Continued professional development of teachers to facilitate language used in numeracy and mathematics

South African Journal of Communication Disorders

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Continued professional development of teachers to facilitate language used in numeracy and mathematics
 
Creator Wium, Anna-Maria Louw, Brenda
 
Subject Speech-Language Pathology Teacher support, numeracy, discourses, collaboration, language, foundation phase Speech-Language Pathologists working in schools
Description Learners in South African schools have been found to perform poorly in mathematics because they do not understand the language used in solving mathematical problems. In order to improve academic performance teachers need to be made aware of the importance of language in the development of numeracy. A continued professional development (CPD) programme addressed this need. The purpose of the research was to understand how the participants implemented the strategies developed during the programme and how they perceived the support provided by the programme. The research was conducted over 2 years in semi-rural and urban contexts. As part of a more comprehensive mixed method study, the qualitative data referred to in this article were obtained through open-ended questions in questionnaires, focus groups, reflections in portfolios, and a research diary. Results showed that numeracy terminology was often used by learners that differed from standard terminology prescribed by the curriculum. The participants themselves did not necessarily understand the numeracy terminology and thus found it a challenge to implement curriculum outcomes. Issues related to language use of the participants in teaching numeracy were associated with the lack of resources available in the language of learning and teaching  (LoLT). Some of the participants taught numeracy in English, rather than LoLT. The results indicated low teacher expectations of the learners. The CPD programme was considered valuable and effective. SLPs in schools need to be expand their role to provide CPD opportunities for teachers.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2012-12-04
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative research
Format text/html application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajcd.v59i1.17
 
Source South African Journal of Communication Disorders; Vol 59, No 1 (2012); 8-15 2225-4765 0379-8046
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/17/29 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/17/28 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/downloadSuppFile/17/21 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/downloadSuppFile/17/22
 
Coverage — — Foundation phase teachers
Rights Copyright (c) 2012 Anna-Maria Wium, Brenda Louw https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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