(cl.-

. A. .
arise:

.1.- . 5.3
:3, #5....
2.11).: 7:.

1.15.;05x

.zterIxz
.. . 530‘ .

 

 

, 1 u ,
I .3... . at...“ 3.2...
IX. ?- . 4 . A v .1 u!
.r 2.1 :F.V.m~uvmn_.vnx c .31 2»...
2.2.1.2.. . . .
: .r‘: . .21..”
:d- 1.3.1:? a. hyacfl...» A
.s .v :32}.
. .1 7......
z.
..x..
haunt»
a! 3... ..
a o . :
Kain? u...
3....89.

x
t .r V
5...}... .
.... . . , . 5..- v.1; .
. ,ifllcslxrqla?
, uh.k .

. .
.5

l
V! .J .
3P 5.... 1 .r:

....
513......
I. . ...

s . é . .25.
. ..; .3 . .xu-...rc.$hm....z
' {$.13

”Wm... . , . , 3..
. la... .3

i?.n!.|...

.339... .
2.1... . . (s. 41......
r .- €411.42?!
. , ”1.12:. :12...
. a. .- 1.2.2.51
. . . 3.)...
.. .r: 3.2.
.5.
. l a):
; u.
.5; .Su 1.
a...

V . (I
v.!.Alvv9
{4.31:
S:

V 51‘} ,
, .13 59
53!. “i... a.
-13.}.- .12 t .
; I... ..

5‘3.”

.2 Z.
.31.]... .
.52 14.. . 1?

. .35.... u».
.i . I

I... a... fry...“ ..

.1 t .. as- 1

~ .? f‘in

i).v«$. .7
\.:X)I
“1. s&
I! {‘1‘
.1: 3.2.3
7005 » .3-

”M

IllllllllllllllllllIll“lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

93 01016 0244

 

LIBRARY
Mlchigan State
Universlty

 

 

 

This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

An Investigation of Secondary School Language
Teachers' Conceptions<mf'Literacy and How
These Conceptions Relate to Literacy
Instruction in Zimbabwe

presented by

ALBERT NAT SA

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. Teacher Education
degree in

 

 

   

Major professor

DateZZaagmlz-lzyg I79 7’

MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution 0- 12771

 

PLACE Ill RETURN BOXto romovothb ohookouttlom your record.
TO AVOID FINES rotum on or More duo duo.

DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MSU loAn mum Action/Equal Opponunlty Institution
mmi

6.

 

. 1'11-

 

A

 

 

 

AN INVESTIGATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL LANGUAGE
TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF LITERACY AND HOW
THESE CONCEPTIONS RELATE TO LITERACY

INSTRUCTION IN ZIMBABWE

by

Albert N atsa

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Teacher Education

1994

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION or SECONDARY SCHOOL LANGUAGE
TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF LITERACY AND HOW
THESE CONCEPTIONS RELATE TO LITERACY
INSTRUCTION 1N ZIMBABWE
by

Albert N atsa

Zimbabwe has undertaken significant steps to expand educational
opportunities at all levels since attaining independence in 1980. However, the
basic curricular structure continues to be modeled on the British educational
system. This orientates the goals of the system toward preparing students for
external examinations still influenced by the British examinations boards. This was
study aimed at investigating how current educational practices have shaped
language teachers’ conceptions of the goals of literacy instruction and at identifying
the relationship between these underlying concepts and subsequent literacy
practices of teachers in their language classes.

This study was based on two major assumptions. First, literacy skills are a
major determinant of students’ learning and thinking potentials both inside and
outside the school. Second, teachers make critical decisions which affect what
students learn and how they learn it. Teachers‘ efforts to make the best possible
decisions are hampered by several factors which include a general lack of

consensus in the literature on what literacy is, what it involves and how to teach

Albert Natsa

it. Further, there is no adequate guidance in the form of official curriculum
policy on the teaching of reading and writing beyond rote learning in Zimbabwe.

Three main research instruments were used to collect data for this study.
These included the administration of over 1000 questionnaires to schools in three
provinces in Zimbabwe, and interviewing a sub-sample of 51 teachers who had
filled in questionnaires. A further sub-sample of 16 teachers who had been
interviewed were observed each teaching Shona or English on at least four
different occasions. Furthermore documents relating to literacy instruction were
analyzed.

The main finding of the study was that the majority of the teachers
conceptualized literacy through the lenses of public examinations. Literacy
instruction focused mostly on a narrow range of goals which centered around
mechanical aspects of literacy and recall skills. The study found evidence to suggest
that many teachers unconsciously conceptualized literacy from a positivist
perspective which views knowledge and reality as objective and concrete rather

than products of social construction.

Copyright

ALBERT NATSA

1994

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to acknowledge a number of people and institutions for the valuable
contribution they made towards the successful completion of this dissertation.

I sincerely thank my guidance committee members: Drs. Laura R. Roehler
(chairperson), Mark W. Conley (dissertation director), Susan Melnick, Linda
Anderson, and James Gavelek. All of them kindly gave me invaluable advice,
encouragement and constructive criticism, particularly during the process of writing
this dissertation. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Roehler for giving freely of
her time and advice, especially at the last stages of the dissertation writing
process, and for providing ‘me with assistantships. I always boasted to colleagues
that I had a wonderful guidance committee.

I am deeply indebted to the Rockefeller Foundation for kindly awarding me
the Sub-Saharan Africa Dissertation lnternship grant (RF92038#30I) which enabled
me to conduct field work for the dissertation in Zimbabwe. I am also grateful to
the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for providing me with additional funds
through the University of Zimbabwe Research Board for fieldwork for this study.

I am very thankful to my family, my wife Erica, sons Thomas Farai and
Albert Masimba, and daughters Tsitsi and Tafadzwa for tolerating my absence on
many occasions and standing by me when things got tough. Erica also provided

secretarial services for this study.

I want also to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to Dr. Jack Schwille.
assistant dean for International Education at Michigan State University for his
advice and assistance in various forms during my study at MSU and particularly
during the time I was working on my research topic. I am also grateful to Anne
Schneller for her invaluable assistance in enabling me to study at Michigan State
University and for remaining a true family friend.

It is impossible to mention all the friends and colleagues who helped me in
one form or another through this project. I would want to mention Dr. John
Metzler, Mr. Kedmond Hungwe and all members of the African Education
Research Group who provided a forum for discussion and constructive criticism.

I would want to thank the University of Zimbabwe for granting me study
leave to enable me to do my doctorate and conduct field work for this
dissertation.

Last but not least, thank you, Barbara Reeves, for your professional editing.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

I.

II.

III.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ......

Statement of the Problem .............
Dissertation Objectives ..............
Research Questions ................
Definition of Terms ................
Overview of the Study ...............

LITERATURE REVIEW .................

Introduction ...................
Social Constructivist Conceptual Framework
Conceptions of Literacy-Definitions and Meaning . .
Effects of Literacy ................
Literacy in School Settings ............
Reading ......................
Reading Comprehension Instruction .........
Accountability ..................
Writing ......................
Teacher Thinking, Beliefs, and Decision

Making Processes .......
Summary and Conclusions ..............

METHODOLOGY ...................

Introduction ...................
Research Design ..................
Research Instrument Development and
Implementation ........
Questionnaire ................
Collection Procedures in Masvingo ......
Collection Procedures in Harare Province . . .
Collection Procedures in Mashonaland
East Province .........
Summary ...................
Interviews ....................
Classroom Observation ...............
Summary ......................

iii

If
93
(D

COCQNO

11

11
ll
14
18
l9
19
22
23
24

27
29

31

31
32

34
34
35
38

41
42
42
49
53

IV. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS .......... 55
Introduction ................... 55
Theme 1: Shona and English Teachers’

Perspectives of Sources of
Literacy, Curricular Goals
and Content ............ 58
Questionnaires ................ 58
Interviews .................. 62
Theme 2: Examinations .............. 69
Questionnaires ................ 69
Interview .................. 74
Theme 3: Conceptions of Critical Thinking and
Problem-Solving Skills in Relation
to Literacy Instruction ...... 81
Questionnaire ................ 82
Interview .................. 84
Theme 4: Textbooks ................ 86
Questionnaire ................ 86
Interview .................. 87
Conclusion .................. 91
Theme 5: Conceptions of Reading Comprehension . . 92
Questionnaire ................ 92
Interview .................. 97
Conclusion on Data on Theme 5 ........ 106
Theme 6: Conceptions about Writing/Composition . . 106
Questionnaire ................ 107
Interview .................. 110

V. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ............ 120
Implications of the Study ............. 129
Limitations of the Study and Directions for

Further Research Endeavors . . 134

APPENDICES

A. Interview Questions for the Study of Shona and
English Language Teachers” Conceptions of
Literacy and How They Relate to Classroom
Practices ..................... 136

B. Interviews Questions with Language E.Os,

Language Policy .................. 139

C. Questionnaire for Shona and English Teachers . . . 141

iv

D. Organizing Themes for the Questionnaire Data

E. Summary and Comments on Shona/English Classroom
Observation ....................

F. Analysis of Interview Data with 45 Language
Teachers .....................

G. English O’Level Syllabus .............

H. Specimen Shona Exam Questions, Paper 1 ......
I. Specimen Shona Exam Questions. Paper 2 ......
J. Specimen English Exam Questions, Paper 1 .....

K. Specimen English Exam Questions, Paper 2 .....

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................

MO

169
178
180
184
188

191

198

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Since 1980, the year Zimbabwe attained political independence from Britain,
the Zimbabwe government has progressively allocated the biggest share of the
national revenue to education. This has been done at the expense of other
productive sectors of the economy and social developments. However this sacrifice
of the national resources in the interest of education was done out of the new
government’s commitment to the provision of education to all children of
school-going age and to make education play a significant contribution to national
development through human resource development. This was in contrast to the
colonial administration which used education to promote its racial ideology of
white supremacy. During the colonial period education was organized along racial
lines. It was free and compulsory for white children, but was neither free nor
compulsory for non-white children. The state was by and large the main provider
of education for white children while non-white education was the responsibility of
voluntary organizations, mostly church organizations, and the state only provided a
grant in aid of African education.

"Primary school enrollments increased from 819,000 in 1979 to 2,229,000 in
1985; secondary school enrollments increased even more dramatically from a mere
79,000 in 1979 to almost half a million in 1985, a sixfold increase" (Chung 1988 p.

121). Quantitative achievements in educational provision are readily acknowledged

by friends and critics of Zimbabwe’s educational policy. Within Zimbabwe itself
debate on education has turned to the question of qualitative changes.

Quantitative achievements in the field of education were mandated by
popular expectations. Most parents desired for their children the kind of
education which had been made a preserve of the white communities during the
colonial administration. This was mostly academic education. This was the
education which had been seen to give white children an unfair advantage over
African children in terms of acquiring skills needed in high paying jobs in the
private and public sectors of the national economy (Chung. 1988; Dorsey, 1989;
Riddell, 1979; Zvobgo, 1986;).

Qualitative changes have been introduced, especially in primary and lower
secondary schools where new syllabuses have been made to reflect Zimbabwe’s
cultural values. Subjects like history, social studies, and literature have been made
to focus more on African experiences and values than they were before 1980.

However, the basic structure and goals of the school curricula continue to
be tied to the pre-independence mold (Chung, 1988). As Johnson (1990) argues,
a large proportion of African students who attended school before 1980 found
themselves confronted by curricula which were inextricably tied to an ideology of
racial superiority. Many received an inferior education designed to prepare them
for menial tasks in society. Colonial education focused on low level skills in
literacy and numeracy and emphasized habits of punctuality, obedience, diligence
and respect for manual work. Those who slipped through the net for the
recruitment of cheap labor, found that higher education provided them with little
more than the ability to read and write accurately, and to make limited decisions
in their working environments (Dorsey, 1989; Johnson, 1990; Zvobgo, 1986).

Not only has the curriculum remained largely based on the British model, also the

language of literacy has largely remained English which is spoken by less than 3%
of the population as a mother tongue. The influence of the British system of
education is particularly strong on the means of evaluating educational quality in
Zimbabwe. Although steps are underway to localize the setting and marking of
examinations, British influence is still strong in the training of examiners and the
supervision of the examination process. Examinations have a very strong influence
on the curriculum and the way it is conceived and implemented (Chung 1988;
Johnson, 1990). Johnson (1990) argues that any discussion about quality of
education has centered around the pass rate for the ordinary level (O’Ievel)
examinations. He further argues that the use of O’level results as a bench-mark
of educational success severely limits the possibilities for critical teaching and
learning in schools. "Other aspects of schooling and the development of critical
literacy are rarely focused on " (Johnson, 1990, p. 102).

Over 95% of the people of Zimbabwe speak Shona and Ndebele, Shona
being the most dominant language spoken by about 75% of the population. Due
to the efforts of some missionaries, these languages were made written languages
mostly for purposes of spreading the gospel to the African population. The
colonial administration promoted the use of ' English by making it the official
language of administration, law and education while Shona and Ndebele were not
taught in white schools and offered in African secondary schools as optional
subjects. Since 1980 Shona and Ndebele became compulsory school subjects up to
the second year of secondary education, form 2 (grade 9). However, they remain
under-utilized in their written form partly because they are not the official
languages of instruction, and partly because they continue to suffer from negative
attitudes among many educated Africans who feel that they are not capable of

communicating academic and scientific concepts.

Officially, Shona and Ndebele can be used as languages of instruction from
grade 1 up to grade 3 in areas where the majority of students are of Shona or
Ndebele backgrounds. In all schools English takes over as the language of
instruction from grade 4 onwards. However, it has been observed that many
schools situated in predominantly Shona or Ndebele speaking neighborhoods prefer
to introduce English as the medium of instruction right from grade 1, arguing that
this will make their students more able to understand concepts taught through
English in upper primary and secondary school grades.

It has been argued that within schools and classrooms, English language
teaching remains an area unaffected by political and ideological changes (Chung,
1988; Johnson, 1990). Zimbabwe has opted in classroom practice to model the
teaching of English on British English as second language/foreign language
(ESL/EFL) packages. Johnson (1990) maintains that although these models are
largely successful in helping learners acquire a communicative competence, they
very often fail to instill a critical and analytical ability. Nagel (1992) made a
study of communication patterns in relation to cognition in teacher education
colleges and found that teaching and learning in teachers’ colleges, and in schools
in turn, tended to promote uncritical rote learning. Everyday teaching and
learning issues were not problematized or subjected to critical reflection by both
teachers and students.

On the other hand current conceptions of teaching and learning for
understanding put a premium on "conversation, experience, interpretation, criticism,
engagement, voice, participation and purpose as characteristic features of
interaction between students and teachers" (Holmes Group 1990). There is
emphasis on making students learn how to interpret what they learn, and to relate

it to what else they know, and whenever possible, to have some experience of

what is being taught. Learning is viewed as an active process in which children
construct and reconstruct knowledge as they go along. Students need to develop
critical literacy which helps them to understand their reality in terms of the social
forces which shape it. As Freire (1985) argues, they need to master genre like
written argumentation and critical analysis if they are to arrive at a critical view of
their reality.

Current arguments about the evaluation of educational quality and general
national development tend to center on literacy levels attained by students at
various levels of the educational process. As Cook-Gumperz (1986) argues,
schooling ideology makes literacy one of the basic components of schooling on
which other learning must rest.

It becomes essentially a cognitive skill, one which enables other

cognitive growth to take place, and its evaluation becomes central

to the assessment of other potentialities of student learners. In

these schooling terms, a non-literate person counts as an

uneducable person, not merely an uneducated one. Thus, the

nineteenth-century ideology has been transformed into the

twentieth century ideology which stresses that literacy may bring,

not economic well-being directly, but equality of opportunity as a

basic value from which other advantages can come"

(Cook-Gumperz, 1986234).

It is a central assumption of this study that teachers mediate what students
learn through their interpretations of official curriculum goals. Teachers’
interpretations of official curriculum goals are influenced by their understanding,
beliefs, and philosophies as regard that particular discipline. In the case of
literacy, teachers’ understanding, beliefs, and philosophies about literacy goals
influence how they interpret English and Shona national syllabuses, textbooks, and
examinations and as well as how students experience literacy curriculum in Shona
and English. Thus, this study is aimed at finding out the extent to which literacy

teachers’ conceptions of literacy and their current practices are developing or not

developing effective literacy skills which help students to engage in independent

learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities needed by an independent

nation for its social, economic and political development.

Statement of the Problem

As noted above, although impressive quantitative expansion of the education
system has been achieved, the Zimbabwe education system is still tied to the
external British Ordinary and Advanced level examination systems. Any discussion
concerning quality of education tends to center around pass rates for the Ordinary
Level (O’Level) examinations which have been steadily falling from 66.6% in 1980
to 12.4% in 1988 (Chung. 1988; Dorsey et al., 1991). This is due to the fact that,
because of the expansion of educational facilities, and the removal of bottlenecks
along the education system. many students of low abilities have access to
secondary education, which was not the case before 1980.

