Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Literacy support program'

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2008.
Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 30, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 0870. Adviser: Mary B. McMullen.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-98).
This thesis presents Community Knowledge Sharing (CKS), an Internet-enabled asynchronous messaging system designed for use in the developing world. The system is motivated by a desire to expand the benefits of network connectivity deeply into rural areas, breaking down barriers within and between communities. Recognizing that large segments of the population in rural communities have low levels of literacy, CKS implements a multi-literate design in which the system can be customized based on the abilities and preferences of the user. Three research areas are explored. The primary research area is to understand whether multi-literate interfaces can expand access to technology. Second, the study explores concerns that users of the system hire around security and trust. Third, the study identifies the types of information used and demanded by a sample user group. An evaluation of CKS has been conducted in Bohechio, an agricultural town in the Dominican Republic. Participants were drawn to cover a range of ages, educational backgrounds and literacy skill levels. With regards to multi-literacy and access, it is found that low literate users prefer iconic interfaces, speech synthesis is not effective, and literate users are willing to create text and audio content. On security and trust, the study finds that in the context of networked message systems rural people have different security requirements, and need to trust both the communications channel and content. Lastly, in discussions on information it is found that health, news, commercial and family information is in the greatest use and greatest demand in the community. CKS is a modest first step at developing an appropriate messaging environment for the developing world. Policy recommendations are drawn to inform future technology design and evaluation efforts. Developers of information technologies for use in the developing world should design iconic interfaces for low literate users, not rely on speech synthesis technologies, collaborate with communities, and balance cost, security and accessibility in their technology design. Evaluation of these technologies should take a longer-term approach in order to ensure that participants understand the application being tested.
by Hani Umar Shakeel.
S.M.

While much has been written about the efficacy of academic support programs for increasing the retention rates of university students deemed academically underprepared, few studies examine how students engage the support classroom with an emphasis on expressions of literacy. This qualitative study responds to recent calls in student development literature for more studies into particular practices of university support programs. Focused on an exemplar support program at a larger, public university in the American Midwest, the study gathered perspectives about the support of academically underprepared students, teasing out the differences in administrators', instructors', and students' voices. Insights from the perspectives revealed that explicit metaphors of support in the programmatic discourse emphasized a skills model for academic development and a utopian model of student safe houses. In the classroom, however, five focal students suggested that literacy learning was far more complex. In particular, students' data revealed the generative potential of sociocultural literacy theory for conceptualizing praxis in an academic support program. Examining how five focal students responded to the complex programmatic perspectives of support showed that student engagement was far more intricate than strong retention rates. First, a close analysis of five focal students revealed that learning academic discourses was more than appropriation of skills; it was ways of discerning which practices to use for different communities and learning to signal one's role in these communities. Second, students revealed that student community in the support program was a borderland of difference rather than a safe house. Finally, students illustrated that opportunities for creative improvisation in literacy performances was integral to student engagement. The findings have insights for how to conceptualize pedagogy in support programs related to emergent sociocultural theories of Third Space. Specifically, imagining the support classroom as borderland play suggests that the how of student engagement was often how the five focal students proactively co-constructed the learning.

This program evaluation studied Effective Behavioral and Instructional Support Systems (EBISS), a Response to Intervention (RTI) initiative focused at changing district leadership behaviors to close the policy-research-practice gap and improve students' reading outcomes at third grade. A pre/post quasi-experimental comparison using a matched group design evaluated the four-year initiative. EBISS districts (n = 25) were matched to non-EBISS districts n = 25) by important district variables of: (a) size (small, medium, and large) and (b) region (coast, central, east, south, and valley), (c) students receiving Free and Reduced Meals (FARM), (d) students who were white and non-white, (e) students who were male and female, (f) years of teacher's experience, and (g) third grade Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) scores. The aim of this research was to answer two questions. The first asked whether the performance of students in non-EBISS and EBISS districts were significantly different when measured by their percent of students passing the third grade reading OAKS in 2006-07 (EBISS pre-treatment year) and 2010-11 (EBISS post-treatment year). The second question analyzed whether EBISS districts with high implementation scores made statistically significantly different gains from EBISS districts with low implementation scores on their percent of students who passed the third grade OAKS reading assessment from 2006-07 to 2012-11. The results of the first research question indicated no significant differences for group (p = .312) or time (p = .488) between EBISS and non-EBISS districts scores on the OAKS reading test at third grade. Similarly, the second research question results indicated no significant differences (p = .452) between EBISS districts with high and low implementation scores on the OAKS reading scores at third grade. Findings are discussed in relation to: (a) the challenge when measuring administrator effectiveness based on distal outcomes, (b) confounding variables that affected internal and external validity, and (c) how this study informs the future design of evaluation research, in the pre-implementation year of an initiative, so variables that are know to be effective in improving student outcomes can be replicated.

