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Felix Almaraz, Author and Teacher, "The Tragic Calvalier."(photograph)
No full textPhotograph of Felix Almaraz, Author and Teacher, "The Tragic Calvalier."
Demystifying research methods: everyday experiences as socio-cultural co(n)texts for effective research methods in teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning in Africa
Get PDFThe aim of the paper is to demonstrate how everyday knowledge can be incorporated into the classroom practices of institutions of higher learning to inform inclusive outcomes for linguistically and culturally diverse students. Using a metaphor of a marketer’s everyday interrogation of market conditions, a postgraduate guide to proposal writing and the funds of knowledge socio-cultural framework, we illustrate how forms of everyday and school knowledge can be used concurrently in the construction of socially responsive dialogic pedagogy. We argue for scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) in the South in which knowledge and theory generation is not a preserve of English only, but more so, of the complex interactions between English and the multiplicity of languages that students bring to the classroom. We conclude that SOTL in the South needs to be founded on the transfiguration of everyday knowledge and formal academic knowledge to facilitate the production of new and more powerful knowledge in multicultural postcolonial society. This would allow for inclusive pedagogy that caters for diversity in classrooms, and activity-based teaching and learning, networking students’ experiential, community/home and formal academic knowledge in the construction of new and powerful knowledge.
How to cite this article:
BANDA, Felix; BANDA, Dennis. Demystifying research methods: everyday experiences as socio-cultural co(n)texts for effective research methods in teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning in Africa. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 60-77, sep. 2017. Available at: <http://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=13>. Date accessed: 12 sep. 2017.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
From monolingual to translanguaging classroom practice at two Delft primary schools
No full textMagister Artium - MATerminology such as mother tongue, first language and second language remain prevalent in South African schools� language policies. These monolingual terms seem out of place within our multilingual landscape (Banda, 2018). With the emergence of the concept of translanguaging (Garcia, 2009, 2014; Banda, 2018), the linguistic practices that people of the Western Cape (and elsewhere in South Africa) have now been legitimised as a useful communicative tool within multilingual spaces. Despite research showing the advantages of using translanguaging in classrooms to enhance comprehension (Banda, 2018), language policies remain monolingual in nature. By conducting research at two schools in Delft, Western Cape, I am able to show how learners and teachers defy the monolingual structure of the language policy, by translanguaging, to make learning and teaching more comprehensible. Using Heller�s (2007) concept of language as social practice, it becomes apparent how learners become social actors within the classroom, by languaging to make meaning. In addition to looking at classroom practices, I use supplementary data, an analysis of the school�s language policy, observations of and commentary on linguistic practices outside of the classroom, to further support the idea that school�s confinement of language is incongruous with the language practices in the area. Finally, I propose that translanguaging be legitimised as classroom practice and teaching materials also be adapted likewise, by producing trilingual posters, showing Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa terms, for the Western Cape
From monolingual to translanguaging classroom practice at two Delft primary schools
Get PDFMagister Artium - MATerminology such as mother tongue, first language and second language remain prevalent in South African schools’ language policies. These monolingual terms seem out of place within our multilingual landscape (Banda, 2018). With the emergence of the concept of translanguaging (Garcia, 2009, 2014; Banda, 2018), the linguistic practices that people of the Western Cape (and elsewhere in South Africa) have now been legitimised as a useful communicative tool within multilingual spaces. Despite research showing the advantages of using translanguaging in classrooms to enhance comprehension (Banda, 2018), language policies remain monolingual in nature. By conducting research at two schools in Delft, Western Cape, I am able to show how learners and teachers defy the monolingual structure of the language policy, by translanguaging, to make learning and teaching more comprehensible. Using Heller’s (2007) concept of language as social practice, it becomes apparent how learners become social actors within the classroom, by languaging to make meaning. In addition to looking at classroom practices, I use supplementary data, an analysis of the school’s language policy, observations of and commentary on linguistic practices outside of the classroom, to further support the idea that school’s confinement of language is incongruous with the language practices in the area. Finally, I propose that translanguaging be legitimised as classroom practice and teaching materials also be adapted likewise, by producing trilingual posters, showing Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa terms, for the Western Cape
Parents’ assets and child marriage: are mother’s assets more protective than father’s assets?
