Doctoral Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies)
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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies) by Subject "Adult education -- Lesotho"
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Item Open Access Post-literacy in Lesotho: implications for training at the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies(University of the Free State, 2016-06) Mofana-Semoko, Mailane; Preece, Julia; Ndeya-Ndereya, Charity N.English: The lifelong learning needs of modern life and ongoing post-literacy (PL) development have not been fully addressed in Lesotho, due to the current inadequacy of PL training. PL training must include an appreciation of how to engage with learners in their communities, so that relevant PL materials can be developed. PL training requires a deeper understanding of learner contexts. The study explored with the participants their existing literacy practices at two sites in selected rural communities, in two of the nine constituencies of Berea district. An analysis of the findings gave rise to recommendations for how to develop literacy skills. The study used an ethnographic, in-depth case study approach, as advocated by New Literacy Studies (NLS) researchers. It adopted an ethnographic approach to literacy to determine who does what kind of literacy activities, with whom, on what occasions and using what kinds of texts for these purposes. An analytical framework, drawing on NLS concepts, was used to analyse data that indicated domains, events and literacy practices. In order to determine how to make PL education more relevant in Lesotho, the recommendations for training and enhancing literacy practices were made on the basis of direct, participant observations and in-depth interviews. The methods used for collecting data in the ethnographic study were direct observations, participant observations, documents analysis, in-depth interviews, conversations and focus group discussions. The study used multiple methods to achieve triangulation, to represent the participants’ perspectives and enable a holistic approach to understanding the phenomenon of literacy. The theoretical framework draws on the social practices approach to literacy, taken from the NLS movement. The concepts from the theoretical framework, such as literacy domains, local practices and apprenticeship models of learning, provided a means of organising and analysing the study findings thematically. The findings suggest that literacy activities should be regarded as social practices in different contexts. Findings indicate the localised and context-specific nature of existing literacy activities that are embedded in social practices and literacy has a role to play in those social practices. The existing literacy practices involved the private stonemasonry business, Marabi Piggery Association of Women Entrepreneurs (MPAWE), the community councils of Seneke and Kana constituencies, and animal husbandry activities. The findings indicate that the Institute of Extra-Mural Studies (IEMS) at the National University of Lesotho should train literacy facilitators or adult educators in the concept of literacy as social practice. NLS is applicable beyond this ethnographic study. In relation to NLS, the thesis proposes structures to provide learning opportunities and a supportive environment for facilitators and participants to engage with relevant texts for PL activities. Conclusions were drawn from the stories of existing literacy practices. The thematic areas that emerged from the four case studies are literacy mediation, power relationships, apprenticeship learning, oral or verbal communication, the use of information and communication technology and the role of mixed language in literacy practices. The conclusions, based on an analysis of these thematic areas, provide ideas for PL, especially on how to develop PL materials. The recommendations include improving the provision of literacy training within the Adult Education degree programme of the Department of Adult Education in IEMS. Improving literacy training will promote the development of context-relevant PL materials that will enhance existing, context-specific literacy practices. Recommendations for further research into educational needs of existing literacy practices are also given. In this thesis the names of all people and places have been replaced by pseudonyms.