A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science for the partial fulfillment of the degree Masters of Science (MSc), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
June 2016 / In order for educational researchers to make informed decisions about science education, careful
attention should be given to what happens in science classrooms. What teachers do shapes the
interaction and influences learner cognitive development. Classroom talk is an important part of
what goes on in science classrooms. Research has shown that teacher facilitation of talk is
important for learner understanding of science content. The purpose of this study was to explore
how teachers facilitate talk in their science classrooms for learner understanding of content.
However, I looked at their views on classroom talk first. Teachers have the ability to either open
up or close learner interaction through talk. The interaction triggers certain kinds of engagement
which may or may not promote understanding. The participants in this study were three male
science teachers from an independent school with their Grade 11 learners. Teachers were chosen
based on their availability. I interviewed teachers for their views on classroom talk. The
interviews were audio recorded. Teachers were also observed teaching and the observations were
video-recorded and transcribed. Classroom observations were analyzed using Mortimer and
Scott’s analytical framework on teacher communicative approaches. Findings suggest that
although teachers value interaction and engage learners in dialogue, teachers use interactive
authoritative approach more than interactive dialogic approach in their classrooms. The
recommendation is that teacher education needs to find ways to make teachers aware of engaging
learners in dialogic discourse in a science classroom
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21024 |
| Date | 13 September 2016 |
| Creators | Khoza, Hlologelo Climant |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (129 leaves), application/pdf |
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