Research Articles

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    Discipline and control: a foucauldian perspective on discipline as a tool for creating docile bodies.
    (University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2026) Egunlusi, Oluwatosin Aanuoluwapo
    Discipline as a thorny issue has been a global challenge, and the South African education system is not spared. Section 10 of the South African Schools Act banned corporal punishment in schools. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest that educators link the rising problem of indiscipline in many schools to the ban on corporal punishment and the absence of effective alternative disciplinary approaches. This qualitative case study explores the intricacies of discipline in the post-apartheid classroom. This paper is anchored in Foucault's disciplinary techniques as described in his book, Discipline and Punish and argues that discipline as an expression and tool creates docile bodies through the effect of power. In Foucauldian thinking, the bodies of individuals are controlled to produce docile bodies whilst contributing to abating or curbing disciplinary challenges. The findings reveal that alternatives to corporal punishment at the case study school control learners' behaviour and mindset without inflicting pain. Drawing on the case study findings and Foucault's understanding of discipline, I argue that the disciplinary measures in both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras control individual's bodies to obey school rules and regulations.
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    Editorial: Educational evaluation in the age of artificial intelligence: challenges and innovations
    (Frontiers Media SA, 2025) Archer, Elizabeth; Young, Kelly Anne; Grover, Raman; Khalil, Mohammad
    The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in education is reshaping how learning is measured and redefining the theoretical and methodological foundations of assessment. This Research Topic creates a dedicated forum for rigorous academic debate on the transformative potential of AI in educational evaluation. By examining innovations in automated scoring, dynamic assessment creation, data-driven analytics, and early detection, the contributions in this Research Topic illuminate both the promise and the challenges inherent in this digital transformation.
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    Homage to a gentle giant: concepts, creativity, and collaboration in our flowing with Elmarie Costandius
    (University of the Western Cape, 2025) Collett, Karen; Verster, Belinda; van den Berg, Carolien
    This paper revisits our collaborative process of concept development through the use of the Flow process, introduced to us by Elmarie Costandius. We track and trace her influence on our lives as we re-member1 and honour how she shaped our intellectual and personal journeys in higher education. Using post-humanist pedagogy and new materialist frameworks, we explored how the Flow process encouraged non-linear thinking, sensory engagement, and experimentation in collaborative learning environments. Our methodology incorporates Jackson and Mazzei's zig-zag concept and Derrida and Barad's notion of hauntology to analyse how past influences continue to shape present and future pedagogical practices. Through collective re-membering and diffractive analysis of notes and artefacts, we documented how this approach promoted awareness and created new possibilities for knowledge creation. Results demonstrate that the flow process successfully facilitated anti-disciplinary thinking and the assemblage of multiplicities, leading to innovative teaching practices across different disciplines. Ultimately, this paper pays homage to Elmarie and affirms how the collaborative, creative process of concept development can both honour intellectual legacies and open new avenues for innovation and critical engagement in higher education teaching and learning.
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    Instructional-based learning of cyclic quadrilateral theorems: making geometric thinking visible and enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions
    (AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2025) Govender, Rajendran; Amevor, Godfred
    Geometry learning has a long history with the connection to human cognitive development. The ability to mentally or physically orient 2D shapes or 3D objects in space is believed to support achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Thus, geometry by its description is characterised by space; hence its conceptualisation requires deep spatial and geometry sense which can be developed through instructional-based learning (IBL). While the current study supports the evidence of educational technology tools in support for effective teaching and learning, it explores IBL as an alternative source of enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions and making geometric thinking visible to learners in the classroom. The experimental design research applied a mixed method to collect data from randomly selected 50 Grade 11 Mathematics learners from one of the high schools in the Cetshwayo district, South Africa. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-testpost-test design and analysed using independent sample t-test whereas qualitative data were collected using content analysis and analysed using descriptive analysis. The analysis was guided by the theoretical frameworks of Van Hiele theory of levels of geometric understanding and Zazkis et al.’s visualisation-analysis model. Based on the data set collected, the review of literature, and the theoretical frameworks, the ramification is that IBL has a positive effect on learners’ spatial and geometric cognitions and makes geometry thinking visible to learners in the classroom. Contribution: The recommendation is to explore the effect of hybrid learning design, thus the integration of IBL and dynamic geometry environments on the development of learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions.
