Browsing by Author "Naidoo, Premanithee."

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Environmental education case studies for curriculum development in science teacher education.
(1998) Pillay, Alan Sathiaseelan.; Brookes, David W.; Naidoo, Premanithee.
Science student teachers' participation with practising teachers in developing curriculum in environmental education for implementation in schools has been a neglected field. This study focuses on the collaboration of science student teachers with practising teachers in developing an alternative curriculum for environmental education compared to existing traditional practices in most schools in South Africa. The science teacher educator, as the researcher, used action research or elements of it to facilitate the process. The action research component served as an inquiry into, and improvement of, the PRESET/INSET curriculum development model for teacher development. This dissertation reports on four case studies of curriculum development and environmental education in science teacher education practised at the University of Durban-Westville from 1991 to 1996. Innovative strategies serve as the basis of interventions in four primary school contexts, each representing a case study on its own, yet sequentially linked as action research cycles. The case study approach served the purpose of illuminating the curriculum development process with the intention of generating grounded theory through action research or elements of it. The outcomes of a survey of the status of curriculum development in institutions offering science teacher education in KwaZulu-Natal are also presented to support the need for an innovative approach to the PRESET/INSET curriculum development model.
Test translation in a South African context using the peabody picture vocabulary test-revised.
(1994) Naidoo, Premanithee.; Jager, G. W.
This study explored the feasibility of using test translation to adapt a standard English vocabulary test for Zulu speakers. It was motivated by the difficulties associated with assessing speakers of the African languages, in the absence of Zulu speech-language therapists and Zulu assessment tools. The adaptation process in the present study began with a direct translation of the PPVT-R into Zulu by twenty Zulu university students. Based on the degree of consensus on translations and judgements of cultural appropriacy (using the committee approach), items were selected for the purposes of pilot testing of the translations on 107 Zulu pupils from six to eleven years, in the study area. The results of the first pilot study revealed that it was not feasible to standardise the first translated version of the test, as only seventeen percent of the items were found suitable for inclusion in a normative study. Further test development using translations from twenty educators, their judgements of cultural appropriacy of stimuli as well as application of the back translation test to determine semantic equivalence of translations resulted in the development of a revised translated version of the PPVT-R, consisting of mUltiple translations for some items. This was administered to 544, six to eleven year old Zulu children. The results of the second pilot study revealed that only 31.2% of the translations administered were appropriate for the purposes of developing norms, across all the age groups tested, with 80% of these translations applicable for six and seven year old Zulu children only. Therefore, the translated version of the PPVT-R, despite modifications, showed significantly reduced applicability for Zulu speakers. Using the information derived from the present study a test comprising thirty six Zulu words has been compiled for the purposes of screening the receptive vocabulary skills of six and seven year old Zulu children in the study area. The findings of the study confirmed the difficulties in using test translation as a procedural option in adapting a test for Zulu children; implications, further modifications and investigations are suggested in this regard.