This thesis is presented for the degree of Master of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Research has revealed that the academic performances of learners in South Africa are below the required level. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) launched the literacy and numeracy strategy 2006 – 2016, in response to the low literacy and numeracy levels. In addition, the WCED introduced the Grade one baseline assessment in 2006, as part of the literacy and numeracy strategy. The purpose of this study was to observe the implementation of the Grade one literacy baseline assessment programme of the WCED. This study aimed to determine what literacy barriers, if any, the learners were experiencing and to recommend literacy support strategies, in order to inform teaching practices. The learning theories of the two key Constructivist theorists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have therefore been explored. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of the participants for this study. The Grade one class, with English as the language of learning and teaching (LOLT), was selected due to the diverse nature of the learners, in terms of their different home languages. Thirty-seven Grade one learners participated in the study. I used a mixed methods research design in order to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Multi-method data collection strategies were employed to collect data for this study. The multi-method approach involved: document collection, observation of learners as well as an interview with the Grade one class teacher who conducted the research. The document collection included the learners’ admission forms as well as the written baseline assessment scripts of the learners. The admission forms provided biographical information of the learners in terms of gender, home languages, Grade R attendance and their ages. The collection of data assisted in identifying the literacy barriers that the Grade one learners were experiencing. An interpretivist data analysis style was employed for the qualitative data analyses and the quantitative data analysis was statistical. The results of the quantitative and qualitative data were interpreted together. The triangulation of the data enhanced the reliability of the research findings. The findings suggest that some of the learners experienced literacy barriers in terms of: receptive- and expressive language, perceptual skills and fine motor development. The educator’s perceptions in terms of the administration and usefulness of the baseline assessment have also been included. The data was summarised and the information was used to describe the literacy barriers in terms of the biographical variables and to recommend learning support strategies for literacy development.

The development of early literacy skills is critical for all children in South Africa. Children receive language and literacy development support in the home, school, and community environments. Vulnerable children, such as orphans, may receive this support from volunteers in their home environments. Additional language development support systems in the form of programmes run by volunteers are important. This study describes and analyses the process of collaboration between six volunteers who are involved in languageliteracy programmes by examining how volunteers negotiate collaboration in promoting literacy development. This qualitative research study used a participatory action cycle design to investigate collaboration. A range of research methods such as focus groups, interviews, reflections and observations were used. Findings from this study provided insight into the identity of volunteers. They were people who had strong values in respect of literacy, a positive experience of volunteering, a sense of civic responsibility and an empathetic personality. The collaborative process was established through the presence of a strong common cause, vulnerability and trust among volunteers, a structured and well-led action cycle process, the development of self-reflection, and a passion to be change agents. Volunteers were able to problem solve and act to make changes to the intervention programme which included actions at a programme and volunteer level. The speechlanguage therapist (SLT’s) role was critical in a literacy-related intervention as a support for volunteers. The expertise of SLTs, namely knowledge in language and literacy development, was valued in streamlining the process of taking appropriate actions to enrich the literacy programme.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
In this study the construct of personal theories is used to represent the teacher's conceptions, which are interpreted as the consciously held beliefs. The teacher's personal theories encompass beliefs, images, values and attitudes as well as understanding about teaching and learning. This study investigates the influence of the teacher's conceptions of mathematics, of the teaching and learning of mathematics and of the context before and after a structured learning experience. The interest in the teacher's conceptions is derived from the assumption that these serve as a primary component that influence how teachers think about their professional responsibilities and how they act in their classrooms. Furthermore, the extent of implementation of a new curriculum has been linked to the scope of congruence between the teachers' conceptions and the underpinning philosophy of the intended curriculum. The study of the teacher's conceptions is especially relevant during a time of educational reform, such as the current transition to an Outcomes Based Education curriculum in South Africa. The participants in this study consist of four primary school mathematics teachers with various educational backgrounds, who teach at schools situated in different physical environments. The conceptions that these teachers have of mathematics, of the teaching and learning of mathematics and the influence of the context are investigated using a variety of instruments. Data collection was done with a questionnaire, a repertory grid, a semi-structured interview and lesson observations. The teachers participated in the Teaching Intervention and Support Programme (TISP), as a structured teacher learning experience. The programme is centred on the integration of the developmental and socio-cultural perspectives on teacher learning. With the developmental perspective the focus is on the acquisition of intellectual skills, while the socio-cultural perspective emphasizes participation in social practice. Both are directed at effecting conceptual change. With the developmental approach the process of conceptual change involves the development of new conceptions from existing conceptions. From the socio-cultural perspective the context is paramount and conceptual change is seen as new ways of being and acting within a particular context. The teachers were invited to attend a two-week intervention session, followed by a six months support programme that was aimed at establishing a teacher learning community. The learning experiences provided during the intervention session were drawn mainly from Realistic Mathematics Education. On completion of the programme, the teachers' conceptions of mathematics, of the teaching and learning of mathematics and the influence of the context were again investigated. The results of this study show that two of the participants had highly mechanistic conceptions of mathematics, and the teaching and learning of mathematics. The remaining two had a more empiristic approach with its high focus on environmental activities. After the programme, the teachers with the mechanistic views adopted a mixed. conception with some of the mechanistic conceptions retained, but now interspersed with some empiristic and realistic conceptions. The participants with the empiristic conceptions adopted a more realistic conception, but again to varying degrees. Thompson's (1991) hierarchical structure for the development of conceptions was also used to describe the extent of conceptual change. However, it was found that a concentric, rather than a hierarchical representation is a more appropriate to describe these changes. With regards to the socio-cultural view of conceptual change, all the participants perceived the context differently. The teachers' actions were also more commensurate with the practices associated with teachers that encourage learner autonomy, mathematical investigations and a facilitative role for the teacher.

