Information literacy education in the South African Classroom: Reflections from teachers' Journals in the Western Cape province
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
De Gruyter
Abstract
This qualitative study reports on teachers in the
Western Cape as they attempt to embed information literacy
in their classrooms. It explores how teachers come
to understand information literacy and the extent to
which they change their beliefs about guiding research
projects in a more concerted way. The research questions
were: (1) how do teachers understand information literacy
education? (2) how do teachers make their information
literacy explicit in the classroom? and (3) at what level
are teachers' web knowledge and skills? The teachers, who
were part of an information literacy education course,
formed a purposive sample. The data for this study emanated
from solicited, reflective journals which participants
kept over a period of eight to 10 weeks. Information seeking
and use theory and an inquiry-based approach to
learning frame this research. Motivation for the study is
rooted in a curriculum which embodies information literacy
characteristics. Traditionally, information literacy
has been the domain of the school librarian. Only
16.82% of South African schools have a stocked library.
With so few school libraries and no official position in
schools for a qualified school librarian, the onus for teaching
information literacy thus rests on the teacher. This
article provides the context for South African education
and a review of the information literacy literature with
an emphasis on South Africa and teachers' information
literacy. The results show that, despite many obstacles
in these teachers' paths, they express a fairly sound understanding
of information literacy education by the
end of the journaling exercise. However, fewer teachers
can competently mediate information literacy in the
classroom. One of the major barriers to information literacy
is the teachers' slow adoption of the World Wide Web.
Recommendations for further study include examining teacher
education programmes for their inclusion of information
literacy education; for awareness of plagiarism and the
ethics of information use in the school environment; and
the effect of information and communication technology
on learners' information literacy.
Description
Keywords
Information literacy, Information literacy education, Information seeking behaviour, Western Cape, South Africa, Teachers
Citation
Zinn, S. et al. (2016). Information literacy education in the South African classroom: Reflections from teachers' journals in the Western Cape province. Libri, 66(1): 31-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2015-0102.