The University of Zambia Journals
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MENTORING OF NEWLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Get PDFThis paper has one primary objective. It sets out to critically reflect on different facets of mentoring of newly qualified secondary school teachers in Zambia so that readers may have a better understanding of the concept of mentoring, its benefits and how and why mentoring works. For purposes of this paper, a newly qualified teacher (hereafter referred to as NQT) refers to a certified teacher who has worked for a period ranging between 0-24 months. To understand the concept of NQT mentoring and the needs of NQTs, a review of the significant professional and popular literature was warranted. This section of the paper does just that by reviewing literature relevant to gaining a deeper understanding of mentoring of newly qualified teachers. This review of the literature helped the researcher to critically engage with how the different authors conceptualise mentoring with the intention of arriving at a definition. This paper evaluates the global perspective to the need for mentoring of NQTs through a review of research-based literature in line with the following themes: the concept of mentoring through which diverse definitions of the concept of mentoring from a global usage are discussed, challenges that NQTs face in their new work environments and the purpose and goals of mentoring. It also looks at the benefits of mentoring, its weaknesses as well as gaps in the literature on mentoring of newly qualified teachers
EFFECTS OF THINK-PAIR-SHARE AND NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER TEACHING STRATEGIES ON JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA
Get PDFMathematics is one of the core subjects both at primary and secondary school levels in Nigeria. The importance accorded to mathematics in the curriculum reflects the recognition of its vital role towards national and technological development and the role it plays in contemporary society. Despite the importance of Mathematics to societal development, it is a subject that many students dislike and fail. Therefore the issue of poor achievement of students in Mathematics has become a perennial problem in Nigeria. The persistent failure of students has remained a major concern to Mathematics educators. This calls for strategies that will create hands-on/mind-on learning activities such as Think-Pair-Share and Numbered Heads Together Teaching strategies. This study therefore determined the effect of Think-Pair-Share and Numbered Heads Together Teaching strategies on students’ achievement in Mathematics. The moderating effect of mental ability and gender influence on students’ achievement in Mathematics are also examined. The study adopted pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental research design. Intact classes of JS2 comprising of 310 students from six purposively selected secondary schools in Osun west senatorial district of Osun state, Nigeria were the participants of the study. The schools were randomly assigned to treatment of Think-Pair-Share, Numbered Heads Together and conventional teaching strategies. Seven instruments were used to gather data for the study and seven null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed using Analysis of Covariance and Scheffe post-hoc analysis. Treatment had significant main effect on students’ achievement in Mathematics. There was no significant main effect of mental ability and gender on students’ achievement, likewise two-way interaction effect. However, three-way interaction effect is significant. The study therefore recommends that Mathematics teachers in secondary schools should adopt Think-Pair-Share and Numbered Heads Together Teaching strategies for improving achievement in Mathematics. Government should retrain secondary school teachers on how to use Think-Pair-Share and Numbered Heads Together Teaching strategies. Also curriculum planners and experts in Mathematics should design curricular that are student activity-based
TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM DESIGNING: THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING UNIVERSITY CURRICULA TO SECONDARY SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS CONTEXTS
No full textThis article is based on teacher education curriculum designing theoretical approaches supported by a mixed method study that was conducted on a final year cohort of student teachers at a university in Zambia. The study arose out of a concern that the researcher observed that although student teachers on the English language Bachelor of Arts with Education programme spent four strenuous years of study, they did not seem to acquire the required skills and knowledge that were vital for teaching. Blending teacher education curriculum designing theory and empirical data from a real study, the article argues for a university curriculum that is connected to secondary school knowledge and skills contexts
An Ecoritical Interpretation of “Things Fall Apart”
Get PDF“Save the earth” was the motto of the 1992 Environmental Conference held in
Rio. “Serve the earth” would have been more appropriate. One can perceive
“serve the earth” attitude in Chinua Achebe’s sublime work Things Fall Apart.
This study traces the depiction of nature in the aforesaid novel whether it is
anthropocentric (system of beliefs and practices that favours humans over other
organisms) or it is enlightened anthropocentric. Deterioration of environment
is a primary concern in today’s world. Chinua Achebe brought real people,
society, and their universe to the whole world. Things Fall Apart articulated a
new vision of the Igbo world and gave expression to a new sense of the African
experience that was more penetrating than what had been available before its
appearance.
Ecocriticism, which has emerged in the 1970s. Ecocriticism gives human
beings a better understanding of nature. “The Ecocriticism Reader” takes
ecocriticism as “the study of the relation between literature and the physical
environment”(XVIII). According to Glotfelty, simply put, ecocriticism is the
study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Just
as feminist criticism examines language and literature from a gender- conscious
perspective, and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production
and economic class to its reading of texts, ecocriticism takes an earth-centred
approach to literary studies. (1996: xix). This study will include major themes
of ecocriticism such as ‘animism’, ‘dwelling’, ‘nature’ and ‘apocalypse. ‘Yams’,
‘the silk-cotton tree’, and ‘the moon’ is part of the Ibo society in which humans
and nature had a symbiotic relationship. This study explores how Chinua
Achebe has portrayed this relationship in his magnum opu
Exploring the Universality of Politeness Strategies in Conjunction with Taboo Topics in Manenberg in Cape Town, South Africa
Get PDFUniversal politeness has been investigated across multidimensional disciplines
with anthropologists, ethnomethodologists, interactional sociolinguists,
social psychologists, focusing on subcategories such as; linguistics
politeness, the performance of socially pre-endorsed polite behavior and so
forth. According to Brown & Levinson (1987), politeness strategies, face and
face threatening acts (FTA’s) are universal, a claim that has been criticized
by many (Shi-Xu 2005-2007; Holmes 2006; Eelen, 2001). This article
intends to critique Brown and Levinson’s (1987) sentiment, in relation to
the universality of their politeness theory, by investigating the Kaaps speech
community that domiciles on the Cape Flats- a suburb in Cape Town, South
Africa. Methodologically, qualitative research methods purely underpinned
this study, allowing the author to collect primary data, by employing one-onone and focus group interviews. Randomly selected participants comprised of
twenty (20) males and twenty (20) females between eighteen (18) and sixtyfive (65) years. Data analyses employed insights from Eggins and Slade’s
(2006) conversational analysis, Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), Iedema
(2003) and Kress (2010) notions of multimodality. Results highlighted that
Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies and FTA’s, are not universally
applicable concurring with Shi-Xu (2005-2006), Holmes (2006) and Eelen
(2001). Additionally, politeness strategies were exemplified to be an ensemble
of different codes, used concurrently when discussing challenging subjects.
Furthermore, additional research on this subject is required, in order to
ascertain the cultural applicability of politeness strategies as well as a
cultural group indicator, in order to eradicate the misconstrue of politeness
universality. Ultimately, research of this nature would inform government and
public notice policy-makers to contextualize their messages to attract and
retain the attention of their target audience
Discussing Contemporary Environmental Issues
Get PDFThis paper is focused on contemporary environmental issues and problems. It
starts by defining the term ‘environment’ followed by an outline of the major
human activities that exert pressure on the natural environment and some
of the evidence of environmental deterioration. The paper then discusses
the following contemporary issues and problems; Ozone Depletion, Global
Warming, Deforestation, Biodiversity Loss, Air Pollution, Water Pollution,
Land pollution and Solid Waste Disposal. In concluding the paper, a way
forward to the discussed environmental dilemmas is given
Verbal Folklores and Cultural Transmission Through African Indigenous Languages
Get PDFEvery society has forms of folklore which contain the indigenous knowledge of people where such resources are produced. The folkloric forms are verbal and non-verbal, customary and material that transfer thoughts, beliefs, feelings, perceptions and cultural practices of traditional Africans of successive generations. In this study an attempt was made to examine the major types of verbal folklore as means of communicating African customs and traditions through indigenous languages where such materials are produced. The paper also explored the effort made by African writers in preserving folklore forms through their literary works. The researchers argued that through linguistic resources like folktales, folksongs, folkmusic, dances, myths, legends, oral history, riddles, proverbs, chants and incantations, superstitious beliefs, and so on, African cultural heritages are being preserved and transmitted and the main channel of communication is the language, an integral part of culture. Folklore materials whether verbal or non-verbal are property of the community from primordial era and so there is no authorship
Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV Transmission: What Do We Know?
Get PDFSexually transmitted infections have remained a public health problem mainly in the developing world, where the burden of HIV is also high. Effects of sexually transmitted infections can be devastating and have also been shown to enhance transmission of HIV. The risk of transmission depends on the type of infection, whether it presents with an ulcer or it is it is only inflammatory. Mixed infections further increase the probability of HIV transmission, making the overall risk even higher. Understanding the dynamics of transmission is important. It is also essential to know which groups of people are more at risk as this is fundamental in designing appropriate control interventions. This article gives an overview of sexually transmitted infections, and gives insight on their association with HIV infection, transmission risks and some control based interventions. In addition we also aimed to increase the understanding of where preventive and management gaps may still exist and in what contexts
A Review of Health Promotion Practices Among Physiotherapists In Africa
Get PDFBackground: Physiotherapists are better placed to spearhead health promoting activities by encouraging health enhancing lifestyles as part of their practice. This study reviews health promotion practices of Physiotherapists in African countries in order to identify gaps and make recommendations to improve the health promotion practices.
Methods: This narrative review was developed from a literature review of previous studies on health promotion practices among physiotherapists in Africa, which were published in English from the years 2010-2020, retrieved from Google Scholar and PubMed. Only articles that focused on health promotion, physical activity, practices, Physiotherapy and Africa were included.
Results: Nine (9) studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Five (5) studies were from Nigeria while one study each from Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia. Most studies reviewed used quantitative cross-sectional surveys. The focus of these studies were mainly exploring Physiotherapists’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards health promotion and physical activity promotion. Others looked at Physiotherapy practices with regards to counseling, risk factor assessment and interventions as well as perceived barriers and educational needs.
Conclusion: It is evident that there is little research done on health promotion practices among Physiotherapists in African countries. There is need to conduct more studies in this area in order to identify the challenges and improve the health promotion practices among Physiotherapy practitioners in the region
Study Protocol on Availability and Accessibility of Personal Protective Equipment: Fears of Acquiring COVID-19 Among Nurses and Midwives Attending to Women at the Women and New Born Hospital and First Level Hospitals, in Lusaka, Zambia
Get PDFBackground: COVID-19 emerged from Wuhan city, Hubei province of China and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in January, 2020. Pregnant women have not been spared from this pandemic thereby putting at risk the nurses and midwives who take care of such women considering the close proximity of care especially during delivery. At the heart of the pandemic, fear is heightened among nurses as frontline workers due to unavailability of personal protective equipment. This study aims to assess the availability and accessibility of personal protective equipment and fears of acquiring COVID-19 among nurses and midwives attending to women at the Women and New Born Hospital and First Level Hospitals, in Lusaka, Zambia.
Methodology: Nurses and midwives (n = 384) attending to women in maternity wards at the Women and Newborn Hospital and five (5) first level health facilities in Lusaka, Zambia will answer a monkey survey whose link will be sent via a WhatsApp group. They will answer questions on the socio demographic variables, availability and accessibility of PPEs and will be assessed for anxiety levels using the Form Y State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Data will be analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0. Chi-square will be used on nominal and ordinal level variables and Pearson correlation will be used on interval and ratio level variables to determine the association between availability and accessibility of personal protective equipment and the levels of anxiety and depression.
Conclusion: The findings from this study may be key for information on accessibility and availability of personal protective equipment use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information on levels of anxiety among nurses and midwives will guide stakeholders on the need of mental health wellness among the caregivers