scholarly journals Insights into the reversal error from a study with South African and Spanish prospective primary teachers

Pythagoras ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Calos Soneira ◽  
Sarah Bansilal ◽  
Reginald Govender
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Word Problems ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
The South ◽  
African Students ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
Reversal Error ◽  
Matching Strategy ◽  
Direct Proportionality

This study, using a quantitative approach, examined Spanish and South African pre-service teachers’ responses to translating word problems based on direct proportionality into equations. The participants were 79 South African and 211 Spanish prospective primary school teachers who were in their second year of a Bachelor of Education degree. The study’s general objective was to compare the students’ proficiency in expressing direct proportionality word problems as equations, with a particular focus on the extent of the reversal error among the students’ responses. Furthermore, the study sought to test the explanatory power of word order matching and the static comparison as causes of the reversal error in the two contexts. The study found that South African students had a higher proportion of correct responses across all the items. While nearly all the errors made by Spanish students were reversals, the South African group barely committed reversal errors. However, a subgroup of the South African students made errors consisting of equations that do not make sense in the situation, suggesting that they had poor foundational knowledge of the multiplicative comparison relation and did not understand the functioning of the algebraic language. The study also found that the word order matching strategy has some explanatory power for the reversal error in both contexts. However, the static comparison strategy offers explanatory power only in the Spanish context, suggesting that there may be a difference in curriculum and instructional approaches in the middle and secondary years of schooling, which is when equations are taught.

scholarly journals The relationship between assessment and preparing BEd undergraduate students for the South African school context

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nicole Imbrailo ◽  
Karen Steenekamp
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
South African ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
School Context ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
The South ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
Work Integrated Learning ◽  
Emotional Strain ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

The Bachelor of Education (BEd) undergraduate degree at a university in the Gauteng province, South Africa, aims to prepare pre-service teachers by using their experiences to expose them to the South African schooling context. This is done using a scaffolded process that includes formative assessment, summative assessment and Work-Integrated Learning (WIL, also known as teaching experience). This paper describes research findings based on a sequential mixed method design used within a constructivist paradigm to collect data on the role of assessment in pre-service teacher preparation. Eighty participants answered 16 questions on a nominal scale, and from this sample, 8 participants took part in semi-structured, one-on-one interviews. Based on the findings, it was concluded that all types of assessment were beneficial for pre-service teacher preparation as part of an assessment schedule – especially the case with WIL. However, WIL was criticised for not aligning with the current context and for a need to include the realities of paperwork, policies and systems as well as the emotional strain experienced by in-service teachers. The results suggest that by making WIL more authentic could impact pre-service teachers during their careers when deciding whether to remain in the profession.

scholarly journals Competing Marxist Theories on the Temporal Aspects of Strike Waves: Silver’s Product Cycle Theory and Mandel’s Long Wave Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Cottle
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Product Cycle ◽  
The South ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Long Wave ◽  
Temporal Aspects

Despite the profound changes in capitalist development since the industrial revolution, strike waves and mass strikes are still a feature of the twenty-first century. This article examines two Marxist theories that seek to explain the temporal aspects of strike waves. In the main, I argue that Silver’s product cycle theory, suffers from an over-determinism, and that turning point strike waves are not mainly determined by lead industries. Mandel’s long wave theory argues that technological innovations tend to cluster and thus workers in different industries feature prominently in strike waves. By re-examining and comparing two competing Marxist theories on the temporality of strike waves and turning points, I will attempt to highlight the similarities but also place emphasis on where the theories differ. I examine the applicability of the theories to the South African case, and reference recent world events in order to ascertain the explanatory power of the competing theories. In the main I argue that Silver’s product cycle lead theory does not fit the South African experience. KEYWORDS  turning point strike waves; product cycle; long waves; capitalism

The South African Folle volo: Dante's Ulysses reinvented

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-167
Author(s):  
Sonia Fanucchi
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Moral Language ◽  
African Students

The figure of Ulysses haunts the pages of Dante’s Commedia, embodying a tension between past and present, and the potential and dangers inherent in any attempt at transformation. In this chapter I focus on four creative pieces by young South African students for whom Dante’s Ulysses becomes a rich and suggestive symbol. Despite their overt differences in approach, I argue that these pieces are all connected by a creative response to Dante, translating and conversing with his Ulysses from their personal and political perspectives. They are notable for their paradoxical approach to Dante’s hero, as they attempt to fashion new identities, to break free of the destructive influence of South Africa’s past, and to develop a more authentic, moral language.

