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Exploring Pedagogies that teachers draw on to teach reading in Grade 10 English First Additional Language inclusive classes
Get PDFThis qualitative, interpretive study explored the pedagogies teachers drew on to teach reading in Grade 10 English First Additional Language inclusive classes. Over the years, children with learning difficulties have been excluded from formal learning and placed in special schools. However, the transformation through inclusive education allows learners with learning difficulties to be enrolled in mainstream schools. Unfortunately, mainstream teachers were not trained to address learning difficulties. It is for this reason that this study explored the pedagogies that teachers drew on to teach reading through an exploratory case study of five teachers and grade 10 learners, noting responses of learners with learning difficulties at one school in John Taolo Gaetsewe (JTG) district in Northern Cape. This study was guided by Sen’s capability approach. Semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and non-participant observations were used to collect data on the pedagogies teachers draw on to teach reading in inclusive classes and learners' views on how they want to be taught reading. The collected data was analysed through a thematic data analysis approach with the hope that the findings will help to develop and enrich teachers in teaching reading in inclusive classes to engage all learners. Findings revealed that the participating teachers drew from various pedagogies such as Reading to Learn, Establishing, Maintaining, and Consolidating, and Question-Answer- Relationship. The similarities among these pedagogies are their repetitive nature and that they provide maximum opportunities for learners with various needs, abilities, and challenges to succeed. The teachers’ self-developed strategies were influenced by the need to promote Ubuntu and collaborative learning. Knowing learners and their weaknesses was key to developing strategies. Teachers can draw from various pedagogies to teach reading in an inclusive class. This study recommends using multimodal texts, compulsory inclusive education during initial teacher education, and combined use of pedagogies.Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Institute for the Study of Englishes of Africa, 202
An exploratory study of the benefits of reading clubs for learners in English First Additional Language classrooms
Get PDFThe study explored how reading clubs inculcate the love of reading in Komani, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Reports indicate that learners at secondary schools do not understand the vocabulary used in comprehension passages. They need exposure to a variety of texts to promote reading comprehension. This study is situated in the interpretive paradigm. The participants were three educators with 24 learners in the reading clubs. Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory was the theoretical framework to explore how reading clubs promote the love of reading. Data was analysed by using an inductive, thematic approach. The findings indicate that the reading clubs instilled the love of reading among the learners, improving their comprehension skills. The other benefits were that reading clubs are a source of pleasure, instil the culture of reading, and develop the learners’ confidence. The implications of the findings of the study are that reading boosted thinking, reading skills, fluency, knowledge, writing, and vocabulary use. Reading clubs were beneficial to both teachers and learners. Teachers improved their practice and could determine, through oral and written reviews, whether reading took place during the silent reading sessions. Involvement in reading clubs had social benefits for learners.Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Institute for the Study of Englishes of Africa, 202
Evaluation of traditional and residual momentum strategies during the Covid period on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Get PDFTraditional momentum is a concept which was first discovered by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993), defined as a tendency of stocks to experience a continuation in their relative performance. A stock that performed relatively well will continue to perform relatively well, and vice versa. It has been observed by other researchers that during market crises, traditional momentum tends to produce large negative returns for investors, defined as a momentum crash. To mitigate momentum crashes, many researchers have developed new momentum strategies which have better performance than traditional momentum during market crises; such strategies include residual momentum. While both residual and traditional momentum have been studied in international markets and locally, the performance of both the residual and traditional momentum strategies have not been examined in the most recent Covid-fuelled financial crisis on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The study compares the performance of hypothetical long-only winner traditional and residual momentum portfolios (from 2018–2022) using various risk metrics, which include the tracking error, Sharpe ratio, Jensen’s alpha and information ratio. To compare the statistical significance of the difference in mean returns of residual and traditional momentum strategies to the benchmark (FTSE/Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Top 40) the study uses Welch’s t-test. The study uses an Auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) regression to examine the effect that various market conditions (bull market, bear market and extreme volatility) have on the returns of residual and traditional momentum strategies. Given the limited period examined in this study, the Monte Carlo simulation was used to extrapolate potential outcomes of how the momentum strategies might perform under different market conditions (as mentioned) in 1 000 iterations of each condition. The simple return analysis undertaken in this research revealed that traditional momentum outperformed residual momentum both before and throughout the COVID period. In the risk-adjusted performance measures, traditional momentum outperformed at all four risk indicators during the 2020 COVID year. The statistical significance tests, which compared the strategies' mean returns to the benchmark, demonstrated no statistically significant difference in returns over the COVID year. Furthermore, when evaluating the strategies over a five-year period (2018-2022), the difference in mean returns was shown to be statistically insignificant. However, statistical