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SPU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Sol Plaatje University (SPU) collection of theses and dissertations showcases original postgraduate research that reflects the unique social, cultural, and environmental context of South Africa’s Northern Cape. This growing digital repository offers global researchers valuable insights into emerging scholarship across diverse disciplines, with a strong focus on innovation, social justice, and regional development. Explore SPU's contributions to knowledge that matter locally and resonate globally.

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Citation mania in academic theses writing: A Case study
(Richtmann, 2020-07) Sibanda, Jabulani
This study, premised on the assumption that students over-use citations in academic writing, investigated manifestations of over-citation in three PhD theses. A review of diverse pragmatic functions citations serve, helped in the identification of needless citations which lacked consonance with any of the functions. A content-context analysis of the pragmatic function of each citation in the three theses, revealed over-citation and superfluity in the theses. Manifestations of over-citation included: expressing general or common-sense information; using multiple citations to make a simple point; citing sources to express what the writer did; attributing own deductions and inferences to authors; not following-up on citations; repeating concepts and attendant citations in different parts of the thesis; making most thesis sections literature sections; citing individual words not ideas, unclear content of citation, independent citation of each source for the same idea, over-using a source within a paragraph or section, citing back to back, evincing citation density to the eye. On the basis of the varied manifestations of over-citation and the extent of its compromise on the quality of student presentations, the study recommends sustained efforts in developing sound academic writing skills even at postgraduate levels, and sensitisation of students to pragmatic purposes citations should serve.
Impact of linguistic complexity in English language texts on South Africa's primary school grade 3 to 4 transition
(Western Australian Institutes for Educational Research, 2020-05-01) Sibanda, Lucy
Reading challenges occasioned by the third to fourth grade transition in South Africa's primary schools are well-documented, particularly in content area texts. Grade 4 reading heralds a shift from narrative text to content text reading, the latter credited with greater reading demands than the former. There is, however, dearth of research on how language texts, which are largely narrative, represent a linguistic complexity at the grade 3 and 4 interface. Using English First Additional Language grade 3 and 4 workbooks within the South African context, this research documents the extent of the linguistic complexity between the texts from grade 3 to grade 4. Both content analysis and readability formulas were employed to determine manifest factors impacting textual and linguistic complexity in two workbooks, and the workbooks' grade levels respectively. Content analysis evinced steep increase in textual complexity of all five factors analysed; and readability formulas revealed that grade 3 workbooks were higher than third grade level, and grade 4 workbooks' levels were slightly higher. This study recommends that workbook authoring be in accordance with research-based indicators of textual and linguistic complexity, with consideration of readability formulas in texts prior to adoption for use in schools.
First-year accounting student teachers’ perceptions of their classroom learning environment
(Society for Research and Knowledge Management, 2020-12) Mapuya, Medson
This study assessed the perceptions of first-year accounting student teachers about their classroom learning environment. The study was prompted by studies which argue that the academic performance of students is correlated with their perceptions of the learning environment and the context in which teaching and learning takes place. The population for the study was first-year Accounting students at a university of technology in South Africa. The study employed a mixed method approach, and data were collected from students using a Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) which covered 42 items. The findings from the quantitative part of the study revealed that the students view their learning environment positively. Evidence to this effect is demonstrated by the mean obtained in the categories of the learning environment which were all above three. The themes which emerged from the qualitative findings also corroborated the quantitative findings. However, the qualitative data further reveal that the students felt far away from issues directly related to their teaching and learning. Consequently, a more student-participative approach to the planning and designing of instruction is recommended to mitigate the identified challenges.
Emerging researchers in emerging Universities: Lived experiences (understanding challenges faced)
(Science and Education Publishing, 2019-01) Marongwe, Newlin; Mbodila, Munienge; Sibanda, Jabulani
This paper presents challenges faced by emerging researchers in rural universities, by exploring their lived experiences throughout the journey of becoming a researcher. The paper argues that research creates new knowledge, benefits the education institutions, and impacts national development and transformation. Higher Education institutions globally, and in South Africa in particular, are striving to increase their research output by presenting research as requisite for academic promotion. Research, as a component in academia, is so valued that the cliché 'publish or perish' aptly defines the academic's career prospects. In a bid to achieve research excellence and boost research output, South African universities, especially the emerging rural universities, went on a massive recruitment drive for Research Fellows, PhD holders and professors, to cultivate research culture and to enhance research output for their institutions. The challenge is that, as soon as a new academic is appointed, they are expected to contribute to the institution's publication profile. This paper employed Constructivist theory and the qualitative approach within a case study design. Purposive sampling techniques were used to identify three emerging rural institutions and fifteen emerging researchers. Collection of data was done through in-depth one-on-one interviews. Thematic frames were used to present and analyse data. The findings revealed that, among the myriad challenges were heavy workloads and lack of research technical skills. The paper recommends that emerging rural universities' management conduct workshops in capacity development, research paper writing among others, to empower the emerging researchers.
