There is a generally accepted reality among first and second language reading researchers and practitioners that learners who study in a second or foreign language are almost always at a disadvantage, particularly in the area of reading. In light of this learners who register for high school study each year in South Africa are very often under prepared for high school education and many of these learners also have low levels of reading ability. This has an adverse effect on their chances of academic success. In order to meet the reading needs of these learners, educators need to develop effective instructional means for teaching reading comprehension and reading strategy use. It is evident from the volume and quality of research published that the teaching of reading strategies enhances the learners' reading comprehension ability. The purpose of this study was to: • determine what reading strategies Grade 11 ESL learners use; • determine what reading strategies should be taught; • determine how and when reading strategies should be taught in the ESL classroom; • determine what the effect of an implemented reading strategy programme is on the reading comprehension of the Grade 11 ESL learners participating in this study; and • provide guidelines in terms of the composition (i.e. format, outcomes, content, teaching method 1 approach, etc.) of a reading strategy instruction programme. In this study a quasi-experimental pretest - posttest control group design was used. The participants in this study included a total of 60 Grade 11 ESL learners from a high school in the Eastern Cape. Two intact randomly selected classes participated in the study. Both males and females participated in the study and ranged in age from 18 - 22 years. The Reading Performance Test in English: Advanced Level (Roux, 1996) and a Reading Strategy Questionnaire based on the work of Oxford (1990), Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) and Pressley et al. (1995) was used in this study. A t-test was used to determine whether the mean scores of the experimental and control group differed statistically significantly from each other. Cohen's (1977) effect size d was used to determine whether the mean differences were practically significant. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: The results indicated that the learners who followed the reading strategy programme and received strategic reading instruction (experimental group) obtained both statistically and practically significantly higher marks on the reading comprehension test (posttest) than did the learners in the control group. The posttest results indicated that the learners in the experimental group used certain strategies statistically (p<0.05), as well as practically significantly (small to large effect size), more often than the learners in the control group. The reading instruction programme developed in this study focuses on five reading strategies, namely guessing the meaning of words from the context, making inferences, predicting what is to come in a text, identifying the main idea and summarising. The programme presents an overview of the guidelines for a reading strategy instruction programme. It outlines the purpose, target group, content and other aspects, instruction, classroom procedure and assessment concerning a meaningful reading strategy instruction programme. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement reading strategy training models of a similar nature in order to develop their learners' proficiency in reading comprehension and reading strategy use. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

<p>Across the world, physical inactivity was found to be associated with cardiovascular and chronic diseases of lifestyle which often leads to an increased rate of various physical disabilities andpremature death. To combat these high incidences of chronic diseases of lifestyle, WHO strongly encourages people to become physically active on a daily basis to reduce the risk of&nbsp / premature death. Running has thus become the preferred choice of physical activity by thousands of people to help improve their overall health and wellbeing. Apart from the health benefits&nbsp / that running provides, it can also predispose the runner to potential injury especially when runners follow an inappropriate training programme and have inadequate knowledge about factors causing injury. Therefore, baseline data about the prevalence, incidence of injury and the identification of the aetiological factors associated with running injuries are needed to develop and&nbsp / implement preventative programmes to allow runners to optimally perform in training and races without injury. In South Africa, there is limited research available on the incidence of injury in runners yet there is an annual increase in participation in races such as Two Oceans and Comrades marathon which could lead to an increase in the number of running injuries.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of injuries and identify the various risk factors that are associated with injuries in road runners at a local athletic club. Methods: A prospective cohort study design over a 16 week period using quantitative research methods was used. A sample of 50 runners had consented to participate in the study. The participants had to complete a self-administered questionnaire and clinical measurements of BMI, Q-angle, leglength, muscle strength of lower leg and ROM of hip and knee were recorded. The participants had&nbsp / to complete an injury report form to record any new injuries sustained over the 16 week period of the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 and software SAS v9 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was used for data capturing and analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done to summarize the data and was expressed as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Injury prevalence and cumulative incidence was calculated as a proportion rate along with 95% confidence interval. The Poisson regression model was used to analyse the association between running injury and the independent variables of interest such as demographics, anthropometric measurements, training methods, running experience and&nbsp / previous injury. The alpha level was set as p&lt / 0.05. Results: The study found that the majority (92%) of the participants (n=46) sustained running injuries in the past prior to the study. A total of 16 participants sustained a number of 50 new injuries over the 16 week study period. Thus the prevalence rate of injuries was 32%. The incidence rate of injuries for this study was 0.67 per&nbsp / 1000km run at a 95% confidence interval of 0.41, 1.08. Furthermore, the most common location of new injuries reported were the calf (20%) and the second most common location was the&nbsp / knee (18%). PFPS was the most common type of knee injury diagnosed, followed by lumbar joint sprain. The results showed that none of the identified factors (running distance, stretching, age, Q-angle, BMI, running experience, leg-length discrepancy and previous running injuries) were directly associated with running injuries. However, a marginal significance was found for&nbsp / running distance (p = 0.08) and leg length discrepancy (p = 0.06). Conclusions: The study found a high prevalence and incidence rate of injury thus the need for preventative programmes have been highlighted. There was no statistical significance found between the identified factors and risk of injury however, there was clinical relevance found between factors identified. One major&nbsp / limitation was the small sample of participants and the short duration of study period. Thus, future research is needed to further determine possible factors associated with running injuries over a longer period and including a larger sample. The results of the study will be made available to all the stakeholders (runners, coaches and medical team) to implement in athletic club. </p>

<p>Across the world, physical inactivity was found to be associated with cardiovascular and chronic diseases of lifestyle which often leads to an increased rate of various physical disabilities andpremature death. To combat these high incidences of chronic diseases of lifestyle, WHO strongly encourages people to become physically active on a daily basis to reduce the risk of&nbsp / premature death. Running has thus become the preferred choice of physical activity by thousands of people to help improve their overall health and wellbeing. Apart from the health benefits&nbsp / that running provides, it can also predispose the runner to potential injury especially when runners follow an inappropriate training programme and have inadequate knowledge about factors causing injury. Therefore, baseline data about the prevalence, incidence of injury and the identification of the aetiological factors associated with running injuries are needed to develop and&nbsp / implement preventative programmes to allow runners to optimally perform in training and races without injury. In South Africa, there is limited research available on the incidence of injury in runners yet there is an annual increase in participation in races such as Two Oceans and Comrades marathon which could lead to an increase in the number of running injuries.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of injuries and identify the various risk factors that are associated with injuries in road runners at a local athletic club. Methods: A prospective cohort study design over a 16 week period using quantitative research methods was used. A sample of 50 runners had consented to participate in the study. The participants had to complete a self-administered questionnaire and clinical measurements of BMI, Q-angle, leglength, muscle strength of lower leg and ROM of hip and knee were recorded. The participants had&nbsp / to complete an injury report form to record any new injuries sustained over the 16 week period of the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 and software SAS v9 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was used for data capturing and analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done to summarize the data and was expressed as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Injury prevalence and cumulative incidence was calculated as a proportion rate along with 95% confidence interval. The Poisson regression model was used to analyse the association between running injury and the independent variables of interest such as demographics, anthropometric measurements, training methods, running experience and&nbsp / previous injury. The alpha level was set as p&lt / 0.05. Results: The study found that the majority (92%) of the participants (n=46) sustained running injuries in the past prior to the study. A total of 16 participants sustained a number of 50 new injuries over the 16 week study period. Thus the prevalence rate of injuries was 32%. The incidence rate of injuries for this study was 0.67 per&nbsp / 1000km run at a 95% confidence interval of 0.41, 1.08. Furthermore, the most common location of new injuries reported were the calf (20%) and the second most common location was the&nbsp / knee (18%). PFPS was the most common type of knee injury diagnosed, followed by lumbar joint sprain. The results showed that none of the identified factors (running distance, stretching, age, Q-angle, BMI, running experience, leg-length discrepancy and previous running injuries) were directly associated with running injuries. However, a marginal significance was found for&nbsp / running distance (p = 0.08) and leg length discrepancy (p = 0.06). Conclusions: The study found a high prevalence and incidence rate of injury thus the need for preventative programmes have been highlighted. There was no statistical significance found between the identified factors and risk of injury however, there was clinical relevance found between factors identified. One major&nbsp / limitation was the small sample of participants and the short duration of study period. Thus, future research is needed to further determine possible factors associated with running injuries over a longer period and including a larger sample. The results of the study will be made available to all the stakeholders (runners, coaches and medical team) to implement in athletic club. </p>

