RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.5 ANALYSIS BY SPECIFIC TOPIC OR BY KEYWORD
The theses are given keywords or specific topic categories for purposes of retrieval. These topic categories, technically known as subject headings, were based on the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH).
The table below shows the specific topic categories with further sub-topics where applicable. This shows the number of theses that contain or pertain to these said topics. There may be several topics per thesis as the need arises. The topics are as follows: culture, education, gender, language and race. Another topic called place just lists the topics where a place subject heading was used.
Table 5.10: Culture Topics
Topic Number
Attitudes 2
Culture 1
Identity 1
Morality 1
Multiculturalism 1
The above table shows the specific issues, topics and concerns relating to culture. An example of a research that studied attitudes is entitled The Lived Experiences of Teachers in a Particular Multilingual Context. This was labelled within the attitudes category because it looks into how the teachers dealt with a particular multilingual context. It was therefore appropriate that this research employed an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative approach. Although it is not the concern of the current study to determine whether the approach and paradigms used were appropriate or not, the inference was provided to put both the paradigm and the approach in the context of the topic.
The next table shows the topics pertaining to education. Since most of the theses fall under the broad topic on language education, and most of these are products of graduate students who took up education courses, it is expected that the majority of the topics or theses produced deal with education.
Table 5.11: Education Topics
Topic Number
Academic literacy 2
Academic performance 2
Adult education 1
Assessment 3
Curriculum development 1
Educators 1
Examinations 1
Higher education 2
Inclusive education 1
Initial teacher education cultures 1
Initial tertiary education 1
Instruction 1
Learner centred education 1
Learning 1
Literacy 2
Literature education (education, genre theory, multiculturalism)
3
Materials development 4
1
Reading 1
Rural education 1
Teaching and learning practices 1
Theorists (Vygotsky) 1
Urban education 1
Although there are only 26 theses included, these deal with a multitude of topics within them (cf Table 5.11). Those theses dealing with education are spread across all of the topics above. The topic most studied as far as the samples are concerned under the topic education is materials development (n=4). These theses have studied how to further improve the teaching of language through visual materials, textbooks and other appropriate materials. Interesting topics also include those that involve the study of attitudes and other factors relating to learners of language and the practices on teaching and learning. This shows the move toward improving the current state of education. By first knowing the status of the education, the teaching and learning process, recommendations on improving these will be more scientific as these are based on the studied phenomena.
It is also interesting to note that the topics studied under education cover various specific topics like assessment, curriculum development, literacy and the like. It is also good to note that even with the small number of researches produced, the topics are not at all that similar or saturated.
Gender is another broad topic but there was only one research that dealt with gender issues and this is the thesis entitled Toward an Inclusive Language Curriculum Reorienting Textbooks Images and Messages in Respect of Gender.
Gender issues are also related to cultural and racial issues. This thesis related language issues on the representation of gender in existing textbooks. This shows again a move toward changing the existing views as presented in the images in textbooks. However, this made use of an interpretive research paradigm rather than a critical one. This was classified under gender and not under culture because it deserves full recognition that the graduate students in South Africa recognize that there are still changes that need to be implemented to change their culture – not just in the government sector but also in the education sector.
Another topic is on language, and the specific topics that fall under this are presented in the following table. This also included the number of theses that studied these issues related to language. Most of the theses that fall under the language topic deal with multilingualism and learning a second language. This reflects the concerns of the education sector on improving the language situation of the different countries like Rwanda and Namibia as specified in the titles of the two researches on language development. Since apartheid happened in the recent past, South African curriculum is still very much concerned with language issues such that the focus of their papers are on developing language acquisition, learning and teaching concerns.
Table 5.12: Language Topics
Topic Number
Bilingualism 1
Codes switching 1
English language 2
First language—Afrikaans 1
Home language 1
Learning theory 4
Language development 1
Language of learning and teaching 4 Language practices performance 1
Multiculturalism 2
Multilingualism 5
Pedagogy 1
Policy 2
Second language 4
The most studied topics under language are language learning theories (n=4), language of learning and teaching or LOLT (4), multilingualism (n=5) and second language (n=4) (cf Table 5.12). An example of a thesis on language is Bilingual Education and Learning: The Case of some Xhosa Speaking Learners in Cape Town, South Africa. This thesis examined the language acquisition of Xhosa speakers in Cape Town. One of the issues on language acquisition, not only in South Africa, is whether to teach a second language in the mother tongue and whether to use the mother tongue in teaching other subjects. These issues were part of the studies categorized under the topic “language”. This shows that there were graduate students who were concerned with policy developments, curricular improvements, as well as improving the teaching and learning processes on language learning, in the period studied.
5.6 CONCLUSION
Data were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, and mode where applicable and the following was observed. Theses on language and race education comprise only a small fraction of the total researches produced from the UCT, SU and UWC. UCT has produced the most researches on language and race education. There is a positive trend in the researches produced on
language and race education in UCT and SU but not in UWC. The degree that produced the most theses on language and race education is Master of Education. The most common methodology used is the interpretive methodology and it also has a positive trend. The most common approach is the qualitative approach but the mixed approach was used steadily almost every year, giving these two a positive trend with the former having a steeper incline than the latter.
A full discussion of the conclusion follows in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD