Papers by Vuyokazi Nomlomo
SensePublishers eBooks, 2013
South Africa, a country of more than 50 million people, is amongst many countries in the world wi... more South Africa, a country of more than 50 million people, is amongst many countries in the world with a rich cultural and linguistic diversity. The richness of the linguistic diversity in South Africa is acknowledged in its Constitution (1996) which was adopted at the birth of the new democratic dispensation in 1994 as a means of redressing the divisions, inequalities and discriminatory policies of the apartheid government.
Understanding Teaching-Learning Practice, 2021
Compare, Mar 1, 2013
have taken different perspectives towards the issue, albeit there are some commonalities. All wou... more have taken different perspectives towards the issue, albeit there are some commonalities. All would see North-South or South-South collaboration as something useful, but also challenging. Ultimately all of the contributors see the need for collaboration in order to promote real North-South dialogue and understanding. For the researchers in this Forum, our active dialogue starts here.
Journal for Language Teaching
Gendered Voices, 2013
Gender equality has been a matter of global concern in different sectors of life, such as the eco... more Gender equality has been a matter of global concern in different sectors of life, such as the economy, education and politics for the past three to four decades (Arnot & Fennell, 2008). A special concern has been the discrimination and oppression of women and children through various social policies and cultural practices.
Comparative and International Education: A Diversity of Voices aims to provide a comprehensive ra... more Comparative and International Education: A Diversity of Voices aims to provide a comprehensive range of titles, making available to readers work from across the comparative and international education research community. Authors will represent as broad a range of voices as possible, from geographic, cultural and ideological standpoints. The editors are making a conscious effort to disseminate the work of newer scholars as well as that of well-established writers. The series includes authored books and edited works focusing upon current issues and controversies in a field that is undergoing changes as profound as the geopolitical and economic forces that are reshaping our worlds. The series aims to provide books which
South African Journal of Childhood Education, 2014
The initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in South Africa to stren... more The initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in South Africa to strengthen foundation phase teaching has resulted in the development of new foundation phase (Grades R-3) programmes at institutions that did not previously offer them. In this article we reflect on the conceptualisation and development of a pre-service language curriculum for one such programme. We base our discussion on principles that underpin teacher education programme development for early childhood education and on issues and insights about appropriate language curriculum content for a foundation phase teacher. Whilst awaiting the outcome of our accreditation, the authors, as two of the persons who assisted in the design of the language curriculum, thought it appropriate to subject the curriculum to an internal scrutiny whilst we prepare to offer the programme. This internal dialogue is informed by the literature on early language development, particularly in multilingual contexts such as in South Africa.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 1997
This is a story about how "Guri," a high school student, constructs meaning about a poem, aided a... more This is a story about how "Guri," a high school student, constructs meaning about a poem, aided and assisted by her interactions with her two peers in a response group, as well as starting a process of mastery of a literary genre expected in the Norwegian secondary school system. It is based on three years of field work by the teacher/researcher in Guri's class. The theoretical framework for this study are the theories inspired by Vygotsky, Bahktin and their followers.
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 2013
The aim of the article is to identify the gaps between theory and practice in pre-service teacher... more The aim of the article is to identify the gaps between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training with special reference to the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase (Grades 10-12) in some Western Cape high schools. The article is based on data that was collected from Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students taking isiXhosa (home language) as one of their teaching method subjects as part of their pre-service training. The data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and an analysis of student teachers' reflective journals. The article provides an analysis of PGCE students' experiences and reflections on the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language in schools. It argues that if there is a gap between theory underpinning initial pre-service training and actual practice in schools, there will be no significant improvement in the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language. It concludes by proposing ways of improving both preservice and in-service teacher education practice to develop African languages as academic or intellectual languages at school level. All the official languages serve important socioeconomic roles as means of communication and are needed for different careers, for instance in the media, marketing, advertising, translating, interpreting, etc. (Jordaane & Pillay, 2009). The teaching and studying of African languages also follow the same learning outcomes and 2 http://repository.uwc.ac.za teaching principles or approaches as outlined in the outcomes-based National Curriculum Statement (DoE, 2005) which was adopted as a means of redress and equity in education after the apartheid education system. The new language curriculum promotes learnercentred, communicative, text-based and integrated approaches in and for all languages as subjects in order to develop learners' language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, viewing, presenting, writing, critical thinking and appropriate language use (Murray, 2009; DoE, 2005). Given the low socioeconomic status of African languages in formal domains such as education and business, the new Language in Education Policy (DoE, 1997), which is informed by the democratic Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (RSA, 1996), aims at developing all the official African languages. However, there is a concern about the small numbers of students training as African language teachers across the country, a tendency that is most probably attributable to the perceived low socioeconomic status of African languages and the low status accorded to the teaching profession (Whitelaw et al., 2008). Moreover, lack of teaching resources in and for African languages and lack of inservice training for practising African language teachers also raise concerns with regard to the quality of the teaching of these languages (Foley, 2001).
