The aim of the study was to produce preliminary normative indications for the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Test, administered in English, on a non-clinical sample of black, Xhosa-speaking, unskilled individuals (N = 33), with an educational level of 11 – 12 years, in two age categories (18 –29 and 30 – 40 years). The sample was equally distributed for gender and level of education. Participants, who were required to have a basic proficiency in English, were from traditionally black township schools with relatively disadvantaged quality of education. Within-sample age and gender effects were investigated. There were no significant age effects on the Trail Making Test, whereas there was one significant difference between age groups on the Stroop Test with respect to the Color-Word task, and a result that strongly approached significance on the Word task, with the younger group performing better than the older group. There were no significant gender effects on the Trail Making Test, whereas there was one significant difference between genders on the Stroop Test with respect to the Word task, and a result that approached significance on the Color task, with females performing better than males. Normative indications for both measures were compared to available normative data on western populations with higher levels and more advantaged quality of education. This comparison revealed consistently poorer performances for both the Trail Making Test and the Stroop Test, confirming the need for localised normative datasets to facilitate accurate neuropsychological diagnoses on culturally disadvantaged individuals.

Malingering has become an increasing concern in neuropsychological assessment in recent years, and a wide range of tests have been designed and examined for the purpose of detecting malingering. Cut-off scores have been recommended for these tests in order to provide indications of malingering performances. However, the derived scores have been in respect of westernised populations of people with relatively high levels of education who speak English as their first language. Accordingly, the current study aimed to attain normative data and cut-off scores for four commonly employed neuropsychological tools, administered in English, on a population of black, South African, Xhosa-speaking people (N = 33), who attended a former DET-type school in the Eastern Cape, with a Grade 11-12 level of education, in the age range of 18 - 40 years. The targeted measures included the TOMM, the Rey-15 Item Memory Test, the Digit Span subtest of the WAIS-III, and the Trail Making Test. The obtained scores were poorer than the previously published cut-offs for at least one component of each of the tests investigated, except the TOMM. The fmdings of this study highlight the important role that the factors of culture, quality of education, and language play in neuropsychological test performance.

The aim of this study was to establish preliminary normative indications for Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test administered in English on a non-clinical population of Xhosa, unskilled workers (N = 33). The population has a history of relatively poor quality education and has received no tertiary education. The sample was stratified into two age grouping (18 – 29 and 30 – 40 years). Both sex and level of education were equally distributed within these age groupings. Within-sample statistical comparisons indicated no significant sex effect was present for any of the trials (Copy, IR or DR). Similarly, no significant age effect was present in the Copy trial. Significant age effects were observed for both recall trials (IR and DR). The local sample’s mean performance was descriptively and statistically compared to demographically equivalent nonlocal normative studies. Excluding an illiterate Columbian sample’s performance, the local sample performed significantly lower than all other available normative populations. Lastly, the local sample performed significantly lower than scores derived from a meta-analysis of normative indications in respect of educationally advantaged westernized groups for all three trials (p = .000 in all instances). These results assert the indispensable need for, and use of, culturally appropriate normative datasets in contemporary South African psychological assessments. Equally, these findings serve to highlight the significant influence of quality of education on cognitive test performance, being a critical socio-cultural variable that needs to be taken into consideration for norming purposes.

The wars of dispossession and land claims amongst the various racial groups caused dissatisfaction which led them to split from each other enabling the Whites to possess greater part of the South African soil. Because the Xhosas had their own system of education, the Whites felt that the Xhosas had first to be anglicised in order to 'tame' them. Missionary institutions such as Lovedale, Healdtown and St Matthews were established to Christianise the Xhosas. The missionaries succeeded in their endeavour because the Xhosas started sending their children to the missionary institutions already established and this influenced the Xhosas to establish their own tribal schools that would cater for secondary education facilities. The <Jovernmenr· subsidised the tribal communities to establish secondary schools in their areas. Fifteen,secoodary schools were established enabling the communities to exercise control over their own schools as the missionary institutions were controlled by the Cape Department of Education. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

The wars of dispossession and land claims amongst the various racial groups caused dissatisfaction which led them to split from each other enabling the Whites to possess greater part of the South African soil. Because the Xhosas had their own system of education, the Whites felt that the Xhosas had first to be anglicised in order to 'tame' them. Missionary institutions such as Lovedale, Healdtown and St Matthews were established to Christianise the Xhosas. The missionaries succeeded in their endeavour because the Xhosas started sending their children to the missionary institutions already established and this influenced the Xhosas to establish their own tribal schools that would cater for secondary education facilities. The <Jovernmenr· subsidised the tribal communities to establish secondary schools in their areas. Fifteen,secoodary schools were established enabling the communities to exercise control over their own schools as the missionary institutions were controlled by the Cape Department of Education. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).

This study explores the implementation of multilingualism at Rhodes University (RU), by examining the teaching and learning practices of lecturers, demonstrators and students within the Cell Biology module, offered by the Biological Sciences and Botany departments at RU. This examination is in line with RU’s Language Policy (2005/2014), which recognises multilingualism and the development of isiXhosa as an academic/scientific language. The study and the choice for the location of the study within RU was motivated by what seemed to be a pattern of under achievement of LOTE speaking students studying Cell Biology. This pattern necessitated a further inquiry into the language aspect of the teaching and learning of Cell Biology. The goals of this research were to investigate spaces where LOTE students use their home languages and the motivations behind their usage of those languages. Due to the varying proficiencies of LOTE students in their mother tongue, this study sought to investigate the language capabilities of LOTE students in their home languages. The perceptions of the main role players in the Cell Biology module were sought, in order to get an idea of what students, lecturers and demonstrators thought about multilingualism in teaching and learning practices in the Cell Biology module. This study has discovered that there is a disparity in achievement between LOTE and English speaking students, with English students outperforming LOTE students consistently in the period investigated. On the language capabilities of LOTE students in their mother tongue, it was discovered that they have enough linguistic capital for a mother tongue intervention to succeed. There were mixed views about the use of LOTE in HE, but students were mostly in favour of the use of LOTE. A number of recommendations are made as to how multilingualism can be implemented in Cell Biology. In this study I argue that there is a need to use the mother tongue of LOTE students in order to support learning, the mother tongue intervention is supported by scholars such as Paxton (2007, 2009; Madiba 2011, 2012, 2014). The use of the mother tongue to support learning should be a short-term measure while the process of the development of African languages is underway, because languages develop as they are used, and form follows function (Madiba 2008). Ultimately, African languages should be developed and use as academic languages in HE not only in order to fulfil the legislative imperatives such as the Constitution and the Language Policy Higher Education but also to increase access and success among LOTE students.