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Background: PIRLS 2021 results revealed that South African Grade 4 learners performed significantly lower compared to other countries in reading comprehension and that they did not reach the standardised international mean score of 500. It was also evident from the results that English learners performed relatively higher than isiZulu learners. Objective: This study was initiated to investigate whether possible measurement invariance can help explain the difference in the scores of English and isiZulu learners. Measurement invariance is concerned with the metric and functional equivalence of the items in the two languages examined. Method: A quantitative approach was utilised to reanalyse the PIRLS 2021 numerical data sets. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the mean and raw scores. Rasch analysis was conducted to look for any Differential Item Function (DIF) in the items. Results: Statistics revealed that there is a significant difference in the mean scores of the two languages. Analysis of raw scores provided evidence that some of the items lacked metric equivalence. Rasch analysis displayed that some of the items lacked functional equivalence. Conclusions: The significant difference found in the scores implies that Grade 4 learners need more attention mastering the skill of reading literacy. The lack of metric and functional equivalence suggests that items in the passages need to be investigated and improved. Contributions: This study has contributed to the International Large-Scale Assessment literature specifically relating to the equivalence of ILSA across languages. A significant gap in the learners' scores was identified and measurement invariance helped explain the gap in the learners' reading scores.

Background: Language analytic ability is well researched in the context of foreign language acquisition but its role in the acquisition of grammar in the native language is under investigation. Objectives: Our study explored the influence of language analytic ability and print exposure on receptive grammar and reading comprehension in childhood. Additionally, we investigated whether exposure to specific constructions through the written modality held an advantage over exposure in the audio modality. Method: We assessed the language analytic ability, reading comprehension, reading fluency, print exposure, and receptive grammar of 12-year-olds. Subsequently, we exposed them to written or spoken target constructions, followed by an assessment of receptive grammar. Linear regression models were used to analyse the contributions of reading fluency, print exposure, and language analytic ability to reading comprehension and receptive grammar. We also examined the influence of the intervention on receptive grammar. Results: Language analytic ability and print exposure significantly predicted receptive grammar. Print exposure significantly predicted reading comprehension and improvement in receptive grammar. Conclusion: Language analytic ability is important for grammar and reading comprehension development. Print exposure enhances reading comprehension by supporting vocabulary development and providing exposure to intricate structures. Both language analytic ability and experience are key factors in construction acquisition. Contribution: This study adds to the growing body of evidence emphasising the role of language analytic skills in native language grammar acquisition and advocates for explicit grammar teaching. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of adequate print exposure in grammar acquisition and the development of reading comprehension skills.

Background: The use of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and delivery of Physical Education (PE) concerning time allocation, resources and number of learners per class is crucial for optimal delivery to the intermediate-phase (IP) learner. Aim: This study aimed to determine the gap between the understanding and the interpretation of the content and requirements of the CAPS document, and the delivery of PE in the IP, in selected public schools in the Alberton region of Gauteng province, South Africa. Setting: Alberton, a suburb of Johannesburg, was identified. This geographical area was divided into four segments. Two primary schools from each segment were purposefully selected according to the quintile levels. Methods: A mixed method of data gathering was used. Questionnaires were administered and focus-group discussions (FGDs) were held. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling method. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analysed using direct quotes and themes. Results: The findings are in line with the results of the South African Universities Physical Education Association (SAUPEA) National Research Project in that teachers require further training on the interpretation of the CAPS document. Aspects of the CAPS document cannot be executed because of time allocation, class size, and a lack of resources and equipment. Conclusion: To adhere to the expectations of the CAPS document, the use of available facilities, equipment, number of learners per class, and time allocation in PE need improvement. Contribution: Enriching the PE curriculum through collaborating with stakeholders in local communities and governmental support.

Background: Physical, financial, social and emotional demands placed on caregivers caring for their children with severe intellectual disabilities (CWSID) could lead to high levels of burden. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the potential level of burden experienced by South African caregivers and aimed to identify possible contributing risk factors for increased levels of caregiver burden. Setting: Online and community parent support groups. Methods: This quantitative survey design study utilised data from 218 South African caregivers of CWSID. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Family is the main support for 67% of participants. Results: Moderate to severe levels of caregiver burden were reported. No definite links between potentially contributing demographic risk factors and the overall level of caregiver burden were found. Caregivers of CWSID need to receive the required support from an early stage in the child's diagnosis to decrease potential caregiver burden and improve quality of life (QoL). Conclusion: Implications on intervention and prevention practices could inform the creation and implementation of a protocol to avert increased caregiver burden. Future research could be conducted to determine the implications of intervention towards CWSID and their family to decrease caregiver burden. Contribution: The study provided insight into the burden experienced by caregivers of CWSID. This is in line with the journal as it further proves how vulnerable CWSID are and the support they should be receiving from professionals.

Background: Despite extensive research on the specific learning disorder (developmental dyslexia) -- SLD (DD), many fallacies still cause confusion amongst professionals worldwide. These myths involve the characteristics, diagnoses and treatment of SLD (DD) and should be eradicated. Aim: The authors aimed to determine the knowledge, needs and perspectives of South African professionals working with children with SLD (DD). Setting: A mixed-methods research design was implemented. Methods: A survey study was carried out and a sample of 108 respondents was obtained. The respondents include speech-language therapists (SLTs), occupational therapists (OTs) and psychologists. Results: Speech-language therapists and psychologists displayed better knowledge about the facts of SLD (DD), compared to OTs. Their knowledge levels were, however, not significantly affected by existing misconceptions surrounding the condition. The fallacy that SLD (DD) is caused by a visual impairment is still believed. An investigation into the professionals' perspectives regarding the identification of SLD (DD) suggested that South African psychologists were the most confident of their ability to identify characteristics. Nonetheless, all professionals reported not being convinced of their ability to provide a differential diagnosis of the disorder. Statements regarding management highlighted the uncertainties about the importance of addressing phonological awareness skills in treatment. Additional training needs were also identified as SLTs, OTs and psychologists generally feel unprepared to assess and treat SLD (DD). Conclusion: The differences identified amongst professional groups were related to the knowledge of the facts and characteristics of SLD (DD) and the ability to identify and manage the condition. Additional training needs should be addressed. Contribution: The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the NRF for partially funding the publication of this article.

