Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in determining a person's language proficiency level. This study investigates the role vocabulary plays in determining students' performance within research modules at private higher education institutions (HEIs). The discipline-specific vocabulary in this study includes target words, sampled from an…

Background: The development of context-based science curricula has been identified as one of the most effective curricular innovations to develop interest and better conceptual understanding of many areas in science. However, such a curriculum can be more fruitful if it starts with the assessment of learners' contextualized knowledge about the…

Research involving stuttering in multilingual individuals is limited. Speech-language therapists face the challenge of treating a diverse client base, which includes multilingual individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the stuttering moments across English, Afrikaans, and German in a multilingual speaker. A single multilingual adult with…

This study investigates the development of Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) of 14 novice uncertified graduate science teachers during a Professional Development Intervention (PDI) on teaching particulate nature of matter. TSPCK was defined in terms of five knowledge components: learner prior knowledge, curricular saliency,…

The choice of which language strategies to use in schools in Africa is the subject of much debate. In the Life Sciences, cultural issues associated with the use of biological terminology add to this debate. In our study, we examined the language choices made by Grade 7 Natural Sciences teachers in South Africa during their teaching of human…

This paper analyses student teachers' meta-narratives associated with 'doing' mathematics. The quality of the vocabulary associated with the doing of the mathematical objects of a sample of 56 multilingual third-year mathematics methodology students preparing to be secondary teachers was explored and assessed. Sfard's theoretical concept of…

Purpose: This paper aims to outline the benefits of using resilience assessment instead of command and control mechanisms to evaluate sustainable campus environments. Design/Methodology/Approach: An exploratory mixed-method design was followed for the purposes of the project. During the first qualitative phase, a historical timeline of the focal…

Environmental management systems implemented in schools are regarded by many as a mechanism for the integration of environmental matters in all the operational functions of the school. The links, however, between environmental management and curriculum practice have not been adequately addressed in the literature. This article reports on the…

The literature on science education reveals a worldwide decline in young people's interest in the study of sciences. This lack of interest has resulted in low enrolment rates in science-related courses at tertiary level. Researchers have suggested, among other innovations, the use of context-based teaching approaches as a way of motivating…

Research suggests that there is a need for better training of prospective teachers on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to encourage their use for teaching and learning in schools. This paper presents findings on the self-perceptions of competence by pre-service teachers to use ICTs for teaching science content. A mixed…

This article describes the development and validation of an instrument that can be used to assess students' perceptions of their learning environment as a means of monitoring and guiding changes toward social constructivist learning environments. The study used a mixed-method approach with priority given to the quantitative data collection. During…

Good study behaviour after school hours is an important way of improving learners' chances of success. Learners, once they reach high school, particularly require support that will assist them to study effectively outside the classroom. South African schools are under pressure to improve results in mathematics but besides the homework that schools…

Meeting teacher expectations for a professional development programme (PDP) is expected to strengthen sustainable applied competence as programme outcome since teachers will be more motivated to apply the programme content in practice. A revised distance learning (DL) programme was augmented by a practical component comprising a work-integrated…

Adult non-formal education and training (NFET) in South Africa was adopted in 1990 to address the problem of unemployment of non-educated and unskilled adults. Public and private NFET centres aim to meet the training needs of adults who were deprived of formal education that would foster access to opportunities for employment. The paper reports on…

Social media technologies are being widely used by students in institutions of higher education and these are transforming their way of learning, social conduct, communication and networking. The intent of this research was conducted to determine value of social media technologies to students in higher education but with a focus that was directed…