Ecojustice education and communitarianism: Exploring the possibility for African eco-communitarianism
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2019-06-11) Kruger, Frans; le Roux, Adré; Teise, Kevin
In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that impacts on African communities. We argue for an African eco-communitarian perspective and propose that this perspective extends ecojustice education. Such extension occurs firstly through foregrounding and emphasising the establishment of harmonious and co-constitutive relationships that is characterised by intersubjectivity and secondly, by extending community to beyond humans (and ancestors) to be inclusive of the more-than human world. We contend that ecojustice education, framed within an African eco-communitarianism, constitutes a localised response to the ecological crises in the form of critical place-based education, that it enables co-constitutive dialogue and interaction between the human and non-human elements of an eco-community and is an ethico-political praxis characterised by an African environmental ethic.
Challenges facing implementation of an integrated tourism curriculum
(Journal of Education and Practice, 2019-04) Nhlapo, Mzamane; Moreeng, Boitumelo; Malebese, Mots’elisi
This study explored challenges experienced by tourism teachers in Lesotho in an attempt to implement an integrated tourism curriculum. The undertaking was important, because tourism is a new subject, which was introduced in nine Lesotho high schools for piloting in 2011. The aim of introducing tourism was to increase the number of vocational subjects for learners that would enable them to be creative and productive, and become self-employed and self-reliant. The researcher used semi-structured interviews to generate data from three tourism teachers at three of the original nine schools in which tourism had been piloted. Two education officials were also selected for the semi-structured interviews, to provide information at the policy-making level. Data from the interviews was analysed and synthesised to make meaning, and to illuminate the challenges that were being experienced by tourism teachers during and beyond the pilot stage, even though there was support for tourism education from school administrators, and the Ministry of Education and Training. The study found that tourism teachers face a number of serious challenges that need to be addressed, so that integrated tourism curriculum fulfils the expectations of alleviating poverty and unemployment, while promoting self-employment and self-reliance.
Reimagining the sustainable and social justice mathematics classrooms in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
(Society for Research and Knowledge Management, 2020-12) Moloi, Tshele J.; Matabane, Mogalatjane E.
Abstract. In this conceptual paper, we provide some ways to think about sustainability and a social justice approach to teaching of mathematics in Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) classrooms. We imagine the mathematics classrooms in 4IR not only to provide sustainable education, but also to promote core values and qualities of social justice. The teaching of mathematics for social justice is a pedagogy that seeks to expose students to issues concerning power between social groups. It is an approach to teaching that seeks to enable students not only to maintain the status quo, but also to acquire the necessary skills to challenge current practices and offer alternatives. While there is an increasing emphasis on incorporating technology into the teaching and learning of mathematics to produce educated citizenry that will be able to function in 4IR, it is equally important that one guards against unintended consequences brought about by 4IR and not deny access to learners from a low socio-economic environment. Using critical discourse analysis, the paper argues that, as we usher 4IR into the mathematics classroom, one should also be mindful of the social skills that constitute humankind. Social skills and human capital are good foundations for understanding mathematical concepts, and critical skills need to operate effectively and productively in 4IR. Moreover, social skills such as persuasion and emotional intelligence are in higher demand across industries and in education sectors than narrow technical skills, which include, among others, programming or equipment operation and control.
Principals’ views on the implementation of the no-fee policy through the lens of capability theory
(African Journals Online, 2020-09-16) Barnett, Emma Priscilla; Maarman, Rouaan
The purpose of the study reported on here was to investigate the implementation of the no-fee schools policy in quintile 1 schools in the Frances Baard district of the Northern Cape province. The South African schooling system categorises schools into quintile 1 to 5 schools, and, since 2006, disadvantaged learners in quintiles 1 to 3 have been exempted from paying fees. This study explored the perceptions of school principals regarding the implementation of the no-fee policy in the South African context, by applying a capability approach, which offers a novel perspective. In the study we used a descriptive design located within the qualitative tradition. Nine principals from quintile 1 schools were purposively selected as participants. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, and a thematic framework was used for analysis. The findings indicate that the no-fee schools policy is only implemented partially by stakeholders (principals and school governing bodies). Furthermore, it was found that there is a lack of knowledge about the content of the policy which consequently inhibits effective implementation. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Department of Education monitors the implementation of the no-fee policy more closely.
Thutiso ya seTswana 1 - ESHI63016 - year-end Exam (27-November-2023)
(Sol Plaatje University, 2023-11-27) Marumo, L. P
Thutiso ya seTswana - ESTS623 - Year-end Examination (11-November-2013)
(Sol Plaatje University, 2023-11-11) Moloele, R. L