A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology by coursework and research report in the faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2010 / The study explored how teachers in mainstream schools in South Africa attempt to ensure all learners are included in the classroom as active participants. Inclusive education has been the educational policy in South Africa since 2001 and teachers are invaluable in implementing it, thus this research explored what teachers do in the classroom to ensure all learners are included as active participants. In particular the study explored whether teachers use learner-centred and differentiated instruction, strategies recommended for the inclusive classroom. Barriers and differences among learners that teachers consider in ensuring inclusion of learners in the curriculum and classroom as well as factors that hamper their ability in ensuring inclusion of learners were also explored. The sample of the study consisted of 14 teachers from four primary schools in the Johannesburg East region. Three focus groups and one individual interview were conducted. Questions looked at teaching strategies teachers use in their inclusive classrooms, factors among learners they consider in creating inclusive lessons and factors that hamper their implementation of inclusive education. It was found that teachers view learner-centred and differentiated instruction as useful within the inclusive classroom and they indicated that they do use these strategies. However, teachers indicated that they have received insufficient pre and in-service training for such strategies and for inclusive education in general and that there is thus a need to improve pre and in-service training for inclusive education. Moreover, commonly occurring factors such as large classes, limited resources, heavy workload, insufficient support services and time constraints were argued to make such strategies difficult to use. In discussing differences among learners considered in creating inclusive lessons teachers focused on cognitive and academic differences, while differences in culture, learning styles, interests, personality and socio-economic background were discussed infrequently. Barriers that teachers discussed as important to accommodate for in the inclusive classroom included hearing, visual and emotional barriers and poor concentration. Language was also identified as an important barrier to accommodate for. The family were identified as an important resource in achieving the goals of inclusive education, however it was indicated that there is a lack of family involvement. Limitations of the study are also discussed as well as directions for future research. / GR2017

M. Tech. Language Practice / Mobile technology has advanced to a point whereby mobile phones are no longer devices anyone can live without. Text messaging has become so popular that now there are more text messages sent by mobile phones than calls made on mobile phones. This study set out to investigate the possible effects of text messaging language on the written school work (learners' ability to properly compose and formulate) of grade 11 English first additional language learners (EFAL) at a public high school in Soshanguve, Pretoria. To this end, the two objectives of the study were to: identify if there were any instances or uses of text messaging in the written school work of grade 11 English first additional language learners at a public school in Pretoria; and establish the possible effects (positive or negative) of text messaging on grade 11 English first additional language learners' written school work.

My involvement with mathematics education amongst township educators and learners over the past seven years has highlighted the absence of sustained meaning and meaning making of mathematical concepts. It appears though that this instrumental rather than relational understanding of FET mathematics is not unique to township learners but is encountered amongst learners of all socio-economic classes and is representative of many FET mathematics learners. Given that the language of learning and teaching is a major contributory factor in the South African education system, it appears that the language of mathematics itself is a greater exacerbating factor for many learners of mathematics. The exclusive algorithmic approach to classroom mathematics further seems to alienate many learners from the essence of the meaning of mathematical tasks. This research undertakes to determine whether metateaching and metalearning as forerunners to metacognition facilitates the acquisition of the sustained meaning of mathematical concepts. Metateaching and metalearning refer to the acute and deliberate awareness by educator and learner as to what constitutes concepts. Teaching and learning therefore presupposes the deconstruction of concepts into its subsumed derivative roots. It also assumes an awareness of the tacit degrees of abstraction that characterise tasks and the content of tasks. This in turn has implications for the educator's adopted sequence of topics for instruction. Metacognition implies awareness on the part of the learner (and educator) as to how material is learned and a further awareness as to how that learning can be sustained. Whether we ascribe meaningful learning to radical or social constructivism, or to associationist didactive approaches, or a combination of these, we are making assumptions about how learners acquire and sustain mathematical meaning because mathematics is, by and large a symbolic language often devoid of affective connotation. Furthermore our assessments of learners' tasks amount to clinical corrections of austere formulae wrapped in algorithmic procedures which manifest nothing of a learner's experience of mathematics or the deeper understanding (or misunderstandings) which characterise a learning and/or assessment episode. To this end the research design of this interpretive case study requires learners to expound in textual accounts their thoughts as they describe the evolution of a mathematical process as they approach a solution and eventually interpret it. The textual account exposes the concept definition for what it really is in a learner's understanding of it and it is the expressiveness of language that indicates whether the understanding of a learner is approaching the concept image. The textual accounts vary in richness in terms of mathematical register and this in turn reflects the conceptual depth. The mechanism which seems to promote the conversion from concept definition to concept image is the graphical representation of the mathematical task or procedure, possibly because of its greater concreteness as opposed to the abstraction of its algebraic form.

