Resultados Discrete-Dual Porosity (DDP)

After making the first three videos, the mathematics coordinator put me in touch with the quality assessor, a PhD candidate whose research focuses on language and mathematics. She provided valuable feedback on language equivalence, such as noting the ambiguity of the

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isiZulu word izikhathi3 and the preference for rather using iziqephu4, and on mathematical content. The mathematics coordinator and the project coordinator also provided feedback on the videos, particularly on the mathematical elements such as the drawing of fractions, and the technical elements such as the length respectively.

After the creation of Fractions Video 2 the mathematics facilitator and quality assessor pointed out that the fractions drawn in the video were not divided into equal parts5, and so the bilingual resource creator edited the video so that fractions were always

represented equally (i.e. if one divided a whole into four quarters, each quarter would be of equal size). However, this edit was made after some of the learners who were ahead had already watched Video 2, so these edits were seen only be the remainder of the learners. This may affect some of the learners’ results in the Fractions quizzes as the learners who watched the video before it was edited may not have grasped the concept of fractions consisting of equal parts.

After the creation of Fractions Video 5 the project co-founder pointed out that the English-isiZulu bilingual video was considerably longer than the English-medium video. The bilingual video was about 17 minutes while the English-medium one was around six minutes. The project co-founder suggested that we try to keep videos below 10 minutes, as he and the mathematics coordinator had found from previous experience that learners lose concentration when videos exceed this length. The bilingual resource creator and I then discussed why the video was so long. It was initially predicted that the English-isiZulu bilingual videos would be slightly longer than their English-medium counterparts, particularly because much

academic vocabulary has not been standardised in African languages (Webb, 2004: 160) and the isiZulu adaptations tend to be slightly longer than the English terms. However we had not anticipated that the English-isiZulu bilingual videos would be that much longer. In discussion with the bilingual resource creator we realised that he was speaking slightly slower than the mathematics coordinator spoke in her videos because he wanted to ensure he was fully audible and understandable in the videos. He also explained to me that there were different ways he could explain certain things in isiZulu and he would sometimes explain something more than once, using different ways of explaining it each time, with the hope that if learners did not understand the first explanation they would then understand a subsequent explanation. In our discussion we spoke about how the mathematics coordinator explains things in one

3 _Times

4 _Parts

5 _{It is important for representations of fractions to be equal so that learners can grasp the idea of equivalent} fractions.

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way and that if learners did not understand the explanation given in the videos they were aware that they had the opportunity to ask the facilitators to explain it in a different way to them, which they often did. We then decided that the bilingual resource creator would choose an explanation he felt learners were more likely to understand and only use that one. He also decided to look at the time spent on each slide in the mathematics coordinator’s videos and align the time he spent on those slides as closely as possible. He then redid Video 5 (again, after a few learners who were ahead had watched it) and implemented the decisions from our discussion in the subsequent videos. As a result, all the subsequent videos aligned much more closely with the times of the English-medium videos.

Due to several difficulties with the computers the bilingual resource creator and I were not able to complete all the videos before the course began. As such, we were working on the videos while the course was running; however, we always ensured that the videos for that day’s lesson would be up in time. This is an example of the ‘messiness’ of real-world applications that DBR accounts for, and illustrates the importance of the adaptability of the DBR methodology as we had to adapt the experiment according to these constraints.

In noting the personal attitudes that would affect learners buying into the new course, learners’ averseness to learning mathematics in isiZulu became clear as the learners argued that it would make it more difficult. It thus became obvious that this attitude needed to be addressed, and that we needed to assure the learners that the isiZulu used in the course would be mixed with English and would be the same type of isiZulu that they use with each other and with OLICO Youth tutors – not the formal written isiZulu they are expected to use in the isiZulu class at school. The bilingual resource creator and I created the following fun poster using a mix of English and isiZulu to make the bilingual Fractions course more appealing:

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Figure 24: Fractions bilingual poster

When the Fractions course began, I spoke to each learner individually to find out whether they would sign up for the English-medium or English-isiZulu bilingual Fractions course. In this discussion I explained the differences between the courses, clarified what kind of isiZulu would be used, asked learners which course they would like to do and if they would like to share their reason for their choice with me. Once learners had decided which course they would like to do I gave them the enrolment key they should use to sign up: learners doing the English-medium-only course enrolled using english and those doing the bilingual-medium course used the word zulu as their respective enrolment keys.

Throughout the course I had regular discussions with the Grade 7 mathematics facilitators and the learners about how learners were experiencing the bilingual Fractions course. It was helpful that the learners already knew me as a member of the OLICO Youth team, so that the typical influence of a researcher’s presence was less pervasive, and also that learners were constantly asked to comment on and evaluate elements of the course, so they were able to give relatively uninhibited feedback.

Once the learners had completed the Fractions course I conducted one-on-one interviews with selected learners from a range of performance levels. These interviews were audio recorded and learners’ writing was also kept for analysis. The purpose of these

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interviews was to investigate learner’s perceptions of the course, as well as their understandings of the concepts taught in the videos.

In conclusion of the design experiment, the mathematics coordinator, the project co- founder, the mathematics online course facilitators, the bilingual resource creator and I had several discussions about our observations of the Fractions course; its successes, weaknesses, and recommendations for further iterations.

As per DBR methodology, the design experiment was under constant revision throughout its implementation. The translanguaging model was first introduced by me in my Honours research in 2013, after which it was revised several times by my research supervisor and me before the bilingual resource creator and I began with the creation of the videos. Once we had reached agreement on the model to be used, the bilingual resource creator and I began with the video creation.