significance in returns was shown in some individual years. The ARDL regression findings show that bull, bear, and volatility factors explain relatively little of the returns for both momentum strategies, which is consistent with previous research. The Monte Carlo simulation, using the bear variable, forecasted that traditional momentum would result in negative returns during market declines, but residual momentum would provide positive returns and surpass traditional momentum with a probability of 26%. When using the bull variable, the simulation discovered that both traditional and residual momentum strategies resulted in positive returns. However, the residual momentum strategy outperformed in terms of returns and had an 84% likelihood of outperforming the traditional momentum strategy across 1,000 iterations. Nevertheless, when the simulation included the volatility variable, it projected negative returns for residual momentum and positive returns for traditional momentum. Additionally, it estimated a 14% probability of residual momentum surpassing traditional momentum under volatile market circumstances.Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce, Economics and Economic History, 202
The relationship between human, social and financial capital and small and medium enterprise (SME) performance in South Africa
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on developing countries, exacerbating economic stagnation, high poverty rates, and unemployment. South Africa, in particular, faces significant challenges, with a 35.3 percent unemployment rate and a 17.4 percent GDP decline in 2021. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial during these economic challenges, traditionally employing a substantial workforce and contributing significantly to the GDP. Despite their importance, SMEs often struggle, with a small percentage surviving the initial two years. Limited research has been conducted on the resources and capabilities crucial for enterprise performance in South Africa. While studies in developed countries exist, few explore the relationship between resources and capabilities facilitating SME performance in developing contexts. This study focuses on human capital, bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, and financial capital as key resources and capabilities. Given the backdrop that many entrepreneurs in South Africa may not possess formal education or extensive work experience, this study contends that financial literacy—encompassing financial knowledge, behaviour, and attitude—serves as a proxy for human capital. Additionally, a notable portion of entrepreneurs in South Africa face a deficit in the skills and knowledge essential for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities. Even among those possessing these capabilities, the challenge lies in the lack of necessary resources, including social and financial capital, to effectively transform such prospects into viable new ventures. This study employed a causal research design and adopted a quantitative research approach within a post-positivist paradigm. The primary objective was to investigate the relationship between the following independent variables; human (where financial literacy was used as a proxy which consisted of financial knowledge, attitude and behaviour), bonding, bridging and linking social capital, and financial capital and the dependent variable; SME performance. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data from SME owners/managers. A pilot study was undertaken, in which an electronic link to the questionnaire was sent to potential respondents. Potential respondents were identified using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Data collection yielded 334 usable responses from SME owners/managers in South Africa. After cleaning the data, the analysis examined the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Cronbach Alpha Coefficient analysis were used to confirm the validity and reliability of the measurement instrument, respectively. Descriptive statistics, regression, and correlation results were reported. Furthermore, a group mean analysis, including independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVAs, were performed to investigate potential significant differences in variables based on demographic and enterprise related variables. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between financial capital and SME performance. This indicates that an entrepreneur's ability to access financial capital or possess financial capital contributes to the performance and success of enterprises in South Africa. This finding underscores the crucial role of financial capital in facilitating the growth and sustainability of enterprises, as it provides a buffer against unfavourable economic shocks, enables entrepreneurs to pursue more capital-intensive strategies, and affords them more time to learn and overcome challenges. Conversely, no significant relationships were found between financial knowledge, behaviour, and attitude, bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, and SME performance. This study contributes to the development of SMEs in South Africa by identifying the critical resources and capabilities essential for their survival and growth. Additionally, it offers valuable recommendations for policymakers to create a conducive environment for entrepreneurs and suggests potential educational initiatives and support structures. Furthermore, this study advocates for the exploration of innovative financing approaches to build a financial cushion and bolster resilience against economic upheavals.Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce, Economics and Economic History, 202
The sustainability impacts and opportunities of reverse osmosis (RO) plants on the quadruple bottom line perspective: a case of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Get PDFWater scarcity is a pressing global issue exacerbated by factors such as population growth, urbanisation, and climate change. This challenge is particularly acute in water-stressed regions where a substantial portion of the world's population resides. Desalination, particularly through reverse osmosis (RO), has emerged as a viable solution to address this demand, providing a stable and high-quality water supply without overburdening natural freshwater ecosystems. This research focuses on the sustainability impacts and opportunities of RO desalination plants, specifically examining the Cerebos SA plant in Gqeberha and the Amatola Water plant at Bushman's River, to provide insights into their environmental, social, economic, and governance impacts and opportunities from a life cycle perspective. In addition to investigate the key sustainability considerations relevant to RO desalination plants to potentially augment available water provision sources in the Eastern Cape. Ten participants were purposively sampled from Ndlambe Municipality, Cerebos S.A, and Amatola Water. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to collect data. The research design was grounded in the post-positivism paradigm, emphasising the incorporation of diverse perspectives and the search for valid and reliable evidence within existing phenomena. Three strategies were used to ensure credibility data for this study, these were triangulation, diverse participant selection, and audio interview transcription using Otter.ai. The results from the research offered valuable insights into the sustainability impacts and opportunities of the RO desalination plants from the Life Cycle perspective, although the respondents demonstrated a clear understanding of sustainability, the concept of QBL was less familiar to many. Furthermore, the respondents unpacked QBL impacts and opportunities from a life cycle perspective and augmentation consideration for RO desalination plants. Key recommendations included conducting thorough environmental impact assessments, transitioning to renewable energy sources, energy recovery systems, inventory management, and enhancing community engagement and workforce training. Despite limitations in scope and participant diversity, the findings fill a gap in the literature, offering valuable insights for stakeholders to enhance water provision sustainability.Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 202
Integrating sustainability into strategic decision making in the South African automotive sector
Get PDFSustainability has become a major topic for businesses, policy makers, government, and researchers. With the growing awareness of climate change, environmental and social problems, attention has turned to how businesses impact the environment, society, and economy. Sustainability, therefore, requires the integration of environmental and social issues into strategic decision making. Many organizations consider sustainability as an important issue for the business. However, some companies are struggling to combine business success and the success of other stakeholders, particularly those representing the interests of the environment and society. The purpose of this case study is to explore how sustainability is integrated into strategic decision making within some companies in the South African automotive industry. This study followed a qualitative approach, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten senior managers in the automotive sector in South Africa. The study used an inductive thematic analysis approach to analyse the data, and five main themes were generated: (1) Business profitability, (2) Organization culture, (3) Rationality, (4) Compliance, and (5) Corporate social responsibility (CSR). The findings of the study indicated that strategic decisions made considered business profitability first and foremost above environment and society. There is evidence that businesses engage in some sustainability activities, but this was related to the business objective to be profitable and to meet compliance requirements. The findings of the study also indicated that a rational decision-making approach was used predominantly, compared to intuitive and political approaches. This was due to the cautious approach of maintaining profit-making as a primary business objective. In terms of recommendations, this study recommends that automotive companies in South Africa integrate sustainability considerations into organizational/or business strategy to enable the industry to create shared value for the environment, society and economy. Integrating sustainability into business strategy will align business practices with sustainability goals and therefore allowing the automotive industry to have a positive impact in the society and environment which in turn will lead to improved financial performance.Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 202
An investigation into the impact of geographical location on the phytochemical composition, pharmacological and toxicological activities of Tulbaghia violacea collected from the Eastern Cape and Gauteng Province
Get PDFIntroduction: The number of communicable and non-communicable diseases continues to rise and has become more prevalent. While drugs exist to manage and/ or treat majority of the communicable and non-communicable diseases, the rise in disease prevalence puts pressure on researchers to find new drug molecules to treat and manage these ailments. Traditional medicine refers to the knowledge, skills and practices which are based on the beliefs and experiences indigenous to cultures and is used to maintain health. Most of the research into traditional medicine focuses on the medicinal plants used. Medicinal plants are any plants in which one or more of its organs contain substances which are used for therapeutic purposes or for the synthesis of drugs. Tulbaghia violacea is a monocotyledonous genus of herbaceous perennial bulbs which is native to Africa and can be readily found throughout South Africa. It is popular for its antimicrobial, antifungal, anticoagulant, antioxidant and anticancer properties. It has been that ecological factors influence the composition and quantity of phytochemicals present in a plant. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of geographical location on the phytochemical composition, pharmacological and toxicological activities of T. violacea collected from the Eastern Cape and Gauteng Province. Methods: The leaves of T. violacea were collected from the Eastern Cape and Gauteng Province. The leaves were dried and extracted using serial maceration with solvents hexane, acetone and methanol. The resulting extracts were subjected to qualitative preliminary phytochemical analysis and a quantitative total phenol content test was carried out using gallic acid as the standard. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) was performed to identify classes of compounds present in T. violacea. xix Antioxidant activity of T. violacea was determined qualitatively using a dot-plot and quantitatively using a DPPH radical scavenging activity assay. Ascorbic acid was used as the standard. Anti-diabetic properties of T. violacea were assessed using an α- amylase inhibition assay and an α- glucosidase inhibition assay. Acarbose was used as the standard for these assays. The anti-Alzheimer properties of T. violacea leaf extracts was determined using and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition assay. Donepezil was used as the standard for this assay. The DPPH radical scavenging activity, the α- amylase inhibition assay, the α- glucosidase inhibition assay and the AChE inhibition assay was combined with linear regression to determine the IC50 values of the T. violacea extracts and the standards. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine any differences between the plant samples and the standards as well as any differences between the EC and GP sample. Results: The results of the qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of saponins, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, steroids, cardiac glycosides and phenolic compounds present in T. violacea collected from EC and GP. However, their presence in the samples were different based on where the plant was cultivated. The results of the total phenolic content test, revealed that the hexane, acetone and methanol extracts of T. violacea contained phenolic compounds with the highest quantity of phenolic compounds being present in the methanol extracts. Significant statistical difference in total phenolic content between the EC and GP samples were seen for the hexane and methanol extracts. The results of the TLC revealed the presence of multiple bands which confirmed the presence of multiple phytochemicals in T. violacea. All of the extracts of T. violacea from EC and GP, showed antioxidant activity using both the dot-plot and the DPPH radical scavenging activity assay. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity was seen by the hexane extract of the EC sample of T. violacea. The results showed significant statistical difference between the DPPH radical scavenging activity of the EC and GP samples.Thesis (Msc (Pharmacy)) -- Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmacy, 202
Exploring outdoor mathematics learning for conceptual understanding through smartphones
Get PDFThis study investigated how selected grade 11 mathematics learners used smartphones with the MathCityMap application to learn trigonometry outdoors for conceptual understanding. The aim of this research project was to explore outdoor mathematics learning for conceptual understanding using smartphones. This case study of grade 11 mathematics learners in Lejweleputswa District in the Free State Province, was informed by the Realistic Mathematics Education theory. The study is grounded within an interpretive paradigm and used the explanatory sequential mixed-method design. Forty-two grade 11 mathematics learners participated in the survey and from these 12 were purposively selected to participate in walking the mathematics trails and interviews. The findings revealed that, while the grade 11 mathematics learners acknowledged the significance and value of using smartphones for learning mathematics, they were prohibited from carrying or using smartphones on the school premises, as part of the school code of conduct. The preferred use of smartphones for learning mathematics was understandable, as the survey was conducted at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions were still in place. The survey unearthed that among applications for learning mathematics, the MathCityMap application was not known by the learners who participated in the survey. Mathematics trails observations indicated that outdoor tasks were a source of mathematical concepts or formal mathematical knowledge, and enabled learners to reinvent mathematical ideas and concepts with adult guidance. Learners were able to make use of appropriate mathematical models and connections. The mathematics trails ignited robust discussions among learners, and prompted learners to draw from prior knowledge, and recognise and identify suitable mathematical models and shapes from the real-world objects. Learners were able to use multiple representations, make necessary mathematical links, and use their prior knowledge to enhance their trigonometry conceptual understanding. This study concluded that using smartphones with the MathCityMap application could enhance conceptual understanding of trigonometry. The implications for teachers are that learners should be exposed to outdoor mathematics learning using smartphones with the MathCityMap application to improve their conceptual understanding. It is hoped that the results of this study can be used by various stakeholders, who include, inter alia, mathematics subject advisors and teacher training institutions, to enhance learners’ conceptual understanding of mathematics.Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post School Education, 202
A revised checklist of extant freshwater fishes of the Zambezian Lowveld Ecoregion, with taxonomic revision of the lowveld largescale yellowfish, Labeobarbus marequensis
No full textAccess restricted. Expected release in 2025.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 202
Effects of household debt on economic growth in South Africa
Get PDFSouth Africa’s household debt relative to GDP has risen rapidly over the past decade. There is concern that high levels of household debt may decrease spending in the future and hence in the long run slow down economic growth. Thus, this study investigates the impact of household debt on growth in South Africa from 1987Q3 to 2022Q1. The research draws upon first-generation theories which include the absolute income hypothesis, life cycle hypothesis, and permanent income hypothesis, and second-generation theories which include the neo-Kaleckian model, the Super multiplier model, and the Steindl model. The impact of this relationship is assessed using a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, with a Toda-Yamamoto modification for some regressions. It is discovered that household debt has a positive short-term influence on economic growth, however, the influence is weak, and it decreases in the long run. Types of household debt such as credit card debt have shown to have a positive and strong influence on economic growth in South Africa from the short run to the long run, however, mortgage debt has shown weak positive influence on economic growth from the short 105 run to the long run. The study found that the growth maximizing ratios for household debt to 106 GDP ratio is 70 percent. The growth maximising credit card debt level is ZAR 72 403, in nominal terms and for mortgage debt is ZAR 5 980 000. The findings are expected to assist policymakers such as central banks and government authorities in formulating relevant policies to ensure economic sustainability through macro-prudential policy and strategies for household debt management.Thesis (MEcon) -- Faculty of Commerce, Economics and Economic History, 202