Presented in this section is the description of the module analysed and a brief description of Reed’s conceptual framework. The main objective was to gain clear insights regarding the domains of teacher knowledge, principles of emergent literacy and the theories of reading espoused in the learning guide. Lastly, the section gives an overview of the units of analysis for this document analysis.
5.2.1 The Structure of Module 4
The Learning Guide selected for the analysis is entitled: ACT Module 4: Teaching reading and writing in Home language in Foundation Phase (EDEC 104): Learning Guide. The module (LG4) is an essential and specialised resource for all the ACT programme students, published in 2013 by the School of Education, Pietermaritzburg Campus of the University of KwaZulu- Natal. The designers of the module are Ann Hill and Fikile Khuboni, with Yvonne Reed as the critical reader. Their personal profiles are:
Ann Hill, a retired senior lecturer from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2011, is currently attached to the university’s research and post graduate studies department where she works as an Education consultant. She specialises in primary,
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secondary and college level literacies, teacher education and professional development.
Fikile Khuboni lectured in UKZN for seven years and in 2009 relocated to Witwatersrand University, School of Education as a senior lecturer. She has a keen interest in university teaching, curriculum design and qualitative research.
Yvonne Reed is a literacy expert at Witwatersrand University, School of Education, where she works as a part time PhD supervisor and participates in research and publication support activities for emerging researchers. She has a keen interest in postgraduate courses in literacy learning and teaching, material design, assessment, grammar and pedagogy. Reed is also the author of the teacher knowledge conceptual framework which is the lens used to analyse Module 4 in this study.
Module 4 comprises two booklets – a Learning Guide (LG4) and a Student Guide (SG4) with a reading pack. The LG4 provides the intended curriculum content and tasks or learning activities to the ACT programme student teachers. On the other hand, the SG4 contains the structure of the programme and outlines the assessment requirements in the module.
The LG4 (Module 4) consists of the background information of the text (12 pages); a learning text designed in four units covering theories of children’s literacy development and principles of emergent literacy in unit one; strategies and the approaches to teaching reading and writing in unit two and three; creating and managing a literacy environment in unit four (114 pages);
the teachers’ readings pack (28 pages); and lastly, the module ends with a teachers’ handbook on teaching reading in early grades (24 pages).
Overall, the LG4 is the “teacher” of the ACT student teachers during the times when they are not in contact sessions with their tutors. The student teachers are advised to spend over 160 hours on the module, which includes attending contact sessions in the provided centres; reading the recommended materials; researching; conducting classroom observations; and other tasks given for a successful completion of the two-year course. Table 5.1 gives the details on the contents of the Learning Guide (Module 4 page ix).
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Table 5.1: The contents page of Module 4 - the Learning Guide
Table of Contents
Programme Map Overview
Unit 1:
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Being confident; inspiring confidence 1
1.3 Emergent Literacy 5
1.4 Constructive relationships 8
1.5 Teaching literacy 11
1.6 Reading “readiness” 17
1.7 Grade R 24
1.8 Assessing Emergent Literacy 28
1.9 Unit Summary checklist 36
Assignment 1 Part One 38
Assignment 1 Part Two 38
Unit 2:
2.1 Motivating children to read 42
2.2 Learning to read: what children need to know and be able to do 45
2.3 Reading strategies 54
2.4 Writing strategies 58
2.5 Unit summary checklist 68
Assignment 2 Part One 70
Unit 3:
3.1 Introduction 72
3.2 Terminology 72
3.3 Word study 73
3.4 Whole word approach 77
3.5 Phonics 79
3.6 Vocabulary 82
3.7 Sentence building 85
3.8 Unit summary checklist 88
Assignment 2 Part Two 90
Unit 4:
4.1 The basic dimensions of an effective literacy environment 92 4.2 Teacher time: for thought, study, organisation and review 93
4.3 Space: creating a dynamic environment 95
4.4 Classroom culture and language development 105
4.5 Conclusion 110
4.6 Unit summary checklist 110
Assignment 2 Part Three 112
Assignment 2 Part Four 114
Readings
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Although the sub-headings of the Module’s units or chapters seem to follow a systematic order of literacy content, the designers’ selection and organisation of the text in each of these four units is not presented in a linear manner. The layout includes a well-defined blend of systematically arranged paragraphs of text and icons of activities, student reflections (stop and think), key points, comments and academic skills. The combination of the paragraphs of text and activities in the four units of the module is a typical design of distance learning materials in the South African context. Figure 5.2 is an insert from page x of Module 4, which exemplifies the icons and the message that each icon conveys.
ICONS
The following icons are used in the Learning Guide in order to provide you with visual
“signposts” of what is expected of you. You will soon become used to recognising each icon and the message it conveys.
Time management
This icon in the margin will give you an indication of approximately how much time you have for each module, unit and section, and will help to remind you to manage your time well. Each learning activity also gives an indication of how much time you should spend on it (“Spend about :”). The times are approximate, and will vary from student to student.
Activity
When you see this icon, you will know that you need to do some kind of activity that will help you to learn and to think about content, ideas or skills.
Comment
This icon usually comes after an activity, and is the author’s comments or guidance on an activity. These comments should never be read before you have completed the activity. This is because your opinion may be different from the author’s and still be acceptable.
Stop and think
Whenever you see this icon, you should stop and think about the issues that have come up so far. You can do this in writing, and file what you have written for your own reference, or you can just think about it.
Key points
The points following this icon are a brief summary of the main ideas that you have covered so far.
Academic skills
This icon indicates where study skills are integrated in the Learning Guide to provide you with some support if you need it.
Figure 5.2: The icons and the message each conveys from the Learning Guide, P. X.
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Assignment/
toolkit
When you see this icon in the margin you will know that the activity is part of an assignment or your toolkit.
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The authors’ motive was to explicitly give the reader a clear visual ‘sign post’ on the curriculum’s expectations and assumptions on each page. The advantage of such an arrangement is that it motivates or allows the ACT student teachers to complete their tasks at specified times, to use the resources actively and encourage peer collaboration and consultation. In addition, this material design helps the student learners to develop personal critical and reflective minds, which is associated with the constructivism approaches to teaching and learning (Sapire & Reed, 2011).
The next section presents an overview of the conceptual frameworks which were used to analyse this document. First, I present the conceptual framework by Reed (2009), to unpack the domains of teacher knowledge in the LG4 in the next section.