehension. By teaching students different reading strategies their proficiency in comprehension may improve. Most of the students are unaware of reading strategies and they don't know how to implement them in their comprehension.• This study offers an empirical investigation into the teaching of four specific reading strategies to students in an attempt to help them to improve their reading comprehension. The literature on language learning strategies and reading strategies, as well as the teaching and learning of reading strategies, is surveyed. The results of an empirical investigation into the teaching of four reading strategies (guessing the meaning of the word from the context, finding the main idea in a passage, making inferences and generalizing) indicate that, although there was only a marginal improvement in reading comprehension, it is clear that the teaching of reading strategies has enormous potential. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement the teaching of reading strategies to develop their students' proficiency in reading comprehension. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1996