The study is an analysis of the reaction of students in a faculty of natural and agricultural sciences (NAS) to subtitles and also includes an investigation of their responses thereto. Reception of and responses to academic English (close to verbatim transcription), plain English, and keyword English subtitles were explored by showing participants subtitled videos related to the content of their module. Participants were then asked to complete demographic and affective questionnaires, and participated in focus group interviews to investigate their reception of the various subtitles. The results show that participants responded particularly well to plain English subtitles. The focus group interviews indicated that they found all three sets of subtitles useful for note-taking purposes, adjusting the speed at which they accessed and processed information by pausing the videos, highlighting important information in the study materials, and being able to engage aurally and visually with the materials. From a higher education perspective, this emphasises students' readiness for subtitles as an academic mediation tool. Contribution: This article aims to fill existing gaps in the fulfilment of higher education institutions' language policies, which have been exposed by the thrust for multilingualism in higher education. Research into academic subtitling as an academic mediation tool can be used to bridge this gap, thereby supporting innovative research in higher education.

In South Africa, as is globally, many people struggle with the challenges which emanate from developmental dyslexia (DD). It is thus important for educators to have adequate knowledge and a positive mindset regarding DD and the management thereof in the school context. One such important method of management is the accommodation of these learners in mainstream class. The quantitative survey study reported on here was aimed at determining the perspectives of educators in 2 private schools in the Tshwane South District, Gauteng, South Africa, regarding the knowledge of, attitude towards, and management of accommodations for learners with DD. We implemented a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey research approach where a self-administered questionnaire was administered after purposive sampling. Results indicate that the respondents, regardless of their qualifications, gender, or years of teaching experience, had limited knowledge of DD, but with a generally positive attitude towards inclusion and management of these learners. Furthermore, it was found that educators had an awareness of the terminology related to the accommodations that the education department granted these learners with DD. However, they were uncertain about the perceived path and nature of accommodations provided to learners. Specific details and related recommendations were explored.

This study investigates South African teachers' attitudes in schools for learners with special educational needs specifically learners with severe intellectual disability (SID) using a quantitative and descriptive online survey. The questionnaire includes the Modified Teachers' Attitudes Scale. The theory of planned behaviour is used as an explanatory model to explore why teachers may have difficulty with their role in supporting the educational needs of learners with SID. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit teachers which are on Facebook support groups. The results based on the feedback from 221 teachers, reveal that teachers possess negative attitudes regarding the communication, socialisation, and future outcomes of learners with SID. Teachers revealed positive attitudes towards inclusion and their capabilities when teaching learners with SID. A neutral attitude was obtained towards these learners' participation needs. The article concludes with the importance of teacher education on the nature and manifestations of the disorder to provide realistic expectations within the classroom. An additional recommendation is made addressing the management of schools requesting to fortify the use of inclusive practice and place value on input from teachers.

In this qualitative article, we argue that marginalized spaces in historically disadvantaged school settings, such as in the case of a marginalized group of people, an out-group in the South African society, can become counter-spaces of comfort and nurturance. Spaces in historically disadvantaged communities are usually perceived in the dominant discourse as locations of deficiencies. We use Critical Race Theory and Latina/Latino Critical Theory framework (CRT and LatCrit) to contest dominant ideologies; especially the historically disadvantaged who often display human agency and transformational resistance. In addition, through the framework of Edupreneurial leadership theory we set out to explore how school practices incorporate cultural forms of knowledge, balancing the external and internal functions of the school to realize a conducive environment for effective school development. Fifteen participants were chosen through purposeful sampling and snowballing from five different schools in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate data from different sets of participants; then analyzed where various themes crystallized responding to the research questions. The findings foreground the way in which historically disadvantaged learners' home lives, community initiatives and particular school practices lead strategies of resistance to challenge oppressive structures.

Vestibular input (VI) activities are linked with skill learning, engagement, and communication. This study investigated the influence of VI activities on the responses of non-verbal children with autism spectrum disorders (CWASD) when prompted to request a reinforcer using picture exchange communication. A single subject alternating treatment design was implemented. Three participants were selected from a classroom supporting non-verbal CWASD. Baseline data points were collected over a 1-week period followed by treatment phase where three data points were collected over a 4-week period. Participants engaged in VI activities or a control activity prior to a picture exchange communication activity. Data were documented by a professional panel. Data analysis included visual and statistical analyses. Participants' responses increased significantly after receiving VI. An immediate effect was identified. This finding holds value for educators and therapists aiming to increase the consistency and pace of responding and skill learning in CWASD. Participants responded differently to the two treatments. The findings hold value for therapists and educators to support responsiveness and skill learning to aid communication in CWASD. Interdisciplinary collaboration between occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists is highlighted.

