Doctoral Degrees (Languages and Arts Education)

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Classroom talk : lowered affective filters and ESL proficiency in arts and culture classrooms.
(2007) Naicker, Shalina.; Balfour, Robert John.
This case study explores the impact of a specially designed programme of communicative strategies: role-play, group-work, pair-work, and information gap activities, on English second language proficiency. The aim of this programme is to promote teacher guided, constructive learner talk in the outcomes-based education (OBE) classroom. The case study, which took place in a multilingual secondary school in Durban, focused on four groups of Grade 8 learners in 2003, and the same four groups of learners in Grade 9 in 2004. This thesis presents an account of my research in three parts and nine chapters. Part I introduces and locates the study. Part 2 presents theory and evidence to support the core arguments presented, the design of the project, and its methodology. Part 3 focuses on the research process, the findings and the implications for future policy and practice. In Chapter 1 the key issues and questions for the exploration of pedagogical strategies for verbal interaction are presented. Language pedagogy in South African schools from the onset of the apartheid era to the present is reflected on, to show that past methods have disadvantaged ESL learners. The history of language policy and practice in African education in South Africa from 1948 to 2003 is reviewed in Chapter 2. The aim is to illustrate that language policy and practice can have a positive impact by lowering the Affective Filter of ESL learners. In Chapter 3 a review of research on English second language learning is offered to support the theoretical framework. The principles of pedagogy that inform the design of the Classroom Talk Programme are the focus of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 outlines a design for a Classroom Talk Programme and interactive tasks in three Units. Chapter 6 considers possible research methodologies, the quasi-experimental research process, the study context and the sample. Part 3 presents the findings of the CT Programme organized into themes. Chapter 7 focuses on the learner and educator perceptions of lowered Affective Filters and learner confidence and proficiency and the implications for assessment for progression purposes. The third theme, which is the focus of Chapter 8, is concerned with managing pedagogy and assessment in large 'multilingual' classrooms. Finally, Chapter 9 examines the issues surrounding micro school-based language policies and practices. The CT Programme is critically reflected on in relation to its advantages and disadvantages and what has been achieved in this case study.
English studies and language teaching : epistemological access and discursive critique in South Africa.
(2007) Mgqwashu, Emmanuel Mfanafuthi.; Balfour, Robert John.
This study investigates ways in which English Studies at Rhodes University, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Natal, and the University of Sydney responded to linguistic and academic literacy needs of entrance level students. Both qualitative and quantitative data from these research sites are integrated with an autobiographical narrative based on my own personal experiences of learning English and in English at secondary and tertiary levels in South Africa. Dealing with data this way made it possible for my study to examine strategies through which different English departments negotiate the challenge of enabling students to access the discourse of the Discipline. I relied on the principles underpinning Genre Theory and Grounded Theory to engage critically with participants’ responses to interview questions and documentary evidence from research sites. It appears from the study that modules designed to develop students’ linguistic and/or academic literacy skills need not maintain a pedagogic practice that is either grammatical rules or academic writing and critique based, without an attempt to integrate the two. This separation is seen as artificial, and reflects pedagogic practices that tend to mystify the discourse of the Discipline of English Studies. Given the fact that not all students posses relevant cultural capital to negotiate meanings successfully within this discourse, many of them are excluded during lectures. Literature and research findings in this study indicate that this exclusion manifests itself when such students fail to choose grammatical structures according to the purpose for which they construct texts, both in speaking and in writing. Within this context, there is a need for an alternative model to inform theory, module design, and pedagogic practices in entrance level modules.
Negotiation, participation, and the construction of identities and autonomy in online communities of practice : a case study of online learning in English at a university in South Africa.
(2006) Kajee, Leila.; Balfour, Robert John.
This study is located at the interface of online learning within a context of English language studies and academic literacy and is underpinned, from a critical theoretical perspective, by an understanding of the implications of the digital divide for South Africa. The thesis includes an exploration of online learning, as mediated by information and communication technology (ICT), in an undergraduate English language and academic literacy classroom at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study draws on research and theorising by Warschauer (2002a, 2002b, 2003), who argues for the need for technology in developing countries as a means of social inclusion. The aim is to explore the extent to which communities of practice (COPs) are enabled in an online environment, among English non-mother tongue speakers, who have minimal previous access to ICT. To achieve the aim the study examines the extent to which the learners participate, negotiate meaning, construct identities, and perceive themselves as autonomous in online spaces. This is a case study that explores asynchronous lCT practices such as the use of the Internet (Net), e-mail, and discussion threads in an online Web course management system. From a sociocultural perspective, and recognising that learning does not occur in isolation, the work of Lave and Wenger (1991, 1996,2002) is used to frame the study, concerned as it is with learning, technology and empowerment. Lave and Wenger (1991, 2002) locate learning as a form of interaction and co-participation, and argue that learning occurs within specific contexts or communities of practice. Thus they focus on how individuals become members of 'communities of practice'. The study suggests that practice and participation are underpinned, and to some extent determined, by the identities constructed by participants In the on line communities. Participants' ICT practices are examined from the perspective of literacy, in this case electronic literacy, as a social practice and New Literacy Studies, where the work of Gee (1996, 1997, 2000), Street (1984, 1993a, 1993b, 2003), Barton, Hamilton and lvanic (2000), and Lankshear and Knobel (1997, 2004) are drawn on to examine the use of technology. Constructions of identity are examined from Hall's (1992) post-structuralist view that old identities, which stabilised the social world as we knew it, are in decline, giving rise to new identities and fragmenting the modem individual as a unified subject. From observations, participant-interviews, questionnaires, written data, and the analysis of messages posted to discussion threads over the duration of a year, the study demonstrates that the online environment facilitates the construction of communities of practice, by enabling participants to develop and sustain local and global relationships, construct identities, and engage autonomously in the medium. My findings suggest that online environments be considered, not merely as alternative modes of delivery in the language classroom, but for social inclusion, provided that facilitators and learners are adequately prepared for the use of digital technology. The study further suggests a model for the adoption of ICT in relation to learning within the South African context.
Processing heard versus transcribed English vocabulary in English second language (ESL) learners : a quasi-experimental study at a secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2009) Govender, Maanasa Devi.; Sookrajh, Reshma.; Balfour, Robert John.
At a technically biased secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal, teachers of Grade 12 English Second Language (ESL) learners, including myself, found it problematic to assess students' writing which is often fraught with spelling and grammar errors. This meant that these learners were disadvantaged because they were assessed with a lower score in comparison to students who edited their work and ensured that their writing was free from spelling and grammar errors. The aim of this study is to improve English vocabulary spelling of ESL learners by investigating the effectiveness of processing Heard English Vocabulary, in comparison to the Transcribed Vocabulary Training Programme (TVTP). This study is theoretically framed by the Cognitive Load Theory (2003), and employs a quasi-experimental approach as a methodology (Goodwin, 2005). It is a quasi-experiment because the sample was not randomly selected, as in a classic experiment. The sample consisted of 60 Grade 12 English Second Language (ESL) volunteers from a technically biased high school in Ethekwini, KwaZulu-Natal. Significant findings revealed first, that the comparative analysis of the Nonequivalent Control Group (NECG) in comparison to the Experimental Group (EG) was that the Transcribed Vocabulary Training Programme (TVTP) increased the 06-010 average scores for the EG by 36.3%, yet reduced the average time by 40 seconds; second, the visual and kinetic nature of transcription facilitates distinct pattern markings on the graphemic output lexicon; third, transcription also facilitates semantic processing, because meaning can be derived from context, and finally, there is a strong positive correlation between transcription and sustained attention, which implies that correct transcription depends on sustained attention. The findings in this research are compatible with the principles underpinning Sweller and Cooper's (1998) Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design. It is argued that if the instructional design uses more than one sense of perception, for example, auditory and visual, then the cognitive load on the working memory is decreased and the mental capacity (attention levels) is increased. When mental capacity is increased, the chances of retrieval are greater. It is also argued that time and training results in automatic processing, which decreases cognitive load, and increases mental capacity. Training also enhances performance, and reduces performance time. In this study, performance would mean written retrieval of English vocabulary. The findings also suggest that any ESL learner who attentively transcribes meaningful English vocabulary will successfully retrieve English vocabulary. The overall conclusion of this research is that instructional designers (for example, educators) have some control in increasing attention levels through synergizing the senses of perception at the encoding stage of the instructional design, and presenting meaningful data. The use of transcription as a 'hands on' instructional design in a quasi-experiment makes this an innovative project. This study began in March 2005 and was completed in July 2008.

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Languages and Arts Education) by Author "Balfour, Robert John."