Participantes y recogida de datos Flandes

In order to ensure that the study was conducted in an ethical manner, I negotiated access with people that were in positions of power in the school, namely the Principal, the Deputy Principal and the Head of Department. I also sought permission from the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), as mentioned earlier. (See Appendix A).

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Miller and Bell (2003) refer to people in positions of power as “gatekeepers”. Gatekeepers are important in qualitative research as they provide access to the research site (LeCompte and Preissle 2003). LeCompte and Preissle (2003) emphasize face to - face interaction with gate keepers as that enhances chances of being granted entry because people respond positively to interpersonal meetings. In this study, ‘gatekeepers’ were the Directorate of Research at the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), the school Principal, Deputy principal, Foundation Phase (FP) Head of Department (HOD) and the Grade 3 parents of the class I studied. To get access to the teacher and the learners, I informed the Principal and the Deputy Principal who was responsible for the Foundation Phase about the study, and their right of voluntary participation in the study.

Protecting the identities of the participants by keeping them anonymous is crucial in research in order to safeguard their well-being (Perry 2003). I informed the teachers and learners who participated in the study that their identities as well as the school would be kept confidential at all times. I informed the parents of the nature of the research, and that they had the right to refuse permission for their children to participate in the study. I ensured them that their children’s identities and the school would be kept confidential and that the research would not have a negative impact on their school work.

In conducting the research, it is imperative that a contract is drawn to ensure that all the participants understand the research principles (Stake 2005; Miller and Bell 2003). The consent forms were made available to the participants because they were intended to formalize the relationship between the researcher and the participants. In other words, the consent forms served as a contract entered into by the researcher and the participants which stated clearly that the participation in the study was voluntary, and that the participant had the right to withdraw from the study at any time (See Appendix B). Stake (2005) concurs with Miller and Bell (2003) on the establishment of the contract with its principles clearly stated in dealing with research participants.

Having received the agreement from the teacher and the parents by signing a consent forms, I asked the teacher to identify six learners whose books I could analyse for literacy and writings. I then wrote to the parents of the six learners asking permission to analyse their children’s written

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work, and permission was granted as shown in Appendix B. All these measures were taken to ensure that the study was conducted in an ethical manner.

3.10 Summary

This chapter focused on methodological framework that was used to carry out research for this study. An ethnographic case study design was used as it aligns with the qualitative approach of this study. Observations, interviews and a set of documents were collected and analysed to collect data from the various participants. The selection criteria of participants were discussed as well as ethical concerns were dealt with in this chapter. The next chapter will focus on the presentation and analysis of data in order to identify themes that emerge from the collected data.

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CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION

4.1Introduction

In this chapter, I present data with regard to language literacy practices in isiXhosa in a Grade 3 classroom. Data was collected by means of classroom observations, interviews, learner writings and other documents as reported in the previous chapter.

Firstly, I present data obtained from classroom observations where audio recorder was used to record literacy practices in the Grade 3 classroom. The recorded data was transcribed and coded with symbols in order to unpack participants’ behaviours that the researcher could have missed, had the audio recording not been used.

Observation data is followed by a presentation of data that was obtained by means of interviews with the Grade 3 teacher in an attempt to gain an understanding of her perspectives on literacy practices. I also report on interviews collected from the FP Head of Department (HOD) and parents. Thirdly, I analyse a set of documents which include the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), print and reading materials and the lesson plans of the Grade 3 teacher. The four sets of data from classroom observations, interviews, document analysis and other print material served to triangulate my findings. The presentation of data is preceded by a brief description of the Grade 3 teacher’s and HOD’s profiles who participated in the study.

4.2 TEACHERS’ PROFILES

The Grade 3 teacher who will be known as Thandi in order to keep her identity anonymous in this study, held a three years Senior Primary Teacher’s Diploma, and she was less than 40 years of age during the data collection period. She had between six and ten years of teaching experience (See Teacher Profile Questionnaire: A). She had taught in the Intermediate Phase for 16 months. In 2008 the school experienced a shortage of teachers in the Foundation Phase and she was then asked to teach Grade 3. Her qualification allowed her to teach in the Intermediate and Senior Phases. To keep herself informed with curriculum developments, she attended workshops that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) organised for the FP teachers.

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For research ethics reasons, the HOD who was involved in this study is referred to as Zodwa. As HOD, Zodwa was entrusted to manage and provide leadership in the FP. Zodwa was an isiXhosa speaking female. She was not older 40 years of age at the time of data collection. She taught one of the Grade 3 isiXhosa classes. She held a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Honours Degree. Her teaching experience was between 11-15 years in the FP. She had not received any literacy professional development in the past (See Teacher Profile Questionnaire: B).

The Principal of the school where the study was conducted is called Theo in order to protect his identity. Theo was an isiXhosa speaking male who was less than 50 years of age during the data collection period. He held a Junior Primary Teacher’s Diploma (JPTD) and an Honours Degree which he received in the 1990s. He had over 21 years teaching experience. At the time of data collection, he confirmed that he received professional development in literacy workshops that were organised and conducted by the Department of Basic Education (See Teacher Profile Questionnaire: C).

4.3 DATA PRESENTATION

4.3.1 Data from Classroom Observations

As mentioned in Chapter 3, this study followed a qualitative approach and it made use of different strategies to collect data. Classroom observations were one of the strategies that were used to collect data. Observations were used to check how much time was spent on various literacy activities, as well as literacy events and interactions that occurred in the Grade 3 classroom. This section describes Grade 3 lessons that were observed for a period of five moths. It is followed by the presentation of data that was collected by means of interviews.

There were 47 learners in the Grade 3 class that was observed. There were two mats covering the floor tiles. One was situated infront of the chalk board and the other one was at the back of the class. Four learners were seated on the mats. Three boys sat on the mat infront of the chalk board, and a girl made use of the other mat that was placed at the back of the classroom. According to the teacher, the learners who were seated on the mat were struggling with their work, and they were put on the mats for extra support. The rest of the learners sat in pairs on

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tables facing each other, and the tables were arranged in three columns where every learner was able to face the chalk board.

4.3.2 Lessons observed

I observed 13 literacy lessons in total, from February 2013 until June 2013. I selected four (4) literacy lessons for data analysis as they related to my research questions. The four lessons focused on developing different aspects of literacy. For example, out of the four lessons I selected lessons A and D focused on reading comprehension, while lesson B focused on transactional writing. Lesson C aimed at developing language structure and use by learners as reported below.