Background: The use of mobile health (mHealth) technology is rapidly expanding in healthcare worldwide. mHealth tools may provide parents with access to resources essential for promoting language development. Aim: The current study aimed to determine how an mHealth parental resource influenced 42 preschool children's (4.0-5.11 months old) language abilities after a 17-week intervention period. Setting: Participants were identified from six early childhood development (ECD) centres from a low-income community in Tshwane, South Africa. Method: A randomised controlled trial (RCT), pre-test post-test research design was employed to determine whether an mHealth parental resource influenced 42 preschool children's (4.0-5.11 months old) language abilities after a 17-week intervention period. Data were collected using the language subtests of a South African standardised protocol, the Emergent Literacy and Language Assessment Protocol (ELLA). Results: The parental mHealth application targeting language stimulation did not significantly improve the experimental group's language outcomes when compared with the control group because most of the parents (n = 27) used the application for less than 20% of the active days. Conclusion: Providing parents with more support with mobile resources may lead to improved usage of the application.

After many educational reforms over the past 2 decades, South Africa is still 1 of the lowest performing countries in terms of literacy outcomes. Despite an increased access to early childhood education programmes, more than half of Grade R learners will enter Grade 1 without the required skills to master reading. Clearly, systemic interventions are not working. Against this background, a family literacy programme was launched with the aim to improve home-school partnerships, build capacity for teachers to work with parents and to provide parents with the information and support they need to strengthen literacy learning in the home. The study reported on here was based on the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory as well as Fullan's theory of action as a theory of change. An action research design and qualitative techniques of data collection were used for programme implementation, but the study was planned and evaluated against Fullan's theory of change. The Wordworks Home-School Partnerships programme was selected for implementation and a children's component was designed to accommodate the young children of participating families. A multicultural, independent primary school situated in Pretoria, South Africa, was selected through a combination of purposeful and convenience sampling. Data were gathered from parents, children and teacher-facilitators during parallel sessions using multiple techniques and were analysed according to qualitative principles. The article concludes with a critical engagement between the anticipated findings of the study and the literature on theories of educational change to indicate how family literacy programmes can bring about improved literacy outcomes.

Despite women's increased participation in academic employment patterns, a global gender gap on senior leadership in universities remains. This mixed methods study explores toxic leadership as a potential contributing factor to the gender gap on senior management levels in universities in South Africa. The Schmidt Toxic Leadership Scale (2008) is used to collect data for the quantitative component, while open-ended questions regarding women's experiences with toxic leaders guided the qualitative component. The quantitative findings suggest that the women surveyed experience high levels of toxic leadership. The qualitative findings advance understandings of women leaders' perception and experience of toxic leadership in the higher education landscape of South Africa. The triangulation of the findings reveals that the personal characteristics and behaviors of toxic leaders in universities conform with the literature on toxic leadership. The multiple toxic behaviors of leaders identified in this study could cause serious and enduring harm for women and universities in South Africa. Since toxic leadership has proven to lead to various distressing outcomes, a disconcerting conclusion of the study is that it impedes women's advancement. The article concludes with recommendations for future research and actions to mitigate workplace toxicity.

Background: Information and communication technology (ICT) reading interventions can help children with reading difficulties, especially those in resource-constrained environments who otherwise might not have support. Objectives: (1) Provide an overview of ICT reading interventions used globally with primary school children. (2) Provide further information on the subset of studies conducted in majority world countries, describing the interventions used, their impact on reading and challenges faced. Method: A scoping review was used with a search strategy that yielded a total of 49 studies for inclusion in the main review (Objective 1), and a subset of five studies undertaken in the majority world (Objective 2). Results: Most published studies (93.88%, 46 studies) demonstrated positive outcomes of ICT reading interventions on learners' reading. Well-researched programmes with demonstrated effectiveness included GraphoGame, ABRACADABRA, Reading RACES and Chassymo. Only five studies (10.2%) were conducted in the majority world, but all reported in this subset described positive literacy gains through ABRACADABRA and GraphoGame. Conclusion: There is a growing evidence base of ICT reading interventions that could be helpful in addressing the reading crisis in South Africa. Programmes such as ABRACADABRA and GraphoGame demonstrate effectiveness in a variety of contexts and may have a role to play in addressing the reading challenges faced by children in South Africa. Contribution: The review highlighted evidence supporting the use of ICT reading interventions. Evidence of such approaches in South Africa (and other majority world countries) remains limited and requires further evaluation of both existing and innovative, locally developed interventions.

Background: Phonological awareness (PA) skills and working memory (WM) are universally regarded as crucial precursors to skilled reading. The orthography of the language being read influences the ease with which a child learns to read. Research has been undertaken on reading in languages with an opaque orthography. Research on the role of PA and WM in Afrikaans with its transparent orthography is limited. Aim: The study investigated and described the role of WM in the acquisition of PA and ultimately reading in Afrikaans. Setting: The research study was conducted in private schools with Afrikaans as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in Grade 2. Method: A descriptive research design with correlational components was applied. Results: Phonetic decoding was employed more than eidetic decoding. Word reading skills developed rapidly and exceeded the expectations in the first two quarters of the year. Participants who read the comprehension test fluently scored higher on the questions than those who did not read fluently. The correlation between WM and reading comprehension was not statistically significant. The statistically significant correlation between WM and word reading seems to be present in both transparent and opaque orthographies. The statistically significant correlation between PA and word reading was not found in other transparent orthographies. The correlation between phonemic awareness (PhA) and word reading is the same in other orthographies. Conclusion: The statistically significant correlation between WM and word reading indicates that WM supports reading development as the ability to hold information in memory supports phoneme-grapheme associations.

University campuses are spaces not only for self-reflection and critique but also where asymmetrical power relations create experiences of exclusion and marginalisation for many students. Within the complexity of such spaces, transformative opportunities are opened up for student agency and agentic actions. This qualitative article uses a narrative approach to explore how two students used transformative opportunities to question and challenge institutional culture. Data were generated through reflective exercises and semi-structured interviews, spread over four years. Through reflection and storytelling, the students used agentic actions to realise their roles as change agents working towards inclusivity. In drawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory and critical emancipatory theory, we foreground how a reflection on past experiences, engagement with present judgements and an imagined future enable agentic actions. The study illustrates the importance of student agency in raising critical awareness and the challenging of oppressive practices.

