Browsing by Author "Stuart, Jean."

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Difficulties to completing English homework : perspectives of six Grade seven learners from a township school.
(2014) Zondo, Joseph Thembinkosi.; Stuart, Jean.
This small scale case study focused on the difficulties experienced by the six Grade seven learners from a selected township school when they were writing their English homework. Literature suggests a gap in findings on the perspectives of learners. The study utilized six Grade seven learners who had failed to complete their English homework which they had been given the previous day by their English language educator. The participants had been given a comprehension test on the previous day that they had started in the classroom and they were expected to finish it at home as their homework. Three boys and three girls were chosen from three different Grade seven sections as participants for the study. The data for this study was obtained by the semi structured interviews. The semi structured interviews were informed by drawings which were used by the learners to help them remember some of the things that they might have forgotten if there were no drawings to broaden responses to the questions. These interviews were conducted in a secluded class to avoid disturbances by the other learners. The interviews took place during one week and they were conducted for thirty minutes after school. A tape recorder was used to record the data which was later to be transcribed and analyzed. This study revealed through its findings that the learners experienced a number of difficulties when they were writing their English homework and as a result they could not finish it. Some of the findings that emerged from this study were amongst others, the lack of space at home to write homework, lack of someone to help with homework, and the house chores that have to be done by the learners when they come back from school. Findings of this study suggest that as English educators we need to give our learners an opportunity to speak out about some of the challenges or difficulties they experience when they are writing their English homework. Moreover, we need to teach our learners to plan their time properly so that they have enough time to write their homework when they come back from school since there are things that they have to do when they come back from school which cannot take a backseat or be done by their parents like the house chores. Finally, findings in this study suggest the importance of the open lines of communication between the parents the educators. This open line of communication could help close the gap that is between the educators and the parents and it can also help everybody understand what is expected from them when it comes to the issuing and the monitoring of schoolwork. This may help the educators communicate with the parents about their children’s homework and what is expected from them.
Enhancing second language learning : exploring a visual approach to working with the bedroom culture of pre-adolescent girls.
(2007) St John-Ward, Maureen Inge.; Mitchell, Claudia Arlene.; Stuart, Jean.
This research project explored how modern media and the theme of Bedroom Culture could be used to enhance second language learning of preadolescent girls. Most of the girls who participated in this project are first language English speakers. Therefore it is a challenge for them to learn isiZulu. Thus, to kindle an interest an obvious entry point to working with these pre-adolescent girls in a participatory way in terms of language learning, was to capitalize on their interest and expertise. The theme ‘My Bedroom’ was used because girls spend much of their out-of-school time in their bedroom and this is considered a critical interest space for them. This approach focused on using photographs taken by the girls themselves, on digital cameras, of various aspects and spaces in their bedroom. Thereafter a Power Point presentation was created by each girl, using these photographs. The presentations were then carried out by the girls in front of the class and the teacher. Making use of modern technologies and media, and what is familiar to them allowed the girls to work with different modes from the purely written/verbal linguistic mode which has dominated language learning and teaching for some time. These modes of meaning included the visual, audio and gestural. Incorporated into the research were the Multimodal approach together with the idea of Multiliteracies. These Multiliteracies include the understanding and control of meaning-making forms, which are becoming increasingly important in the communications environment, and which lead to a new direction in language learning during the second language lessons. The approach of this work builds on the popular Communicative/Task-Based Approach in language learning. This research showed that allowing the girls to use photographs of their bedrooms, empowered them to take ownership of their project, enabling them to confidently carry out the presentation using modern technology with which they are familiar as well as, using a subject with which they are familiar. At the same time they were able to extend their own knowledge to learn isiZulu. It also revealed much about their Bedroom Culture, Girlhood Studies, Children as Cultural Producers and Children and Visual Studies.
Exploring digital storytelling : towards HIV and AIDS knowledge production in an affluent girl's school.
(2014) St John-Ward, Maureen Inge.; Mitchell, Claudia Arlene.; Stuart, Jean.
This research project is a qualitative study that explores the use of the participatory visual arts-based method of digital storytelling in the context of addressing HIV and AIDS in a secondary school classroom in an independent school in South Africa. The study is located within the research area of how HIV and AIDS are understood in an affluent school in South Africa in the context of youth-as-knowledge-producers. It is concerned with Elite Studies since affluent schools are an understudied research site in South Africa. In this media-making project I build on the key concept of convergence within a participatory cultures framework, and multimodality as conceptualised by the New London Group (Kress, 2003; 2010). My participants, 70 Grade 10 girls from an independent girl’s school in KwaZulu- Natal, produced a digital story about their understanding of HIV and AIDS. Of the 70 stories, 15 form the core study group and are analysed in depth. Analysis of the content of the digital stories takes into account the responses of the producers, the texts themselves, and the responses of the audiences who viewed them. This analytical approach draws on the conceptual work of Fiske (1987), Stuart (2006) and Fairclough (1995) in recognising the interrelatedness of the story texts, and discourse and sociocultural practices, and invites an analysis of the multimodal nature of the girls’ digital stories. The project provides insight into how adolescent girls in an affluent school understand HIV and AIDS, and offers a deeper understanding of this work in the context of Elite Studies as a sociological phenomenon. This work contributes to expanding the idea of youth-as-knowledge-producers in the context of sexuality and HIV and AIDS in South African schools. The outcomes of the project contribute to addressing the application of a multimodal analysis to work with digital stories to help fill the research gap identified by Jewitt (2014b) and others. I conclude that it is critical that more work be carried out in South African independent schools, particularly given the misinformation that is currently circulating about HIV and AIDS, but also in recognition of the keen interest of the participants in this study to learn more.
From our frames : exploring visual arts-based approaches for addressing HIV and AIDS with pre-service teachers.
(2006) Stuart, Jean.; Mitchell, Claudia Arlene.
This research is a qualitative study of a short project set up to explore the uses of a visual arts-based approach for addressing HIV and AIDS through teacher development. It was undertaken at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. It responds to the suggestions that teachers need to explore their own understanding, attitudes and perceptions of the disease if they are to deal confidently with the demands it places on them as educators in schools. Thirteen preservice teachers, who had enrolled in a guidance course, used photographs and drawing to capture their views of HIV and AIDS and to construct messages for their peers. Methods for the approach were adapted from the work of Ewald and Lightfoot (2001) and from Wang’s (1999) photo-voice. A visual arts-based approach was chosen for its potential to simultaneously engage the mind, body and emotions (Weber & Mitchell, 2004). Drawing on the conceptual work of Banks (2001), Hall (1997) and Fairclough (1995), the photo texts were then analysed by the researcher who saw them as socially and culturally embedded constructions and was interested in how they were affected by and could have an impact on culture and social discourses. Reflections on the photo texts and their associated processes by both the researcher and pre-service teachers lead to suggestions as to the pedagogic possibilities of using a visual arts-based approach in education to address HIV and AIDS. The thesis concludes with discussion of what a visual arts-based approach can contribute to HIV and AIDS in teacher education and comments on the challenges and limitations of such an approach.
Rural educators' implementation of the National Curriculum Statements' arts and culture learning area : the educators' narratives.
(2009) Peat, Beth Maureen.; Stuart, Jean.
I am employed by the Department of Education as a Senior Education Specialist,