Limitations of the study

The limitation of an analysis such as that undertaken for this study is that it cannot provide an objective set of data applicable to a wider population of sites, samples and time frames. Another study using empirical, quantitative analysis of data obtained from such a population would be called for. The data used in the quantitative aspect of this study simply serve to focus teacher reflection on the urgent need to find a solution to the challenge of low results and related contextual factors. That solution lies with suitable teacher subject knowledge and capacitation. It must therefore be stressed that this study is about opening a window of insight into an educational challenge, as opposed to addressing that challenge via a proposed redesign of the educational superstructure. The question remains whether another researcher using the same methods and sample would achieve a similar set of results. This question can be answered in two ways in order to minimize the threat of bias:

Firstly, the foci of the study involve areas of enquiry that involve relatively limited informational domains: recognized VPS and visual training related to specified curriculum and diagnostic documents. This study has focused on data pertaining to one category of teacher knowledge, that is, subject knowledge. Some of that data has been applied incidentally to related categories of teacher knowledge, such as

curriculum knowledge, PCK and teacher competence. However, this has only been attempted when the latter aspects of teacher knowledge make significant contributions to subject knowledge. Another researcher would have to analyse the same limited quantity of data, making misinterpretation less likely. Again, the data was drawn from a variety of sources, but they have limited foci and a narrow application. Hence the narrow application of the research relates not only to teacher subject knowledge of VP but also to the specific application of visual training for early reading. It is within the scope of the research to delineate all the applications of VPS in early child development, particularly in the Grade R curriculum context. This study, however, focuses on the connections between VPS and early reading only, while referencing relevant aspects of cognitive development. Therefore it only includes limited research on the many and varied connections between VPS, emergent numeracy and life skills; the latter two subjects are briefly analysed in Chapter 4 in terms of relevant VPS content. The scope of data represented by VPS content applied in the numeracy and life skills components of the curriculum would go beyond the confines of a single study. A further study would be needed to investigate the importance of VPS for the application of the bulk of the Grade R curriculum.

Secondly, the methodology proposes a non-threatening environment for the reflection of the teachers in the sample on their subject knowledge. Steps were suggested which minimized teachers’ responses conditioned by deferring to perceived seniority on the part of the researcher. These steps include the open- endedness of the questionnaire, the non-directive style of the focus-group discussion and the explicitness of the supportive, non-judgemental nature of the research purpose.

Another limitation of this study is that the discourse analysis drew data from the Afrikaans language as an orthographic system (a read-written language) and the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) of 86% of Grade R learners in the CWD cohort. This data was transposed to English language equivalents for the purpose of clarity in the interaction with the English research literature, as well as documentary and statistical analyses. A separate study would be needed to compare the two languages as orthographic systems representing varied consistencies of relationships between letters and sounds, so as to establish whether the Afrikaans translation of CAPS has taken cognizance of the orthographic profile of Afrikaans as

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deeper or shallower, that is, having less or more consistent letter-sound relationships (Frost, 2007: 272-295). This is important to clarify, because it has been demonstrated that visual and auditory degradation, or defects, are more prevalent in relation to deeper orthographic depth (Frost, 2007: 283).

3.11 Conclusion

The aim of this chapter has been to set forth the procedures that were employed in the investigation of the subject knowledge of VPS possessed by the Grade R teachers in School A. In Section 3.2 the circumstances and considerations determining the choice of the site and sample were outlined, with emphasis put on the honour and integrity of the teachers who comprised the sample. Section 3.3 on pragmatic knowledge claims related to the aim of this study, justified the use of a mixed method approach to the research, which was outlined in Section 3.4. This section called for a concurrent fusion of mainly qualitative and some quantitative data - for results of both scientific and social value. In Section 3.5, the primary role in the research of the discourse analysis of the teachers in the sample was described. An account was given of the interplay between the main document pertaining to teacher subject knowledge and assessment results, namely, the Grade R CAPS curriculum and the diagnostic Barriers to Learning Assessment Battery (BtLAB), in Section 3.6. After this, in Section 3.7, an explanation was provided of the thinking behind the choice of data collection instruments, including: (1) The discourse analysis of the Grade R teachers in the sample on site. (2) The document analyses of CAPS and BtLAB. (3) The statistical analysis of some performance data arising from Grade R assessments.

After this, the components, procedures and considerations involved in analysing the data were discussed in Section 3.8. In Section 3.9 an account was given of the procedures being followed in order to secure the social and scientific validity of the research supporting this study. Finally, in Section 3.10, the limitations of this study were treated, in terms of the validity and reliability of the research, based on the minimized application of the data and on the neutralized positionality of the researcher. The operative linguistics of the data collection and analysis was

explained in terms of the relationship between the language of the discourse analysis, Afrikaans (as the LOLT) and that of the documentary and statistical analyses, that is, English.

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