Preachers are professional voice users (PVUs) who regularly experience high vocal demands, often leading to vocal difficulties or disorders. Research has established that this often occurs due to a lack of sufficient knowledge of the vocal mechanism and vocal hygiene in this population. Student preachers are therefore also considered to be a…

The rise of violent incidents in South African schools has sparked widespread concern. Most studies on school violence focus on the experiences of learners; little attention has been paid to educators' experiences. As a result, violence against educators is both underreported and understudied. The research question prompting this study was: What…

This study investigated the correlation and predictive capacity of verbal working memory (VWM) to the reading comprehension of children in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). The term verbal working memory refers to a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold and manipulate verbal and auditory information temporarily.…

Background: The vocal demand on teachers may predispose them to vocal difficulties. This concern is exacerbated by unfavourable classroom acoustics and a large number of learners in a classroom in developing countries such as South Africa. There is a dearth of classroom acoustic protocols in South Africa, which intensifies the effect of noise on…

This paper reports on a study conducted with Grade 11 learners as participants, in four public high schools in a rural district of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The central objective was to investigate the mathematical discourses of Grade 11 learners related to the word, algebraic and graphic representations of asymptotes of the…

South African universities' use of digital technologies in learning has increased in recent years. Given that social exposure, the context and pedagogic uses of technology influence learning expectations and learner involvement, it is important to understand students' experiences of the use of different technological tools. This article employs…

This article analyses conversation around classroom discipline to establish how teachers learn through professional conversation. The study was a qualitative study that originally adopted an ethno-methodological research design. Purposive sampling was used to select 6 primary school teachers from the East London Education District in the Eastern…

Recent and continuous transformation efforts at South African universities and the varied challenges facing higher education make it increasingly important to undertake an examination of student experiences that extend beyond the academic realm. This paper presents findings on non-academic support services, as experienced by students. The study…

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the greatest social issues affecting South Africa, and universities are no exception. This article reports preliminary results of a pilot study conducted at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The study aimed to ascertain perceptions of GBV among university staff. A range of frequency-seeking questions…

Being aware of our thinking as we perform learning tasks and then using this knowledge to actively self-regulate what we are doing, is commonly known as metacognition. This study investigated the influence of a story-based intervention on the development of metacognition among Intermediate Phase learners engaged in content area learning. Two…

This study, undertaken at a secondary school in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, sought to research bullying--a phenomenon seen globally as a major social problem that has a serious impact on the wellbeing of children and the youth. Participants were eight Grade 10 learners, 4 male and 4 female. The research tradition was a narrative inquiry as the…

I report on an investigation into a group of Free State educators' recognition of bullying, their reactions to incidences of bullying, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of a number of bullying prevention strategies. The research instrument was a synthesis of the Delaware Research Questionnaire and questions based on findings from previous…

Background: Bullying behavior in schools can lead to psychosocial problems. School-based interventions are important in raising student awareness, developing their skills and in planning to reduce bullying behavior. Methods: A randomized controlled trial, using a school-based educational intervention to reduce verbal bullying, was conducted among…

Learner-to-teacher bullying is a focus area that has not been widely researched. The current research, underpinned by the ecosystemic paradigm, examined the proportion of teachers who reported exposure to bullying by learners. The study was carried out by using the Learner-to-teacher Bullying Questionnaire developed for this research.…

Boys are commonly associated with disruptive behaviour and physical fighting at school. Explanations for this behaviour range from naturalistic "boys will be boys" approaches to analyses which focus on the social construction of masculinity and emphasise the gendered nature of boys' behaviour. Whichever view holds sway, it is often…