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    The exclusion of ubuntu from South Africa’s constitution: implications for Pan-Africanism and violent ‘xenophobia’
    (University of Witwatersrand, 2025) Sesanti, Simphiwe
    In 2023, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), later renamed the African Union, turned 60. Premised on the philosophy of Pan-Africanism, the organisation was formed to unite Africans into a single nation in order to combat colonialism and establish a monolithic United States of Africa. The OAU’s 60th anniversary coincided with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of South Africa’s 1993 Interim Constitution, which included the philosophical concept ‘ubuntu’. In the subsequent 1996 South African Constitution, however, ubuntu was excluded. In this article, I argue that the inclusion of ubuntu in the 1993 Interim Constitution offered Africans in South Africa an opportunity to raise their consciousness about the importance of self-re-humanisation after a period of violent colonial dehumanisation, and that the restoration of ubuntu to South Africa’s Constitution could help in reconnecting South Africans to other Africans in the ongoing and elusive struggle for Pan-Africanism. This is especially the case amid South Africans’ ‘xenophobic’ attacks against fellow Africans after South Africa became a democracy in 1994.
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    Facilitating access to higher education and promoting academic readiness through digital pedagogical implementation for recognition of prior learning: a South African case study
    (SAGE Publications Inc., 2026) Rambharose, Rekha
    For more than three decades, recognition of prior learning (RPL) has appeared as a pivotal mechanism in widening access to higher education, particularly for mature adult learners whose knowledge and skills have been acquired outside formal schooling. In South Africa, RPL has been embedded in post-apartheid policy frameworks as a strategy for equity, social justice, and epistemic redress. Despite its strong policy orientation, RPL practices have often been contested, unevenly applied, and limited in their pedagogical depth. This article examines the Portfolio Development Hybrid Programme (PDHP), a redesigned model for RPL implementation and undergraduate access at a South African university. Anchored in digital pedagogy, adult learning theory, and activity theory, the PDHP represents a significant curriculum renewal that aims to both validate experiential knowledge and strengthen academic readiness for higher education study. Drawing on a qualitative case study design, the article analyses the rationale, design, and outcomes of the PDHP. The findings suggest that embedding digital pedagogy within RPL delivery enhances candidates’ academic literacy, digital skills, and confidence, while also addressing structural inequities in access. The paper contributes to global debates on RPL by illustrating how digital innovations can transform RPL from a compliance-driven exercise into a specialised pedagogy that is transformative, inclusive, and future-oriented.
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    Amplifying voices: participatory case study for learners with visual impairments’ inclusion in Lesotho rural school
    (Routledge, 2026) Khanare, Fumane Portia; Anacletta Ramatea, Mamochana
    The effective inclusion of learners with visual impairments (LVIs) has become a crucial issue since the implementation of inclusive education policies in Lesotho. Despite the mandate for all teachers to support the inclusion of LVIs, challenges remain, leading to unmet educational needs for these learners. This article details a study that investigates the obstacles teachers face in including LVIs in a rural secondary school in Lesotho. The study, guided by principles of equity and accessibility, utilised a participatory case study approach involving ten teachers. Through focus group discussions and photovoice methods, guided by the Inclusive Special Education Theory (ISET), the study explored teachers’ perceptions and experiences regarding LVIs’ inclusion. Based on the perception of participating teachers, the findings indicate that inclusion efforts are hindered by gaps in Lesotho’s inclusive education policy, notably the lack of specific guidance on teacher preparedness, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, there is a deficiency in understanding and effectively implementing the policy. The research suggests capitalising on teachers’ resilience and integrating ISET to challenge misconceptions about rural inadequacy. By recognising and leveraging existing strengths within rural settings, the study aims to enhance the successful inclusion of all learners, with a particular focus on LVIs.