Collaboration between the parents and the school has a powerful influence on a child’s literacy development. However, home-school partnerships to support young learners’ emergent literacy development are weak in South Africa. Research into family literacy in South Africa is particularly important due to many socio-economic factors impacting negatively on family life and on children’s literacy development. The South African education system lacks a dedicated policy for the promotion of family literacy. Against this background the present study investigated the role of family literacy programmes in supporting emergent literacy among young children. A literature study on family literacy and family-school-community partnerships to support literacy framed an empirical inquiry following an interpretivist approach, using an action research design and qualitative techniques of data collection. The Wordworks Home-School Partnerships programme was selected for implementation and the programme was modified through the design and inclusion of a children’s component. A multicultural independent primary school situated in Pretoria, South Africa was selected through a combination of purposeful and convenience sampling. The school principal, four Foundation Phase teachers and seven families including nine children participated in the study. Criteria for family inclusion were that the participating families should have at least one child enrolled in Grade R and at least one parent should agree to attend the full six-week duration of the modified Wordworks School-Family Partnerships programme. Data was gathered during parallel sessions from parents, children and teacher-facilitators through multiple techniques: observation, interviews, feedback sessions, artefacts and journals. Data was analysed according to qualitative principles and the findings were presented in a narrative format substantiated by verbatim quotations. Key findings indicated a greater sense of community among the families and the teachers, improved quality of parent-child interactions, parents’ improved knowledge of emergent literacy skills and improved confidence in supporting their children with early literacy development. The medium term impact of the programme includes benefits for the whole school, the teaching staff, parent body and children. Based on the findings of the literature study and the implementation of the family literacy programme through action research, recommendations were made to improve school-family partnerships with a view to supporting emergent literacy development among young learners.
Educational Foundations
D. Ed. (Socio-Education)

