Browsing by Author "Bladergroen, Moira"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Exploring the use of digital language learning applications among grade 9 learners
    (Universty of the Western Cape, 2024) Meyer, Rayno; Bladergroen, Moira
    In the past decade, smartphones have become widely popular among teenagers in South Africa and globally. With this growth, debates have intensified around integrating mobile technology into education, mainly through digital language-learning applications accessible via smartphones, tablets, and iPads. These applications introduce innovative teaching methods to enhance language learning by leveraging engaging and interactive techniques (Gangaiamaran & Pasupathi, 2017). In South Africa, such applications may benefit Grade 9 learners, helping them improve their language skills meaningfully. This study examines the effectiveness of mobile language applications in the South African educational setting, focusing on their role in language teaching. This exploratory case study was conducted in three phases using post-structuralist theories of language and the new literacy studies framework. Post-structuralist language theories conceptualize language as shaping identity and difference within various cultural categories. In addition, Cultural Historical Activity Theory and thematic analysis were employed to analyze the collected data.
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    Illuminating the persistence and departures of previously disadvantaged students at an Engineering faculty
    (Stellenbosch University, 2021) Bladergroen, Moira
    The low success rate of many students from previously disadvantaged groups endangers the face and fate of many tertiary institutions, hence an Engineering Faculty’s explorations into the causes of these students’ persistence at and departures from the Faculty. By using the theory of acculturation and agency the research group explored students’ opportunity of freedom towards self-actualisation. Three sample groups were used and the noteworthy findings of the persistence groups’ questionnaire and the focus group findings were explored. The data suggest that the previously disadvantaged students experience a general sense of isolation and physical segregation.
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    Multiple perceptions (teachers’, parents’, learners’) of Somali learner acculturation in a Cape Town primary school setting
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Hahn, Megan Henriette; Bladergroen, Moira
    During the 1990s many Somali families settled in South Africa amid severe protracted inter-clan conflict in Somalia. Other Somali families migrated to the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and other western countries. Limited knowledge exists about the acculturation of the children of these families in their newly adopted western schools. No less is this the case of refugee and immigrant Somali learner descendants attending South African schools. This qualitative research project focuses on the school acculturation experiences of Somali learners attending a public primary school in one of the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The study involves the input of the three main education components, viz. teachers, parents and the learners.
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    Towards overcoming millennial classroom barriers: Reflections from engineering students on blended teaching and learning innovations
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Bladergroen, Moira; Basson, Anton; Blaine, Deborah
    A proposition for the use of a blended teaching and learning approach maintains that (a) ease of access and flexibility, (b) an increase in the degree of active learning, and (c) an improvement in learning experiences and learning outcomes for students are expected accomplishments to implementation success. In this paper, we present an analysis of how a blended teaching and learning approach influenced the experiences of engineering faculty students. Our empirical analysis found that a blended teaching and learning approach is students' preferred teaching strategy, and traditional face-to-face teaching strategies alone are no longer sufficient for achieving success with new generation engineering students. Further, we show how the blended teaching and learning approach can enhance understanding of engineering knowledge and support students who would otherwise lag behind. We also show how active support from faculty management enhances the implementation subtleties and advance the development of a dynamic pedagogy. Our findings offer lecturers important insights into students' preferences, as well as how lecturers can endorse and design a teaching and learning approach that is agile and adaptable, meeting the challenges of the environment in which they are working, which is similarly in endless flux.