The topic of resources for learning mathematics commonly becomes of interest during times of disruption and rapid change in education. The considerable research on undergraduate mathematics students' resource use largely focuses on learning resources in the form of material technologies and texts. Concerned that contemporary decisions about resourcing for learning in mathematics may take the form of simply adding material resources, we identify the need for research that is designed around a broader notion of learning resource, and which focuses on what resources students use, as well as how they use multiple resources individually and together towards accessing mathematics. Thus, in our qualitative study of undergraduate mathematics students' resource use, we adopt a socio-cultural notion of resources as material, human, spatial, temporal and linguistic, and of resource use as transparent. We investigate six students' resource use, reported in weekly learning logs and focus group interviews. We show that students used material technologies and texts, and human and linguistic resources in three spaces -- the live lecture, informal study and tutorial -- with study time available for mathematics central to their choice of resources and how they used them. How students put these multiple resources to work (or not) towards accessing mathematics involved complex, agentic, individual work. Students' use of the lecturer's writing on the chalkboard, talk and gestures to make lecture notes in the live lecture is an example of this. Our findings offer insights into how lecturers can select learning resources, and also support students to use these towards accessing mathematics.

Background: Since the beginning of the new democratic era of 1994 in South Africa, human rights and values concerns have been placed on the forefront of educational research to respond to the needs of the South Africa's Constitution as well as the intentions of public school curricula. It is believed that qualified physical education teachers can address the fading of values and recession of morals in schools by promoting value-based education into their physical education lessons to provide a holistic approach to learning. Aim: This article aims to identify the values that pre-service teachers deem are important to be taught at school. Setting: The study was conducted in the Gauteng Province. Methods: A questionnaire was employed to collect quantitative data (close-ended questions) and qualitative data (open-ended questions) from all final year BEd physical education students (n = 68). Results: Sixty-eight values were identified: respect (n = 47), honesty/integrity (n = 23) and courage/perseverance/determination (n = 25) were ranked as the three values these teachers considered as important for inclusion in a physical education curriculum. Conclusion: These pre-service physical education teachers indicated that learners could learn core values and basic human rights in a conducive and safe learning environment by employing role-play, games and modelling as the main strategies to infuse values in their physical education lessons.

Background: Physical Education (PE) is a fundamental cornerstone for childhood development as it promotes lifelong participation in physical activities for holistic health. School educators play a key role in creating school environments that lead to developmentally appropriate and high-quality PE lessons. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine educators' perceptions on the state and status of PE in selected public primary schools in all nine provinces of South Africa. Setting: Data were collected on the campus of the selected primary schools within 150 km of a university. In the absence of a university within the stated radius, an airport was used as an initiated point of departure. Methods: The mixed-methods approach (quantitative: questionnaires and qualitative: semistructured interviews and focus group discussions) was used to collect data. The purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of percentages, and presented using graphs and tables. Qualitative data were analysed using themes. Results: The findings revealed that the educators from quintile 4 and 5 schools especially are of the opinion that challenges, such as a lack of resources, qualified PE specialist educators, and facilities and equipment negatively affected the delivery of PE at their schools. Conclusion: Participants perceived that there are varying contextual and socio-economic school settings affecting the delivery of PE in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum. The researcher recommends that all learners have access to the adequate provision of PE programmes.

Background: Literacy achievement of learners is a concern in many developing countries, particularly for English second language (EL2) learners with inadequate language development. It is important to investigate foundational phonological awareness (PA), as well as speech perception skills to guide the development of effective intervention for EL2 learners to facilitate optimal literacy acquisition. Objectives: The study aimed to describe the PA and speech perception in noise skills of South African Grade 1, EL2 participants, learning in an English first language (EL1) context, to inform evidence-based support during literacy acquisition for EL2 learners. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive design was employed. Twenty-five EL1 participants provided normative results for the Phonological Awareness Test -- 2 and "South African English Digits-in-Noise Test," enabling between-group comparisons with 25 matched EL2 participants for quantitative data analysis. Demographic and background information was obtained using parental questionnaires. Results: The EL2 learners presented with PA skills below those of EL1 learners in all subtests. Though the speech perception in noise skills of EL2 learners were within the normative range for their age, their skills are also lower in comparison to EL1 learners. Conclusion: The findings support the inclusion of explicit PA instruction for rhyming, segmentation, isolation, deletion, substitution, and blending for EL2 literacy acquisition. Developing speech perception in noise skills is necessary to facilitate PA and phonemegrapheme knowledge. This can enable decoding for early EL2 literacy acquisition.

This study investigated the correlation and predictive capacity of verbal working memory (VWM) to the reading comprehension of children in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). The term verbal working memory refers to a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold and manipulate verbal and auditory information temporarily. A sub-aim was to investigate the contribution of L2 linguistic knowledge in L2 reading comprehension. Sixty-three Grade 3 South African children completed a reading comprehension test and VWM assessment (forward span, backward span, and sentence repetition tasks). L2 participants completed a receptive language assessment to delineate whether their linguistic knowledge (L2 vocabulary and grammar knowledge) would be more predictive of L2 reading comprehension in comparison with VWM. Regression and correlation analyses revealed that VWM is not predictive of L1 or L2 reading comprehension. L2 linguistic knowledge, however, significantly correlates with L2 comprehension and VWM capacity, although it is not a significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension. Our findings suggest that reading in an L2 is a multidimensional skill in which no single isolated variable can account for good versus poor reading comprehension.

