Research Sample

The advice on active participation by minors is especially pertinent to this study because of the particular sample selected. In this design Deaf learners are considered the major stakeholders. More specifically Grade 9 learners with chronological ages ranging from 12 to 18 years have been selected as participants. All the participants are deaf and are part of a residential school for the Deaf where South African Sign Language is the medium of instruction.

The particular school where the study was conducted is situated in a well-off residential area on the outskirts of the third largest city in South Africa. Current enrolment averages at 100 children with ages ranging from 3 to 22 years old and with outliers of learners who are 18 months on the one end and 29 years old on the other side of the spectrum. The school provides an integrated preprimary, primary and high school section. It contains a cross-section of learners constituing day scholars who commute everyday, and learners who board in the residential facilities from Sunday night to Friday afternoon. In so far as possible, boarders are required to spend weekends at home in order to foster

familial relationships. Hence, the residential facilities remain closed over weekends. This particular school has relatively high school fees compared to the other Deaf schools in the province, which renders it the image of a more ‘elite’ environment, with a much smaller number of intakes. However, this does not mean that all the learners are from higher socio-economic backgrounds. Rather, the school hosts a programme called ‘Adopt-A-Child’ by which donors are afforded the opportunity to sponsor a particular individual’s school fees. Subsequently, significant portions of learners fall within the lower socio-economic strata. The official language policy of the school is bilingualism constituting of Sign Language and English. The language policy, however, is not strongly enforced which results in certain teachers practicing bilingualism whilst other resort to forms of Total Communications. Even amongst the learners there are those who prefer a neat bilingual approach, whereas other learners formally request of the teacher to speak and sign at the same time. The language policy of the school, however, has been subject to much change since the formal establishment of the school 50 years ago. Initially the school started out as an exclusively white school in the Anglican tradition with a staunch oralist approach. . It then progressed through oralism (1950 – 1980), sign-supported English (1980 - 1995), American Sign Language (1990) and South African Sign Language (1995 –1999) to its current policy on bilingualism (2000 – 2008). Elements of all these different movements are still found and practiced within the teaching setup.

Not only linguistically, but also from a racial aspect the school has also undergone radical transformation over the last two decades. Since the collapse of Apartheid, the school has transformed to a multi-racial set-up of which the majority of the students are Black. The Black communities in the areas have developed different signs to the whites which in turn adds an additional element to the already diverse language practices within the school.

In accordance with governmental policy the Revised National Curriculum Statement is followed up to Grade 9. At the end of Grade 9 pupils complete the common assessment task. In Grade 10 learners commence with the Further Education and Training Curriculum. At the end of Grade 12 learners are expected to write the national Senior Certificate.

The target population for this study consists of deaf learners who are doing mathematics at a high school level. The choice to involve the Grade 9 learners in particular incorporates elements of both convenience sampling and of purposive selection. The choice of a social setting, i.e. the school where the research is to take place, was taken on the basis of convenience. Since I was already teaching in the setting, doing research locally helped to minimise travelling costs, while maximising interaction time with the learners. Additionally, the authorities and parents associated with the school were familiar with me, which meant that I could negotiate permission for research and access to the learners more readily.

As indicated above, I was already teaching mathematics at high school level within this particular institution. My initial postgraduate studies, however, took place under the college of law. In contrast to my studies, my own working history is one of training in so far as I have been involved in numerous private companies as an ICT instructor in basic computer literacy over the last 15 years. Throughout this span of my career, I was actively involved in computer training programmes for disadvantaged youth through weekend and evening classes. I started my studies in mathematics with the goal of shifting to computer science. However, instead of continuing with further modules in computer science, I moved from private training into school teaching. I taught various subject, including mathematics, at high school level at a private hearing school whilst completing my certificate in education. After relocation to another province, I decided to fulfill a longstanding personal goal to learn sign language. This particular school allowed me access as a volunteer in order

to gain exposure to South African Sign Language. I was then asked to teach the multiple handicapped special needs class for one year, before transferring to the high school section the following year. During this time I completed postgraduate studies in Deaf education through a local university and also completed several university courses in mathematics in relation to the Further Education and Training syllabus. Thus at the time of the research, I have been teaching formally in a school setup for 3 years, have completed postgraduate studies in Deaf education, and undergraduate work in mathematics. Moreover, training in Sign Language for new staff members is a compulsory aspect within the school. Hence, I have been receiving ongoing sign language tutoring once a week for two years for which I was awarded a Sign Language Level 2 certificate.

Hence, whereas the choice of school was influenced by convenience with respect to my own situation, electing the Grade 9 class from within the particular school was a purposive decision. The decision was based on the richness of diversity found in the class. The class incorporated one oral Deaf learner who has been mainstreamed until that year; four learners who have been attended the particular school since preschool and have been receiving instruction through Sign Language; one learner who attended the school, but was removed to be home-schooled for a period before returning to school; and a learner who comes from a traditionally rural Deaf school where Sign Language was also the medium of instruction.

In addition, there is a marked literacy variance in the class. Two of the learners show evidence of literacy, 3 appear to be semi-literate, while 2 appear functionally illiterate. The representation in the class allows for information to be collected across a spectrum. In the context of purposive sampling collecting data from a wider spectrum does not necessary carry with it the objective to generalise to a larger population. Rather, the motivation is to gain a deeper understanding of types (Neuman, 2000). An understanding of how ‘a type’ of Deaf learners responds to problem solving mathematics, will

help to debunk myths such as the myth of homogeneity. However, being in such a small setting protecting the privacy of the learners became a concern. Hence, the learners’ identities were altered in order to ensure anonymity. Additional concerns include that the sample consisted of a very small number of learners, hence no statistically significant inferences can be made. The sample, however, is reflective of the average class size within the school with a range of between 6 – 11 learners per class. Nevertheless, based on the wide range of differences amongst the learners in terms of race, socio-economic background, family history, cultural practices, geographic backgrounds, academic proficiency levels of literacy, and previous school history it cannot be assumed that this class is a general portrayal of the larger cohort of Deaf learners within the school or in the larger community. Moreover, active participation by minors require additional measures which will ensure that the learners understand what the project is about, and which will teach them how to ask questions and become part of the process for others to listen to their experiences and hear their voices (Hall & Hall, 2000). The next section will explore the concept of involving learners in research.