Identifying Binding Constraints in Education

Berg, Servaas van der; Spaull, Nicholas; Wills, Gabrielle; Gustafsson, Martin; Kotzé, Janeli

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2906945

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The poorest 80% of South African learners possess, on average, reading skills which rank among the worst in the world [8]. For example, 60% of South African grade 6 learners are unable to read with comprehension in any language [9]. Pretorius and Spaull [10] identify inability to decode text accurately as the primary problem, with barking at print being an additional problem among many of those relatively stronger learners who are at least able to undergo text-decoding.…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye Movements during Barking at Print

Beelders¹,

Stott²

2020

Visual Impairment and Blindness - What We Know and What We Have to Know

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In order for educational software coupled with eye-tracking capability to respond with pedagogical appropriateness to a reader's eye movements, reading metrics must be validly interpreted. These metrics and the types of reading they diagnose, for example, scanning, skimming and reading for meaning, come largely from reading fiction texts in a home language. The use of existing classification systems for disadvantaged South African learners did not yield consistent and credible classification of these learners' reading. This could be attributed to learners barking at print, that is, decoding the text without comprehending what they were reading beyond the word level. Eye movements of barkers and non-barkers were analysed and no statistically significant differences were found. Barking at print was found to be distinct from mindless reading and mind-wandering, as well as other reading types for both first and second languages. Barking is characterised by slow reading with few regressions, average fixation durations typical of second language reading, and variability in eye-movements between lines of text. This work is significant in that it establishes that eye-movement during barking at print is distinct from other categories of reading. However, further research is needed before valid applications can be made from this work.

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Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye Movements during Barking at Print

Beelders¹,

Stott²

2020

Visual Impairment and Blindness - What We Know and What We Have to Know

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“…26 However, such self-study is vital for a township learner to be able to mitigate the poor class time usage, limited and low-quality teacherlearner contact time, limited and sporadic homework assignment and control and general dysfunctionality of the typical township school. 40 These suggest that good reading comprehension is most needed in the very environments which least foster it. The finding that there was a higher prevalence of reading avoidance and guessing for the less familiar, text-heavy quiz than the more familiar, less text-heavy quiz is unsurprising and illustrates the limitation which a low ability to read with comprehension imposes on effective learning of more complex science concepts.…”

Section: Quiz Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

influence of science reading comprehension on South African township learners’ learning of science

Stott¹,

Beelders²

2019

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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The majority of South African township learners have poor reading comprehension skills, which is known to impact negatively on their understanding of content subjects such as science, although the extent of the impact is not fully understood. We explored this impact, as well as the extent to which reading comprehension accounted for the differential effectiveness observed for out-of-class, text-dependent science intervention programmes. Eye movement and mouse-click data were collected from 65 Grade-8 and Grade-9 township learners as they read texts and answered electronic quizzes about electric circuits and lightning on a computer fitted with eye-tracking hardware and software. These data were used to describe the learners' reading and question-answering patterns and derive a composite English for science and technology (EST) reading comprehension index for each learner. Correlations were sought between this index and the learners' Natural Sciences marks and the benefit gained from two previous out-of-school science intervention programmes. Most learners were able to engage meaningfully with a less text-rich, moderately familiar quiz, but there was a prevalence of reading avoidance, guessing and reliance on superficial text features to answer questions for a more text-rich, unfamiliar quiz. Moderate to strong correlations were found between the EST index and both Natural Sciences and intervention marks. The findings suggest that while a significant number of higher achieving township learners possess sufficient levels of EST reading comprehension skills to benefit from textbased interventions, the majority require help in developing EST reading comprehension skills to enhance the likelihood of the intervention's success. Significance:•From this study, we infer that a small group of South African township learners, identifiable by their relatively high Natural Sciences marks, are able to read English science texts with sufficient comprehension to be able to benefit from text-dependent interventions, including engagement with self-study interactive software. The majority, however, read such texts at the frustration level, making it unlikely for interventions to be effective if they rely on the learner being able to engage in independent reading.

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“…In such contexts exploring ways to enhance knowledge transfer to more complex settings is likely to be feasible. In the typical South African low-quintile context, where rates of passing on merit in grades 8-11 may be 20% or lower (Branson, Hofmeyr, & Lam, 2014) and teachers are often not familiar with the content knowledge (Van der Berg et al, 2016), we first face the challenge of helping learners to recall knowledge and become able to perform routine operations stipulated by the curriculum (Stott, 2017;Van der Berg et al, 2016). I present three reasons to support this view.…”

Section: Support For An Instructivist Focus In the South African Lowqmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…South African low-quintile schools typically lack all these features (Hoadley, 2018). One of the reasons for the greater implementation of instructivist pedagogies is that they are timeefficient (Klahr, 2009), a much-needed feature in South African low-quintile schools where the time available for learning and teaching is severely reduced by school dysfunctionality (Van der Berg et al, 2016). In addition, the social, epistemological, and pedagogical culture present in South African low-quintile schools and, more broadly, in the majority of sub-Saharan African schools, is authoritarian in nature (Cooper, 2015;Tabulawa, 2013), with instructivist pedagogies predominating (Hoadley, 2018), making the adoption of skilful instructivist pedagogies more likely to lie within the zones of proximal development of the learners and implementation of the teachers (McKenney, 2013;Tabulawa, 2013), than the adoption of skilful constructivist pedagogies would be.…”

Section: Support For An Instructivist Focus In the South African Lowqmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Obstacles to progress in the context of learners learning the sciences in low-quintile South African schools include a poor command of the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) (Pretorius, 2015); low levels of prior knowledge and skill of learners and teachers; a general attitude of apathy; and inefficient use of time (Van der Berg, Spaull, Wills, Gustafsson, & Kotzé, 2016). This article contributes to the search for possibilities which may be implementable in the South African low-quintile school context given these problems, and possible amelioration of them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are instructivist pedagogies more appropriate for learning the sciences in South African low-quintile schools than western literature suggests?

Stott

2018

Journal of Education

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Some research suggests that the use of instructivist teaching strategies may be detrimental to learning while other research asserts that such strategies can enhance learning under certain conditions. In this article I make the argument that the conditions present in South African low-quintile 1-3 schools, and, probably, more broadly in schools typical of developing countries, make such strategies appropriate and may indeed be the only strategies currently implementable on a large scale in the South African low-quintile school context. I propose two kinds of instructivist resources, low-language-demand drill-and-practise worksheets and software, that may be effective in improving learning in this context by developing language competence, increasing feedback and reinforcement, and extending teaching and learning time. I caution against a simplistic interpretation of the argument, and discuss possible difficulties. Discussions such as this are necessary in our search for appropriate and implementable solutions to the crisis of South African underperformance in education.

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Identifying Binding Constraints in Education

Cited by 38 publications

References 36 publications

Eye Movements during Barking at Print

Eye Movements during Barking at Print

influence of science reading comprehension on South African township learners’ learning of science

Are instructivist pedagogies more appropriate for learning the sciences in South African low-quintile schools than western literature suggests?

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