Concerns have been expressed that although learners may solve linear equations correctly they cannot draw on mathematically valid resources to explain their solutions or use their strategies in unfamiliar situations. This article provides a detailed qualitative analysis of the thinking of 15 Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners as they talk about their solutions to linear equations in interviews. The article stems from a study that describes whether learners use mathematically endorsable narratives to explain and justify their solutions. Sfard's theory of commognition is used to develop a framework for analysis of their discourse. The findings show that all learners use ritualised rather than explorative discourse, characterised by applying strict rules to operations with disobjectified entities. The only mathematical objects they produce endorsed narratives about are positive integers. Thus they do not meet the relevant curriculum requirements. Nevertheless, the analytic tools -- adapted from Sfard specifically for the study of linear equations -- give a particularly nuanced account of differences in the learners' ritualised discourse. For example, some learners used endorsed narratives about negative integers, algebraic terms and the structure of an equation when prompted by the interviewer. There is not sufficient evidence to suggest that any learners are in transition to explorative discourse. However, the article shows that learner discourse is a rich resource for teachers to understand the extent to which learners are thinking exploratively, and offers suggestions for how their thinking can be shifted. This is an opportunity for teacher professional development and further research.

Background: South Africa's participation across a number of international large-scale assessment programmes provides continued evidence of poor student achievement across grades and phases. Despite discouraging achievement results, evidence of slow progress begins to emerge, yet systemic inequalities persist. Aim: This article aims to unpack the possible value of large-scale assessment data in measuring equal educational opportunity as conceptualised by the opportunity to learn (OTL). Setting: While overall scores on international large-scale assessment in countries like South Africa are often driven by aptitude, student motivation and social class, OTL, as described in this article, should provide a more accurate reflection of the nature of performance and the kinds of opportunities afforded to students across an unequal sector to learn. Methods: A multiple linear regression was conducted using the South African PIRLS 2016 teacher and student questionnaire data and the PIRLS Literacy Grade 4 overall reading literacy performance score as the dependent variable. Results: While socio economic status makes a substantial contribution in the current model, the only predictor that was significant is the scale based on student reports on lessons about reading. Conclusion: Through the use of multiple regression analysis, this article concludes that a more effective use of large-scale assessment data from an OTL perspective, specifically in developing contexts, is still problematic using teacher and student questionnaire data. Issues of social desirability and overly positive reporting make any claims about the teachers' role in providing opportunities to learn and exposure to the curriculum in the classroom difficult to gauge.

This article presents a diffractive arts-based narrative that results from a re-turn of our work with subjectivity and memory in relation to our involvement with teaching social justice and diversity in education. Through intra-action, we explore the entanglement of subjectivity and memory in working towards different possibilities for more response-active social justice curricula and pedagogy. The concept of nested-time informs our diffractive narrative as we engage with our experiences and becomings in a non-linear and collaborative way. We use the concept of shared responsibility as an intermezzo to memories of discomfort, emotions of guilt, self-doubt, messiness, frustration, and complexity and the way these might help us to think and act differently. The diffractive memory-stories thus create possibilities for response-activeness as we imagine new responses and actions against social injustices and sufferings in our classrooms and in our communities.

In this article, the authors propose a set of multi-level questions as a guide for developing an ethical attitude in researcher--participant and researcher--researcher relations during the research writing process. Drawing on the sociopolitical turn in mathematics education, the authors view these relations in terms of power and positionings, in the dialectic between the micro-level of research writing and the wider, macro-level context of mathematics education. The authors illustrate the use of the proposed questions through a back-and-forth dialogue. The dialogue draws on experiences from a writing collaboration in which the authors--"the researchers"--wrote up for publication research conducted in their respective contexts of the Political North and Political South. Both research projects focused on how mathematics students--"the participants"--narrate and hence position themselves and are narrated and positioned by mathematics education and sociopolitical discourses in research publications.

The National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination in South Africa is a standardised assessment whose main function is to determine whether Grade 12 learners have mastered subject knowledge at the culmination of their secondary education. Alongside this, the National Benchmark Test Project (NBTP) was introduced to develop the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) that are aimed at assessing the academic readiness of first time entry students to South African universities. This article explores the relationship between these two standardised assessments in the domain of mathematical/ quantitative literacy. This is accomplished through a Pearson correlation analysis of 6,363 test scores obtained by Grade 12 learners on the NSC Mathematical Literacy examination and the Quantitative Literacy test of the NBT in 2012. The results reveal a curvilinear relationship between these two sets of results. This indicates that the two assessments are related but not identical, and the paper argues that their complementarity suggests the value of using performance information generated by both for access and placement.

This paper offers a perspective on the relationship between communities that conduct research on teaching and learning in higher education, focusing on Higher Education Studies (HES) and science Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). The paper responds to HES debates about the strength of its epistemological base and who belongs to that community, and to a perception that DBER is marginalized in the higher education research context. To explicate our perspective, we describe the origins and trajectories of Physics Education Research and Engineering Education Research, as exemplars of DBER. Using Turnbull, we conceptualize HES and these two exemplars as distinct "knowledge spaces," with different histories, orthopraxes and participants, and hence different unifying principles, research foci and trust mechanisms. We conclude that HES, DBER and other higher education research communities stand to benefit from multidisciplinary engagement with each other, because of their different perspectives on the problems of higher education.

