Browsing by Author "Mhlongo, Hlengiwe Romualda"

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    Exploring views of educators on the outcomes of the reading campaign
    (University of Zululand, 2013) Mhlongo, Hlengiwe Romualda; Khuzwayo, M.E.; Duma, M.A.N.
    The purpose of the present study was to understand the efficacy of the reading campaign in improving learners’ competences in reading. The study was conducted in the northern KwaZulu-Natal province, and the researcher chose Uthungulu district as the field of study. The study was conducted in senior phase schools under Mthunzini circuit in Uthungulu district with a sample size of sixty educators. Educators answered a questionnaire with closed and open- ended questions. A questionnaire was administered to educators to solicit (a) their views on the implementation of the ELITS’ reading campaign, (b) their awareness of the campaign and (c) the availability and accessibility of the quality reading collections supplied by ELITS to schools. The findings revealed that majority of the educators are not aware of the ELITS reading campaign, their knowledge of the campaign is limited and they are not even aware of the objectives and time frame of the project. The implementation of the ELITS campaign was not monitored as a result some schools do not engage leaners in reading activities and they do not regard it as a skill that must be taught. The distribution of relevant reading material is not made readily available to the majority of schools, the majority of schools do not have libraries and library personnel; as a result it is hard for learners to access reading materials; thereby impacting negatively on learners’ competences in reading. Based on the findings the researcher realised that the objectives of the ELITS reading campaign were not achieved due to poor planning for the campaign, lack of training for the educators, lack of monitoring and evaluation of the project and time frame for the project was not clearly stated. The study recommends that reading campaigns be planned properly, all stakeholders must know and understand objectives of the campaign, time frame must be clearly stated to all stakeholders and monitoring and evaluation must be taken into consideration.
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    The use of the reading-response journal as a strategy in promoting writing skills in further education and training phase schools
    (University of Zululand, 2017) Mhlongo, Hlengiwe Romualda; Pillay, P.
    This study is aimed at investigating whether or not the use of the reading-response journal as a strategy can yield any positive results in enhancing development of writing skills among learners. The study was conducted as a case study in one of the Further Education and Training (FET) phase schools under uThungulu district, within the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. It included verification of the FET phase learners’ level of competency in writing skills. This was done through interviewing the English First Additional Language (FAL) teacher of the target class in the FET phase. The study targeted English FAL grade eleven learners since journal writing is part of their curriculum. The sample of thirty learners was conveniently selected. The qualitative method was employed for the collection of data; task-based activities and interviews were used as instruments for data collection. This study is underpinned by the reader-response theory and it sought to; (a) find out the views of learners on the use of the reading-response journal writing as a strategy to develop writing skills, (b) to determine the learners’ views on the intervention programme of the reading-response journals in the development of writing skills and (c) the experiences of English FAL learners as participants in the activities of journal writing. Learners were given three different tasks which required them to write essays. The findings revealed that learners are generally resistant to reading and writing. The learners also lament that it takes too long before the educator can bring back feedback on their written tasks, that demotivates them. The findings also revealed that some teachers regard the teaching of writing skills as an optional task to do, yet it is prescribed in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document of English FAL in the FET phase. In addition, there is resistance from teachers to use innovative methods of developing writing skills such as journal writing and diary entries, among others. Lastly, the learners showed significant improvement in their writing skills as they participated in the intervention programme. There was significant improvement in their individual performance from task one, to task two and task three. Finally, the study recommended that the Department of Basic Education officials should consider reviewing the pupil-teacher ratio for language teachers so that they can do justice to the teaching of all language aspects including writing skills. Further research on other types of journal writing was also recommended.