The continued use of colonial literacy curriculum models in vastly changed
social, economic, and political circumstances creates contradictions between
prevailing school practices and the developmental needs of a young free nation.
Classroom practices in many schools emphasize learning of abstract facts, correct
grammar, spelling and punctuation geared toward examination preparation (Chung,
1988; Jansen, 1989; Johnson, 1990). Zimbabwe, as a young developing country,
needs citizens with high level literacy and problem-solving skills. Students in
present day Zimbabwe need to develop a critical literacy which helps them
understand their reality in terms of social forces which shape it (Bizell, 1982).

Literacy skills determine the quality of students’ learning progress in school
and workers’ adaptability in work-place settings in an increasingly print mediated

world. As Eisemon (1988) argues, school-acquired literacy does not necessarily

promote problem-solving skills if it is acquired in a teaching environment which is
oriented towards preparing children to recall information for national examinations.
It is important to study teachers’ conceptions, beliefs, understandings, and
dispositions toward literacy goals and instructional practices because what teachers
do in their instructional practices constitute the content of the curriculum most
students experience in their school learning. What teachers do is influenced by
their beliefs and understandings. Thus, any attempt to improve the quality of
what students learn should also identify teachers’ beliefs and understandings as well
as their daily classroom practices so as to determine the extent of congruence or
lack of it between what we want to achieve through the education system and the

daily classroom practices.

Dissertation Objectives

The study had three main outcomes which were to

1. identify secondary school Shona and English teachers’ conceptions of
the goals of literacy instruction for school and out-of school contexts.

2. identify the sources of these teachers’ conceptions of literacy
curriculum goals.

3. describe these teachers’ current literacy classroom practices as a way
of linking them with their beliefs and conceptions of the goals of

literacy instruction.

Research Questions

The following questions were formulated to guide the conduct of the study

in such a way as to achieve the above outcomes.

1. How do Shona and English teachers at secondary school conceptualize
the goals of literacy instruction?
2. How do these literacy teachers make instructional decisions about what

to focus on?

3. What literacy skills do these teachers focus on in their language
instruction?
4. What factors influence language teachers’ conceptions and

decision-making processes as regards literacy instruction?

Definition of Terms
There are a number of terms which may not be clear to some readers
because of the contexts in which they are used. This is likely to be the case in
view of the fact the study was about Zimbabwean education issues written by the
researcher while studying in the US. Hence it is necessary to define some of the

terms as they are used in this study.

Literacy: As it is used in this study it means more than the ability to read
and write per se; rather it is the ability to reason and problem-solve in multiple
discourses with print. Literacy involves the ability to engage in reading, writing,
reflecting, dialoguing, critiquing, comprehending and interpreting all leading to

transforming one’s understanding to a new height.

Primag School: This refers to the first seven years of formal schooling in

Zimbabwe.

r1“

‘1'

‘H
hit

‘\

9

Secondary School: This refers to the next stage of education after primary
schooling. It consists of three stages, namely junior secondary called form 1 and 2;
senior secondary called form 3 and 4 or Ordinary Level (O’level); and lastly, high
school, or form 5 and 6 or Advanced Level (A’level). For most students O’Level
is the terminal point of formal secondary schooling. Those who aspire for
university and other types of higher education enroll for the A’Level certificate.

This study was focused on junior and senior levels of secondary education.

m: This is a language spoken as a mother tongue by about 75% of the
people in Zimbabwe. It belongs to the Bantu language family spoken by people in
central and southern Africa. It is the language of everyday oral communication in
most areas in Zimbabwe. It is made up of five dialects which are mutually

intelligible both in lexicon and language structure.

Overview of the Study

This study is organized into five chapters. Chapter 11 provides a review of
the literature related to literacy which is the central focus of this study. The first
section of Chapter II discusses the social constructivist conceptual framework on
which this study is grounded. The next section discusses various perspectives and
conceptualizations of literacy. The section following that reviews literature related
arguments about effects of literacy at a general societal level. The next section
focuses on literature related to literacy issues related to school settings. The last
section of Chapter 11 reviews literature focusing on teacher thinking, beliefs and
decision-making processes.

Chapter III gives a narrative description of the research methodology, design

and rationale for the procedures used to conduct this study. The data collection

an

”3.
Ill.

,
,.
u.)

10

instruments used include the following: (1) questionnaires administered to over
810 English and Shona teachers in three provinces, namely Harare, Mashonaland
East, and Masvingo; (2) interviews conducted with 51 English and Shona teachers
and two Ministry of Education officials; (3) classroom observations of 16 English
and Shona teachers; and (4) studying documents related to literacy policy,
curriculum and instruction and evaluation.

Chapter IV analyzes data collected through the various research instruments
and presents findings of the study. Chapter V gives the conclusions and
implications of the study as well as personal reflections in terms of what the

researcher learned from carrying out the study and what he hopes to do next.

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to review the literature related to the
purpose of the dissertation. The chapter is therefore organized according to themes
relevant to the study of literacy instruction. The first part of the chapter reviews
the literature related to the conceptual framework used in the conceptualization of
the study, namely social constructivist perspectives of knowledge and literacy and
teacher thinking and decision-making processes. The second part of the chapter

reviews literature related to conceptions of literacy.

Social Constructivist Conceptual Framework

This study is grounded on the social constructivist perspective of knowledge
and cognition. The overriding assumption of the social constructivist perspective is
that human beings make sense of their world through the process of interacting
with their world and with each other. The need to transform the physical world in
order to meet survival needs necessitated human beings to develop tools with
which to subdue the physical world. While engaging in these survival activities
human beings, over a period time, invented and continue to invent objects
including tools, and procedures with which to subdue the world. In the course of

engaging in these activities, human beings have come to have a better knowledge

11

of their physical world as well as their social relations (Kozulin, 1986; Vygotsky,
1978, 1986; Wertsch, 1981a).

Language is one of the sign systems which humans use to label objects and
events in their world. Vygostky (1978, 1986) maintains that human beings use
signs, including language, to make sense of their world. This includes concept
formation and the processing of high-order psychological processes, like memory,
paying attention, thinking and creating meaning. The social constructivist
perspective maintains that the semiotic system enables human beings to construct
meaning through their interactions. The meaning making process takes place at
three levels: first at the personal level, second at the social level, and third at the
generation level, i.e., over periods of time. According to this view, meaning is
indeterminate because people at different historical, cultural, and social milieu
experience different phenomena, and therefore give different meanings according to
their physical and social contexts. People in the same historical cultural milieu
develop shared meanings through the process of intersubjectivity. This is a process
of constructing meaning among individuals through dialogue and reflection. 1n the
case of learning situations, Vygotsky (1986) asserts that an adult, or a more
knowledgeable other leads or guides a learner through interaction to perform those
activities the learner is unable to perform on his/her own. Gradually the adult or
more knowledgeable other reduces his/her assistance as the learner gains more
confidence and skill till the learner is completely able to do the activity on his/her
own. Vygotsky (1978) calls the learner’s learning status the zone of proximal
development.

The Vygotskian perspective of social constructivism of knowledge and
cognition gives language a central role in higher psychological development. It has

had tremendous influence on western scholarly research on teaching and learning a

13

whole range of school subjects including literacy. Prominent Western scholars like
Bruner (1984b, 1985, 1986), Scribner (1984b, 1985b, 1987), Wertsch (1987, 1978,
1980, 1981, 1983) and Rogoff (1990, 1989, 1986) have espoused Vygotsky’s views of
social constructivism, and in turn, have exerted a lot of influence on research on
teaching and learning in the West. The term scaffolding, coined by Bruner (1983),
is derived from Vygotsky’s notion of the zone of proximal development. So also is
Palincsar’s and Brown’s (1984) notion of reciprocal teaching whereby the teacher
models comprehension instruction to students by training them to ask ’teacher-type’
questions about the reading passage, to summarize the passage at various points,
to clarify difficult areas and to make predictions of what might happen next. When
the students master these reading comprehension strategies from the teacher’s
modeling, they then take turns to teach each other comprehension exercises taken
from unseen passages.

Bakhtin (1981) talks of the notion of multiple voices in a dialogic encounter.
By multiple voices Bakhtin means that a speaker first hears views and opinions of
other people on any subject matter and he/she internalizes and transforms some
of these views making them part of his/her cognitive repertoire. Later in similar
dialogic encounters the speaker finds himself/herself expressing views and opinions
which originally were not his/hers as his/her own world view on the given subject.
The notion of multiple voices in dialogic encounters is consistent with social
constructivist perspective of knowledge and cognition. This is in line with what
Vygotsky (1978) called interpsychological and intrapsychological processing of
cognitive development. Intrapsychological plane is the individual processing of
cognitive elements; and interpsychological plane refers to the social level of

cognitive interactions.

14

The notion of social constructivism of knowledge and cognition functions as
the overarching framework of the conceptions of reading, writing and teaching
espoused in this study. From a social constructivist perspective reading is seen as
a process of constructing meaning through the interaction of the text and the
reader who brings into the process his/her existing knowledge of subject matter of
the text, his/her purposes for reading and his/her knowledge of text structure and
other relevant contextual variables. Writing is similarly conceived as a process of
creating meaning between the writer, his/her sense of the intended audience
(reader) his/her knowledge of the subject matter of the text he/she is writing as
well as the purpose for which he/she is writing. Similarly teaching is a process of
constructing knowledge or meaning between the learner and the teacher through
their interaction which takes into account the existing knowledge, experience,
motivation and purpose for the teaching/learning encounter. In this process
students are active participants who use their existing knowledge and experience to
reflect, critique, question and modify what the teacher brings to the learning
encounter.

The social constructivist perspective is consistent with current views about
literacy. The next section of the literature review discusses conceptions of literacy

in various contexts.

Conceptions of Liteflcy-Definitions 3m Mew
Conceptions of literacy vary according to time and ideological perspectives
across nations. Before the era of mass schooling, literacy was associated with the
education given to the upper classes in European and North American societies. It

was the type of education which was meant to equip upper class members of

15

society with skills of judgment and proper tastes. As Cook-Gumperz (1986)
maintains:

A literate person was seen not only as a good person, but as

someone capable of exercising good or reasonable judgment, for a

literate person’s taste and judgement depended upon access to a

written tradition-~a body of texts--reflecting centuries of collective

experience.

Cook-Gumperz, (1986) argues for a social perspective of literacy which
focuses on the processes by which literacy is constructed in everyday life, through
interactional exchanges and the negotiation of meaning in many different contexts.
She asserts that literacy is a metacognitive process that makes other cognitive and
social developments possible.

Scribner (1984) conceives literacy in three metaphors: (a) literacy as
adaptation, emphasizing the functional goals of literacy; (b) literacy as power,
emphasizing the political and liberating effects of literacy from oppression; and (c)
literacy as grace, emphasizing the spiritual aspects of the ability to have access to
religious texts. On the other hand Heap (1988) disagrees with the notion of
functional literacy, arguing that it confuses textual literacy, which is a product of
schooling, and reasoning in a practical manner, which may arise from experience
rather than schooling. He argues that those who talk of functional literacy
compound the problems of measuring literacy. Hirsch (1987) and Bloom (1987)
argue for cultural literacy which can be broadly taken to mean the acquisition of
a knowledge of selected works of literature and historical information necessary for
informed participation in the political and cultural life of one’s society. Heath
(1985) emphasizes the indissoluble link between literacy, context and meaning. She
argues:

Unless accompanied with cultural knowledge, personal drive,

political motivation, or economic opportunity, literacy does not lead

the writer to make the essential leap from literacy to being
literate-from knowing what the words say to understanding what

16

they mean. Readers make meaning by linking the symbols on the
page with real-world knowledge and then considering what the text
means for generating new ideas and actions not explicitly written
or "said" in the text. The transformation of literacy skills into
literate behaviors and ways of thinking depends on a community of
talkers who make the text mean something. For most of history,
such literate communities have been elite groups, holding
themselves and their knowledge and power apart from the masses.

Closely related to the notion of cultural literacy referred to above, Bereiter
and Scardamalia (1987) advocate what they call high literacy which they associate
with high academic skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and independent
learning skills. The vision of high literacy as conceptualized by Berieter and
Scardamalia (1987) may be difficult to attain because most of the students do not
come from home backgrounds where such literacy is the norm.

Freire (1970, 1985), McLaren (1988); Aronowitz and Giroux (1991) advocate
for critical literacy which focuses on the interests and assumptions that inform the
generation of knowledge itself. As McLaren (1988:218) asserts:

From this perspective all texts, written, spoken, or otherwise

represented, constitute ideological weapons capable of enabling

certain groups to solidify their power through acts of linguistic

hegemony. This can be seen in the ways in which mainstream

schooling has stressed the cultural capital of certain speech

communities that make up the dominant culture.

Freire (1985) argues that approaches to literacy, regardless of the country in
which they take place, must constitute more than simply the "alphabetization" of
the so called illiterate student. That children have linguistic and communicative
skills outside the school which often go unrecognized in the classroom is the first
consideration that must be addressed in any critical literacy program. Freire goes
on to argue that:

If the texts generally offered students once hid much more than

they revealed of reality, now literacy as an act of knowledge, as a

creative act and as a political act, is an effort to read the world

and the word. Now it is no longer possible to have the text
without context. (Freire and Macedo 1987243)

.,o

111

'9
lhi'
HA»;

17

The major weaknesses of current approaches to literacy, according to Freire,
are that these approaches not only do they ignore the learner’s creative capacity,
but also encourage a passive acceptance of the status quo. On the contrary critical
literacy always implies a political reading of the world, accompanied by a
transformation of the oppressive relations which constitute that world. Thus critical
literacy is seen as a means of liberating the creative capacity of the students as
well as a means of transforming their world outlook. Literacy is an instrument for
human liberation and social change.

Gee (1989) and Michaels and O'Connor (1990) conceptualize literacy as
ability to function in a given discourse. Michaels and O’Connor (1990) define
literacy as the ability to reason and problem-solve in multiple discourses with print.
Different discourses require very different ways of "reading between the lines".
Without having been enculturated into the discourse through the process of
engaging in meaningful social practices with more skiUed members of the
discourse, one simply cannot read the text. " Literacy then is less about reading
and writing per se; rather it is about ways of being in the world and ways of
making meaning with and around text" (Michaels and O’Connor 1990:11).

Lockheed and Verspoor (1991) and Cook-Gumperz (1986) conceptualize
literacy as a cognitive tool for learning new information, ideas, attitudes and
values. They see it as one of the basic components of schooling on which further
learning and cognitive growth depend.

As the foregoing section shows, there are as many definitions or
conceptualizations of literacy as there are scholars. It seems the major influence is
ideological orientation in conceptualizing literacy. As McLaren (1988) argues, the
term literacy has come to mean educating students to be bearers of certain

meanings, values and views. The position taken in this study is that literacy is

18

more than the ability to read and write per se, rather it is a way of making
meaning through interpreting, reflecting, questioning and problem-solving through
print. This position is consistent with the social constructivist framework discussed

at the beginning of this section.

Effects of Literacy

There is a wide range of opinions among scholars as to the effects of
literacy. As far back as 1960’s Williams (1961) argued that the extension of active
learning processes, including the development of literacy skills to all people was a
fundamental means of guaranteeing the growth of democracy and advancement of
technology. He was expressing great optimism in the belief that literacy can lead
to the improvement of the quality of life for individuals, social groups, and even
whole societies. Writing about the potential effects of literacy for developing
countries Akinnaso (1982) asserts that:

The argument about the consequences of literacy--seem to run

somewhat as follows: with the advent of writing and the spread of

literacy came a new resource both of knowledge and technology

that, over time, has systematically affected the nature of existing

cognitive, linguistic and social structures and led to a gradual

deployment into new channels of people’s cognitive, linguistic and

organizational potentials: (Quoted in Cook-Gumperz 1986:17)

Other scholars writing from the perspective of developing countries see a
strong correlation between literacy and social and economic development. Eisemon
(1988), Lockheed and Verspoor (1991), Cotler (1986), and Eisemon, Patel and
Abagi (1987) argue that literacy and schooling lead to improved productivity in
agriculture, lower fertility among women through the use of birth control methods,
improved nutrition and health care, and the general readiness to use modern

technology in the work place. Development advocates of the human capital thesis,

e.g., Shultz (1977) argue that people invest in their own improvement through

A'-
LA-

 

w.-
H.

l-lu
' n
u...

 

19

education which leads to the attainment of literacy and numeracy which in turn
make them increase their own earnings. However, it is important to take heed of
Eisemon’s (1988) warning that school acquired literacy does not necessarily
promote problem-solving skills if it is acquired in a teaching environment which is
oriented towards preparing children to recall information for national examinations.
The kind of literacy which is likely to bring about social and individual benefits is
critical literacy. As McLaren (1988) argues, critical literacy links language
competency to the acquisition of a public discourse in which empowered
individuals are capable of critically engaging the social, political and ethical

dimensions of everyday life.

Literacy in School Settings

In school settings, research on literacy has been focused on reading and
writing processes and skills. Although there is a growing interest in conceptualizing
reading and writing as related cognitive processes (e.g., Raphael and Englert 1988;
Tierney and Shanahan, 1991), the traditional research approach has been to treat
these processes separately. Constructivist views of knowledge and cognition
permeate current approaches to both reading and writing. This section of the
literature review focuses on reading and writing research separately in order to
highlight the insights researchers have gained in the two literacy domains.

Literature related to reading is reviewed first.

Reading

Conceptualizations of reading have changed from emphasis on texts to
emphasis on readers as processors of texts, and hence meaning makers. Reading,

according to constructivist perspective, is seen as "the process of constructing

 

‘r‘u

men“
. .r lI
MA La

 

v».._..

R
d-.'\

I~d|-

 

' . #-
.ccc

'-
-.\

 

 

 

20

meaning through the dynamic interaction among the reader’s existing knowledge.
the information suggested by the written language, and the context of the reading
situation" (Michigan Reading Association Position paper 1984, p. 2) This new
definition of reading is shared by most current reading specialists, for example.
Pearson (1985), Guthrie and Mosenthal (1987), Wixson and Peters (1987),
Anderson and Pearson (1991), and Duffy and Roehler (1989). The interactive
dimension of the new conceptualization of reading assumes that the reader is an
active processor of meaning. The construction of meaning is brought about when a
reader activates his/her experience or existing knowledge of the content of the text
and compares and contrasts it with the text he/she is reading. Reading
comprehension is a term used to embrace all the outcomes of the learner’s efforts
to gain meaning from written language. Schema theorists of cognitive psychology
orientation like Anderson and Pearson (1984) assert that:

Whether we are aware of it or not, it is the interaction of new

information with old knowledge that we mean when we use the

term comprehension. To say one has comprehended a text is to

say that he or she has found a mental ’home’ for the information

in the text or else that he/she has modified an existing mental

home in order to accommodate that new information. (p. 255)

Guthrie and Mosenthal (1987) argue that in formulating descriptive
definitions of reading there is a large variety of features to choose from. The
choice of one set of features over another has ideological ramifications. For
instance, to define reading only in terms of the features of the reading materials
one tacitly endorses the notion that meaning is in the text, that meaning is literal,
and that meaning has one interpretation--the author’s. Cherryholmes (1991)
presents the arguments of critical theorists of the reading process in these terms:

If the text is regarded as material or concrete, as naturally

occurring instead of socially constructed, then texts have power

over readers. Critical theorists contend that texts are never neutral.

They draw the reader’s attention to some and away from other
things.

The notion that reading is a process of constructing meaning through the
process of reader response and interpretation of the text stems from a strong
belief among critical theorists that "meaning is not the property of a timeless
formalism, but something acquired in the context of an activity." (Fish 1973:89). It
is perhaps an attack on attempts to privilege some types of texts or cultural norms
against others. Those who subscribe to what Scholes (1989) calls textual
fundamentalism, believe that some texts--the great Books--have meaning fixed
eternally and that it transcends all times and contexts. Reading, according to
constructivist theorists, is interpreting and critiquing the text. It is to question the
text: Who is speaking? Who listens? What is written? What is avoided? Which
ideas are privileged? As Scholes (1989) maintains:

To read at all, we must read the book of ourselves in the texts in

front of us, and we must bring the text home, into our thought

and lives, into our judgments and deeds. We cannot enter the texts

we read, but they can enter us. . . . Such reading involves looking

closely at the text; it also involves situating the text, to make the

text our own in thought, word and deed. (Quoted in Cherryholmes

1991:6)

However, there are some scholars who maintain that pragmatic approach to
reading is preferable to the extreme positions of textual fundamentalism and
reader-response perspective on the other extreme. Pragmatic approach to reading,
according to Guthrie and Mosenthal (1987), attempts to develop a theory that is
sensitive to the ideology of the students and teachers. In this approach, one first
observes readers in a particular setting, who are reading materials for a purpose
unique to that setting and situation. One then identifies the criteria by which
readers are judged either effective or ineffective when reading for that designated

purpose. These criteria are identified as the critical features in some definition of

reading effectiveness (Hunt, 1990; Tierney and Gee, 1990).

I“)
to

Harker (1987) advocates the interactive model of reading. This model
recognizes the contribution of both the text and the reader in the making of
meaning. He argues that the text has some tangible attributes which affect the
reader’s response. He maintains that to discredit the text entirely as an
autonomous contributor to meaning ignores much that has been established by
research into the reading process.

The interactive perspective of reading is a pragmatic and viable approach to
reading. Readers cannot ignore the text, its features and history. The text provides
the first context for readers’ response. At the same time the reader’s schemata are
equally important in shaping the meaning the different readers will come up with

as a result of their interacting with the text.

Reading Comprehension Instruction

Research on classroom instruction across subjects at secondary school
indicates great resilience of traditional approaches like teacher domination of
classroom interaction, recitation, strict teacher control of students’ encounters with
print, over reliance on textbooks. and teachers’ emphasis on factual textual
information (Cuban 1984, 1990; Cohen, 1988; Goodlad, 1984; Edwards and Mercer,
1987; and Alvermann and Moore, 1991;). This is contrary to research findings on
teaching for understanding, student empowerment, fostering of critical thinking and
problem-solving skills in students.

In a now rather classic study, Durkin (1978-1979) found that elementary
school teachers focused more on comprehension assessment rather than direct
instruction. She also noted that almost all the teachers’ questions were an attempt
to learn whether the children had comprehended a given reading selection. This

left her wondering whether comprehension skills were fostered through practicing

k)
t")

answering comprehension questions or through direct instruction. She made a
follow up to this study by studying basal reader programs for kindergarten through
grade 6 to learn what they suggested for comprehension instruction. She also
found that the basal manuals said nothing about comprehension instruction. She
went on to say "it is tempting to conclude that comprehension instruction consists
of repeated testing with feedback" (Durkin 1981:12).

Winograd and Johnston (1987) argue that current research on reading
comprehension has insisted rather too much that there be direct instruction. They
suggest that rather research should come up with an extensive repertoire of
strategies which can be used in a flexible manner so that teachers will know the
conditions under which particular strategies are likely to work. Winograd and
Johnston (1987) argue that teachers use teaching strategies which are being
condemned by present research on reading comprehension partly because of the
complexities of the job of teaching which involves conflicting demands and needs
of different children, parents, administrators and society in general. They further
maintain that teachers must make instructional decisions about reading based on
an incomplete understanding of the reading process because there is little
agreement about how children learn to read or how best to teach reading so that

all children learn.

&w_unt_ab_ili4tr
Society in general demands that schools account for large public funds
devoted to their maintenance. Determining accountability for students’ learning is
accomplished through formal measures such as standardized tests and public
examinations. Most accountability systems require teachers to cover course contents

expeditiously. Alvermann and Moore (1991) and Winograd and Johnston (1987)

24

argue that the problems with accountability and reading comprehension are
defining the goals and deciding how these will be measured. In general society has
‘solved’ these problems by reducing the goals of reading to those that can be
easily and inexpensively measured by large-scale standardized tests. Emphasis on
literal information becomes the norm because the acquisition of facts seems to be
more easily accomplished and is more readily measured than other cognitive
operations. The present narrow conceptualization of accountability reinforces the
outdated definition of reading and obstructs both the acceptance and
implementation of a more accurate view. Winograd and Johnson (1987) maintain
that researchers may view comprehension as an interactive process, or believe that
strategic reading is important or feel the need to address both meaning and sense.
Practitioners, however, are still held accountable for how well their children
perform on tests of isolated sub-skills. Thus these apparent contradictions between
the current accountability measures and implementation of the conceptualization of
reading as an interactive process explain the resilience and regularities of

traditional approaches to reading instruction.

Writing
Current conceptualizations of writing view it both as a personal and social
cognitive process of expressing human perception of the world. It is a creative
activity involving self--expression, discovery and critical thinking and is influenced
by considerations of the purposes for writing, the intended audience and the form
each writing episode takes. Writing is also a process of selecting, generating,
developing and arranging ideas in ways which suit the form, purpose and audience

Selected. (Michigan Board of Education, 1985; Englert and Raphael 1989).

25

From a social constructivist perspective, writing is a social activity in the
:nse that the writer puts on paper ideas, views and opinions he/she originally
:ard from other people through his/her interactions with members of his/her own
lltural group. These views or multiple voices, according to Bakhtin (1981), are
ternalized and become part of the writer’s cognitive repertoire. When the writer
immits his/her ideas on paper, he/she is interacting again with other people. the
aders who are the intended audiences. The sense of an audience at the back of
e writer makes the writing a social constructive activity. In the process of writing
e writer is both recreating the multiple voices he/she internalized earlier on as
all as creating new ideas. Thus, according to Vygotsky (1978), writing is both an
dividual act of creativity as well as a social act in which the writer is reflecting
her people’s voices which he/she had internalized.

There has been much debate about the degree of freedom students should
joy when writing, that is to say, how much what students write should be a
flection of their own voices as opposed to what is judged to be appropriate
“iting by other people, e.g., teachers. Teachers impart writing skills to students
rough techniques like scaffolding, modeling and guided practice, until students
aster the required skills and can apply them independently. Modeling processes
volve the teacher demonstrating: (l) the strategies used at the pre-writing stage
tereby the writer generates and discovers ideas and considers the purpose and
.dience for writing; (2) strategies used at the drafting stage where ideas
nerated are written in a coherent form, (3) strategies used at the revision stage;
d (4) strategies used at the proof reading stage. (Englert and Raphael, 1989;
orio-Ruane, 1991).

One way to induct students into the skills of writing which are part of

illed writers’ repertoires is to bring novices and experts together at writing

2O

conferences. Writing conferences in their ideal form are seen as dialogic occasions
where teachers and students are practically free to trade conversational places. One
of their perceived strengths is the participation of a reader/listener who helps the
author plan or revise his/her text by means of questions and responses about that
text. It is argued by advocates of writing conferences that, where beginning writers
are concerned, the other’s participation leads not only to the revision of draft, but
gradually to the author’s internalization of reader/writer dialogue (Murray 1968;
1979 Graves, 1983). The appeal of writing conferences is related to a
contemporary shift in interest from evaluation of isolated student texts to dialogic
support of the composing process and its development. This shift in emphasis
potentially transforms the teacher’s role from task-master and evaluator to reader
and respondent and opens the door to greater peer interaction in literacy learning.
(Murray, 1979; Beach and Bridwell, 1984; Show, Pettigrew and Van Nostrand 1983;
Gere and Stevens, 1985).

However, in practice writing conferences have been found to be occasions
that are largely teacher-driven and that communication is "unilateral, from
instructor to student, that most instructors shaped and directed the conversation,
that students didn’t mind the teacher dominance, in fact they wanted it" (Jacob
1982:386). Other researchers found that writing conferences were occasions when
teachers were more inclined to push their preconceived schema of how the text
should be written than to listen to student’s problems and needs (Florio-Ruane,
1991; Freedman, 1985;). A number of researchers have explained the apparent
weaknesses of writing conferences in terms of absence of shared knowledge
between teachers and students about writing and the text as well as the demand
of time, mandated curricula and the school’s evaluative climate (Erickson 1984,

Florio-Ruane, 1991).

27

While acknowledging the potential of the process writing model in
empowering students to articulate their own voices, leaders of minority and poor
ethnic groups argue for the teaching of skills and other types of discourses
considered important in mainstream society. In addition to learning to express
cultural norms through certain dialects, students should also be exposed to the
"culture of power", which is the discourse of mainstream society (Delpit 1986,

1988)

Teacher Thinking, Beliefs and Decision Making Proces_s§

A related conceptual framework on which this study is grounded concerns
teachers’ thinking, beliefs and decision making process. A number of scholars have
argued that teachers mediate what students experience and learn in classrooms.
Teachers’ beliefs, understandings and philosophies about the subjects they teach
influence decisions they make about what to instruct and how to instruct it. Lipsky
(1980) argues that teachers, like other street-level bureaucrats, determine
curriculum through their interpretations of official policy and the devices they
invent to cope with uncertainties, contradictions, complexities and work pressures.
Shulman (1987) argues that a teacher’s mastery of subject matter knowledge as
well as pedagogical content knowledge determines the quality of his/her instruction.
Where such knowledge is high the teacher is usually flexible and adjusts his/her
strategies to suit the kind of students he/she is instructing as well as other
contextual factors prevailing at the time the instruction is given. On the other
hand where the teacher’s mastery of the subject matter is shaky he/she tends to
be rigid and tends to resort to authoritarian model of instruction.

Clark and Peterson (1986) argue that teachers’ thought processes consist of

two related domains, namely, teachers’ thought processes involving internal

28

unobservable cognitive processes like teachers’ theories and beliefs which influence
their planning activities (preactive and proactive thoughts). These thought processes
are linked to teachers interactive decisions during instruction. The other domain of
teachers’ thought processes consist of teachers classroom behavior and are linked
to student classroom behavior and achievement. Clark and Peterson (1986) and
Clark and Yinger (1987) argue that teachers’ thought processes are affected by the
task demands and by the teachers’ perceptions of the task.

Some researchers argue that teachers’ planning decisions do not indicate
profound and informed thinking about logical objectives related to their reading
instruction. Rather, their planning decisions show a preoccupation with content
coverage and their perception of how to make the school day flow smoothly
(Duffy, 1982; Sard-Brown, 1990). Yinger (1980) maintains that planning is
conceived as a three stage problem-solving task which involves the identification of
content goals and experience, progressive elaboration of the activity and the
implementation of the requisite activity.

Jones (1984) and Farr and Rosser (1979) maintain that a teacher’s personal
definition of reading determines the way he/she chooses his/her instructional goals
and how he/she implements his/her instruction. A teacher who defines reading as
a way of increasing knowledge and understanding in a particular subject will
approach reading differently from a teacher who defines reading as a way of
learning more and better vocabulary. They further argue that teacher’s a personal
definition of reading can expand or place limitations on the range of materials
he/she gives students to read and also on the level of understanding of the
materials his/her students attain.

Sardo-Brown (1988) maintains that planning decisions are nested, that is,

daily planning is conducted within the context of weekly, by term and yearly

structure of plans. Teachers are influenced in their planning decisions by a number
of considerations, e.g., textbook materials, standardized tests, physical facilities,
student characteristics, curriculum guides, and those activities they believe will
engage student attention (McCutcheon, 1980; and Sard-Brown, 1988). Sard-Brown

(1990) asserts that school level and central office policies affect the way teachers

make instructional decisions.

Summary and Conclusion

This chapter has shown the existence of a great diversity of opinion on what
literacy is and how best to make learners acquire it. The social constructivist
perspective of literacy has been shown to be compatible with research findings
about current conceptions of education. Current conceptions of education stress
that learning at all levels should be an active process in which learners construct
and reconstruct knowledge as they go along. This means education should be
empowering to the learner so that he/she acquires critical thinking and
problem-solving skills necessary for life long learning and a productive life in
today’s technology--using society. However, it has also been shown that adoption of
social constructivist perspective of literacy instruction challenges traditional models
of teaching and learning characterized by teacher domination of the learning
situation, emphasis on factual information, over reliance on textbook information,
and forms of accountability which rely on standardized tests and examinations. The
resilience of traditional models of teaching and learning have also been partly
eitplained by complexities of the teaching and learning process in real classrooms
a11d the lack of corresponding structural changes in the roles and functions of
teachers and school administrators. Another explanation for limited influence of

reSearch findings on current instructional practices are differences in the

30

perceptions of researchers and practitioners about what is important and worth
focussing on in order to promote student learning.

There was no literature found focusing on students learning literacy in
contexts where students’ home experience as well as students’ home languages are
different from school knowledge and the language of instruction.

Thus this study set out to investigate the conceptions of teachers about
literacy in a context where the language of instruction is not the language most
students use outside the classroom situation. It is a key assumption of this study
that the way teachers conceptualize literacy largely determines what they focus on

in their classroom practice. The main questions guiding this study are the

following.

