THE SELECTED MODULE

4.10.1 Rationale for the choice

The module which was implemented was selected from the Teachers’ Resource Series: Language, Firm Foundations, published by MacRat. The decision to use commercially available classroom material was that the resources produced by this publisher are widely used by teachers in the Cape Town area. Some schools in the immediate vicinity of the school where this study was conducted use resources published by MacRat and also use the Firm Foundations series of eight modules for grade 8. The same company has released a series for grade 9. It seemed logical to field test a product which is freely available and is also used by schools at present since this could mean that the study would be of greater interest to local teachers. I felt this could add to the possible value of the study.

The complete set of MacRat materials for grade 8 cover an entire school year. There are eight modules in total, with each module comprising a learner’s copy and a teacher’s copy (containing answers, notes and guidelines for the teacher, elements which are obviously not in the learner’s copy). Each module runs for about three to five weeks, depending on the length of the particular module and the demands it makes on the teacher and the learners.

In this particular high school the learners do the modules in numerical order, starting with Module 1. Thus, in order to give learners time to adapt to the new school environment, it was decided to select Module 2 as the focus of this study. This module was introduced in the latter half of February 2003 and was completed in March of the same year.

4.10.2 Description of the module

This section will give an outline of the content of the module. No attempt will be made to analyse the theoretical assumptions at this point. This will be done in the next chapter. The theme of Module 2 is Imaginary Treasures and, according to the publishers, the intention is to stimulate the learners’ imagination. Specific aspects covered are adjectives (9 activities), nouns (2 activities), punctuation, abbreviations and acronyms (17 activities, some quite short), written and listening comprehension (7 activities), descriptive and narrative writing (2 activities) and “fluent reading with expression” (2 activities).

More general development includes the learner’s ability to do assessment, to work in groups and to think independently and creatively.

4.11 PROCEDURE

After I had conducted the literature survey, I implemented the semi-empirical part of the study. This involved teaching selected material to two Grade 8 classes.

Grade 8 was chosen because it is the entry year to high school and the selection of the learners had actually been done for me, because I had been allocated one class by the timetable for the year and the teacher I wanted to assist me had also been allocated a Grade 8 class. I particularly wanted to include this teacher in the study because she is an experienced and dedicated teacher and could, in all probability, be relied on to work closely with me.

Material selection was just as easy. I selected two sets of material, one set of which was already in use in the school in Grade 8 and the other set was readily available and seemed to offer suitable material. For the purposes of this study we implemented one module from the set already in use in the school. The two of us were therefore the two full-time teachers for these learners but, apart from teaching the selected module, we acted as observers, taking down notes on classroom events in the classroom as time allowed, reflecting on classroom events afterwards. For the duration of the five weeks that we taught the module the classes were thus intensively monitored.

To facilitate the monitoring of the classroom events I designed a very basic observational schedule so that both of us would concentrate on observing and noting largely on the basis of the same predetermined criteria. After discussing the implementation, we taught the selected module in our classes.

In order to complement the data obtained in this way, a learner questionnaire was completed by the learners who participated in this study, and a teacher questionnaire was completed by English teachers at neighbouring schools and other teachers teaching similar classes using similar material.

A total of 70 learners completed this questionnaire immediately after finishing the module in class in order to have the events as fresh in their minds as possible. Learners who were absent on the day the questionnaires were filled in were not asked to complete them later. Using the questionnaire appeared to be the most practical means of obtaining the views of such a large number of learners

(Wallace 1998: 130). The 16 teachers who filled in the teacher questionnaire were all teachers at either neighbouring schools or schools of similar size in the Cape Metropole. After all the data had been obtained, a detailed analysis of the findings was conducted.

4.11 CONCLUSION

In this chapter I outlined the research methodology and research design used for this study.

Because of the nature of the investigation, I decided on a qualitative case study covering a period of five weeks in which two classes of about 40 learners each would be closely observed by their teachers. This was done in order to examine the events in the two grade 8 English classes during the implementation of a selected module and to determine to what extent the module succeeded in furthering the aims of the Language, Literacy and Communication learning area as stated in Curriculum 2005.

The observation was done on the basis of a predetermined observation schedule by the two teachers who were teaching those particular classes that year. In addition, the design of the learner questionnaire and the teacher questionnaire were explained. These questionnaires were designed in order to provide data that would be supplementary to that provided by the notes made by the teachers on the basis of the observation schedule. I also listed the contents of the module and described the procedure that was followed.

The next chapter will deal with the classroom implementation of the selected module and the extent to which the material offers opportunities for learners to acquire the language and to realise the critical and language outcomes. Extensive reference will be made to the teachers’ notes made during and after the English periods, based largely on the observation schedule (5.2) and two questionnaires, one completed by the learners who were exposed to the material (5.3) and another completed by a sample of teachers of English in the Cape Metropole teaching similar classes (5.4).