There is a generally accepted reality among first and second language reading researchers and practitioners that learners who study in a second or foreign language are almost always at a disadvantage, particularly in the area of reading. In light of this learners who register for high school study each year in South Africa are very often under prepared for high school education and many of these learners also have low levels of reading ability. This has an adverse effect on their chances of academic success. In order to meet the reading needs of these learners, educators need to develop effective instructional means for teaching reading comprehension and reading strategy use. It is evident from the volume and quality of research published that the teaching of reading strategies enhances the learners' reading comprehension ability. The purpose of this study was to: • determine what reading strategies Grade 11 ESL learners use; • determine what reading strategies should be taught; • determine how and when reading strategies should be taught in the ESL classroom; • determine what the effect of an implemented reading strategy programme is on the reading comprehension of the Grade 11 ESL learners participating in this study; and • provide guidelines in terms of the composition (i.e. format, outcomes, content, teaching method 1 approach, etc.) of a reading strategy instruction programme. In this study a quasi-experimental pretest - posttest control group design was used. The participants in this study included a total of 60 Grade 11 ESL learners from a high school in the Eastern Cape. Two intact randomly selected classes participated in the study. Both males and females participated in the study and ranged in age from 18 - 22 years. The Reading Performance Test in English: Advanced Level (Roux, 1996) and a Reading Strategy Questionnaire based on the work of Oxford (1990), Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) and Pressley et al. (1995) was used in this study. A t-test was used to determine whether the mean scores of the experimental and control group differed statistically significantly from each other. Cohen's (1977) effect size d was used to determine whether the mean differences were practically significant. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: The results indicated that the learners who followed the reading strategy programme and received strategic reading instruction (experimental group) obtained both statistically and practically significantly higher marks on the reading comprehension test (posttest) than did the learners in the control group. The posttest results indicated that the learners in the experimental group used certain strategies statistically (p<0.05), as well as practically significantly (small to large effect size), more often than the learners in the control group. The reading instruction programme developed in this study focuses on five reading strategies, namely guessing the meaning of words from the context, making inferences, predicting what is to come in a text, identifying the main idea and summarising. The programme presents an overview of the guidelines for a reading strategy instruction programme. It outlines the purpose, target group, content and other aspects, instruction, classroom procedure and assessment concerning a meaningful reading strategy instruction programme. English Second Language teachers may find it worth their while to implement reading strategy training models of a similar nature in order to develop their learners' proficiency in reading comprehension and reading strategy use. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

To improve on service delivery, the challenge is to ensure that the correctional officials understand and are skilled in dealing with demands for better standard of service delivery by the public. There is a perception that current training programmes are too fragmented and that training does not receive the priority it deserves. There is also a feeling that current training is still too much focused on the training needs of the ''top" echelons (managers) and not the "bottom" end of the Department of Correctional Services, especially those directly dealing with day to day work situation. This study was therefore designed to examine how human resources are developed within the Department of Correctional Services, emphasizing on Human Resource Development Strategy for Total Quality Management within the Department. The research methods utilized in the investigation are qualitative and exploratory, since no comparative research on the implementation of Human Resource Development Strategy has yet been conducted in the Department of Correctional Services. The study took place at the Groenpunt Management Area. In order to obtain data, questionnaires and interviews were used and administered by the researcher with randomly selected individuals from the employees within Groenpunt Management Area. The investigation was based on the hypothesis that the effective implementation of human resource development strategy may lead to efficient total quality management in Groenpunt Management Area. The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) should utilize strategies to provide training and education to further the employees' development and chances of advancement to leadership positions. The DCS must be concerned to implement techniques that could serve to improve productivity and better service delivery. Greater employee involvement and development need to be encouraged. The findings of the study explore that the Human Resource Development Strategy for the DCS must be aimed at addressing the major human resource capacity constraints currently hampering the effective and equitable service delivery. The DCS must become a true learning organization and to ensure this the DCS must ensure that conditions necessary for improving service delivery have been established. The implementation of the HRD Strategy will ensure that the capacity of the staff within the DCS is built up to a level of competence that will ensure access to equal and competent service. The study concludes with the recommendation that appropriate human resources are required to implement strategies. The DCS further needs to have the right kind of people trained in the appropriate manner in order to carry out strategic plans. Where the implementation of strategies requires new knowledge and skills, it must be ensured that the information is built into the existing training courses and that new courses are developed if necessary. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