1. How do Shona and English teachers at secondary school conceptualize
literacy instructional goals?

2. How do these teachers make instructional decisions about what to
focus on?

3. What literacy skills do these teachers focus on in their language
instruction?

4. What factors influence language teachers’ conceptions and

decision-making processes as regards literacy instruction?
Chapter 3 discusses the methodology used to find answers to the above

questions.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

Introduction
This study set out to investigate how secondary school Shona and English
teachers conceptualized literacy instructional goals. It was a major assumption of
this study that literacy skills are a determinant of students’ learning and thinking

potentials both in side and outside school. Teachers make critical decisions which

affect what students learn and how they learn it. Zimbabwe does not have an
official curriculum policy on literacy instructional goals. English is the official
language of instruction in schools from Grade 4 onwards although it is spoken as
a mother tongue by less than 3% of the population. Shona and Ndebele are
talJght as compulsory subjects up to Form 2 (Grade 9). The main objective of this
Study was to investigate how secondary school English and Shona teachers made
SeI‘lse of literacy instructional goals in a teaching learning context where over 95%
of the students do not use the language of instruction outside the school context.
Another major aim of the study was to identify the relationship between language
teachers’ conceptions of literacy and their classroom instructional practices.
Since the central focus of the study was on teachers’ sense making processes
of literacy goals and the resulting classroom practices, it is proper to describe
teachers’ general background in Zimbabwe. According to information available to

the researcher when the study was conceived, slightly more than 50% of secondary

31

b)
k)

sch 001 teachers had recognized professional qualifications in 1991. Harare, the
biggest city in the country and the capital, had the highest percentage of trained
teachers, about 64% (Dorsey et al., 1991). Trained teachers are those teachers who
have either a degree plus a teaching certificate or diploma, or those who have a
higl) school (Ordinary Level) certificate plus a three year or four year teachers’
certificate. Only trained teachers were the subjects of this study, partly because
they were likely to stay in teaching for a long time having invested time, energy
and resources to get their teaching diplomas. This is unlike temporary teachers
who were hired on a term by term basis and some of them used teaching as a
SPringboard for other occupations. The assumption was that qualified teachers had
ac'"Clllired a professional disposition and knowledge from teacher education exposure
wh ich enabled them to develop a personal philosophy about the subjects they
tailcl‘l. It was therefore thought that they were in a position to articulate and
re'tlexzt on their conceptualizations of literacy and their classroom practices. Of all
trained teachers at secondary school those who have degrees are less than 15%.
This is mainly because there is only one university which offers degrees relevant to
teaching in Zimbabwe, and also because some graduate teachers easily leave
teaching for better paying jobs in other sectors of the economy.
This chapter provides a rationale and description of the research design and
methodological procedures used to seek answers to the research questions and
address research objectives. What follows is a description of the research design

and development and implementation of the research instrument.

Research Design

In Zimbabwe education is provided'by a number of agencies, including the

state itself. The state’s direct provision of secondary education, concentrated mostly

'9)
b)

in urban centers accounts for about 20% of the total number of secondary schools.
Ch urch organizations, which have been historically the main providers of secondary
education are still responsible for running schools which they opened during the
colonial period. Local authorities, mostly in the rural areas, run secondary schools
Opened after 1980 to meet the demand for educational facilities. In addition to
these, there are schools run by private foundations which are usually high
fee-paying and tend to cater to children of the more affluent members of the
community. There are also secondary schools run by mining companies and big
Commercial farms. School quality differs according to the type of authority running
the school. On the one extreme, there are the high-fee paying schools already
r‘71'E'I'ltioned above, and on the other extreme there are local authority schools called
district council schools which were opened after 1980. These are situated in rural
areas which are generally the poorest communities in the whole country.

Although the central government is responsible for paying all teachers’
S"cilaries as well as a per capita grant for every child attending non-government
SCl‘lools, the various responsible authorities administering non-government schools

have to use their own resources to meet the running cost for their schools as well

as to provide other amenities for their staff. Because of the general shortage of
Qualified teachers in Zimbabwe, the poor, non-government school authorities find it
difficult to attract the best teachers to their schools.

The researcher was cognizant of the diversity of school types and made
every effort to include all school types and locations, urban and rural, state run
schools, church run schools, district council schools, private schools, etc., in the
study. A variety of research instruments were used to collect data to address the
research questions and objectives. The researcher was aware that each type of

method has its particular strengths as well as weaknesses, and that no single

rm:

X , r. l
Idli‘xii

34

research method can answer all types of questions. The next section describes the

various instruments, the rationales and procedures used.

Research Instrument Development and Imlementation

There were three major data gathering instruments used in this study. They

were questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations.

Q u estionnaire
The questionnaire was considered appropriate and cost effective to solicit
View5 and opinions of secondary school Shona and English teachers with diverse
ClLlZilifications and working in diverse school types. Out of the nine administrative
Provinces in Zimbabwe, three were selected for the administration of the
Cl‘lestionnaire instrument. These provinces were Harare, Mashonaland East, and
l\’lzlsvingo province. It was thought that Harare province plus another rural
Province in Shona speaking areas of Zimbabwe would adequately represent the
national picture in terms of school types and the national population. Harare has
8leurban and city neighborhood schools (low and high density suburbs). It has also
a number of private and church schools. Mashonaland East province was chosen
because it adequately represents rural communities. Masvingo was originally
Selected to be a pilot testing ground for the questionnaire instrument because it
has both urban and rural schools.
A questionnaire was used to reach as many Shona and English teachers as
possible so as to learn about the general views and opinions related to. literacy
instruction held by these teachers. It was also considered cost effective in that the

researcher could mail by post questionnaire forms to rural schools scattered in

 

 

 

T7 T

35

rural areas. He could also personally deliver large quantities of questionnaire forms
to big urban schools which are generally closer to each other than rural schools.
The questionnaire items themselves were developed by the researcher with
the assistance of a member of the guidance committee to address issues of literacy
instruction in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. There were 38 items covering these
broad areas, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions towards English and Shona as media
of communication; Shona and English syllabi; Zimbabwe Junior Certificate and
Ordinary Level examinations, English and Shona textbooks; the instruction of
reading and writing; general classroom instruction and conceptions about critical
It"lit‘lking in relation to English and Shona as dominant languages. The researcher
diSCLIssed the questionnaire items with some members of the Department of
Cut‘riculum and Arts at the University of Zimbabwe in early January 1993 in
0rd er to get some possible feedback about ways of improving their quality from

people who were closer to the research site .

COllection Procedures in Masvingo

 

The researcher went to Masvingo province and distributed questionnaires to nine
SeCondary schools in and around Masvingo town. These schools consisted of three
gOVernment urban schools, one of which was a former only white school, now
referred to as Group A school, and the other two were situated in working class
neighborhoods. The other schools were church administered schools except one
Which was a district council school.
The researcher personally took the questionnaires to each school and
explained his reasons for being at the school to the head of the school or his
assistant. He then requested that the questionnaires be distributed to all qualified

English and Shona teachers, preferably through the heads of English and Shona

 

36

departments. A day and time was given when the researcher would return to
Collect the completed questionnaire forms. Usually it was the following day. On
the whole, the researcher got excellent co-operation.

At one school which was a distance away with a bad road, the principal of
the school instructed the targeted teachers to fill in the questionnaire forms the
same day while the researcher went to a nearby school. When he returned, he
was able to get most of the completed forms. In cases where some teachers had
not turned in completed questionnaires, he left money to be used for mailing the
remaining questionnaires as soon as they were available. When he arrived at the
district council school most of the teachers had gone away for lunch, and so he
recattested one of the teachers who was around to either collect the questionnaires
from the teachers and then mail them to the researcher or to ask the headmaster
[Q do that. The researcher accordingly left some postage money but he never got
any questionnaires from this school. This turned out to be the only school he did
“01 recover questionnaires in Masvingo province. However it was a reminder to
the researcher that he should not expect to get hundred percent return rate.

At one of the schools in Masvingo province, the researcher had the
opportunity to talk to one teacher who had completed a questionnaire. The
t‘esearcher asked the teacher to comment on how he found the questionnaire items

and what he thought about them. The teacher said that he had found the
questionnaire quite thought-provoking, and found them very relevant to everyday
instructional practice. He said, however, he had some misgivings about revealing
his identity, especially because of the last questionnaire item which asked teachers
to evaluate the professional assistance they got from education officers responsible
for English and Shona. He argued that he feared he might be victimized if he

gave an unfavorable evaluation and then the questionnaire fell into the hands of

37

people who deal with schools. As for the other questionnaire items, the teacher
said they were clear and straight forward in terms of the opinions they were
soliciting. The researcher assured the teacher that he (the researcher) was not
connected with the Ministry of Education in any way as the letter accompanying
the questionnaire explained. The researcher assured the teacher that as soon as
data from the questionnaire were entered into the researcher’s personal computer,
all personal data would be destroyed. The researcher further explained that the
identity of the respondents was necessary because it would enable him to make a
fOLlow-up of the questionnaire data with some of the respondents whom the

r esearcher might want to interview and arrange for classroom observation.

The researcher made a close analysis of the completed questionnaire forms
from the nine schools in Masvingo province to identify areas which needed
modifications. The researcher found out that all the thirty eight questionnaire
items had been responded to in the manner they were intended. There was
therefore no need to make any changes on any of the items. However, the
re'Searcher found he had not provided a space for the respondents to indicate the

language they taught, whether it was English or Shona. Fortunately for the
reSearcher, the completed questionnaire forms from Masvingo province had been
placed in separate large envelopes marked either Shona or English or the
rEspondents themselves had written the language they taught on the questionnaire.
Also the covering letter attached to the questionnaire was revised so as to explain
more clearly the necessity for the respondents to provide their identities. Finally
the researcher added a request that the respondents answer all questionnaire items
including those that related to the language a respondent was not teaching

because he had noticed that a few respondents had not done so.

 

38

The researcher decided to use the questionnaire responses from Masvingo
province schools as part of the overall questionnaire data because although a few
changes were made on some parts of the questionnaire form, the actual thirty
eight questionnaire items remained unchanged. It was felt that the views and
opinions expressed by the respondents from Masvingo province on the
questionnaire items would help in getting an even broader cross section of

perspectives from teachers in different locations and settings.

Collection Procedures in Harare Province

 

The next move in the administration of the questionnaire forms took place
in the first week of February when schools had been in session for three weeks at
the beginning of the school year. The researcher accepted an invitation to attend
a three day workshop for heads of English departments in Harare province
SCl'lools. The researcher accepted this invitation because he saw it as a strategic
site for learning what leaders of the instruction of literacy in the language of

mStruction in secondary schools were concerned about as well as an occasion to
eMplain his research to these key representatives of the research subjects. The
researcher was given about 30 minutes to talk about his research. He accordingly
explained the purpose of the research and assured the teachers that the researcher
Was not in any way connected to the Ministry of Education who might be
Concerned with some of their views. He further assured the teachers that their
confidentiality would be safeguarded in all possible ways. After reading through
the questionnaire items some of the teachers expressed fears about giving their
identities, especially when they had to respond to the last questionnaire item which

required them to evaluate the professional assistance they got from the education

officer. The researcher once again explained the need to make a follow-up study

 

39

which involved interviewing some of the respondents of the questionnaires as the
main reason for requesting the identification of the respondents. In the end a
compromise was made whereby those who continued to have misgivings about their
personal security if they revealed their identities would leave that part of the
questionnaire blank. These heads of departments were asked to convey this choice
to the teachers in their own departments.

The teachers who attended the workshop for heads of English departments
were 75, representing all schools in Harare province. The researcher was thus
able to administer 75 questionnaires in one day. The occasion also helped to
establish a direct link between the researcher and every secondary school in
Harare in the form of the head of the English department. This linkage
subsequently facilitated smooth conduct of the research in Harare schools in that
whenever the researcher went to any school in the province, there was already
somebody who knew him and the purpose of the research.

The first two weeks of March 1993 were devoted to the distribution of
questionnaire forms to nearly 95% of the schools in Harare. As has been pointed
out at the beginning of this chapter, Harare has the biggest number of suburban
and urban schools in Zimbabwe. Suburban schools were formerly open to white
Sindents only before 1980 but are now multi-racial. These schools cater to mostly
Children from middle class homes. They are the best equipped type of
governnwnt schools both in terms of learning materials and teaching staff. In
Harar e there are also city schools referred to as group B schools. They are again
goverrIntent schools but were formerly for African students. They are situated in
working class areas called high density suburbs. They are very large schools with

Stud'i’rflts enrolment of between 1500 and 2000. They operate on double shift basis

Called

’hot sitting’. This means half of the students attend school in the morning,

 

40

say from 7.00 am. to 12.00 noon and then leave, while another bunch of students
and their teachers come in to use the same classrooms for the remainder of the

day- Usually they take turns to attend school in the morning and afternoon.

either on a monthly basis or half term basis.

The researcher personally distributed the questionnaires to Harare schools
and later collected them. He normally allowed between five and seven days for

the teachers to process the questionnaires. Generally, the process of distribution

was much easier than that of collection. The researcher would go to a school,

talk to the principal about his research and what was expected of English and

Shona teachers. Usually the principal called either his/her deputy or heads of

English and Shona departments to discuss the mechanics of administering and

retrieving the questionnaires. The researcher and the deputy principal or heads of

English and Shona departments would agree on the day the researcher would

return to collect completed questionnaires from his/her office. Cooperation was

very good generally in high density schools and generally satisfactory in low density
schools, and rather unsatisfactory in private high-fee paying schools. Below are

few cases of the problems the researcher encountered.

The worst was at a private school where the principal refused to let his
teachers complete the questionnaires arguing that they had been inundated lately
by researchers and that they were busy with their regular activities. At another
SChOOl situated in a middle class neighborhood, four English teachers were
repol‘ted to have refused to fill in the questionnaire forms arguing that this was a
Private business for which they were not paid to do. In two other cases again in
midCile class neighborhood schools the female principal instructed the teachers not
to process the questionnaires until the researcher showed them a letter of approval

from the Ministry of Education. After a phone call and furnishing copies of the

41

approval letter, some of the teachers completed the questionnaires. In a few cases
the researcher had to make more than one trip to a school to recover more than

50% of the questionnaires. Again at another private school, the researcher never
recovered any questionnaire form despite promises by the assistant principal that
she would mail to the researcher any of the questionnaires she would get from the
teachers. Despite these disappointing cases, the return rate of completed

questionnaires in the whole of Harare province was about 85%.

Collection Procedures in Mashonaland East Province
While working on the delivery and collection of questionnaires in Harare,
the researcher also mailed questionnaires to schools in Mashonaland East province.
This province has many church schools and large numbers of district council
schools, opened after 1980. Church schools are reasonably well supplied with basic
infrastructures for teaching and learning. They are mostly boarding schools and
higl'lly selective in terms of the students they take. They have a reasonable supply
Of qualified teachers. Rural schools are small compared to government urban
schools. Usually student population is between 500 and 800.
A covering letter addressed to the school principal was sent together with
7'10 questionnaire forms to most of the schools in Mashonaland East. Up to 10
questionnaires were sent to church administered schools which are usually bigger
than district council administered schools. The covering letter (see appendix 12)
explained the purpose of the research and requested the principal to cooperate
with the researcher by ensuring the distribution and retrieval of completed
questionnaires from the targeted English and Shona teachers.
On the whole the return rate of completed questionnaires was satisfactory.

To begin with there was no way the researcher could know the actual number of

 

42

trained English and Shona teachers at each school in the rural areas. In the case
of urban schools where he personally delivered questionnaires, the researcher
always got information about the number of trained English and Shona teachers
from the principal or the deputy principal. In some rural schools it was possible
that there were no trained English or Shona teachers. Thus although more than
80% of the schools where questionnaires were sent did return some completed
questionnaires it was not possible to tell whether those schools which did not
return any questionnaire did not have any of the targeted teachers or simply that
they chose not to cooperate. In a few cases the envelopes containing the
questionnaires were returned by the post office with a note that the addressee
could not be found. This was rather strange and difficult to understand since the
school addresses used had been supplied to the researcher by an official working
in the Ministry of Education which keeps all records about schools. In a few
cases teachers without the required teaching qualifications were made to complete

the questionnaire items.

Summag

All in all about 1000 questionnaires were distributed in all the three
PFOVinces selected for the study and more than 820 were returned to the
researcher. A few of these were either spoilt or the respondent did not indicate
his/her teaching qualifications and researcher discarded all such questionnaires. A

“”31 of 811 questionnaires were processed for analysis.

mm
Interviews were considered an appropriate means of gaining an in depth

“derstandmg of a research subject’s Views and opinions about a given issue

43

because both the researcher as the interviewer and the respondent can ask further
questions as probes or can reword a queStion in a bid to make sure that both
parties are addressing the same issues. Interviews as a research method are
compatible with social constructivist perspective in that the researcher and the
interviewee are free to express their own perspectives about the issues before
them. Both have equal opportunity to qualify, expand, rephrase and repeat
Whatever they want to put across to the other in a spirit of give and take which
leads to an appreciation of each other’s position and the development of shared
understanding. It was appreciated that although the questionnaire could be used
to reach a wide audience in a fairly cheap way, respondents could not qualify,
expand or modify in an acceptable way their points of view about an issue. In
this study clinical interviews were considered an appropriate means of gaining
better insight and understanding of a smaller number of the research subjects’
opinions and views about literacy.

