Background: Many first-year students find the reading of academic texts to be challenging and overwhelming. In particular, first-year students studying sociology at the South African institution where the study was conducted complain of comprehension challenges. This may be due to the presence of numerous theoretical and abstract concepts in…

Background: The South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) aims to expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in the national curriculum through a "Digital Skills for All Curriculum" (DSfAC) for Grade R-9. The DSfAC intends to educate a STEM-literate future citizenry with refined computational thinking…

The language of teaching and learning challenges Physical Sciences teachers and impacts learners' achievements. The study aimed to investigate how language literacy is integrated into the teaching of Physical Sciences. A descriptive survey design was adopted. The participants were five Grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers and 211 learners (108…

Understanding the challenges pertaining to the teaching and learning of mathematics word problems is important in order to formulate effective strategies that will address the challenges. The qualitative case study reported in this article describes the teachers' and the learners' experiences regarding mathematics word problems. Data were…

Over the past two decades there has been much written in the literature about the importance of reading and the importance of teaching students reading strategies to improve their reading comprehension. Reading is one of the most important academic tasks encountered by students. In higher education, students are exposed to a number of texts and…

The definition of "English language classroom" is changing. When students have the opportunity to learn content and language at the same time, disciplinary boundaries overlap. Teachers are rethinking how they design courses, plan lessons, assess students, and collaborate with colleagues to support student learning and facilitate their…

The majority of learners in southern Africa receive their education through the medium of a second language, English. Although teachers of English play a crucial role in helping learners to acquire language skills in the medium of instruction, we argue that subject content teachers' lack of attention to the teaching of the four language skills may…

Shows that problems in areas like economics, language, culture, teacher training, and social circumstances all affect how secondary school teachers handle reading in content area courses in Black South Africa. (SKC)

A study investigated the disparity between the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) competence of South African black children and the competence required to comprehend content subject textbooks. Two ESL schemes and two fifth-year general science textbooks were analyzed for differences in vocabulary, syntax, speech acts, cohesion and coherence.…

Contends that many teachers find it difficult to teach about South Africa because of a lack of appropriate instructional materials. Recommends three novels and includes suggested learning activities for each. Also recommends and includes the use of photographs and quotes from South African leaders as instructional resources. (CFR)