The Botswana National Literacy Programme (BNLP) was officially launched in 1981 as a major adult literacy initiative. Literacy was in this case defined as reading, writing and calculating. However, experience over the years of implementation showed that provision of the 3Rs is not enough but literacy needs to be made functional in order to be useful to the learners in their daily lives. Income generating projects were therefore introduced to the National literacy programme as a way of making literacy functional. It has been realized however that the BNLP supported income generating projects are failing or not doing well. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the performance of income generating projects supported by BNLP in relation to projects meeting member' objectives, group dynamics, economic growth, members' health status, commitment to the projects, use of literacy skills in running the projects, conducting feasibility studies before embarking on income-generating projects, business management, availability of start up finance and follow up. Hypotheses of this study stated that the BNLP-supported income generating projects are failing because of projects not satisfying members' needs, group disputes among group members, lack of growth, ill health lack of members' commitment to the projects, inappropriate literacy curriculum, inadequate feasibility studies before starting the projects, business management, lack of finance and lack of follow up after training. The methodologies used for this study were participatory and survey research. Qualitative strategies were employed using focus group discussions, force field analysis, observations and questionnaires. Stratified random sampling, was employed to select the sampled population often operating and ten non-operating income-generating projects in the South East, Southern and Northern regions of Botswana. Purposive sampling was employed to select all twelve trainers of the income generating projects within the same regions. The results of this study were analysed using SPSS 11.5, and manual inspection. The results of this study supported this hypothesis to a great extent in that causes of failure of the projects were because the personal objectives of project members were not met, there was a problem of group disputes among members, ill health of some members was affecting their production, literacy skills learnt in literacy and income generating skills provided by BNLP were not adequate to be used in the running of the project and business skills are taught separately from the basic literacy skills of reading and writing and numeracy. Feasibility studies were not conducted before embarking on income generating projects and there was mismanagement of the projects. Inadequate follow up was also seen to be one of the contributory factors to the failure of projects. Hypothesis of this study was also partially rejected in a sense that, the results showed that almost all the projects received some grants to start their projects and therefore start up finances were not a problem but rather a problem of shortage of funds for expansion, Lack of ensuring sustainability of projects was due to mismanagement of the funds by the office bearers and mostly LGLs. Recommendations of this study directed to income generating-project members included settling group disputes, conducting feasibility studies, embarking on relevant projects individually or as groups. Policy recommendations included support of individual and group projects, running a pilot project where appropriate literacy needs of the piloted projects will be provided, involvement of the participants in decision-making concerning their projects and curriculum. The policy recommendation included ensuring that funds are only given to viable projects and literacy curriculum is relevant to the running of income generating projects to ensure sustainability. Recommendations for further studies included BNLP conducting an in-depth study to establish the prospects and problems of group approach in income generating activities, investigate the level of skills that the BNLP supported income-generating projects and their trainers possess and their specific needs for skills development and lastly evaluate the training materials used in both literacy classes and income-generation training to get more insight on what is lacking, and how this could be improved.
Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Thesis (M.A. (English)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015
This study seeks to determine the support of reading–literacy provided by homes of grade six learners in some Limpopo primary schools, which assists them in learning to read, and particularly to read with understanding. This study adopted a qualitative approach. The case study design was used. Twelve learners and twelve parents of the chosen learners served as participants to this study. Three data collection instruments were used. As the researcher wanted to first determine good and poor readers a comprehension test was designed by the researcher in order to select the learners. After learners had written the test an interview guide was given to the learners to establish different kinds of reading related activities which learners engage in with their parents. Lastly a check list was issued to learners and parents to assess parental involvement in learners’ reading literacy development. Findings of the current study are that some learners do not receive the parental support they need in order to develop reading literacy. As a result, many learners fail in school because they are illiterate. It is suggested that in order for learners to improve in their reading literacy parental support must be encouraged in South African schools. School programmes must be designed in a way that it inculcates parental support. And most importantly parents need to be made aware of the crucial role they play in their children’s reading literacy development. Key words: Reading literacy, multiple literacy, parental support and home literacy.