The South African War (1899–1902): context and motive reconsidered

1990 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Porter
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
African History ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
The South ◽  
South African War ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Cross Reference ◽  
Made In

Since 1899 the idea has been widely held that the South African War was no isolated episode but one illuminating the fundamental characteristics of British expansion, both in the nineteenth century and beyond. Cross-reference between the particulars of South African history and theories of imperialism has long been a fact of intellectual life. This process, however, often seems to reflect less the fruitful interplay of new knowledge and evolving hypotheses than the progressive entrenchment of separate schools of thought. The purpose of this article is to highlight the gulf between different approaches, with reference to recent work; and to suggest that, notwithstanding the work of the last decade, little headway has been made in linking the development of South Africa's economy and mineral resources to the War of 1899 in any but the most general and self-evident of ways. It argues that the case for interpreting the origins of the war in the main from a metropolitan and political perspective retains considerable persuasiveness and explanatory power. Finally it puts forward an alternative way of seeing in the struggle representative features of British expansion.

scholarly journals Internet Banking Adoption in South Africa: The Mediating Role of Consumer Readiness

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5(J)) ◽  
pp. 6-17
Author(s):  
Aguidissou O C ◽  
Richard Shambare ◽  
Rugimbana R
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Internet Banking ◽  
Retail Banking ◽  
The Body ◽  
Large Sample Size ◽  
The South ◽  
Innovation Characteristics

The recent rapid development of Internet banking (IB) around the world is not without certain challenges. For instance while a majority of banking SSTs (Self Service Technologies, e.g. ATMs and debit cards) have been well received by the South African market, consumers seem sceptical towards Internet banking. This paper seeks to test various conceptual frameworks of consumer adoption patterns of IB with the view of a framework with the greatest explanatory power for the South African market. To achieve the stated objective of a framework for IB adoption in South Africa, this paper suggests an approach not yet undertaken, according to the literature review conducted, within the South African retail banking industry – investigating a comparison of the predictive efficacy of two common groupings of variables most cited in the consumer behaviour literature as important determinants of adoptive behaviour in SSTs. These are: perceptions of innovation characteristics and consumer readiness (CR) variables. Therefore, the primary objective of this article is the consideration of this gap within the body of knowledge around South African consumers’ IB adoption behaviour. Through a descriptive quantitative analysis of 1516 large sample size, innovation characteristics as consumer’s perceptions (complexity, perceived risk notably) or views (endogenous variables) were found with greatest predictive power over IB adoption, in the South African consumer market context. This finding is therefore for marketers (particularly in South Africa) a set of useful tools that can be relevant to promote the adoption of IB.

Some Observations on Resistance and Revolution in Contemporary Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted R Gurr
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
The South ◽  
African Students ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Critical Understanding ◽  
Political Trials ◽  
The Revolution

This unique essay, in which the author reminisces on and draws from his involvement as an expert witness in one of South Africa’s apartheid era political trials, is testimony that ideas live independently of their creators. Although the author was initially mentioned in the trial by the prosecution, which claimed that his book, Why Men Rebel, provided a four-stage model of revolutionary strategy for cadres of the Black People’s Convention (BPC) and the South African Students’ Organization (SASO), his subsequent testimony was for the defense, and was used to counter the prosecution. Here, the author applies the Why Men Rebel theory to South Africa to assess the issues raised in Kwandiwe Kondlo’s book, In the Twilight of the Revolution (2009), which examines the role played by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) as well as the resultant multi-racial democratic dispensation in post-apartheid South Africa in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. The essay and the revelations it encompasses are quite deep and relevant for a critical understanding of the trend of politics in post-liberation South Africa, in particular, and post-colonial Africa in general.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document