The major objectives of the interviews were to provide an opportunity to
probe the issues raised by the questionnaire data and to afford the respondents
opportunity to articulate their understandings, beliefs, views, and opinions about
literacy issues. To this end the researcher read repeatedly all the 38 questionnaire
items to see what issues were addressed. The questionnaire items themselves had
been presented in a random manner so that the respondents would not easily
determine the broad issues the researcher was focusing on. This was to lessen
any possibilities of teachers being able to give responses they thought the
resear(:her wanted. (See appendix 3 for questionnaire items). In general the
questionnaire items covered a wide spectrum of issues related to literacy goals and

curriclIIUm such as general classroom instruction, textbooks, examinations, policy

“Sues. etc. After studying the questionnaire items, the researcher noted that the

44

various questions seemed to fall into categories. For instance, questionnaire items
8, 10, 12, 18, 28, and 30 all focused on probing teacher’s views and perspectives
about sources of curricular goals and content and their conceptions of student
learning outcomes. Questionnaire items 5, 13, 15, 17, 31, and 35 focused on a
dift‘erent issue, namely examinations. The end result of studying questionnaire
items and grouping them according to different issues they focused on gave rise to
the six themes. The researcher then conceived interview questions around these
six: themes as a way of probing some of the research subjects more closely on
important issues pertinent to literacy instruction at secondary school level. The
foLlowing were the six themes.

Theme 1: Teachers’ conceptions of curricular goals, content and what
students should achieve.

Theme 2: Conceptions of examinations, what they test, what they do not
test and their influence on how instruction is conducted.

Theme 3: Teachers’ conceptions of critical thinking and problem-solving
skills in relation to English/Shona literacy instruction.

Theme 4: Their conceptions of textbooks as sources of curricula content,
how they are used, their strengths and weaknesses as perceived
by teachers, and alternative and/or complementary sources of
curricula content.

Theme 5: Reading comprehension, its meaning and goals as perceived by
teachers.

Theme 6: Teachers’ opinions and views about writing, its goals and
instructional processes.

The researcher realized that it was impossible to select a sub sample for

“mi-“Views on the basis of the teachers’ patterns of responses on the questionnaire

45

data as had originally been decided because arranging suitable times for interviews
with busy teachers scattered in different parts of two provinces was very difficult.

The researcher then decided to select schools which represented the national
picture of schools in terms of location, responsible authorities and type of students
Once a representative sample of schools was identified, the researcher interviewed
as

many teachers at each of these schools as time allowed. Fifty-one teachers

were interviewed. The following is a breakdown of the number of teachers

according to type. First, twenty eight teachers of English and Shona teaching in

government schools were interviewed. Thirteen of these were teaching in group A
schools (formerly for white students only) situated in middle class suburban areas;
11 were teaching in group B schools (formerly for African students only) situated
in working class urban areas, and 4 were teaching at a government rural school.
Second, thirteen teachers interviewed teaching in church run schools were
interviewed. Four of the thirteen teachers were in schools situated in urban

centers (two in a middle class church school and two at a working class church

school). The remaining nine teachers were at church schools situated in rural

areas- Third, four teachers were at a private special school located in an

industrial area in Harare. Finally six teachers were interviewed at two different

distriCt council schools. Forty-nine of the fifty-one teachers interviewed had

completed the questionnaire forms, and only two teachers had not participated
beefillse they had not joined teaching when the questionnaires were sent to

SchOols.

The interview period lasted from the last week of May to the end of July
1993- The interview sessions themselves lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. The
actual time was determined by the time available to the teacher for this activity.

when the researcher went to a school he would talk to the principal about his

46

purpose for being at the school. In nearly all cases the principal still remembered

the researcher’s questionnaires which his/her teachers had completed. The
principal usually asked the deputy principal to arrange the mechanics for the
researcher to meet with the targeted teachers. The deputy principal would check
the master timetable to find out when the various language teachers were free and
also he/she would contact these teachers and inform them of the researcher’s
desire to talk to them. A suitable place was identified where the researcher could
talk with the teachers. In most of the schools it was not possible to find a
room/place quiet enough for the researcher to conduct the interview without some
distractions or interruptions. On the whole the researcher got very good
cooperation from school administrators and the targeted teachers.

Classroom observation was conducted with the aim of learning how these
themes were enacted and operationalized in the daily lives and interactions
between Shona and English teachers and secondary students over literacy
instruction.

When the researcher met a teacher for the interview the researcher would
try to put the teacher at ease by talking about general things, e.g., teaching, the
weather and personal identification. In introducing himself the researcher always
tried to emphasize his work as a teacher like them so as to dispel the impression
or SUSpicion that he was a representative of the Ministry of Education out to
e“"'=llllate teachers. Usually the researcher would have been introduced to the
t(tracker by the assistant principal as a lecturer from the University of Zimbabwe
intertested to know how teachers were coping with their teaching activities.

At the beginning of the interview the researcher always explained how he '
Wanted the interview to be conducted. He expressed a desire to use a tape

recorder so as to free his attention from writing notes on the interview and that

47

tapes would enable the researcher to study the interview responses more closely to
compare how a respondent had answered similar issues raised by the questionnaire
and the interview. The researcher assured the interviewees of the confidentiality
of the exercise by telling the interviewees that the tapes were given numbers as
labels which matched those given on the completed questionnaire forms. This
insured that no one besides the researcher could identify who the interviewees
were. The researcher further told the interviewees to feel free to tell the
researcher to turn off the audiotape if they felt that some part of the interview
was too risky or embarrassing or personal to be recorded.

During the early interviews. the researcher gave the respondent his/her
questionnaire and invited him/her to recall, wherever possible, the questions which
he/she might have liked to get further clarification and to ask the researcher any
questions he/she might have about the research. It turned out that most of the
teachers had forgotten the contents of the questionnaire items and had therefore
no serious questions or queries. A few of the teachers asked why the researcher
was conducting the research. The researcher always explained that first and
foremost the research was a necessary component of his studies and then added
that the information obtained would help him revise his teacher education
language curriculum at the University Zimbabwe where he was teaching. He
added that the information might prove helpful to language curriculum
development unit of the Ministry of Education if it were properly conducted and
the findings were significant in some ways. In later interview sessions the
researcher started with the actual interview questions first ( see appendix 1 ) and
only after interview questions did the researcher return to a preview and reflection

of some of the questionnaire items.

48

On the whole the interview sessions went on very smoothly in terms of the
interactions between the researcher and the interviewees. In many cases a number
of teachers started off being a bit nervous and rather tense as if apprehensive of
what they would be asked. As the interview progressed, however, many became
relaxed and confident. At the end of the interview session many teachers said
they found the interview questions thought-provoking and professionally very
refreshing. In two or three cases the interviewees remained very nervous and
could not express themselves intelligibly and fluently. They confessed to being
nervous and said, perhaps it was because of the tape recorder. The researcher
then turned off the recorder but there was not much improvement. In that
situation the researcher avoided asking probing questions wherever this could be
done without seriously affecting the quality of the information collected.

In addition to using audio-tapes to capture vividly the verbal interactions
between the researcher and interviewees, the researcher always wrote field notes in
the form of a diary in which he recorded each day’s activity. The field notes
included a narrative description of where he went, a complete summary of
interview sessions with all the teachers interviewed on that day as well as
subjective reflections of the researcher’s evaluation of the teachers’ articulation of
their understanding of the issues raised during the interviews. These reflections
were important supplementary data to the audio-taped data because some aspects
of the interviewees’ body communication could not be captured by the audio-tape.

These reflections helped the researcher to vividly recall the interview
transactions and helped him to better interpret interview transcripts during the
data analysis part of the research. On the whole the interviews provided the

richest type of the research data.

49

In addition to interviewing 51 ( 23 Shona and 28 English) teachers as
described earlier in this chapter, the researcher also interviewed the education
officer in charge of Shona curriculum planning and development and the education
officer for Shona in Harare province. These interviews were meant to enable the
researcher to get some understanding of the official position as regards general

policy and philosophy guiding curriculum and instruction in Shona.

Classroom Observation

Observation as research instrument is compatible with social constructivist
perspective in the sense that the person being observed chooses what he/she wants
to do and how to do it. The observer uses his/her knowledge and understanding
of what he/she is observing as well as other personal perspectives to interpret the
meaning of the episode being observed. The observer is free to ask questions to
the person being observed for clarification on any part of the session which
he/she may have found unclear or difficult to make sense of. Any discussion
which may take place before or after the observation is meant to maximize the
development of shared understanding between the observer and the person being
observed.

One of the main aims of this study was to learn how Shona and English
teachers’ conceptualizations of literacy instructional goals were related to their
classroom practices. In other words, the researcher was interested in knowing
whether teachers’ claims and verbal articulations about the nature, importance and
functions of literacy for students’ learning potentials in school and out of school
settings had any relationship to the ways they planned and enacted literacy

instructional programs in the classroom setting. It was decided that direct

50

observation of Shona and English teachers was the best way of explaining whether
these teachers actually did what they said in questionnaires and interviews.

Classroom observations occurred from the second week of September to the
end of October, 1993. A preliminary agreement between the researcher and the
teacher about participation at the observation stage of the study was made during
the interview stage of the study. After completing an interview with a teacher, the
researcher would request that teacher for permission to observe him/her teach
lessons related to literacy. In all cases the teachers agreed. It was not possible
to have a random sub-sample of those teachers who had been interviewed to be
subjects for classroom observation because teachers of forms two and four (Grades
9 and 11) were excluded from this exercise. These are the classes which write
their public examinations between late October and the whole of November every
year. Therefore the researcher excluded teachers conducting examination classes
from the observation stage of the study.

Teachers usually devote a greater part of the second half of the academic
year to preparing their students for examinations. Teaching usually takes the form
of revision exercises, mock tests, drilling, etc. Since the researcher was interested
in observing some teaching episodes not influenced by some external forces
considered critical to the life chances of the students and the prestige of the
teachers, it was decided that classroom observations would be conducted in forms
one and three which were not going to write public examinations in the year of
the study. It was hoped that non-examination class teachers would conduct their
literacy instruction in ways that reflected their own conceptualizations of literacy
and the goals of literacy instruction. It was also hoped that such instruction, if
observed on a number of different occasions, would be fairly representative of the

way they generally conduct literacy instruction.

"
u-g...‘

*..;t.

~--\ ”I
’N‘t.

"(y
. f“
\*\I

t“.

w
t, L

1C

lu-
‘ J

, .
Kn...
\

 

 

U:

The researcher was interested in observing lessons focusing on reading,
reading comprehension, reading and discussing literary works, writing and discussing
of writing processes or strategies. The researcher was not interested in lessons
devoted to grammar or language structure and usage, debate or oral instruction
which was not directly related to reading and writing objectives.

Because of the difficulties involved in arranging suitable times for
observation of lessons focussing on a literacy topic of interest to the researcher
and the targeted teachers, it was decided to concentrate on urban and suburban
schools for this stage of the study. Thus those teachers who had participated in
the interviews and were teaching English or Shona in forms 1 and 3 in Harare
schools were included in this part of the study. The schools which adequately met
this selection criterion were two former group A and two former group B schools
and one private special school. Altogether 16 teachers were observed on at least
on four different occasions. One teacher was observed on five different occasions
even though she was teaching an examination class. This teacher had assured the
researcher that she would be teaching ordinary lessons on literacy to her form
four class.

Originally the researcher had planned to use mostly an audio tape and
occasionally a videotape to capture the observation data. in addition to writing field
notes. However he ended up not using both the audiotape and videotape because
he realized that his presence in a classroom attracted the attention of many
students who were perhaps wondering what the "stranger" was doing. This was
more so where the teacher did not explain to the class who the researcher was
and what he was doing whenever he joined their class. Most of the teachers did
not tell their classes who the researcher was and what he was doing. It was most

likely that the students thought the researcher was an official of the Ministry of

 

(I

32

Education out evaluating some teachers. The researcher thought that the presence
of recording gadgets would be even more distractive to many students in view of
the limited number of occasions the researcher was going to observe each teacher.
Since the purpose of the observation was not to record every minute detail of the
classroom interaction. but rather to get a general understanding of how teachers
enacted their literacy curriculum, it was decided that writing detailed narrative
descriptions of the lessons would serve adequately the objective for classroom
observations.

The decision to observe teachers who were not teaching examination classes
reduced the pool of teachers to be selected for observation. Thus in the five
schools where observations were to be conducted there were 11 teaching Shona
and only 5 teaching English. This is not to argue that the sample of 16 teachers
was not big enough to meet the objectives of the research, but rather it was not
representative of the kind of teachers there are in terms of gender, qualifications
and experience.

Although in some cases the researcher and some of the teachers tried to
arrange times when the researcher would show up for the observation exercise, it
was not always possible to adhere to any such prearranged time table. In practice
the researcher visited schools to observe these teachers without them knowing the
exact date and time. There were times the researcher visited a school and found
a teacher planning to focus on language topics which he was not interested in, e.
g., grammar or debate. In such cases the researcher would go to another school
to try some other teachers. All the teachers did not mind being visited without
prior arrangements except for one teacher who insisted that the researcher observe
her on specific days and on specific times. Her reason for this insistence was that

she had other duties at the school which often made her change her teaching

53

plans. She said she did not want the researcher to waste his time coming to
observe her when she might not be in a position to teach according to the
timetable or she might have planned to teach a topic not of interest to the
researcher. It turned out that her teaching was comparatively better planned and
better executed than the teaching of other teachers whom the researcher visited
for observation purpose without their anticipating the researcher’s visit. On the
whole many of the teachers did not seem to mind whether the researcher was
around or not. Their instruction of literacy tended to be uninfluenced by the
presence of an outsider. There was in general, no attempt on the part of these

teachers to make their instruction more innovative or out of the ordinary.

Summag

This chapter has provided a rationale and narrative description of the design
and methodological procedures used to collect data for this study. A variety of
instruments were used to collect data which addressed the research objectives and
questions guiding this study. The main research instruments used for data
collection were a questionnaire administered to about 1000 English and Shona
teachers in three provinces of Harare. Mashonaland East and Masvingo.
Interviews were conducted with 51 English and Shona teachers as well as two
education officers for Shona. The purpose of using interviews was to get rich in
depth information about the research subjects’ considered opinions and views
concerning literacy curriculum and instruction. In order to learn and understand
whether there was any relationship between language teachers’ verbal articulations
of their conceptions of literacy instructional goals and their actual classroom

practices, 16 language teachers were each observed teaching Shona or English at

VI
A

least on four different occasions. The next chapter focuses on detailed analysis of

the various data sources.

.155,

CHAPTER IV

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

The last chapter gave a description of the research design and its rationale.
It also developed the procedure used to. define the interview component of the
study. This chapter presents the analysis procedures and the data collected
through the questionnaires, the interviews and the classroom observations. Data
from the three main sources were used to confirm the reliability of the data.

Questionnaire data were entered into the computer for examination of
frequencies and percentages. Patterns emerging from the study of these
frequencies and percentages were noted for comparison with data collected through
interviews and classroom observations. (See appendix 4 for a summary of
questionnaire data.)

Interview data, collected through audio-tapes, were transcribed and organized
around the six themes similar to those covered by questionnaire items. The
researcher read the responses to each interview question and developed a key for
interpreting the responses to each question. The responses were converted to
frequencies. Classroom observation data were collected through field notes and
analyzed (See appendix 5 for a summary of observation data.)

Opting to use frequencies to interpret questionnaire and interview data in
the process of data analysis for this study has meant sacrificing a lot of

observational data. Observational data were not highlighted to the same extent as

55

walk
"U I! ’

r.th

CGRUII

Dart-1L

Ll~
»

Wavi’j

ll" .-

li,"‘

 

questionnaire and interview data because they could not be easily reduced to
frequencies. Observational data were used to make broad interpretations to
confirm or modify results of questionnaire and interview data.

The six themes drawn from the questionnaires, became a useful tool to
organize the data analysis. Theme 1 is about teachers’ perspectives about sources
of literacy curricular goals and content and their understandings of what students
should achieve as a result of their literacy instruction. The researcher considered
this theme to be important in grounding the research subjects’ overall
conceptualization of literacy instruction because there are a number of forces
which at times pull teachers’ attention in different directions.

For instance, at the official level. there are the Shona and English syllabi
which should give direction and guidance in terms of literacy instructional goals
and content. Yet these documents only give skeleton information, mostly
explaining examination formats of how English and Shona’ will be tested. (See
appendices 7 & 13 for specimens of English and Shona syllabi at ordinary level.)

Examinations at Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) level, Ordinary level (O
level) and Advanced level (A level) exert a lot of influence on teachers and
students in deciding what to focus on in their instructional and learning activities.
This is because school achievement as indicated by examination results determine
further educational advancement and employment opportunities of all secondary
school graduates. Thus theme 2 is about examinations and their influence on
literacy instruction. The main aim was to gain some insight into literacy teachers’
perspectives about examinations, their strengths and weaknesses as well as their
influence on their instructional activities.

Theme 3 is about teachers’ conceptions of critical thinking and

problem-solving skills in relation to literacy instructional goals. As was argued in

U I
\J

Chapter 1. school-acquired literacy does not necessarily promote problem-solving
skills if it is acquired in a teaching environment which is oriented towards
preparing children to recall information for national examinations (Eisemon, 1988).

