M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / South Africa can be metaphorically described as a quilt – a combination of diverse languages, ethnicities, beliefs and cultural practices, carefully stitched together and passed on from one generation to the next. South African children grow and develop surrounded by the comfort and warmth of this colourful quilt. Although this provides a rich and dynamic learning environment, we face the challenge of providing equal quality education and educational psychological services to all our children. Psychological testing aids with the deeper understanding of an individual’s area of development and strengths in order to be able to make informed decisions about appropriate interventions, support and recommendations. However, due to South Africa’s problematic political past, psychological testing is faced with challenges of its own such as unavailability of tests that are culturally sensitive. This study forms part of a longitudinal study which is addressing this challenge by implementing a localized solution to a local problem, at an affordable cost. The Junior South African Intelligence Scale (JSAIS) is an instrument which measures the intelligence of 3- to 7-year-old children, and is currently standardised for Afrikaans and English-speaking children only. In an effort to eliminate the language barrier and make it more applicable of our South African population, the JSAIS GIQ-8 was translated into Sesotho and isiZulu. In previous studies, the translated tests were administered and a Rasch measure of analysis used to determine the quality of the items in relation to the ability of the participants. This exploratory qualitative study focuses on acquiring recommendations from a panel of people experienced in administering the JSAIS with the aim to improve the quality of the Sesotho JSAIS. Findings show that the Sesotho used in the initial translation is a pure form of Sesotho and participants are concerned that children living in townships around the country may not understand this well. The participants recommend administration to a wider sample group to learn more about the Sesotho dialects used in different regions of South Africa. A Sesotho manual needs to be added to guide administrators in regional word use and in providing standard instructions. The answer sheets needs to be adapted. Some of the pictures on the picture cards need to be changed and the Sesotho questions on those picture cards added as appendices...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:12454 |
| Date | 01 October 2014 |
| Creators | Bouwer, Lize |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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