Students bring their own unique stories, shaped by history, culture and language, to the higher education context. Developing a sense of place-belonging on a diverse university campus is intrinsically intertwined with the intersectionality between race, ethnicity, gender and language. This study uses narrative inquiry to understand one student's struggle to navigate a sense of place-belonging over four years on a diverse university campus. Although the study depicts a young South African student's unique narratives, the findings tell a story that knows no geographical boundaries. The persistence of barriers of difference continues to position students in terms of inclusion and exclusion networks, and for many, the development of a sense of place-belonging remains elusive. The findings reveal that shared values enable intra-group cohesion, cross-cutting barriers of difference and the navigation of a sense of belonging. However, within the bigger university context, social positioning along a single power axis complicates relationships across racial and cultural differences and, by implication, the development of place-belonging. Trying to negotiate collective values in the presence of self-constructed boundaries of difference is an exercise that often holds grandiose transformation plans captive on the level of disillusionment. Instead, central to enabling a holistic experience of embeddedness for all students is deconstructing barriers of difference aimed at co-constructing transformation as a collective enterprise.

Education commonly is positioned as central to developing citizens who can address so-called global challenges. Responses are identifiable in global citizenship education, which may recruit mathematics into interdisciplinary relationships, and within mathematics education itself. However, if notions of the global and local, the citizen, mathematics, and mathematics education, are brought together uncritically, responses may inadvertently reproduce the inequities they seek to disrupt. In this conceptual article, we interrogate how and with what implications these notions are given meaning in mathematics education. We also think toward notions of place, subjectivity, relations, mathematics, and mathematics education, in a way that recognises power and differences that matter, without one place being synonymous with the universal, and one peoples considered superior. We articulate these ideas in questions for provoking scholar-practitioners' critical, reflexive thinking. For our contribution, we think from critical scholarship on mathematics education within the sociopolitical, global citizenship education and decoloniality.

Objective: The effects of off-task media use in academic settings on academic performance have been widely reported. In response, a range of interventions have been proposed. Among these have been calls for the cultivation of more effective self-regulation of media use. Against this backdrop, the present study investigates students' self-regulation of off-task media in academic settings. Method: A series of focus groups was conducted involving 30 undergraduate students at a large, South African university. A combination of inductive and deductive analysis was conducted on the basis of prominent theories of self-regulation. Results: The presences of off-task media in academic settings create ongoing experiences of goal-conflict and many students become trapped in cycles of repeated self-regulation failure, ultimately culminating in procrastination. Conclusions: We refer to this phenomenon as the media procrastination cycle and argue that it contributes to negative affect, stress, and anxiety among students.

Purpose Phonological awareness (PA) requires the complex integration of language, speech, and auditory processing abilities. Enhanced pitch and rhythm discrimination have been shown to improve PA and speech-in-noise (SiN) discrimination. The screening of pitch and rhythm discrimination, if nonlinguistic correlates of these abilities, could contribute to screening procedures prior to diagnostic assessment. This research aimed to determine the association of PA abilities with pitch, rhythm, and SiN discrimination in children aged 5-7 years old. Method Forty-one participants' pitch, rhythm, and SiN discrimination and PA abilities were evaluated. To control for confounding factors, including biological and environmental risk exposure and gender differences, typically developing male children from high socioeconomic statuses were selected. Pearson correlation was used to identify associations between variables, and stepwise regression analysis was used to identify possible predictors of PA. Results Correlations of medium strength were identified between PA and pitch, rhythm, and SiN discrimination. Pitch and diotic digit-in-noise discrimination formed the strongest regression model (adjusted R[superscript 2] = 0.4213, r = 0.649) for phoneme-grapheme correspondence. Conclusions The current study demonstrates predictive relationships between the complex auditory discrimination skills of pitch, rhythm, and diotic digit-in-noise recognition and foundational phonemic awareness and phonic skills in young males from high socioeconomic statuses. Pitch, rhythm, and digit-in-noise discrimination measures hold potential as screening measures for delays in phonemic awareness and phonic difficulties and as components of stimulation programs.

Multiple studies and systematic reviews have shown that music instruction improves phonological awareness (PA) and early literacy skills in children, although findings vary. In meta-analyses, the reliability and significance of the transfer effect are reduced. The study evaluated the effect of varying durations of music instruction exposure, over a single academic year, on PA and early literacy of young children. Based on the exposure to music instruction, participants were assigned to either a low- or high-exposure group. Additional analyses were conducted for 17 age-matched pairs and to compare participants that only received class music to those that received additional music instruction. Between-groups comparisons showed no significant difference after a single academic year of music instruction. Within-groups comparisons identified more PA improvements in the high-exposure group. Exposure to music instruction for no less than one academic year, is required to conclusively evaluate the effect on PA and early literacy.

In an attempt to bring about a society in which individuals can realise their full potential, South African (SA) education has undergone fundamental reforms. However, despite these changes, the education system seems to remain hampered by ongoing systematic and institutional racism, and subsequent socio-economic structures of poverty and privilege. Given the national requirement for all teachers to be socially just educators, pre-service teachers need to be guided to first recognise and understand their own worldviews, before they will be able to understand the worldviews of learners in diverse teaching and learning contexts. Framed within Critical Race Theory, this article draws on the interplay between race and whiteness as property to explore four white pre-service teachers' preference for working with black learners. Data generated through an iterative process of qualitative interviewing revealed how the participants' preference is strongly embedded in power and privilege. Based on the assumption that unexamined whiteness will contribute to the continuation of white privilege and teaching premised on a deficit model, storytelling is proposed as a conceptual tool by means of which to decentre whiteness.

Use of nonwords is a potentially more appropriate method of assessment for English second language (EL2) learners. A mixed comparative design was used to compare the effects when using nonwords instead of picture-based stimuli to assess articulation of EL2 learners. Subaims were to compare results between two tests and age groups. In all, 16 Setswana L1 children assigned to two age cohorts were assessed using the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation--second edition (GFTA-2), and nonword list was created via a registered Speech Motor Learning website. Results of the two assessments differed significantly, indicating that lack of semantic information may yield different outcomes for articulation assessments of EL2 learners. Speech sound differences on the GFTA-2 were sounds not found in L1. This agrees with previous research indicating incorrect diagnosis due to speech and language differences. There was no significant difference between the two age cohorts. This research forms the basis for investigations into nonwords as a more accurate method for assessment of EL2 learners.

This study employs the Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model (CELM) theoretical framework, as it refers to the impact of context on learning early literacy skills. It is relevant to this study as the participants were English second language learners from cultures, communities, and demographics different from those of English first language speakers in South Africa. Early literacy skills, specifically phonological awareness (PA), are predictive of later literacy success. Many English second language (EL2) learners are unable to develop language and early literacy skills. Foundational skills such as general PA skills, often need explicit instruction to prepare the learners to learn to read in English. Twenty-one EL2 Grade 1 learners in an English medium private school in South Africa were selected as participants. Early literacy skills were assessed at the beginning of Grade 1. Reading, spelling, and reading comprehension skills were assessed after two terms in Grade 1 to determine if there is a correlation between early and later literacy skills. Results indicated significantly strong positive correlations between early literacy and later literacy skills. These results and previous research suggest that EL2 learners must be exposed to high-quality early literacy skills as early as possible to provide them with a foundation for future literacy success.

This article draws on Felix Guattari's proposition of subject and subjected groups to explore the interplay between individual and group subjectivity within the higher education context in South Africa. The exploration is specifically orientated towards considering the pedagogical possibilities of the concept of fabulation. Schizoanalysis is employed to map how six first-year pre-service teachers collectively envisioned a shared future. As a result of the mapping, diffraction is proposed as a pedagogical practice to create the conditions for fabulation to occur. It is argued that the act of fabulation enables pedagogy to be positioned as a practice of resistance to assumed orthodox truths. In addition, fabulation also orientates pedagogy as a practice of experimentation toward the creation of new social collectivities.

Engineering educators express concern that undergraduate engineering students solve problems procedurally without the necessary conceptual understanding. While research in engineering dynamics has focused on using technology to improve student performance, this article focuses on using representations for modelling problem solving in the lecture. This is an in-depth, qualitative case study of the pedagogy of an experienced lecturer in a dynamics course in a professional undergraduate engineering programme at a South African university. Social semiotic multimodality is used to analyse the lecturer's purposeful, contextual language choices. The analysis shows how the lecturer creates -- using the available space, media and time of the lecture -- multiple opportunities for students to access the valued practice of using a complex dynamics concept meaningfully in a heuristic to problem solve as a student and engineer-in-training. The findings from the case study surface points of engagement on problem solving pedagogy in the lecture space.

This study draws on the preProgress in International Reading Literacy Study (prePIRLS) 2011 data. It aims to illustrate the effect of early home literacy activities and the early introduction of reading skills and strategies in the school setting on reading literacy achievement amongst South African Grade 4 learners across the 11 official languages. South African learner performance is consistently poor across a variety of international assessment programmes. The prePIRLS 2011 study results place South African Grade 4 learners' results substantially below the international centre point of 500 at 461 (SE = 3.7). As part of the reading achievement assessment, prePIRLS 2011 gathered background information in the form of learner, parent, teacher and school questionnaires. This study investigates two aspects as reported by parents and school principals of Grade 4 learners: firstly, parents of Grade 4 learners reported in the Learning to Read survey (or Parent Questionnaire) on the frequency with which early home literacy activities were conducted in the home before the learner commenced schooling. Secondly, principals of learners reported on the grade level (from Grade 1 to Grade 4 and beyond) at which a number of critical reading skills and strategies were introduced to learners. Fourteen such skills are identified, ranging from basic skills to skills with increased complexity. This study links the frequency of early home literacy activities, as reported by Grade 4 learners' parents, and the introduction of the 14 reading skills, as reported by school principals, to learner achievement scores in the prePIRLS 2011 assessment.

Despite fundamental reforms to South African education, large performance gaps still prevail between former black schools and former white schools. Nineteen years into a democracy and education in post-apartheid South Africa still retains a strong racial dimension between poorer communities and more affluent communities. Differential access to power and privilege in post-apartheid South Africa is the logical consequence of a racialised society, and the latter constitutes the context in which pre-service students have to make sense of their racialised subjectivities that ultimately affect their decisions and active agency to bringing about a less polarised society. In this paper, Bonilla-Silva's "structural theory of racism" is used as a theoretical lens to unpack the rationalisations used by four white pre-service teachers to make sense of race and their own racial identities. By claiming that they were not part of apartheid, the participants use various rationalisations to provide them with information to maintain a belief in white innocence in racism and to disengage them from structural racism.

Examinations are regarded as vital instruments not only to determine the progress and success of learners, but also the quality of an education system. Owing to these high stakes, South Africa places enormous emphasis on the National Senior Certificate examination. Although quality should be ensured by an effective, accurate and a high standard in the marking process, complaints suggest that there may be threats to the quality of marking and, by implication, to the education system itself. This exploratory study reports on the possible threats to a high standard of marking that emerged from data generated through semi-structured interviews with various role-players involved in the marking process. The findings suggest that the threats relate to the appointment of markers, the competency of the markers and an overall lack of confidence in the marking process. We conclude the article by proposing various recommendations to curb the identified threats to accurate marking.

As public universities seek to be locally responsive and compete internationally, tensions arise between expansion and equity, and between discourses of neoliberalism and social justice. This article focuses on how students navigate these tensions, and the implications for how they can act, interact and be. Norman Fairclough's three-level view of the social and language, and his method of critical discourse analysis are used to analyse longitudinal interviews with an undergraduate science student. This student is, on account of his home and schooling, considered 'historically marginalised' at an historically-white, English-medium South African university. The results show how the student navigates multiple positionings that draw on notions of class, language, independence, progress, choice, care, and so on. It is argued that while universities should support students to navigate some of these tensions, there is a need to re-imagine structuring discourses related to the 'normal', 'independent' university student.