To improve on service delivery, the challenge is to ensure that the correctional officials understand and are skilled in dealing with demands for better standard of service delivery by the public. There is a perception that current training programmes are too fragmented and that training does not receive the priority it deserves. There is also a feeling that current training is still too much focused on the training needs of the ''top" echelons (managers) and not the "bottom" end of the Department of Correctional Services, especially those directly dealing with day to day work situation. This study was therefore designed to examine how human resources are developed within the Department of Correctional Services, emphasizing on Human Resource Development Strategy for Total Quality Management within the Department. The research methods utilized in the investigation are qualitative and exploratory, since no comparative research on the implementation of Human Resource Development Strategy has yet been conducted in the Department of Correctional Services. The study took place at the Groenpunt Management Area. In order to obtain data, questionnaires and interviews were used and administered by the researcher with randomly selected individuals from the employees within Groenpunt Management Area. The investigation was based on the hypothesis that the effective implementation of human resource development strategy may lead to efficient total quality management in Groenpunt Management Area. The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) should utilize strategies to provide training and education to further the employees' development and chances of advancement to leadership positions. The DCS must be concerned to implement techniques that could serve to improve productivity and better service delivery. Greater employee involvement and development need to be encouraged. The findings of the study explore that the Human Resource Development Strategy for the DCS must be aimed at addressing the major human resource capacity constraints currently hampering the effective and equitable service delivery. The DCS must become a true learning organization and to ensure this the DCS must ensure that conditions necessary for improving service delivery have been established. The implementation of the HRD Strategy will ensure that the capacity of the staff within the DCS is built up to a level of competence that will ensure access to equal and competent service. The study concludes with the recommendation that appropriate human resources are required to implement strategies. The DCS further needs to have the right kind of people trained in the appropriate manner in order to carry out strategic plans. Where the implementation of strategies requires new knowledge and skills, it must be ensured that the information is built into the existing training courses and that new courses are developed if necessary. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

A small yet growing body of literature recognizes the importance of a cultural perspective to mental health services for Canadian Indigenous clients. Although the role of culture has not been studied extensively in counselling psychology, a few investigators have attempted a systemic examination of the area. Using a narrative methodology, five Indigenous counsellors described their perceptions, beliefs and experiences regarding mental health and healing from an Indigenous perspective. A narrative analysis of the data employed story maps to yield within and across participant themes. Overall results included the metathemes of community, cultural identity, holistic approach, and interdependence as integral to mental health and healing for Native clients, with an illustration for counselling that contains specific elements for incorporating this conception into practice. The results are used to inform literature on an Indigenous paradigm of mental health, counsellor training programmes aimed at meeting Indigenous health needs, government policy, and to generate further direction for health research into the Indigenous paradigm in Canada and beyond.

The research is done within the diocese of Kanyakumari of the Church of South India. It examines the viability of the following training programmes to socio-political factors: the Church Workers Theological Training Programme, the Sunday School Programme, the Vacation Bible School Programme, the parish-based training programmes - for example retreats and workshops, the Women&#146;s Fellowship Programme, the Christian Endeavour Programme, the Programme of Communication and Revival as well as that of the Student Christian Movement of India, and the Union of Evangelical Students of India. The practitioners of these programmes felt the need for guide-lines to transform their programmes to be more relevant to their socio-political contexts. Hence the present qualitative-oriented research was undertaken. The preliminary interviews and reading of the related literature enabled the researcher to identify some promoted theories, regarding the relationship between the socio-political factors and the programmes; this assisted him to set up a questionnaire for semistructured interviews. A sample for interviews was chosen with the help of the organisers of the programmes. A pilot study was conducted using the questionnaire, which led to the semi-structured interviews. The respondents narrated their experiences and reflections related to the socio-political factors. The information was organised, scrutinised, and the findings were recorded under six different pointers, which enabled the researcher to exhibit and explain the connections between the training programmes and the sociopolitical factors. Then the findings were evaluated, using the puzzle-solving method. Consequently, some guidelines were devised. These guide-lines indicate the limitations and the possibilities in making a socially-oriented training programme more vibrant and viable to its socio-political factors. Moreover, they highlight the possibilities for the existing pietistic-oriented programmes to become more relevant to the context. They also guide the practitioners to construct alternative approaches in training that are more relevant. The research is a small incentive to the emerging cooperation among the practitioners of the various training programmes in CSI Kanyakumari diocese. It will hopefully encourage them to join hands with people of other faiths and Non Governmental organisations in facilitating the social transformation in India today. Proposals are made for further related research work. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / (D.Th. (Practical Theology))

