The Directorate of Adult Education and Training of the national Department of Education
views Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) not merely as literacy, but as the general
conceptual foundation towards lifelong learning and development. This includes knowledge,
skills, and attitudes which are needed for social, economic and political participation and
transformation. These skills will assist learners in becoming more active participants in their
communities, their workplaces and contribute towards the development of South Africa.
This study aims to examine whether ABET programmes prepare learners to acquire the
language which is needed to achieve this objective. It falls within one of the eight learning
areas defined by the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), namely the language,
literacy and communication learning area. In order to research the effectiveness of learning
within this area, it is important to analyse the interaction which takes place within a
classroom; the type of questions both educators and learners ask; the type of errors learners
make in the classroom; and how the educators treat these errors. What is also of paramount
importance is whether the language skills learnt in the classroom are transferred to outside
the classroom.
To examme this, various authors' views on classroom interaction; questions; errors;
treatment of errors; and evaluating the effectiveness of learning are presented. Instruments
were designed to analyse these aspects within an ABET programme, and include:
• the framework used to undertake the classroom interaction analysis,
• the instrument used to explore the type of questions educators and learners ask in
the classroom,
• how an error analysis is used to identify typical learners' errors which occur
frequently,
• the methodology used to uncover how educators treat their learners' errors, and
• the various stakeholders' questionnaires which were used to ascertain the
effectiveness of learning at an ABET Centre.
The research findings are presented and interpreted in order to provide recommendations for
the development of language learning and teaching within the ABET field. The findings also
gave rise to recommendations for classroom practices for ABET educators, and particularly
the need for educator training and development. Recommendations for curriculum designers
of ABET materials are also presented. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/16238 |
| Date | 01 1900 |
| Creators | Vaccarino, Franco Angelo |
| Contributors | Mckay, Veronica I. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 volume (various pagings) : illustrations |
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