In line with national policy requirements, educators are increasingly addressing forms of social justice education by focusing on classroom pedagogies and educational practices to combat different forms of oppression such as racism and sexism. As all educators have a role to play in dismantling oppression and generating a vision for a more socially just future, teacher education has the responsibility to capacitate pre-service teachers to work in areas of social justice education. It is, however, difficult to conceptualise programmes for social justice education without considering the interconnection between various social identities and how such identities can feed into critical agency and education for social justice. Working with the assumption that white women teachers must be part of the solution to bring about social change in South African education, we used in-depth interviewing to explore pre-service teachers' emerging identities as teachers, and how these identities are connected to notions of critical agency and a stance towards social justice.

Discussions on discipline in education often accentuate corporal punishment or measures to infuse moral fibre. In addition, many authors argue that inculcating a particular value system can promote discipline in schools. This could however be profoundly problematic in the light of the Constitution. We argue that positive discipline in multicultural school environments needs to be based in part on human rights values that are neither solely universally interpreted nor particularistically interpreted. We report on the data generated at a research workshop held as the final dissemination process of a four-year international research project entitled "Understanding human rights through different belief systems: intercultural and interreligious dialogue". Dialogue was chosen as a form of data gathering since it is more spontaneous than conventional questioning techniques and can thus generate more naturally occurring data to strengthen the outcomes of the project. It appears that some teachers believe discipline can only be maintained through the elevation of cultural values (particularism). We argue that schools should start negotiating, at the most basic level, the values, including emancipatory, human rights values, and cultural values, which could underpin positive discipline in multicultural schools. Drawing solely on cultural values is not only unlikely to solve the problem of discipline, but could also undermine the efforts to transform our diverse, democratic society.

In many programmes, tutorials have proved to be an effective way of providing both academic and personal support. The tutor's role in these involves different aspects of teaching and learning. In this article I explore the value of tutoring as a means of supporting the holistic curriculum development process. I reflect on the reason for introducing a system of tutoring for students in curriculum studies and the results of its implementation on students' academic performance, in order to contribute to a better understanding of this kind of intervention. A summary of empirical data on the implementation of the tutor system and feedback on the system and tutors' reflections on the process are provided. Finally, the outcomes of the implementation of tutoring on the students' performance at the end of the academic year are discussed.

Research involving stuttering in multilingual individuals is limited. Speech-language therapists face the challenge of treating a diverse client base, which includes multilingual individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the stuttering moments across English, Afrikaans, and German in a multilingual speaker. A single multilingual adult with a severe developmental stutter participated in this study. A mixed-method design was implemented. The results were perceptually analyzed, and interrater reliability was determined. The results revealed that the voiceless plosive [k], the voiceless fricative [f], and the plosive-lateral approximant cluster [kl] caused stuttering moments across the languages. More stuttering moments occurred on consonants as opposed to vowels. The most prominent core behavior was prolongations. Language proficiency plays a role in the increase of the moments of stuttering in the least proficient language. Future research on a larger sample size is recommended. Research on African language speaking multilingual person who stutters (PWS) should be pursued.

International studies reveal that students have more freedom, as well as unstructured and unsupervised time, which makes them susceptible to problematic internet use (PIU). Although students are a risk group for PIU, no evidence of local research on internet use among students could be identified. This article reports on a study on the nature and impact of internet use among students at a tertiary institution. A quantitative research approach was adopted and a survey with a group-administered questionnaire was conducted with 295 second-year students (between 18 and 25 years) registered for a module in a basic social science. Respondents were recruited through convenience sampling. The nature of internet use was explored with reference to internet platforms, reasons for internet use, devices for connecting to the internet, and the locations where respondents access the internet. The impact of internet use was explored through eight constructs adopted from two screening instruments in the public domain, i.e. the Internet-Related Addictive Behaviour Inventory and the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire. The research results were calculated by means of descriptive and association statistics, specifically the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Ethical considerations, such as informed consent and voluntary participation, were observed. The research results revealed that the respondents preferred email and chatting as internet platforms, while they used the internet mostly for extrinsic reasons, such as for assignments and socialising. Online activities occurred mostly on campus and at home during the early evenings via mobile phones or laptops. The respondents scored relatively low on the constructs measuring PIU. However, two constructs 'escape from problems' and 'loss of control' presented with markedly higher scores and could be flagged as potential risk areas. Furthermore, association statistics indicated a statistically significant difference of some constructs with regard to gender and the romantic relationship status of respondents, which could be considered in the provision of student support services. The development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions for the prevention, treatment and management of PIU are recommended.

The wave of student-led protests that have taken place across the South African higher education landscape over the last two years provides us, as teacher educators, with the opportune time to reflect on how our pedagogical practices relate to larger societal transformative imperatives. We engage with the relationship between pedagogical practices and social transformation by attending to questions concerning identity, intersubjectivity, and group relations. We argue that conventional pedagogical practices that work towards social justice are entangled with and regulated by identity politics, and that such a position equates these pedagogical practices with a politics of negation and ressentiment. By drawing on Deleuze's interpretation of the concept of fabulation and Deleuze and Guattari's argument that desire is a positive social force that enables experimentation to occur, we re-imagine the idea of a pedagogy as a politics of affirmation. Such politics, we argue, makes possible the constitution of new social collectivities that are able to escape the gravitational pull of identity politics and ressentiment. We posit that, in the midst of student protests, this is an important first step in generating the conditions to experiment with the creation of a different, more socially just future.