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    Women’s constructions of successful academic careers in STEM field: empirical evidence from South Africa and Sweden
    (Routledge, 2025) Tembe, Ivete Nhantumbo; Langa, Patrício V
    Using a social constructionist approach, this research presents the viewpoints of successful women working in academic STEM careers in South Africa and Sweden, with regard to what career success means to them. The insights generated by this research are based on in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 44 women identified as successful by conventional academic standards. The results show that women professors evaluate their success in academia by both objective and subjective criteria. Research productivity stands out as the primary criterion by which women assess success, and by which career advancement may be made in both countries. However, the professors interviewed also valued subjective measures of success, such as satisfaction in one’s work, having a positive influence on others and the freedom to pursue one’s own research interests. An understanding of these subjective notions of career success may shed light on observed gender inequalities in academic careers in both countries.
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    Cognitive (in)justice and decoloniality in Amitav Ghosh’s the nutmeg’s curse
    (SAGE Publications, 2024) Karmakar, Goutam; Chetty, Rajendra
    Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse (2021) is an insightful deliberation on the layered inequities and asymmetries created by the intersection of colonialism and anthropogenic activities. In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Ghosh conceives the present-day climate and ecological crisis as fallouts of colonial thinking and its manifestations in dominant epistemic and ethical constructions. This article underscores Ghosh’s critique of the Eurocentric discourses for their instrumentality in producing the totalitarian binaries of human and non-human, in which the ‘human’ was always the whites and the ‘non-human’ comprised all ‘others’—the non-whites, indigenous people, nature and ecology. In attributing agency and signifying authority to the white capitalist, this dualistic thinking has always conceived of the ‘others’ as non-humans—those who could be objectified, commodified and tampered with. This article explores how Ghosh repudiates this colonialist monolithic demarcation, which, in compliance with the discourse of the Anthropocene, had annihilated non-Western forms of signification, knowledge and ethics. The article focuses on how the systemic othering of Western modernity’s episteme had been incremental, leading to occurrences of ‘testimonial injustices’ and ‘hermeneutical injustices’—which had culminated in severe forms of epistemicide and unleashed, what Boaventura de Sousa Santos terms ‘cognitive injustice’—relegating indigeneity and ecology to precarious conditions. In accordance with this, this article argues that Ghosh envisages a critical necessity to dismantle the matrix of Western capitalist modernity and its associated narrative of the Anthropocene and claims for a conceptualization of decolonial ecological ethics that would prioritize an encompassing of the episteme produced by the ‘other’. An engagement with the indigenous voices and a restoration of non-Western modes of knowledge production are crucial, as they can offer new ethical dimensions to envision ecology and life with its multiplicities and facilitate ‘cognitive justice’ for the oppressed and unrepresented ‘other’.
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    Context matters: Why we must consider resources and context when implementing artificial intelligence tools in the teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa
    (AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2025) Govender Rajendran
    South African schools face stark inequalities in infrastructure, connectivity, language, and teacher preparedness. These contextual factors profoundly shape what artificial intelligence (AI) can and cannot do for mathematics teaching and learning. This article synthesizes recent peer-reviewed scholarship, policy texts, and book chapters to argue that AI adoption must be context-responsive: aligned to local resource constraints, multilingual realities, professional development ecosystems, and regulatory frameworks (notably POPIA). This article emphasizes that without attention to connectivity, electricity, devices, teacher TPACK, multilingual pedagogy, and data protection, AI may amplify—rather than reduce—existing inequities. In mitigation, this article provides practical, evidence-based principles for context-aware AI implementation in South African mathematics education.
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    Thinking from and through oppression
    (Taylor & Francis, 2025) Pithouse, Richard
    We must honor our teachers. In The Perversity of Gratitude Grant Farred honors his best teachers at Livingstone High School and the University of the Western Cape (UWC), both institutions intended for people classified as “coloured” by apartheid. He affirms, with Martin Heidegger that: Denken ist Danken. Thinking is thanking. His sense of gratitude, sometimes expressed as debt, goes beyond the desire togive committed teachers their due though. He insists that “The terms upon whichThe Perversity of Gratitude stands are unambiguous: Disenfranchised apartheid edu-cation constituted fertile ground for thinking.”2 For this he expresses “the perversityof gratitude.”The book, always resolutely dialectical and part philosophical meditation and partmemoir, is as tender as it is forcefully contrarian. It is simultaneously linear andhelical as it moves toward its affecting conclusion. It rewards close, slow and repeatedreading.