No full textChild marriage places girls at an increased risk for dropping out of school early, sexually transmitted infections, teenage childbirth, and accompanying childbirth complications, including maternal mortality. The determinants of child marriage are not clearly understood, which hinders efforts to mount effective interventions. This study examined the link between economic resources and child marriage by investigating whether maternal and paternal asset ownership were longitudinally associated with daughters’ child marriage in Ethiopia. Drawing upon household bargaining theory, it was hypothesized that maternal assets would be more protective of daughters’ child marriage than paternal assets. Data for 4,293 girls from the nationally representative Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey, fielded in 2011 and 2014, were employed. Logistic regression and instrumental variable analyses were used to examine the relationship between transition into child marriage during the study period and maternal and paternal assets, controlling for child-, family-, and community-level characteristics. Results show that a one standard deviation increase in mother’s assets was associated with 37–53% lower odds of daughter’s child marriage whereas a one standard deviation increase in paternal asset holdings was associated with 0–37% higher odds of daughter’s child marriage. Effects were strongest in regions where the dominant mode of marriage payments is bride price. These results suggest that the link between economic resources and child marriage depends on the gender of the parent who owns the resources. This study also highlights the interconnectedness of two targets of the gender equality Sustainable Development Goal—improvement of women’s ownership of assets and the elimination of child marriage—and suggests that the realization of one gender equality target could have implications for other targets.Peer reviewe
Disability among children of immigrants from India and China: is there excess disability among girls?
No full textWe investigate whether there is excess morbidity among daughters of Indian or Chinese immigrants in the US by studying the prevalence of disability among children. We use data from the 2012–14 American Community Surveys on approximately 20,000 US-born children of Indian and Chinese immigrants. Children of US natives are used as a comparison group to account for innate differences in disability between the sexes. Results indicate that there is excess disability among daughters compared with sons among children of Chinese immigrants and children of immigrants from northern or western Indian states; this excess disability declines with younger age at arrival or longer exposure to the host country. Analysis using children of Filipino immigrants as an alternative comparison group yields similar excess disability rates for females.Peer reviewe
Effect of Food Subsidies on Micronutrient Consumption
No full textIn this article, we study the effect of an exogenous increase in wheat and rice price subsidy to poor families resulting from a targeted food price subsidy program in India called the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) on micronutrient intake in low-income families. Descriptive results show that wheat and rice have one of the lowest micronutrient density scores, suggesting that these are poor suppliers of micronutrients. Empirical analysis suggests that the increase in subsidy amount of Rs. 15-18 resulting from the TPDS expansion lowered calcium intake by 12-14 percent and had negligible to small (often negative) effects on the consumption of most micronutrients.Peer reviewe
Sex composition of children and spousal sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textObjective
In societies with a cultural preference for sons over daughters, women who do not bear sons may be at increased risk for spousal violence. This study examined whether women with daughters only are at an elevated risk for spousal sexual violence compared to women with sons only in sub-Saharan Africa. The study tested the hypothesis that the association between sex composition of children and spousal sexual violence would be observed only in large families.
Methods
Data were from the most recent (as at February, 2016) Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 22 sub-Saharan African countries for 37,915 women. Odds ratios comparing experience of spousal sexual violence of women with sons only to those with daughters only were estimated, separately for women with three or fewer children and those with four or more children, controlling for age, age at first cohabitation, age at first birth, educational attainment, urban residence, and household wealth.
Results
Having daughters only was associated with a greater likelihood of spousal sexual violence among women with many children (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.02–2.30) but not among those with few children (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.82–1.04).
Conclusions for practice
A higher risk of sexual violence for women without sons suggests that son preference may have implications on women’s health and wellbeing. Efforts to further understand and address increased risk of sexual violence for women without sons should consider son preference and intra-couple conflict concerning fertility intentions.Peer reviewe
Culture, labor supply, and fertility across immigrant generations in the United States
No full textRecent immigration to the United States and other developed nations has increasingly been from countries that have relatively traditional gender norms. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey for 2000–14 to investigate how source-country gender norms influence the labor supply and fertility of married women across immigrant generations in the US. It finds that immigrants’ and descendants’ labor supply and fertility are associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio and total fertility rate in the source country; importantly, the association declines across successive generations. Husbands’ source-country characteristics are also associated with the labor supply and fertility of immigrant women. These findings indicate evolution and assimilation of traditional gender norms in the long run.Peer reviewe
The genome and proteome of a virulent Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteriophage closely resembling Salmonella phage Felix O1
No full textBased upon whole genome and proteome analysis, Escherichia coli O157:H7-specific bacteriophage (phage) wV8 belongs to the new myoviral genus, "the Felix O1-like viruses" along with Salmonella phage Felix O1 and Erwinia amylovora phage φEa21-4. The genome characteristics of phage wV8 (size 88.49 kb, mol%G+C 38.9, 138 ORFs, 23 tRNAs) are very similar to those of phage Felix O1 (86.16 kb, 39.0 mol%G+C, 131 ORFs and 22 tRNAs) and, indeed most of the proteins have their closest homologs within Felix O1. Approximately one-half of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 mutants resistant to phage wV8 still serotype as O157:H7 indicating that this phage may recognize, like coliphage T4, two different surface receptors: lipopolysaccharide and, perhaps, an outer membrane protein
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