Theme 4 is about textbooks, their availability, quality and impact on how
teachers instruct literacy and how students learn it. In many educational settings
textbooks determine what teachers teach and what students learn. They are thus
a pervasive source of curricula goals and content, and the way teachers perceive
and use them greatly determine what students learn from them.

Themes 5 and 6 relate directly to the issues of literacy which are central to
this study. Theme 5 focuses on teachers’ conceptions of reading comprehension,
and theme 6 focuses on the teachers‘ perspectives of writing/composition
instruction. The main objective was to understand how Shona and English
teachers understood literacy, what meaning they gave to acts of reading and
writing through what they said and through what they did in their classrooms.
The following sections of this chapter relate the data related to the six themes as
they were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation.

It was a major assumption of this study that a thorough study of these
themes as they were articulated by the Shona and English teachers through
questionnaire items and interview questions as well as the way they were observed
being enacted in these teachers’ classrooms would be a valid and authentic way of
understanding these teachers’ conceptualizations of literacy instructional goals in the

context of Zimbabwe’s secondary schools.

58

Theme 1: Shona and English Teachers’
Perspectives of Sources of Literacy
Curricular Goals and Content

Questionnaires

Questionnaire items relating to theme 1 were mostly indirect except for
questionnaire item 8. This section discusses data relating to theme 1 gathered
through questionnaires. Item 8 was worded in this way:" Shona and English
syllabuses do not give adequate guidance on the goals, depth and breadth of what
should be covered at any given level." The responses were 317 (39.5%) agreed;
341 (42.5%) disagreed and 149 (18%) not sure. These figures are very significant
in practical terms given the fact that the research sample was made up of only
qualified graduate and non graduate teachers and some graduates without teaching
qualifications. This sample represented Zimbabwe’s most educated and qualified
teachers in a situation where more than 50% of teachers especially in rural district
council run schools have neither academic degrees nor teaching qualifications.
Thus given this situation, the fact that about 40% of this sample representing the
best category of teachers agree with the suggestion that Shona and English syllabi
do not give adequate guidance on the goals, depth and breadth of what should be
covered at any give level is significant. The question one might ask is: If 40% of
the most educated and qualified teachers do not get sufficient guidance from
national curriculum guides (syllabi) what more is the situation with the poorly
educated and untrained teachers who were not part of this study but nevertheless
constitute almost 50% of the teaching personnel especially in the rural schools?

Another angle from which to consider the significance of these data is to
look at the teaching experience the research subjects had. Here we assume that
practical experience in teaching gives one the ability to make sound interpretations

of what is implied by non prescriptive curriculum materials like textbooks, syllabi

59

and examination questions. Of the 811 teachers who filled in questionnaire forms,
484 (59.8%) had teaching experience of five years and below, 155 (19.2%) had
teaching experience of between six and ten years and only 116 (14.3%) teachers
had teaching experience of over ten years. The researcher was informed by most
of the principals of the urban schools he visited that all the temporary untrained
teachers they had employed had been replaced by young newly qualified college
trained teachers. From these data it would seem that a good number of the 484
(59.8%) teachers with less than five years teaching experience were in their first
year of teaching after leaving teachers’ colleges where they were trained.

It should also be observed that the number of teachers 144 (18%) indicated
they were not sure or not committed to agree or disagree. This percentage is
rather high and should be viewed as a cause for concern. The sample represented
high calibre professionals in Zimbabwe, and for professionals to indicate they are
not in a position to categorically say national curriculum guides give them
sufficient guidance in the goals, depth and breadth of what they should cover is
discomforting. It should be remembered that interview data on theme 1 showed
that most teachers mentioned language syllabi as the commonest source for their
curricular goals and content.

Five questionnaire items were related to theme 1 indirectly (about teachers’
perceptions regarding sources of curricular goals and content and what students
should achieve as a result of literacy instruction). In the context of formerly
colonized countries, especially in Africa, formal education (schooling) has always
been associated with the learning of a metropolitan European Language as the
main means of gaining access to western ideas. This has often created doubts and
at times resentment to the instruction of local languages. In the context of

Zimbabwe valued literacy skills are often associated with English language by not

60

only students, and some teachers. but also by parents and the wider society at
large. Shona is widely believed to be deficient in communicating Western
scientific concepts. Since this study was concerned about secondary school Shona
and English teachers’ conceptions about literacy instructional goals, it was thought
necessary to find out these teachers’ views and opinions about the relative roles
and functions of English and Shona as media of communication in post
independence Zimbabwe. Questionnaire items 10, 12, 18, 28, and 30 were directed
at this issue. (See appendix 4 for a summary of organizing themes for
questionnaire data.) It was assumed that language teachers held better informed
views about the functions and roles of a mother tongue and a second language in
wider communication needs as well as the mastery of new concepts in the context
of schooling.

Questionnaire item 10 was, "It is possible to develop Shona so that it can
replace English in communicating scientific concepts." The responses were 161
(20%) agreed, 546 (67.8%) disagreed, and 98 (12.2%) not sure or not committed
to one way or the other. Closely related to this was questionnaire item 30 which
said, "All non-science subjects should be taught through the medium of Shona up
to O’level." The responses were 91 (11.4%) agreed; 645 (80.5%) disagreed, and
65 (8.1%) not sure. Item 28 said, "For most students, Shona language captures
the essence of their thinking and belief systems than English which is widely used
in teaching school subjects ". The responses were 509 (64.4%) agreed; 123
(15.6%) disagreed; and 158 (20%) not sure. Item 18 said, "When it comes to
success in life, English is more important than Shona because it is a world
language." Responses were 594 (74.4%) agreed; 131 (16.4%) disagreed and 73

(9.1%) not sure.

()1

These statistics are interesting in that an overwhelming majority of both
Shona and English teachers do not believe that it is possible to develop Shona
(spoken by over 75% of the population) in such a way as to replace English in
communicating scientific concepts. The problem of communicating scientific
concepts is the commonest explanation given as to why English has to be used as
medium of instruction from grade 4 onwards. Yet a suggestion that non science
subjects be taught through the medium of Shona is overwhelmingly rejected. At
the same time the majority of these language teachers concede that Shona
language captures the essence of the students’ thinking and belief systems rather
than English which is widely used to teach school subjects. What is even more
interesting is the observation that these views were shared by many Shona teachers
who are expected to help develop the Shona language to the highest level
position--a language they chose to specialize in. (There were 426 (52.7%) teachers
of English, 287 (35.5%) teachers of Shona and 38 (4.7%) teachers of both English
and Shona. 57 (7%) did not indicate the language they were teaching of the 811
teachers who responded to the questionnaire data.) These data seem to be
consistent with interview data concerning teachers’ conceptions of what it is that
students were required to learn as a result of Shona/English instruction. It was
noted above that most Shona teachers mentioned imparting knowledge of Shona
culture and cultural practices as the main objective of their Shona instruction.
Most English teachers said effective communication skills was the main objective of
their instruction. What constituted effective communication was not always clear.

Questionnaire item 12 said "It is more important for students to express
their points of view in English than to worry about correct grammar." The
responses were 317 (39.8%) agreed; 338 (42.4%) disagreed and 89 (11.1%) not

sure. The majority of these teachers thus believe that they need to pay more

()2

attention to grammatical correctness rather than to the essence of what students
are trying to convey. Teachers’ preoccupation with correctness of grammar in a
second language learning context often inhibits students’ willingness to participate
in class discussion activities. Students will be taking two risks at the same time;
one is providing answers which may turn out to be not the one expected by the
teacher and the other is giving an answer in incorrect grammar and exposing
his/her language shortcomings and thus inviting being corrected in public, which is
often humiliating. Non participation in discussion is often the commonest way out
of the problem. The researcher noted this phenomenon during classroom
observation sessions. One head of English department at a rural school told the
researcher during an interview session that students’ inability to express themselves
in English was the department greatest concern and wanted some help from the

researcher about how to handle it.

Interviews

Interview questions 1a to 1e focused on this theme and they constituted the
richest data source compared to questionnaire and classroom observation data.
The interview questions relating to this theme were asked in a very direct manner
and probes were used by the researcher to make sure that the respondents
addressed the central issue. (See appendix 1 for a summary of interview
questions):

Interview question 1(a) was "Where do you derive your Shona/English
curriculum goals and objectives?" The purpose of asking this question was to get
the teachers’ understanding of the various sources they consult or rely on to get a
sense of what they were expected to teach. It was a major assumption of this

study that people who express as many sound points or explanations as possible in

63

an argument are more cognizant of the existence of other perspectives about an
issue under discussion than people who limit themselves to one or two points or
explanations. Such people exhibit attributes of thinking compatible with a social
constructivist perspective of reality than those who are satisfied with one or two
explanations. It was hoped that what the teachers mentioned as sources were
authentic sources which they used to guide their instructional decision making
processes.

The following were the sources mentioned by the teachers interviewed.
They are given in the order of the frequency each source was mentioned: (I)
syllabus (curriculum guides) (2) examinations. (3) textbooks and (4) perceived
needs of students and/or society in relation to English/Shona language.

Out of the 45 interview transcripts, 24 were for English teachers and 19
were for Shona teachers and 2 were for both English and Shona teachers.

Fifteen teachers (34.8%) mentioned only one out of the 4 possible sources
of curricular goals and content. These were mostly the syllabi (curriculum guides).
A total of 16 (37.2%) teachers mentioned 2 out of 4 possible sources. In the
majority of cases the 2 commonly mentioned sources were syllabus and textbooks
or syllabus and examinations. Only 5 teachers (11.6%) mentioned all possible 4
sources, and another 6 (13.9%) teachers mentioned 3 sources. This means 11
teachers (25.5%) of the teachers asked this question gave 3 or 4 sources of
curricular goals and content. When the number of teachers were compared
according to the language taught, it was found that more English teachers
mentioned 3 or 4 sources than Shona teachers and more Shona teachers
mentioned one source. One Shona teacher did not answer the question and
instead talked about the negative attitudes displayed by many students and some

other teachers towards Shona. This means that there was a wide range of

64

conceptualizations of literacy curricular sources expressed by not only all the
interviewees, but also between the Shona and English teachers

Interview Question 1b asked the teachers to articulate in their own words
what it is that they understood and/or thought students were required to be able
to do as a result of studying English/Shona. The aim was to give these language
teachers opportunity to synthesize information from the various sources at their
disposal about the goals and objectives of English/Shona instruction and express
them in the way they understood. As was pointed out above, the official Ministry
of Education language syllabi do not provide an outline of the goals and objectives
for language instruction. This is particularly the case with Shona Ordinary level
(O level) syllabus. They merely state how the examinations will be written. It is
perhaps assumed that teachers would interpret or infer the goals of language
instruction from the way it is examined. See appendix 7 and 13 for specimens of
English and Shona O level syllabi.

After reading all the transcripts, the researcher found 3 possible answers.
One was to gain communication skills to use in various situations by various
means. The second was to be critical and creative when using language. Three
was to gain knowledge such as cultural knowledge, practices and norms. In
general most Shona teachers mentioned culture and cultural practices pertaining to
Shona people, and English teachers mentioned ability to communicate effectively
and correctly in this second language. It is interesting to note that as many as 16
teachers (38.0%) mentioned only one objective and only one English teacher
mentioned the three objectives for teaching English. Most of the answers given
were brief, one short unelaborated sentence like "to enable students to
communicate effectively" or "so that they know their culture". Critical and creative

skills using language were rarely mentioned. Like these teachers’ responses to

65

interview question 1(a), there was a wide range of conceptualizations of the goals
for teaching English/Shona literacy with a significant percentage of them being
satisfied with expressing one goal.

Interview question 1c was about how Shona and English teachers decided on
depth and breadth of coverage of whatever aspect of language they focused on in
their instruction. The researcher felt that it was important to understand how
teachers decided that they have covered enough on any given unit in the absence
of openly stated goals and objectives in the official syllabi. In some cases the
same literature texts were set for ZJC and O’level classes and examinations. The
researcher wanted to find out the extent to which language teachers used past
examination questions to help them determine the required depth and breadth of
content coverage. Only 21 of all the 45 teachers whose interview data were
transcribed were asked this question because in many cases the information
required for this question might have been supplied when the teachers were
responding to another question related to theme one. Three points were decided
on as representing possible answers. These were: 1, students’ easiness when
learning the targeted skills and concepts; 2, examination guidelines, that is, how
past examination questions relating to the targeted skill or concept would have
been asked; and 3, time constraints.

Again it is interesting to note that 9 teachers (42.8%) mentioned only one
point out of three. The commonest response was examination guidelines. This
means that the teachers would give a test mostly modeled on past exam questions
and if students perform well on such tests. then they felt they have taught the unit
to the required level. Only 2 teachers (9.5%) were unable to come up with a
sound response. Here are two examples, one by a respondent who got 0 for her

response to question 1c and another one who got one point.

 

 

 

66

I am also facing the same problem because as I am teaching here.

I am still new (to secondary teaching). I was a primary school

teacher, so I find it difficult to come up with these objectives or

goals.

This response got one point.

We seem to rely on past exam question papers. The past exam

papers sort of guide us to what sort of things to cover and how

far we can go because they do not put much guidance in the

syllabus.

It is also interesting to note that there were more Shona teachers with one or no
points, and when it came to the number of teachers with more points the
numbers of Shona teachers became smaller.

One of the official explanations why national language syllabi (curriculum
guides) give skeleton information about goals and content of language instruction is
that schools should use these documents merely as guidelines. Schools are
required to produce their own syllabi which show developmental progression in the
skills and concepts students need to acquire. The argument goes on to say since
schools are quite diverse in many ways including the students they admit and the
resources they enjoy, school syllabi must also reflect the diverse nature of students
and resources. Schools in Zimbabwe are significantly different in settings,
background of students they enroll and the responsible authorities financing and
administering them. For instance, some schools are church administered and are
highly selective of the students they admit, while other schools are state run and
have open admission policies. Still other schools are private and boarding, making
them very expensive, and others are rural day schools administered by local
councils with very limited resources. The last mentioned group caters mostly for
the poor rural communities.

Interview question 1d asked the research subjects the differences between

the Shona/English national syllabi and the school syllabi. After reading all the

67

transcripts the researcher came up with two points; (1) school syllabus is more
elaborate/detailed than the national syllabus, and (2) school syllabus is geared
toward the specific circumstances of the school and its students’ needs and
background while the national syllabus is a guideline. Eight teachers out of 45
were not asked this question. Four teachers, all Shona teachers (10.8%) were
unable to give an intelligent difference between school syllabus (Shona) and the
national Shona syllabus. A couple of them said there was no difference between
the two and maintained that the school syllabus was a mere reduplication of the
national syllabus. One teacher who got no point for her answer said:

The national syllabus is too wide and it’s a bit difficult to follow.

It is used to restructure the syllabus for the school and you will

be taking some of the things and some of the things are left out.

On being probed further, she conceded that she had actually not seen the
national syllabus and that what she had said was based on what she remembered
being taught at college the previous year when she was a student teacher. This
interview took place in July and the teacher had been teaching Shona as a
qualified teacher from mid January.

Twenty-two teachers (59%) got one point. The commonest response was
that the school syllabus was more detailed than the national syllabus. Only 11
teachers (29.7%) got two points about the differences between national syllabi and
school syllabi. It may be recalled that in response to question la above, most
teachers had asserted that they derived their English/Shona curricular goals and
content from the syllabus. Information obtained through probing some of the
teachers about syllabi and how they used them indicated that many schools did
not have school syllabi in operation and that many teachers rarely consulted the
national syllabi to learn what they suggest should be focused on in instruction.

Many teachers relied very heavily on textbooks and past examination question

68

papers to derive their instructional goals and content. Classroom observation data
confirmed this phenomenon, especially when it came to reading comprehension
instruction. Everything taught, including comprehension questions, were taken from
textbooks.

A few teachers (16) were asked interview question 1e which was, "To what
extent can one deviate from the official syllabus? This question was asked directly
to most of the teachers because the information solicited by this question was
often obtained when many of the interview subjects responded to question 1c.
This particular question was quite open-ended and all that was expected of a
respondent was to give his/her considered opinion. The teachers that were
interviewed felt that there was no limit to which one can deviate from the official
syllabus as long as there was a balance in the attention paid to various language
skills. The 3 teachers who received zero scores did not address the question and
said something unrelated to it. The researcher did not ask probing questions here
because he felt he had spent a lot of time on theme one and needed to move to
the next theme.

Classroom observation data related to theme 1 were indirect and based on
the researcher’s interpretations of teachers’ literacy instructional activities. The
data suggested that textbooks were the major source of literacy content, and test
taking skills were the implied goals for literacy instruction.