Magister Scientiae - MSc (Physiotherapy) / Across the world, physical inactivity was found to be associated with cardiovascular and chronic diseases of lifestyle which often leads to an increased rate of various physical disabilities and premature death. To combat these high incidences of chronic diseases of lifestyle, WHO strongly encourages people to become physically active on a daily basis to reduce the risk of premature death. Running has thus become the preferred choice of physical activity by thousands of people to help improve their overall health and wellbeing. Apart from the health benefits&nbsp; that running provides, it can also predispose the runner to potential injury especially when runners follow an inappropriate training programme and have inadequate knowledge about factors causing injury. Therefore, baseline data about the prevalence, incidence of injury and the identification of the aetiological factors associated with running injuries are needed to develop and implement preventative programmes to allow runners to optimally perform in training and races without injury. In South Africa, there is limited research available on the incidence of injury in runners yet there is an annual increase in participation in races such as Two Oceans and Comrades marathon which could lead to an increase in the number of running injuries.Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of injuries and identify the various risk factors that are associated with injuries in road runners at a local athletic club. Methods: A prospective cohort study design over a 16 week period using quantitative research methods was used. A sample of 50 runners had consented to participate in the study. The participants had to complete a self-administered questionnaire and clinical measurements of BMI, Q-angle, leglength, muscle strength of lower leg and ROM of hip and knee were recorded. The participants had to complete an injury report form to record any new injuries sustained over the 16 week period of the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 and software SAS v9 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA) was used for data capturing and analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done to summarize the data and was expressed as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Injury prevalence and cumulative incidence was calculated as a proportion rate along with 95% confidence interval. The Poisson regression model was used to analyse the association between running injury and the independent variables of interest such as demographics, anthropometric measurements, training methods, running experience and previous injury. The alpha level was set as p< 0.05. Results: The study found that the majority (92%) of the participants (n=46) sustained running injuries in the past prior to the study. A total of 16 participants sustained a number of 50 new injuries over the 16 week study period. Thus the prevalence rate of injuries was 32%. The incidence rate of injuries for this study was 0.67 per 1000km run at a 95% confidence interval of 0.41, 1.08. Furthermore, the most common location of new injuries reported were the calf (20%) and the second most common location was the knee (18%). PFPS was the most common type of knee injury diagnosed, followed by lumbar joint sprain. The results showed that none of the identified factors (running distance, stretching, age, Q-angle, BMI, running experience, leg-length discrepancy and previous running injuries) were directly associated with running injuries. However, a marginal significance was found for running distance (p = 0.08) and leg length discrepancy (p = 0.06). Conclusions: The study found a high prevalence and incidence rate of injury thus the need for preventative programmes have been highlighted. There was no statistical significance found between the identified factors and risk of injury however, there was clinical relevance found between factors identified. One major limitation was the small sample of participants and the short duration of study period. Thus, future research is needed to further determine possible factors associated with running injuries over a longer period and including a larger sample. The results of the study will be made available to all the stakeholders (runners, coaches and medical team) to implement in athletic club. / South Africa

Technology-enhanced learning environments such as blended learning and e-learning are utilised increasingly in higher education institutions with expectations of an increase in output rates and retention rates. As the demand for technology-enhanced e-learning courses increases, the pressure on lecturing staff to rise to the challenge also increases. In recent years great advances and improvements in the fields of learning and instruction were envisaged as a consequence of the application of new educational technologies. Although some of these promises have materialised it would seem that relatively few lecturers have mastered the skills and knowledge needed to integrate technology successfully into the practice of teaching and learning. The role of emotional intelligence is a significant construct which has not been adequately researched in terms of the mastering of new technologies in the e-learning and blended learning environments. The purpose of the study is to explore and describe linkages between emotional intelligence and the ability to cope with mastering new educational technologies. It is presumed that this study may contribute towards a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence as a moderator of work stress and of the stress encountered in mastering new educational technologies with subsequent coping strategies. With its contribution to this emergent body of knowledge, the significance of the study lay in the clarification of the role of emotional intelligence in mastering new educational technologies. The case study is based on the 2004 participants in the Partners@Work programme at the Department of Telematic Education at the Tshwane University of Technology. The unit of analysis provided rich and detailed data for this study. A mixed methods approach, that is, the use of both qualitative and quantitative data, assisted in crystallising the data in order to provide insight into the way participants coped with the mastering of new educational technologies. Findings from this study suggest that a number of factors influence coping strategies when attempting to master new technologies, including self-efficacy beliefs, social networking structures as a resource, the use of positive emotions, the role of the facilitator and the emotional intelligence abilities associated with coping competencies. While a number of linkages between emotional intelligence and coping strategies could be identified, the interdependency of coping strategies and emotional intelligence remains elusive. The study recommends that institutions should create a supportive organisational climate for e-learning as a support for face-to face training programmes in skills development. The provision of programme facilitators trained in coaching participants, focusing on the accomplishment of self-directed learning, assisting participants in the attainment of goals, modelling positive emotive skills, and encouraging the practice of new skills may help to realise the promise of blended learning. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted