This research project explored how young women involved in political organizations make sense of apartheid history and how they appropriate that history into their identities. Nine black women students who were involved in political organizations were interviewed from the University of Witswatersrand. The women that were chosen participated in a narrative style interview about their lives and the history of apartheid. The data were then analyzed using narrative thematic analysis and organised in the temporal zones of past, present and future. The analysis revealed the complexities of race, class and gender and how these are embodied, enacted and made sense of in the construction and reconstruction of the identities of these young women. In imagining and reflecting on the apartheid past, race was understood through both distant, public narratives and through personal and intimate family narratives. Gendered roles or positions were talked about in reference to three thematic symbols of women as nurturers, iconic wives and heroes. In progression from the apartheid past and its particular, separated and structured understanding of race and gender, the journey into the present and future, reflects increasingly complex, dynamic and multilayered understandings. In particular, the conflation of race and class under apartheid is beginning to fragment and these young women are thinking through their positionality in terms of personal class mobility and simultaneous identification as black and committed to the continuation of race struggles. It is also very clear that the question of gender equality is now very prominent for these young women as they navigate their roles in political leadership in the present and envisage themselves in the future.

This transformative mixed-methods research study, uniquely designed as a 12-week curriculum to facilitate critical media literacy, drew upon the principles of critical pedagogy to investigate Black adolescents ‘perceptions of the impact of media on their racial identities. Responding to the high rate of media consumption among Black youth, the Critical Encounters Unit engaged 79 Black high school students in the southeast United States in examining how they made sense of their media encounters. Data on participants ‘perceptions of the role media plays in constructing Black identities and societal perceptions of Blacks were gathered through pre-post study surveys of all participants‘ self-identities and media literacy, interviews with 15 participants, 467 student journals, and 15 video observation field notes. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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The context for this study is the period leading up to and the four years since the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. It is a critical exploration of black students' responses to university discourses as they begin their degrees, and an analysis of the extent to which Critical Language Awareness can be used to facilitate a greater understanding of institutional conventions and practices. It includes a brief consideration of students' school experiences and then explores their perceptions of the university as a whole as well as of individual texts. The way in which language encodes asymmetrical power relations and is used to construct students' subjectivities within the institution is of central concern. The research methodology adopted here is critical action research. The study consists of two research cycles, a short pilot study and a longer eight week language teaching programme. This second cycle was carried out in 1991 at the University of Natal during a time marked by unprecedented political fluidity and the establishment of new institutional and social structures. The impact of these changes has been felt at every level as racial separation, uniformity and ethnic homogeneity, which were once dominant social norms, have been replaced by the movement towards an integrated social order defined by its diversity, difference, and multiplicity. Because the research process is inseparable from its socio-political context, a theoretical perspective which attempts to theorise multiplicity and contradiction has been adopted here. Insights from postmodern thought are therefore central to this work and have facilitated the interrogation and, at times, the rewriting of many aspects of critical social theory, critical pedagogy and critical action research. The immediate context for this study is Learning, Language and Logic, a first-year course whose primary aim is the acquisition of academic literacy. Over a period of four years, the two action research cycles were developed and integrated into the curriculum. The first was a short intervention during which students analysed three university texts and the second, central cycle was an eight week programme which introduced them to the central principles of Critical Language Awareness. It was designed to provide students entering the university with the opportunity to explore unfamiliar aspects of the university environment and to analyse a range of texts drawn from its discourses. The primary method of analysis of the data was Critical Discourse Analysis but a content analysis of some of the data was also undertaken. The results of this research provide a strong indication that the integration of the principles of Critical Language Awareness into a first year course in academic literacy adds a crucial dimension to students' understanding of the university environment. It provides them with linguistic insights from which they can further develop the ability to analyse their educational context, to respond critically to academic texts and to understand the roles that they can play within the university. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that affected the poor performance of students in Afrikaans FAL1 at grade twelve level in three schools in the Pietermaritzburg region. The critical questions addressed relate to the attitudes of learners and educators towards Afrikaans as a subject; the factors that influenced the choice of Afrikaans FAL as a subject; the influence of teacher qualification on the results; and the effect of assessment techniques on student performance. A preliminary review of related literature suggested that no research has been carried out in Pietermaritzburg with regard to Afrikaans - Second Language or in any other subject in relation to grade twelve results. This research is designed to address these gaps that exist especially with regard to research on performance in Afrikaans - Second Language in grade twelve and to expose areas of weaknesses that contribute to poor performance. Krashen's (1982) Multiple Hypothesis Theory will underpin the theoretical framework of this study. I will also draw on Cook's (1991) theory about the role motivation plays in the learning of an additional language. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques for data collection. This involved the use of structured interviews and questionnaires that were administered to educators, questionnaires that were administered to learners and checklists that were filled in by the principals to indicate the level at which their schools were resourced. An interview with learners and a weeklong observation schedule with educators would have added valuable data. Data analysis was carried out with the aid of a computer package called SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Science). Pre-coded questionnaire responses were entered into a computer spreadsheet file and sorting and statistical comparisons of responses were carried out as appropriate. The study concluded with the finding that the use of a mother tongue and its impact on the acquisition of an additional language plays a major role in performance. In addition to this, the negative attitudes of African learners towards Afrikaans also had a disastrous impact on the results in grade twelve. Thirdly, the fact that learners did not study Afrikaans - Second Language prior to entering grade 10 made it difficult to grasp the language without any grounding that is normally acquired in primary school. Furthermore, students are fixed into course streams from grade 10 and Afrikaans Second Language is forced upon them if they choose certain subject packages. Finally in spite of one of the educators not being suitably qualified to teach Afrikaans - Second Language in the secondary school they were not exposed to professional development courses. Having identified certain factors that led to the poor performance of learners in Afrikaans - Second Language at grade 12 level, I hope that this information will be useful to the subject advisors, district managers and educators to address areas of concern. My recommendations are based on language policy, and professional development of educators. In terms of language acquisition, a second language should be introduced at grade three level. Secondly, I recommended that the Department of Education support the educators of Afrikaans FAL in the form of workshops and in service training and development. I suggest further research should be carried out with African learners but in different learning environments so that a comparison could be made between the two groups. A limitation of my study has reference to research tools. 1. Afrikaans FAL [First Additional Language] is also referred to as - Afrikaans Second Language. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-240).