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    Internationalisation performance in higher education: a systematic evidence review
    (Higher Education Policy Network, 2025) Udekwe, Emmanuel; Iwu, Chux
    The systematic evidence review aims to i) determine the prevalence of existing research on internationalisation performance in Higher Education (HE), ii) classify and analyse existing evidence on the complexities and challenges of internationalisation performance, and iii) come up with recommendations for future research to achieve effective internationalisation performance in HE. A search strategy was initiated to examine databases such as Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Science Direct and Web of Science to qualify the studies between 2000 and 2023. Out of the 2704 publications generated by the search strategy, 1918 were excluded, and 786 were selected, of which 47 publications covering 42 chosen papers were included for final review. As studies on internationalisation performance are important, this review involved research and publications conducted in high-income and developing economies and could not identify internationalisation in HE publications from undeveloped countries. The overall lack of evaluating research on HE sectors, and HE informatics raises attention and unanswered questions regarding their capacity to improve the eminence of internationalisation performance as well as digitalisation, globalisation, cultural competence, complexities, and challenges of internationalisation in HE. In this regard, this study offers a review of HE to decision-makers and HE authorities to deliberate on the present situation of internationalisation performance and suggestions for further research
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    Language inclusion and neo-colonialism: the impacts of ethnolinguistic admission criteria at South African universities
    (University of the Western Cape, 2025) Dhlamini, Mbali Sunrise; Kaschula, Russell H
    Languages in South Africa have always been employed as stimuli to negotiate boundaries of unity and segregation among South Africans. Likewise, universities established before, during, and post-apartheid times were instituted either as key instruments to contrive separation among South Africans or as symbols to mend the segregation walls. This article set out to examine language distribution at South African universities, the language admission criteria and their impacts in promoting language inclusion and social cohesion in Departments of African Languages in the post-apartheid era. IsiNguni language modules were used to contextualise the study. A qualitative research approach was employed to carry out the research, using the interview schedule as an instrument to collect data. The Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory was used to underpin the study. The findings revealed that African languages were predominantly distributed based on their official status in the South African provinces, while Afrikaans and particularly English were promoted across the country. The grade 12 certificate was the common criterion that was employed to admit or reject potential students’ applications to Departments of African Languages based on the home languages studied in grade 12. To some extent, the distribution of South African languages and the language admission approach to Departments of African languages were found to maintain the dominance of certain languages and ethnolinguistic segregation in the country. The article advocates for the promotion of African languages at a national rather than provincial level in order to uproot the ethnolinguistic traces of the apartheid government at South African universities.
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    Disseminating evidence-based assessments to educators in South Africa and Vietnam through behavioural skills training
    (Cambridge University Press, 2025) Roman, Nicolette Vanessa; De Souza, Andresa; Pizzella, Dani
    Students’ interfering behaviour is a common concern among educators working in special and general education classrooms. Interfering behaviour can significantly compromise students’ educational experiences and educators’ ability to create a conducive learning environment. Evidence-based assessments and interventions for interfering behaviour in the classroom involve identifying the variables in the student’s immediate environment influencing these behaviours. There has been little to no dissemination of evidence based assessments for classroom management in developing nations such as South Africa and Vietnam. In the current study, we used a single-case design to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of behavioural skills training (BST) in teaching educators from South Africa and Vietnam how to assess students’ interfering behaviour in the classroom. The training was divided into four phases, with the different steps involved in teaching participants how to assess interfering behaviour. All participants successfully acquired the trained skills and demonstrated a shift in their explanation of the causes of interfering behaviour
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    An integrated approach to isiXhosa literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase: current practices and prospects
    (AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2026) Kosi, Thembisa; Nomlomo, Vuyokazi
    Background: The current South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) promotes integration through the use of interdisciplinary themes for teaching in the Foundation Phase but does not provide explicit guidelines on the application of this approach in literacy teaching. Aim: The study aimed to investigate teachers’ current practices and the potential of an integrated approach in the teaching and learning of Grade 3 isiXhosa literacy. Setting: The study was conducted in two primary schools located in the black townships of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province. Methods: A case study design was used in this qualitative study. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with two Grade 3 teachers were used to collect data. Results: The findings indicate that teachers’ intuitive use of interactive and learner-centred pedagogical strategies fostered the implementation of the integrated approach in isiXhosa literacy, yet missed opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills. The findings provide insights into the potential of this approach, given a greater focus on innovative and inclusive pedagogies and teacher professional development. Conclusion: The study concludes that the integrated approach could play a significant role in enhancing learners’ conceptual, linguistic and emotional development when implemented correctly. Contribution: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on African language literacy teaching and learning – an area that remains under-researched. It advances scholarship in early literacy pedagogy and provides valuable insights into the transformative potential of the integrated approach, thus informing future research and practice in African language literacy teaching and learning.
