On examining the role of English education knowledge structures in pedagogic practices : case study of English educators in a higher education institution.
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Date
2012
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Abstract
This study examines how English Education knowledge structures impact on pedagogy to
serve students who are becoming English educators. The study investigates the English
Education discipline within the School of Education, University of KwaZulu–Natal. The
study responds to the critical question: how do English Education knowledge structures
impact on pedagogy to serve students who are becoming English educators? This question
seeks to uncover underlying structures, mechanisms and events at play in the English
Education discipline, and how these inform knowledge structures to impact on pedagogy the
way they do. The study is located on an interpretive research paradigm, and is framed within
the Critical Realism (Bhaskar, 1978) and Social Realism (Archer, 1995) theories. These
theories are used to critically engage with data by uncovering the underlying structures and
mechanisms at play in the English Education discipline. The study further draws on Bernstein
(1999) and Bourdieu (1986) as substantive theories used to develop a profound understanding
of Knowledge Structures and Cultural Capital, respectively. Using qualitative methods of
data collection, the study uncovers the role of a 2-Track System in the teaching of English
Education students. Data collected in the study is analysed and critiqued to demonstrate how
and why the structuring of English Education knowledge breaks away from unintended
curricular impositions by the former University of Natal English Department’s curriculum.
The study argues that the 2-Track System adopted in the English Education discipline is
appropriate to serve students to be competent educators of English. Of paramount
importance, data collected in the study also show how the structuring of English Education
knowledge in the 2-Track System empowers and ‘give voice to’ the majority (Bernstein,
1999).
Description
Thesis (M. Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.
Keywords
English language--Study and teaching (Higher)--KwaZulu-Natal., Theses--Education.