A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, August 2014. / The science teacher’s language, in the science classroom, has become a new language built
with familiar Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) words, in this case English. This
research study investigated the learners’ ideas and understanding of simple everyday words
when used in the physics classroom. The study focused on bringing to light the existence of
the problem of contextual meanings of everyday words in the physics classroom language.
The participants in this study were mainly English second language learners and educators
from 5 high schools in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, selected on the basis of their
accessibility and socio-economic backgrounds. These consisted of 105 high school learner
participants of physical science, (84 grade 11 learners and 21 grade 12 learners) and 5
physical science teacher participants (one from each school). The methods of data collection
used were the questionnaire and the interview. The questionnaire items were developed using
simple everyday words to test the learners’ understanding of every words when used in a
physics context. The learners were interviewed soon after the questionnaire was marked. The
respective physical science teachers were also interviewed to further probe on their learners’
answers.
The findings in this study suggest that the learners have difficulties with the contextual
meanings of everyday words when used in the physics classroom. The types of difficulties
included learners assuming that certain words they meet in everyday life situations still
carried the same meanings when they are used in physics contexts. The sources of the
difficulties were that the learners thought they understood the science classroom language
and the teachers also assumed that their learners understood this language. The findings also
showed that the educators fail to notice that what seems clear and simple to them may be
difficult and vague to their learners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/16923 |
| Date | 06 February 2015 |
| Creators | Ncube, Mqabuko |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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