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    Mangaliso sobukwe’s linkages to pan-Africanist struggles for a decolonized and afrocentric “African university”
    (SAGE Publications Inc., 2025) Sesanti, Simphiwe
    The year 2025 holds great significance in the calendar of Pan-Africanism. It marks the 80th anniversary of the fifth Pan African Congress (PAC) held in Manchester, London, following four Pan African Congresses held under the leadership of the Pan-Africanist philosopher, W. E. B. Du Bois. The five PACs, themselves, followed the Pan African Conference convened by the Pan-Africanist lawyer, Henry Sylvester Williams, in 1900. In this study, I examine how Mangaliso Sobukwe’s ideas, as a Pan-Africanist philosopher, located in South Africa, contributed to calls for a decolonized and Afrocentric “African University.” In SA, the calls took dramatic turns in 1995, at Wits University, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Manchester PAC, and, in 2015, at the University of Cape Town (UCT), coinciding with the Manchester PAC’s 70th anniversary. In examining Sobukwe’s Pan-Africanist philosophical thinking on decolonized and Afrocentric education, I simultaneously, examine how Sobukwe’s ideas resonated with Pan-Africanist philosophers, continentally, on decolonized and Afrocentric higher education.
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    Critique of cervical spine radiographs among diagnostic radiography students through the lens of semantics, a dimension of the Legitimation Code Theory
    (W.B. Saunders Ltd, 2026) Hassan, Lorraine; Daries, Valdiela; Speelman, Aladdin
    Introduction: Radiographic image critique and the implementation of remedial measures in response to technique and technical errors are essential professional responsibilities of diagnostic radiographers. Research shows that diagnostic radiography students grapple to master radiographic image critique, a critical clinical competency. This study explored cervical spine radiographic image critique among final-year diagnostic radiography students through the lens of Semantics, a dimension of the Legitimation Code Theory. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive case study design was employed. Fourteen final year students voluntarily participated in individual oral radiographic image critique in a non-examination setting. Audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. Content analysis of data was conducted with the aid of a translation device focusing on semantic density (SD) and semantic gravity (SG). Results: Most participants demonstrated weaker SD and stronger SG when describing radiographic structures of the cervical spine. Participants showed a limited ability to describe radiographic anatomy and abnormal patterns, primarily using vague and non-technical terminology instead of technically rich and discipline-specific descriptions. Conclusion: This study highlights challenges in students’ ability to critique cervical spine radiographs with the expected skill and knowledge depth. Despite stronger image-based reasoning (stronger SG), the poor radiographic descriptions (weaker SD) and the limited use of discipline-specific terminology point to a need for improved instructional strategies to better support context-rich, conceptually grounded radiographic image critique. Implications for practice: The difficulty students face in articulating radiographic concepts with depth and context underscores the need for educational innovation. Educational strategies should be designed to develop students’ radiographic image critique skills by deliberately building SD and SG, enabling the formation of “semantic waves” in which students shift purposefully between abstract theoretical principles and concrete, image-based observations to construct and communicate meaning.