Per Linguam, 2011
This paper reports on findings of a case study which analysed classroom interaction through turn-... more This paper reports on findings of a case study which analysed classroom interaction through turn-taking in Grade 4 science lessons taught through the medium of a home language and an additional language. Data were collected by means of classroom observations in one primary school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The paper argues that, whilst knowledge of the language of learning and teaching is a basic condition for learning in the classroom, there are other factors which impact on learners' construction of knowledge during classroom interaction. It concludes that turn-taking in science teaching should go beyond the mere exchange of talk or turns to a deeper and critical interrogation of what is being taught, and how it is taught to enhance learners' scientific literacy development.
Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2013
have taken different perspectives towards the issue, albeit there are some commonalities. All wou... more have taken different perspectives towards the issue, albeit there are some commonalities. All would see North-South or South-South collaboration as something useful, but also challenging. Ultimately all of the contributors see the need for collaboration in order to promote real North-South dialogue and understanding. For the researchers in this Forum, our active dialogue starts here.
The aim of this article is to report on the Foundation Phase (FP) teachers’ professional identiti... more The aim of this article is to report on the Foundation Phase (FP) teachers’ professional identities in two primary schools in the Western Cape. This is meant to serve as a basis for understanding teachers’ identities with regard to their teaching experience, qualifications, specialised knowledge base, and ongoing professional development. The article is based on data collected by means of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with the FP teachers in two township schools where isiXhosa is used as the medium of instruction in the Foundation Phase (Grades R to Three). We argue that while teacher identity research has received attention across the globe in the past four decades, little is known about the implications of teacher professional identity for literacy teaching in South African classrooms, especially where an African language is used as a language of learning and teaching. Our findings reveal the pluricentric nature of the FP teachers’ qualifications and backgrounds. ...
This article looks at how language policies for equal access to education in Tanzania and South A... more This article looks at how language policies for equal access to education in Tanzania and South Africa are implemented in practice as regards the language of learning and teaching (LOLT). Using interview and classroom observation data from primary and secondary schools in the two countries, it examines teachers' and learners' experiences of the shift from the home language to English (L2) and argues that this shift constrains learning. It observes that there are many language related challenges which do not support educational priorities in these countries. It concludes that the transition to English as LOLT has linguistic, cognitive and affective implications for the quality of teaching and learning and learners' epistemological access to education in the two countries.
Perspectives in Education, 2014
In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and Training (DBE) is responsible for primary ... more In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and Training (DBE) is responsible for primary and secondary education (Grades R-12). In an effort to improve educational standards in literacy, numeracy and mathematics, especially in the Foundation Phase (FP) levels of education, the DBE has developed several initiatives and campaigns. To monitor the standards and set targets, the department administers high-stakes standardised tests similar to those conducted in the United States of America (USA) at elementary and secondary schools. In spite of these efforts, the national low performance levels of Grades R-12 remain a grave social concern. This study investigated the conceptions of standards from a purposive sample of twenty elementary school teachers selected from three Cape Town schools, with the objective of establishing how their understandings of standards influenced their classroom pedagogical practices. Activity theory informed this research. Data were collected through foc...
American Journal of Educational Research, 2014
This article looks at how language policies for equal access to education in Tanzania and South A... more This article looks at how language policies for equal access to education in Tanzania and South Africa are implemented in practice as regards the language of learning and teaching (LOLT). Using interview and classroom observation data from primary and secondary schools in the two countries, it examines teachers’ and learners’ experiences of the shift from the home language to English (L2) and argues that this shift constrains learning. It observes that there are many language related challenges which do not support educational priorities in these countries. It concludes that the transition to English as LOLT has linguistic, cognitive and affective implications for the quality of teaching and learning and learners’ epistemological access to education in the two countries.
Understanding Teaching-Learning Practice, 2021
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Papers by Vuyokazi Nomlomo