The lack of parental support and the use of English as the language of teaching and
learning are two of the main factors that influence poor learner performance in South
Africa. Although a significant amount of research has been conducted internationally, the
need for research tailored for the South African context still exists. Therefore, the purpose
of the current study was to contribute to knowledge about parental support concerning
learner development of second language proficiency.
An explanatory sequential design of mixed methods research, also known as two-phased
model was used to guide the study. The first phase focused on the quantitative secondary
data from Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2006 (PIRLS 2006). The
source of the secondary data was the results of the parent questionnaire, administered to
South African parents of the Grade 4 learners (n = 16 073). The International Database
(IDB) analyser software and Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were
used for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were computed. The
quantitative results revealed that a significant percentage of parents (30%, SE =0.7) did
not engage in literacy related activities with their children prior to Grade 1 compared to a
low percentage (2%, SE = 1.21) of those who did the activities. However, a significantly
higher percentage of parents (29%, SE = 0.65) did engage in literacy activities with their
children in Grade 1, compared to 5% (SE =0.34) who never or almost never did the
activities. A significantly higher percentage of parents (89%, SE = 0.67) agreed a lot with
positive reading attitude statements compared to 2% (SE = 0.25) who disagreed a lot. The
limited time spent by parents on reading and books at home were noted as a matter of
concern. This concern was augmented by the low educational level and employment
status of the parents. These results were used to inform the qualitative data collection in
order to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of the parents.
The second or qualitative phase of the study used convenience sampling to select
participants, to gain an understanding of their experiences with regard to supporting the
second language development of their children. The eight (8 participants) selected
parents participated in two focus group meetings. Six themes emerged from thematic data
analysis, namely: alternative parenting, parent-child activities, technology and Internet
support, parental challenges, language usage and quality of education. The
characteristics used for developing a conceptual framework for parental support on
second language development were extracted from these aforementioned themes. The
results revealed that parental support is a complex dynamic process that requires one to
consider the interface of systems around the parent and the learner. Consequently, how
this complexity requires a reconceptualisation of factors affecting parental support
concerning second language development. The reconceptualisation can provide new
avenues for theorising about parental support in second language learning context,
particularly in multilingual and developmental countries. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/76802 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Tsebe, Audrey Tebogo |
| Contributors | Human-Vogel, Salome, u04369513@tuks.co.za, Scherman, Vanessa |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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