Mathematics has become increasingly important, as it is a pre-requisite for careers like architecture, science, engineering and medicine. Therefore it becomes imperative for the learners to understand and love it. In other words a sound foundation of mathematical skills and knowledge in the early stages is required. Often we hear learners asking questions like "when and where are we going to use these symbols x and y in our lives? " These questions might indicate that learners cannot link mathematics with daily life occurrences or even their own background experiences. This study is an exploration through hands-on activities of mathematical concepts embedded in beadwork artifacts. Learners' background experiences on bead work artifacts are acknowledged and explored for mathematical understanding. It is a case study, consisting of 44 learners in Grade 9 in two schools in Grahamstown. An interpretive approach is used. In order for the learners to be able to explore beadwork artifacts, they visited the Albany Museum (AM) and Msithandane Women's Project (MWP) in the community. Learners gathered information from these two sources. Beadwork artifacts in this study were used as a mediation and integration tool between culture and mathematics. Beadwork artifacts are found in the learners' cultures serving different purposes. In this study the focus was on Xhosa bead work artifacts. The hands-on activities posed challenges to learners because of their different background experiences. Some were able to draw designs but were unable to thread what they designed, whereas others were able to thread beads but were unable to draw designs. In this study learners had to use both completed bead work artifacts and drawn up designs for the investigation of mathematical concepts. Learners were able to identify symmetries in dress and in South African flag designs. Number patterns discovered were linked to their prior number pattern knowledge. The economic value of beadwork artifacts linked mathematics to the economics learning area. This study ties up with the new curriculum (C2005) and RNCS, which advocate the inclusion and integration of learning areas. In this instance, art and culture were used in mathematical activities. The study also encouraged the inclusion of participants' cultural background as a starting point for motivating them towards utilizing mathematical resources existing in their real life situations. The purpose was to make them aware that mathematics is found everywhere around us.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of learners at English-medium schools towards teachers whose home language was Afrikaans and who taught through the medium of English. A secondary objective was to determine whether the teacher's home language had any effect on the learners' academic performance in the subject concerned. It was found that English-speaking learners had a slightly negative attitude to Afrikaans and did not give English much consideration except as a useful means of communication. Afrikaans-speaking learners expressed a positive attitude to - and pride in - their language. They were also much more positive to English than were the English-speaking learners towards Afrikaans. The English-speaking learners' attitude towards Afrikaans was not generally carried over to Afrikaners. However they objected to being taught English by non-English-speakers. Gender appeared to play a role in the learners' attitudes, as the girls were generally more positive to Afrikaans than the boys and achieved higher marks than the boys in almost all the subjects covered in this study The academic performance of learners at the English-medium schools was adversely affected by having Afrikaans-speaking teachers since, in almost every case, the learners in these teachers' classes obtained lower marks than those who were taught by English-speaking teachers. The principal recommendation arising from this study is that, where possible, the teachers at English-medium schools should be English L1 speakers. / Linguistics / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of learners at English-medium schools towards teachers whose home language was Afrikaans and who taught through the medium of English. A secondary objective was to determine whether the teacher's home language had any effect on the learners' academic performance in the subject concerned. It was found that English-speaking learners had a slightly negative attitude to Afrikaans and did not give English much consideration except as a useful means of communication. Afrikaans-speaking learners expressed a positive attitude to - and pride in - their language. They were also much more positive to English than were the English-speaking learners towards Afrikaans. The English-speaking learners' attitude towards Afrikaans was not generally carried over to Afrikaners. However they objected to being taught English by non-English-speakers. Gender appeared to play a role in the learners' attitudes, as the girls were generally more positive to Afrikaans than the boys and achieved higher marks than the boys in almost all the subjects covered in this study The academic performance of learners at the English-medium schools was adversely affected by having Afrikaans-speaking teachers since, in almost every case, the learners in these teachers' classes obtained lower marks than those who were taught by English-speaking teachers. The principal recommendation arising from this study is that, where possible, the teachers at English-medium schools should be English L1 speakers. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)