Before leaving theme 1, the following statements can be made on the basis
of interview, questionnaire, and classroom observation data analyzed. Most of the
teachers derive their English/Shona instructional goals and content from textbooks,
past examination questions, syllabi and students’ linguistic needs as they are
revealed through tests. Although the syllabi were commonly cited as major

sources of curricular goals and content, many teachers did not find them easy to

69

follow as sources of guidance. Most English teachers’ major aim in English
teaching was to facilitate students’ proficiency in communication through English
language. In practice this generally meant error-free, grammatical expression. For
Shona teachers the main aim was to help students learn and value Shona culture
and cultural practices. Most of these teachers did not think that Shona should be
used as a medium of instruction even in non scientific subjects although they
conceded that it better captured the essence of students’ thinking and belief

systems than English.

Theme 2: Examinations

As was pointed out in Chapter I and the introduction to this chapter, public
examinations are an important measure of educational achievement in Zimbabwe,
both from the perspectives of official educational decision makers and school
personnel, i.e., administrators, teachers and students. Historically secondary school
examinations have been linked to British Examinations Boards, especially
Universities of London and Cambridge. Currently steps to localize the
examination system are at an advanced stage. Since students’ pass rate in public
examinations is used as a benchmark of educational quality, it was thought
expedient to try to find out language teachers’ perceptions of these examinations

in relation to literacy instruction.

Questionnaire

The following section presents questionnaire data related to theme 2 about
examinations. The purpose of the questionnaire statements was to solicit the
teachers’ views and opinions without making it obvious to the respondents that the

statements were related to specific themes the researcher was investigating. The

70

researcher randomly ordered the questionnaire statements. It was hoped that this
would reduce the likelihood of the respondents trying to express views and
opinions they might think would be favorable to the researcher. The following
questionnaire items focused on issues related to examinations in one way or
another: 5, 13, 15, 17, 31, and 35.

Statement 5 was: " Using past exam questions is the best way to ensure that
students are effectively prepared for their final examinations." Responses were 444
(55.1%) agreed; 2]] (26.2%) disagreed; and 151 (18.7%) were not sure. In the
absence of follow-up probes, it is difficult to precisely tell what each respondent
had in mind when he/she gave a response. It is possible that some respondents
were saying to themselves as they interacted with the above statement, "Yes, I
agree because since in our system the main preoccupation of a secondary school
teacher is to prepare students effectively so that they pass their exams." This
interpretation is in line with the views expressed by most of the teachers
interviewed about the influence of exams on their teaching. It may be recalled
that many teachers said they used past examinations a lot as a way of preparing
their students for final examinations. Another way of interpreting their thinking is
to say, "Yes it’s true as a statement of pragmatic teaching, but that does not mean
most of my teaching is geared toward doing that." Again, this way of looking at
the above statement was expressed by a few teachers during interview sessions.
These few teachers argued that it was necessary to prepare students adequately to
pass their public exams, but that should not exclude the instruction of
non-examinable aspects of language skills. Whatever the interpretations given to
the meaning of questionnaire item 5, it is significant that as many of 55%
concurred with the statement as opposed to 26% who disagreed. The percentage

of the not committed responses (19%) is also rather high.

71

Questionnaire item 13 was. "The teacher’s primary aim should be to give
students good education rather than to make them pass final examinations."
Responses were 457 (57.1%) agreed; 198 (24.8%) disagreed; and 145 (18.1%) not
sure. Judging from the way many teachers interviewed responded to interview
question 23 about examinations being able to reflect good education, it is probably
fair to say many teachers had problems in defining good education outside the
context of examinations. In Zimbabwe the quality of education tends to be
uncritically associated with student achievement in public examinations. Many
teachers interviewed had problems in conceptualizing good education not taken
from the perspective of student achievement. The position taken in this study is
that good education is not necessarily reflected by student achievement, rather it
is determined by what students actually learn and how they learn it irrespective of
how examinations are set and processed. It is possible that the research subjects
confounded their perceptions of good education with student achievement in public
examinations.

The above comments about problematic nature of interpreting notions of
good education and examination results equally apply to questionnaire statement 15
which said: "ZJC and O’level examinations do a good job of testing valuable
knowledge and skills I value in English/Shona." The responses were 437 (55.1%)
agreed; 149 (18.8%) disagreed; and 207 (26.1%) not sure. There is reason to
believe that a good number of teachers did not fully have in place notions of
valuable knowledge and skills outside the examination parameters. It may be
recalled that 30% of the interviewees failed to address question 2a about the
relationship between examination and good education despite the researcher’s
readiness to explain or clarify any part of the questions posed to the interviewees.

Responses to the questionnaire statement 15 were in direct conflict with interview

72

responses which had only 9% of the teachers saying ZJC and O’level examinations
were a good reflection of knowledge, skills, competencies and dispositions they
associated with good education in Shona/ English.

The lack of congruence between interview and questionnaire data over the
same issue causes problems of reliability of some research instruments. However
in this study the use of three major different data gathering instruments helps
resolve the problem. In this case the interview data should be taken as more
reliable than the questionnaire data partly because during an interview the
researcher was always in a position to clarify misunderstandings and could rephrase
the question, which could not be done with the questionnaire. Also in the case of
this study the respondents’ problem with the meaning of good education and
examinations, as pointed out above, had been encountered during the interview
sessions and steps had been taken to mitigate its effect. However this conflict in
the data related to this theme should be kept in mind in the overall discussion of
the data and their interpretation.

Questionnaire item 17 was about examinations and the specific area of
writing. The statement was: "Writing activities for students should be mostly
modeled on how they will be tested in final examinations." The responses were
540 (67.8%) agreed; 129 (16.2%) disagreed and 128 (16.1%) not sure. Writing is
the focus of theme 6 and therefore more detailed discussion of the data related to
writing will be given later when theme 6 comes up for analysis. At this point it
is pertinent to point out that an overwhelming majority of the respondents agreed
with the suggestion that writing activities should be modeled on how the students
will be tested in final examinations. This view is consistent with the responses
given to questionnaire item 5 about using past examination papers as the best way

of preparing students for their final examinations. However, this conception of

73

writing curriculum and instruction is not compatible with current research findings
on the writing process. The writing research reviewed in Chapter II stressed the
development of writing skills which take into consideration the purpose for writing,
the intended audience, and above all, empowering the writer. Empowerment
means allowing the content of the writing activity to be an expression of the
writer’s voice rather than a mere reflection of what an outsider, like a teacher or
examiner, would want the writer to convey. The view that effective writing is a
constructive activity undertaken by the writer interacting with his/her experience,
purpose for writing and intended audience is in conflict with writing activities
subjected to restricted testing procedures where the real audience is the examiner
or the evaluating teacher. This is one of those areas where the testing paradigm
is in conflict with research based notions of good education.

Questionnaire statement 3] was also related to the theme of examinations.
It said, "In my opinion the O’level examinations in English/Shona do not test for
critical thinking. The responses were 343 (31%) agreed; 376 (47.9%) disagreed;
and 166 (21.1%) not sure or committed. It was pointed out above when
discussing interview data related to examinations and critical thinking that many
teachers’ responses suggested that they defined critical thinking rather loosely,
generally to mean any kind of thinking where one is not relying on memory. This
perhaps equally applies to the questionnaire respondents. This again makes it
difficult to take these figures on their face value. A study of past examination
questions in both Shona and English suggests that most of the questions test for
simple recall skills. One or two questions in the composition and literature
questions may lend themselves to some critical thinking, but since there is wide
choice in the questions, a good number of test takers can completely avoid

answering questions which demand critical thinking. Again where there is multiple

 

74

choice in the answers, not much critical thinking can be tested since the test taker
has no opportunity to explain his/her thinking process while he/she is taking the
test. This problem was also pointed out by some teachers during interviews for
this study.

The statistics for the teachers’ responses are interesting in that 31% agreed
that O’level examinations did not test for critical thinking against 47.9% who
disagreed. Even the percentage of teachers indicating non committal 21.1% is big.
This is not a cause for comfort in the overall assessment and evaluation of what
these examinations are testing or not testing. Questionnaire item 35 is related to
items 5 and 17 which have been discussed above. It said: "Students’ assignments
should be derived from past public examinations or be closely modeled on those
exams as a way of preparing students for their finals." It is interesting to note that
the responses were identical with those for questionnaire 17, and were as follows:
548 (68.3%) agreed; 127 (15.8%) disagreed; and 127 (15.8%) were not sure. It
thus appears that the examination paradigm greatly influences what students
experience in the course of their schooling as well as how teachers conceptualize
their roles and functions in their interactions with students and the content of

their teaching.

Interview

As with data for theme 1, interview questions for theme 2, about
examinations were more direct than questionnaire items. Interview question 2a
was, " To what extent are the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) and Ordinary
level (O’level) exams a good reflection of knowledge, skills, competencies and
dispositions you associate with good education in English/Shona?" The aim of this

question was to get language teachers’ assessment and evaluation of two common

and critical public examinations at secondary level. It was hoped that teachers
would take this question as an occasion to reflect on their understanding of what
good education looks like and how these exams fitted in with their notions of
good education.

It appears more than a quarter of the interviewees had problems in grasping
the thrust of the question. Thirteen (30%) of these teachers did not address the
question in their responses. A good number of these teachers did not appear to
have some notions of "good education" with which to compare the skills,
knowledge, competencies and dispositions reflected by public examinations at these
two levels of secondary schooling. The researcher tried to simplify the question
when he sensed that an interviewee did not grasp the demands of the question.
At times this helped, but quite often some teachers just gave a response which did
not address the question. The researcher was left wondering whether some of
these teachers had never thought and reflected about the strengths and weaknesses
of the exams which are a great concern of the education system or have not
reflected on what good education might mean to them as individuals. Some,
indeed, asked the researcher to explain what the question demanded of them,
which the researcher always did. Here are two examples of responses given zero
or off point in the coding scheme:

To some extent yes. Because if we take, for example, essay, some

of the skills tested in essays are how to think and construct good

ideas, so they will be thinking and writing.

The other one is:

When we look at O’1evel examination paper one, they lock at

descriptive type of composition where you look at a situation

where you imagine what do you do in such a situation . I have no

complaints about O’level examination.

The first response was made by a Shona teacher and the second one by an

English teacher.

76

Most of the responses were generally brief and did not attempt to give
examples which help to validate a position taken. In coding these responses, the
researcher gave 1 point for an assertion without an explanation or an example to
back it up, and two points for an assertion followed by a sound explanation and
an illustrative example. Here again are two examples of responses coded one
point and two points.

From my own opinion exams are just there to screen pupils so

that we have fewer people who are employed. When you teach

these pupils one is going to understand this and the other one is

going to understand a different aspect. So to say that the pupils

who got their O’level are good is completely out. These exams

are not a good reflection of good education. Exams only test on

a few aspects (of what students learn) and leave out others.

This response was given one point because it did not give specific examples to
support the assertion made. The following response was given two points.

As I said earlier on that some of the objectives of teaching these

students English is to communicate orally. That is one thing

obviously which is not examined. I’m not suggesting that it be

included, but some pupils are very good at communicating orally,

and it is never tested in the final exams. They (students) know

that if you give them exercises, e.g., debate or public speaking,

they are not going to take it seriously as they would do with other

subjects. Even if they are good because they know that this is

not going to be tested at the end of the year. But because at the

end, being able to speak helps somebody to able to write but not

always.

Seven teachers (16%) said examinations only partially reflected their notions
of good education in terms of knowledge, skills, competencies and dispositions in
English/Shona. More than half of these supported their assertions with
explanations and examples. Of the 30 teachers who addressed this question 19
(44%) indicated that examinations were not a good reflection of knowledge, skills,
etc., they associated with good education in English/Shona. A total of 12 (40%) of

these teachers got two points for their responses, indicating that they supported

their responses with explanations and examples. Only 4 (9%) teachers asserted

77

that examinations were a good reflection of knowledge, skills, etc., which they
associated with good education in Shona/English. All of these four teachers did
not give a sound explanation or example why they thought way.

Interview question 2b was, "To what extent do ZJC and O’level exams test
for critical thinking and problem-solve skills?" Perhaps this was one of the most
direct questions in terms of issues related to the conceptual framework used in
this study as was explained in chapter 2 above.

Like the case with interview question 2a, some teachers did not address the
question up-front. Like the case with question 2a, coding for question 2b was,
one point was given for a response which was a mere assertion without supporting
explanation and/or examples. and two points were awarded for a response which
gave an assertion plus a sound explanation and/or a suitable example.

A total of 13 (30%) teachers of the 43 teachers who responded to this
question said exams only partially tested for critical thinking. Most of them, 10
(77%) did not give a sound explanation or illustrative examples. Here is an
example of a response coded ’partially’ and given one point.

Sometimes to a great extent because, like in literature questions,

. you find that they ask questions which require critical thinking.

The answers are not definite, you have to think. For grammar it’s

more of recall rather than critical thinking. In composition some

of the topics call for creativity and imagination.

Many teachers’ responses suggested that they defined critical thinking quite
loosely, generally to mean any kind of thinking where one is not relying on mere
recall of a previous experience.

Altogether 16 (37%) teachers asserted that examinations did not test for
critical thinking. Many of these teachers argued that most questions set in all

sections of the language papers required simple recall skills. One Shona teacher

asserted:

78

Most of the work does not seem to develop critical thinking
because critical thinking can only develop in literature. Most of
the work, like in composition, does not encourage critical thinking,
even grammar. I think it encourages cramming (rote learning)
rather than critical thinking.

Another respondent said:
I think to a very limited extent. In a composition you will find
that they are just recalling what happened, or by chance, they are
repeating a composition which they wrote during the course (of
the term). It’s mere reproduction. To a limited extent in

literature questions where they have to give their own opinion of
what happened.

Only 8 (18.6%) out of 43 teachers who responded to this question said
examinations in English/Shona tested for critical thinking and problem solving
skills. However, all their responses were mere assertions without sound
explanation or examples to back their claims. Here is an example of such a
response.

1 think they do. that is to a very great extent, especially at O’level.

Maybe at ZJC there is not much of critical thinking and

problem-solving, but at O’level 1 think the syllabus does that to a

large extent.

This was a response given by a Shona teacher. Another example from a teacher
of English was:

In English I think critical thinking is well catered for although

there is no poetry because in poetry that’s where you get a lot of

critical thinking. I am sure comprehension questions require

critical thinking. But problem-solving in English, we have very

little covered in that aspect.

A third interview question related to theme 2 about examinations asked
teachers to comment on what influence, if any, examinations had on their
instruction. The question was put in this way: "What influence do these exams
have on what teachers do, believe to be important and how they teach?" A total

of 41 teachers were asked this question and of these only one said examination

had no influence. This is a question nearly all the respondents answered very

79

elaborately and in some cases quite passionately. The majority of the teachers, 32
(78%) argued that examinations had negative influence on their work. They said
examinations sort of force them to rely on past exam questions as a way of
preparing students to do well in their final exams. They pointed out that they
were forced to concentrate on those aspects which regularly appear in examination
questions at the expense of other equally important areas which are not examined,
like oral skills, attitudes, and character development. One teacher said about 60%
of his teaching came from past examination question papers. These teachers used
terms like "restrictive," "drilling" etc, to capture some of the negative influences of
examinations on their instruction. Here are two excerpts from the interview
transcripts about teachers’ views on the influence of examinations on their

teaching:

I think they (exams) influence teachers a lot because the main
goal is to make students pass the exam. Mostly you make
yourself teach what is in line with the exam to the extent that
many teachers use the past examination papers. If you want to be
very creative and you want to take students out for drama, people
will think that you just want to bask in the sun, or if you are in
class they think you are making noise. So you just confine
yourself to making the kids pass the examination.

Another teacher had this to say about the same issue:

We go back to the administration. When they announce the
examination results they will say so many passed, and so many
failed. In a way the whole blame goes to the teacher. The
teacher is forced to be examination oriented. The teacher is there
to teach for examinations, and in that way it creates problems
because if you teach for the exam there is no way you can pay
attention to everything. Most teachers concentrate on examination
by using past exam papers. That is, if you are teaching on verbs
you have to search through past examination papers and see how
they have been setting the examination on verbs for the last five
years.

Only 8 (19.5%) teachers asserted that examinations had positive influence on

their work.

80

The following quotation captures well the essence of the 8 teachers’ opinions
about the positive influence of examinations on their work. One teacher put it
this way.

The questions that are given in examinations-help the teacher to

be very effective in every aspect, so that when one is teaching one

must see that what is required by the syllabi has been covered so

that pupils may be able to answer the questions (in the exam).

When the teacher looks at the (examination) results, if they are

good results, they will encourage him/her to work even harder. If

they (the exam results) are poor, they also encourage the teacher

to change his/her way of teaching. If your results are poor you

can check how you performed during the course of the year and

you can teU where to change so that you can help the pupils to

get good results.

Other teachers mentioned that fear of failing in examinations forces students
to work hard and focus on important things. One teacher asserted that
examinations had more influence on her teaching than the syllabus.