The aim of the research was to determine the extent by wt)ich the home, school and community can provide emotional support to secondary school children. A literature survey focused on these variables. This was followed by the empirical investigation and it was found that there was a significant and positive correlation in the scores of males and females and for all age groups in relation to emotional problems experienced by secondary school children in their homes, schools and communities as a result of external forces (such as their experiences with family members, teachers at school, peer group members and other community members) and internal forces (such as their own physical, social, intellectual, moral and emotional development). This was followed by findings and recommendations for family, teachers at school, community members and the government. / Psychology of Education / Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of South Africa, 1998.

M.Ed. (Tertiary Didactics)

M.A. / It is a well-known fact that South Africans of all races are a high risk population for the development of coronary heart disease and hypertension . More recent statistics indicate that cardiovascular disease caused 12 % of deaths amongst black South Africans in 1994 (Webster, 1996). Risk factors for CHI) can be grouped into four domains : Biomedical (e.g. hypertension, family history), behavioural (e.g. substance intake), sociodemographic (e.g. socio - economic status) and personality (e.g. Type A Behaviour). While there is a general agreement on many of the risk factors for CHIC, there are many more which are still being debated such as the influence of offspring parental heart disease and hypertension and coronary - prone behaviour. In a developing country, such as South Africa, with its heterogeneous population, it seemed that cardiovascular diseases are assuming epidemiological proportions among both White and Black South Africans, and thus appears necessary to establish whether Black patients with cardiovascular disease exhibits the TABP, closely related with diseases of the cardiovascular system among Whites. Els (1987) noted that stress associated with lifestyle changes in Black urbanisation in South Africa, not only showed psychological markers of CHD, but also physiological markers, such as substance intake. A cohort of 67 Black South African university students (38 male & 29 female), with a mean age of 23 was selected. The experimental groups being children of parents with hypertension and heart disease and the controls being children of normotensive parents and without a history of heart disease. A battery of tests were used to measure TAB, depression, hostility, anger and substance consumption. Results indicated that the experimental groups showed a significantly higher index of Type A Behaviour (p < 0, 01) than the controls and there was a significant correlation in terms of Parental hypertension and parental heart disease with coronary - prone behaviour (anger, hostility and depression) as well as substance consumption.

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / In chapter 1 it is stated that the problem of academic underachievement should be addressed in a scientific manner. It is postulated that a responsible approach would be to identify the needs of the learners in question i.e. students who follow graduate courses in Afrikaans. In the second chapter it is shown that a learner-centred approach dictates a needs analysis. Furthermore the influence of attitudes and motivation on second language study is discussed. Chapter 3 gives a short historical overview of the development of language teaching with some emphasis on the communicative approach. The empirical data is presented and discussed in chapter 4. In the last chapter conclusions are drawn and some recommendations are made. The aim of the study is to identify the needs of students of Afrikaans at Vista University. It is accepted that the identification of the needs of the learners is instrumental in the approach of the aforementioned problem. The information was gleaned by an opinion survey which was completed by all third year students of Afrikaans. The data revealed that almost all students aim to teach Afrikaans to black children and they expect the courses to equip them for that. They also want to improve their communicative ability in Afrikaans. They are well . motivated(integrated motivation) to reach their goals. The learners are positive about the courses but they feel, however, that the courses are too" technicaI" and that they often find it difficult to identify with the "view of 1ife" portrayed in the 1iterature texts.