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    An integrated approach to isiXhosa literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase: current practices and prospects
    (AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2026) Kosi, Thembisa; Nomlomo, Vuyokazi
    Background: The current South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) promotes integration through the use of interdisciplinary themes for teaching in the Foundation Phase but does not provide explicit guidelines on the application of this approach in literacy teaching. Aim: The study aimed to investigate teachers’ current practices and the potential of an integrated approach in the teaching and learning of Grade 3 isiXhosa literacy. Setting: The study was conducted in two primary schools located in the black townships of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province. Methods: A case study design was used in this qualitative study. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with two Grade 3 teachers were used to collect data. Results: The findings indicate that teachers’ intuitive use of interactive and learner-centred pedagogical strategies fostered the implementation of the integrated approach in isiXhosa literacy, yet missed opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills. The findings provide insights into the potential of this approach, given a greater focus on innovative and inclusive pedagogies and teacher professional development. Conclusion: The study concludes that the integrated approach could play a significant role in enhancing learners’ conceptual, linguistic and emotional development when implemented correctly. Contribution: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on African language literacy teaching and learning – an area that remains under-researched. It advances scholarship in early literacy pedagogy and provides valuable insights into the transformative potential of the integrated approach, thus informing future research and practice in African language literacy teaching and learning.
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    Ukuphuhliswa kolwazi lwesigama kubafundi bebanga lesi-3 kusetyenziswaizaci zesiXhosa
    (Routledge, 2025) Nondalana-Vuzane, Nomfundo
    This article focuses on qualitative research that was conducted on Grade 3 learners. The purpose of the research is to look at how Xhosa idioms, which are part of folklore, can be taught to increase Grade 3 learners’ vocabulary. Using idioms shows fluency in any language and if you do not know the idioms, do not use them. Purposeful sampling and convenience sampling techniques were used for selecting the schools and participants. Analysing the results of the use of idioms is followed by the ideas of the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), which considers how physical and psychological cultural resources are used to mediate learning. This research followed a qualitative research approach, an interpretive paradigm and an exploratory case study research design. It was conducted in two schools located in black townships in the Western Cape that use isiXhosa as medium of instruction in the Foundation Phase. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. This article concludes that idioms should be taught in a learner-centred teaching method which is class discussions, questions and answers, role playing and explanations so that learners’ vocabulary can grow and they can read with comprehension in Grade 3. When the vocabulary is not developed, it is a challenge for learners to read with understanding, because it is what helps them to understand what is said and written. Learners also use vocabulary when they speak and write. Therefore, this article also focuses on changes found by including traditional literacy idioms, cultural tools to enrich vocabulary and master language fluently.
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    Network visualisation analysis of the transformative potential of generative AI tools in the education landscape
    (Discover, 2025) Govender, Rajendran; Harun, Ibrahim; Rzyankina, Ekaterina
    This research examines the transformative pathways of generative AI tools in the South African higher education landscape, directed by three research questions: (1) specific generative AI tools being utilised, and how are they applied across educational contexts? (2) What are the predominant AI techniques and software tools? (3) What education topics and issues are being addressed by these AI applications? Notwithstanding substantial potential, the acceptance of AI remains unpredictable, principally due to infrastructural insufficiencies, digital literacy gaps, and ethical concerns such as algorithmic bias. By means of the PRISMA methodology, this study conducts thematic and network visualisation analysis to map AI application pathways. Findings show that AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI GPT-3 are utililsed for automated grading → personalised learning → real-time feedback. Pathways show that these tools reform administrative responsibilities for educators (by reducing workload → refining teaching effectiveness) and support students through personalised learning experiences (adaptive tutoring → enhanced engagement → improved outcomes). Quantitative analysis reveals that AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI GPT-3 lead to a 20% reduction in educator workload, primarily through automated grading and content creation. Additionally, these tools contribute to a 15% improvement in student engagement, particularly through personalised learning pathways and real-time feedback. Key challenges are to develop robust ethical models to avert buttressing prevailing inequalities. This study aligns with the focus on knowledge management by highlighting how generative AI tools underscore the creation, distribution, and deployment of knowledge in educational settings, specifically through tailored learning and adaptive platforms. The study concludes that a custom-made and ethical amalgamation of AI is vital for leveraging its potential to develop educational outcome and equity in South African higher education.