Over the past few decades, donor agencies have provided aid for education systems in developing countries by introducing innovations that seek to improve the provision of education. However, it has been observed with much concern that many innovations are discontinued after donor funding is withdrawn, with Zambia being no exception. Despite this observation, little is known about why some innovations end up being unsustainable in Zambia. Accordingly, this research was conducted to ascertain the factors that may influence the sustainability of donor-driven innovations by examining the case of a literacy programme in Zambia the Primary Reading Programme (PRP). Initially funded by the United Kingdom s Department for International Development (DFID) between 1999 and 2005, the PRP was designed to implement the new literacy policy, which used local languages to teach initial literacy from Grades 1 to 7. In 2005, DFID withdrew, leaving the government to sustain the programme in all government primary schools in Zambia. Drawing on data gathered through a qualitative-interpretivist-case approach that used semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and document analysis, the study found that the PRP was poorly sustained, as many aspects of the programme were drastically altered or discontinued after the termination of donor support. Key elements influencing sustainability included project-level factors associated with the design of the project, stakeholder ownership/motivation, the provision of financial, human and material resources for sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation. Contextual-level factors were related to attributes of the school (staff commitment/interest, leadership, staff retention, sustained professional development and availability of resources for continued implementation). At national level, Zambia s weak economic status and changes in policies affected the programme s sustainability. Project mentality or the negative attitude stakeholders hold towards donor-supported innovations also contributed to poor sustainability. A critical finding of this study is that the PRP appears to have been designed with inputs and activities that were beyond the socio-economic capacity of Zambia to manage and maintain without external support. Consequently, a major recommendation is that innovations should not be designed with excessive activities or tools or deliver benefits that are beyond the socio-economic capacity of the beneficiaries.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Education Management and Policy Studies
PhD

The main aim of this research was to identify a family support programme which could be used as a primary prevention strategy against child abuse as a first positive step within the family, the basic unit of society, towards reducing community violence. The central focus of this intervention was that it should be appropriate for use in a multi-ethnic South African context and implementable by community health nurses or related lay health personnel with minimal training. No such programme was identified. The researcher attempted to integrate the most appropriate and scientifically substantiated features of existing programmes and develop a unique South African programme. This programme was developed and tested in a participatory manner with multiethnic communities. Community health nurse facilitators were trained and evaluated and the developed programme was then implemented by these facilitators in several sites. The influences of the developed programme were extensively evaluated. Changes in attitudes, feelings and behaviour of the child, the mother, the maternal-child interaction and the family system were explored. A quasi-experimental design with pre and post testing of the experimental group and two control groups (control 1 received social support and control 2 receiving routine clinic nursing only) was utilized. Completed analysis has yielded some exciting and provocative results. There are clear differences in each of the groups attitudes to their children. On the Mother-Child Relationship Evaluation (MCRE) positive gains in maternal-child relationship were established for the experimental group and this was greater than that of both controls (t-test = 4.151 @ alpha = 0.0013; H=4.0734 @ alpha = 0.04 and F=7.031 @ alpha = 0.0004). On the Family Assessment Device (FAD) some limited changes were observed in the experimental group over the controls (F= 3 .33 @ alpha = 0.05). This is a positive outcome indicating that the family support programme evidenced significant changes in the participants relationships with their children and in their families and wider social life. Mothers and facilitators qualitative feedback reported positive interaction with young and older children and changed maternal and child attitude and behaviour. Despite the critical shortage of staff in community health settings facilitators continue to implement the programme voluntarily in their service settings.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

The effect of the academic literacy intervention programme on the SATAP English scores was evaluated. This study begins as a longitudinal study in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET). 120 subjects from the Electrical, Civil, Building and Mechanical departments in the FSET were randomly selected to serve as an experimental group. The research design employed a quantitative methodology. Data was collected using the Standardised Assessment Tests for Access and Placement (SATAP) English Test. The test was administered to the experimental group as a pre- test and post-test measure at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. The SPSS statistical programme with frequency tables and graphs was utilised to analyse the data obtained. The results indicated that the difference between the pre-test scores and the post-test scores was statistically significant. The post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test ones. It was concluded that the academic literacy intervention programme was effective in increasing the SATAP scores and therefore addressed some of the language needs of students.
Language Education Arts and Culture
M. Ed. (Adult Education)

The thesis deals with a support of children's reading. The work is aimed to factors and actors influencing reading education. The first part solves theoretical definition and the meaning of reading. Primarily there are explained two important terms related to the topic - reading and a reader. Further it is proceeding by attention given to different phases of reading education before and during school attendance. Primarily three environments influencing reading literacy were observed. These include family, school and public library. Furthermore, national representative projects supporting reading primarily in libraries are shortly presented at this thesis as well. The second part is focused on the Municipal Library of Prague, specifically Smichov branch and its activities. In this part are charted various programmes for children. Repeated activities for parents with children or for children alone are observed. Also, events for groups of preschool and school children are described. The important part of presented work deals with survey of cooperation between Smichov branch and local schools. The research results are to determine practical experience of teachers from these schools in activities of Smichov branch and in their cooperation with this library.