Observation data related to theme 2. examinations are consistent with data
collected through interviews and questionnaires discussed in the preceding sections
of this chapter. Reading comprehension lessons observed were taught in a manner
greatly influenced by the testing paradigm. Usually passages selected for reading
were read once or twice and then followed by students answering questions taken
from the text book where the passage was taken. Students would answer these
questions both orally and as written homework. Rarely were selected passages
made the focus of group or class discussion with a view of making students
compare what the passage was saying with what they already knew about the
theme and subject matter of the passage. There were few, if any, instances when
students were led to critique, evaluate, and reflect critically on the content of the
reading passage. The main objective on the part of the teachers appeared to

make students read and then be able to recall factual details of the passage as

demonstrated by their ability to answer correctly the questions set by the textbook

81

writer. Theme 5 is about reading comprehension and more will be said when that
comes up for discussion.

In conclusion to the discussion of theme 2 about exams, the following
appear to be the highlights. For the majority of the research subjects examinations
reflect valued knowledge only to a limited extent. Many teachers did not appear
to. have clear notions of what constitutes good knowledge and were unable to
articulate such notions clearly. A few teachers saw positive effects of exams in
that they motivate students to learn and help teachers to focus on important
issues. However, the majority of the teachers said exams had many negative
influences on their work--forcing them to teach to the test and ignore non testable
aspects of knowledge. The majority of teachers said they rely on past exam
papers to guide and prepare their students for finals. Most of the interviewees
asserted that exams mainly focused on lower order thinking skills like ability to
recall previously learned body of knowledge as opposed to creative and analytical
skills and problem solving skills. Observation data revealed that many teachers
modeled their literacy instruction on how students are tested in national

examinations.

Theme 3: Conceptions of Critical Thinking
and Problem-Solvimg Skills in Relation to
Literacy Instruction
It may be recalled that after reviewing pertinent literature for this study in
chapter 2 it was concluded that the social constructivist perspective of literacy was
compatible with research findings regarding current conceptions of education. It
was noted that current conceptions of education stress that learning at all levels

should be an active process in which learners construct and reconstruct knowledge

as they engage in the process of interpreting, questioning, reflecting, critiquing and

82

problem-solving activities. The purpose of theme 3 was to try to learn Shona and
English teachers’ perspectives of critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they

relate to literacy instruction.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire data related to critical thinking and problem solving skills and
examinations have discussed above under theme two. For instance, questionnaire
items 5, 17, and 35, suggested reliance on using past examination question papers
and modeling writing activities and all students’ assignments on past examination
questions as the best ways of preparing students for their finals. It was noted
that the overwhelming responses to these statements were in favor of using past
examination papers. This, in essence, is in conflict with the development of
critical thinking and problem-solving skills since these are cognitive skills which are
best promoted when applied to novel and original learning tasks rather than to
over practiced ones.

The following section discusses additional questionnaire data related to
theme 3 about conceptions of critical thinking and problem-solving skills with
regard to Shona and English instruction. Questionnaire item 6 said, "It is not
possible to teach students critical thinking skills in Shona." The responses were;
81 (10.3%) agreed; 624 (79.4%) disagreed; and 81 (10.3%) not sure or not
committed to one way or the other.

Questionnaire item 11 said; "Most students cannot reason and think critically
using English because of their poor command of the English language." The
responses were 566 (70.6%) agreed; 147 (18.3%) disagreed; and 89 (11.1%) not
sure or not committed to one view or the other. The responses to these two

statements would appear unproblematic and logical on their face value since Shona

83

is the mother tongue for most of the students in the schools surveyed, and English
is a second language. It thus makes sense for teachers to disagree with the
suggestion that it is not possible to teach students critical thinking skills in Shona.
It is also logical to expect these teachers to agree with the statement that most
students cannot reason and think critically using English because of the students’
poor command of the English language. This response is, perhaps, based on their
experience in interacting with the students on a daily basis over some learning
tasks. However, problems arise when it is recalled that an overwhelming majority
of these same respondents disagreed with questionnaire items 10 and 30.
Questionnaire item 10 discussed above in connection with theme I said "It is
possible to develop Shona so that it can replace English in communicating
scientific concepts." 546 (67.8%) of these teachers disagreed. Questionnaire item
30 said, "All non science subjects should be taught through the medium of Shona
up to O’level. 645 (80.5%) again disagreed. If it is not possible to develop
Shona so that it can replace English in communicating scientific concepts, and if
Shona is not even good enough to be used to teach non science subjects up to
O’level, how can it be used to teach critical thinking skills? If most of the
students cannot reason and think critically using English because of their poor
command of the English language, and at the same time English is the medium of
instruction, how are these students to be taught so as to develop critical thinking
skills? These are serious questions regarding the respondents’ conceptualization of
critical thinking skills in relation to English and Shona as dominant media of
communication and education in Zimbabwe.

Questionnaire item 25 said, "It is more important to make students write on
topics derived from current news items on radio, TV and newspapers than from

past examination questions. Responses were; 385 (48.1%) agreed; 205 (25.6%)

84

disagreed; and 211 (26.3%) not sure or not committed to one view or the other.
In the above statement the underlying assumption is that if students are made to
write on topics derived from current news items they would develop reflective
thinking and problem-solving skills. Current news items are usually interesting to
many readers, and occasionally they are thought-provoking and problematic in
many ways. If students use such materials for their writing activities it is likely
that they may develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This is in
contrast to using past examination questions which may be far removed from
students’ interests and concerns, and are likely to encourage rote learning of what
may be anticipated in final examinations. If this view is valid. one would expect
nearly all language teachers to find it acceptable. However. if other considerations
like drilling students in what they are likely to be tested in their finals are a
major concern, then the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills
through reflecting, evaluating and critiquing what is going on in society many not
be considered very important writing skills. It is from this assumption about the
relative importance of using current news items and past examination questions for

writing activities that the responses to questionnaire item 25 may be looked at.

Interview

Interview data related to the theme of critical thinking and problem-solving
skills were discussed as part of theme 2, about examinations above. It may be
recalled that interview question 2b asked Shona and English teachers the extent to
which ZJC and O’level examinations tested for critical thinking and problem-solving
skills.

Classroom observation data did not directly focus on theme 3, about

conceptions of critical thinking and problem-solving skills in relation to the

teaching and learning of Shona and English. Most of the lessons observed
focusing on reading and writing did not contain elements of critical thinking and
problem-solving skills.

To conclude the discussion of theme 3 about conceptions of critical thinking
and problem solving skills, the following can be said on the basis of the interview
and questionnaire data discussed above. The notion of critical thinking and
problem-solving skills as major concerns of language teaching and learning did not
appear to be at a deliberate and conscious level of operation of many of the
teachers interviewed, and perhaps those who responded to questionnaire data as
well. Many of these teachers had quite loose definitions of critical thinking, to
mean any thinking which is not directly dependent on immediate memory of the
object of the thinking activity. The apparently pervasive influence of examinations
and concern to prepare students to pass public examinations overshadow the
opportunity to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills in language
teaching and learning. Responses to questionnaire item 31 about O’level
examinations in English and Shona not testing for critical thinking and
problem-solving skills showed a majority of the respondents disagreeing with the
statement, i.e., 48% as opposed to 31% who agreed with the statement, and 21%
expressing non committal to either view. However, interview responses to
interview question 2b about the same issue were: 37% said examinations did not
test for critical thinking and problem-solving skills against 18.6% who asserted that
exams tested for these skills. Classroom observation data did not show any
evidence of consciously planned and executed language lessons to promote critical

thinking and problem-solving skills.

86

Theme 4: Textbooks

Research findings consistently show that textbooks greatly determine the
curriculum most students experience during their formal schooling days. This is so
because many teachers greatly rely on textbooks for their instructional goals and
content.

Textbook information is easy to use and can be used conveniently with large
numbers of students who are working at the same pace. However, textbooks have
a number of short-comings and here are some of them. Some textbooks may not
be appropriate for students working at different paces. Textbooks do not always
provide material relevant and interesting to diverse learning and teaching contexts.
Over-dependence on textbooks can inhibit teacher creativity which is crucial to
individual students’ needs. Textbooks cannot keep pace with changes going on in
society and educational research findings, hence over-dependence on them can be
detrimental to the learning needs of students. Textbooks reflect the strengths and
weaknesses of their authors, hence they do not represent all perspectives on all
issues. Over dependence on textbooks is a reflection of positivist conceptions of
knowledge and cognition rather than social constructivist perspectives because it
suggests that knowledge is some where out there, perhaps in teachers’ heads and

textbooks.

Questionnaire

There were two questionnaire items focussing on theme 4, textbooks and
how they are used. The first of these statements was "Textbook comprehension
questions focus mostly on recall and simple interpretation skills." Out of 801
responses, the results were 54.6% of the teachers agreed; 25.2% disagreed and

20.2% said they were not sure. If it is recalled that data from interview question

87

3b about the extent to which teachers relied on textbooks for their language
instruction showed that more that 72% of the interviewees said they relied on
textbooks most of the time, these figures become interesting. It has already been
mentioned earlier that classroom observation of lessons on reading comprehension
showed that nearly all the teachers observed asked students to respond to
questions set by the textbook authors. Thus data from all the three instruments
used in this study reveal that students are mostly exposed to simple recall and
interpretation skills in their reading classes. The dominance of simple recall skills
in reading is compounded by the need to model teaching to the way students are
tested in public examinations which often creates the impression that there is
always one correct answer to be searched for in the text.

Questionnaire item 19 was: "I get ideas of what I teach mostly from
textbooks 1 use in Shona/English." Out of 803 responses, results were 41%
agreed; 35.1% disagreed; and 23.9% were not sure. Again these statistics merely
confirm the point already observed above that textbooks are a major source of

curricular goals and content for Shona and English language teachers in Zimbabwe.

Interview

Since this study mainly focused on trying to understand how Shona and
English teachers conceptualized literacy instructional goals, it was thought that
asking these teachers a few questions about textbooks and how they used them
might shed light on whether textbooks were a possible source of these teachers’
conceptions of literacy instructional goals. Interview question 3a] asked the
teachers to describe the quantity of textbooks they had at their disposal for the
classes they taught. One of the problems the Zimbabwe education system faced

after making education accessible to all students of school—going age was the

88

shortage of teaching and learning materials. In this regard textbook supply was a
new challenge especially to schools opened after 1980 in poor urban and rural
communities. These new schools located in poor neighborhoods also face the
problem of attracting better educated and qualified teachers.

Question 3al was: "How would you describe the quantity of textbooks you
use for the classes you teach?" After studying all the audio-tape transcripts the
responses were put into two categories, those who said there were enough
textbooks and those who said there were not enough. In the case of the latter
category, teachers’ descriptions of the situations in which they operated and the
problems they faced were at times quite shocking. One respondent said,

We have a critical shortage of textbooks. The students share the

books. We have six Form 11 classes (Grade 9) and you will find

that we have only one book for aU those classes. Some books we

have, maybe 6 copies for the 6 classes, which means one book per

class. We really have a serious shortage at this school.

Of the 38 teachers who were asked about the availability of textbooks, 55%
said they did not have enough textbooks and 13 of these were Shona teachers.
Only 44.7% said they had enough textbooks. Most of those who said they had
enough textbooks were teachers of English. Observation visits to the schools in
the study indicated that there was a serious shortage of textbooks mostly in
government low-income neighborhood schools and district council schools. The
situation was always more critical for Shona textbooks than was the case for
English textbooks. The researcher observed many reading lessons where only the
teacher had a copy of the book being read, and all the students had to listen the
best they could from one of them reading for the whole class. The availability of

textbooks, to a large extent, determined the instructional strategies teachers could

use.

8‘)

Interview question 3a2 asked teachers to describe the quality of textbooks
they used in their classes. The responses were coded in the following manner.
Two points were given to a response which described the quality of the textbooks
and also gave illustrative examples of the qualities highlighted. One point was
given for a mere description without a supporting example. Twenty-nine (70.7%)
teachers were given two points for their responses. and of these only 8 (27.5%)
were teachers of Shona. A total of 12 (29%) were given one point for their
responses, and the majority of these were Shona teachers (70.8%).

Here are examples of responses given one point and those given two points.
The following was said by a teacher of Shona.

There are certain sections, e.g., in Rurimi Rwaamai book 1 where
there are simple numbers, e.g., 99, they ask pupils to put that
figure in Shona. I don’t think it’s necessary. The passages are
quite all right. What I would require are more ’tsumo
nemadirnikira’ (proverbs and idiomatic expressions).

Another Shona teacher said "I don’t have any criticism about the textbooks.
I think they are quite OK." She got no point for her response.

One teacher of English who was also head of the English department had
this to say:

We are looking for books which actually are emphasizing on those
errors, like 1 said before. that pupils are going to be examined on,
so 1 was referring earlier on to the revised version of Structures
and Skills. I find it quite useful, especially if you look at areas
which pupils are going to be tested on. I have another one by
Artwell. This is quite good, and we normally use it for our ’A’
classes because the passages are quite challenging, the sort of
passages that we normally get at ’0’ level (exams). So we have
tended to discuss some of the topics from English For Zimbabwe
textbook because it has less challenging passages. It has passages
that perhaps are based on the local situation in the country, but
then, when it comes to the examination, we do not see any of
these comprehension passages or any of these topics. So we have
tended to actually make them (English For Zimbabwe) more of
supplementary books rather than the main textbooks.

90

Another English teacher echoing the same subtle influence of examinations
in some of the teachers’ judgements of the quality of textbooks expressed by the

above one said:

We used to have English For Zimbabwe but looking at the

questions set in examinations, we found that Structures and Skills

is of more benefit to students, so we are switching more to it but

we still use English For Zimbabwe. Especially in English

(language exam paper) they added a section in paper two on

communication. Structures and Skills better prepares students for

examinations.

Interview question 3b asked English and Shona teachers the extent to which
they used textbooks. They were asked to rate the way they used textbooks by
saying either all the time, most of the time, 50% of the time, and less than 50%
of the time. Twenty-two (66.6%) of the 33 teachers who were asked this question
indicated that they used textbooks most of the time. More Shona teachers than
English teachers used textbooks most of the time. Only 7 (21%) teachers said
they used textbooks about 50% of the lesson time. Only two Shona teachers
asserted that they used textbooks less than 50% of their teaching time.

Observation data confirmed the finding from interview data in that nearly all
reading lessons observed were based on textbook materials. Only one Shona
teacher, the one who insisted on being observed only on prearranged times, was
observed using newspapers for a reading lesson.

Interview question 3c asked 30 of the 45 interview subjects to state other
teaching/learning sources besides textbooks they normally use in teaching
English/Shona. All the interview transcripts were studied closely to learn the
range of sources these teachers mentioned. A big majority of the teachers
mentioned one or two alternative sources to textbooks like personal resource file,

past examination papers, newspapers and magazines. Here is one teacher’s

response.

91

At ’0’ level we use past exam papers, sometimes we use Focus

Study Aids to prepare for exams. I could say the central thing is

anything geared towards how exams come about.

It was one of those questions teachers took some time to think what to say,
perhaps indicating that the sources finally mentioned were used once in a while.
Only 6 (20%) teachers out of 30 who were asked this question mentioned at least

three sources. The rest mentioned either one or two sources, especially personal

resource file and newspapers and magazines.

Conclusion

Data discussed in this section showed that many schools, especially in poorer
urban and rural communities, did not have enough textbooks for Shona and
English. The situation was quite desperate in some schools where only the
teacher had a copy of literature texts on which the students would be examined in
their finals. Yet in spite of their inadequate supplies, textbooks were viewed and
used as an essential source of curricular goals and content by most of the teachers
surveyed in this study. There was no strong evidence that there were viable
alternatives to textbooks, at least for the lessons observed.

A good number of teachers, especially Shona teachers, did not appear to be
in the habit of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the textbooks on which
they based their instruction. Many teachers of English judged the strength and
suitability of textbooks in terms of how they helped to prepare students for final
examinations. For instance, many of them complained that English for Zimbabwe
had passages and topics focusing on life in Zimbabwe after independence but
unfortunately these were not the issues on which students were tested. Structures

and Skills was always better rated than English For Zimbabwe.

92

The majority of teachers in this study asserted that textbook based
comprehension questions mostly focused on recall and simple interpretation skills.
These data were confirmed by observation data. All reading lessons observed did
not lead students to reflect, critique, evaluate and question the author’s perspective

of the topic. his/her style and use of language.

Theme 5: Conceptions of Reading Comprehension

Theme 5 and 6 are central to this study because they focus more directly
on issues related to reading and writing-literacy. The four themes discussed in the
preceding sections of this chapter give a context in which literacy is conceived and
enacted in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. The idea of separating the treatment
of reading issues from writing issues is to facilitate an in depth treatment of each

of the two aspects which make up literacy.

Questionnaire

The following section discusses questionnaire data related to theme 5 about
teachers’ conceptions of reading comprehension instruction. Questionnaire
statements 2, 4, 7, 14, 20, 21, 33 and 37 relate to various aspects of the reading
curriculum. Some of these statements have been discussed above in connection
with their relationship with other themes already discussed. For instance,
questionnaire statement 2 which said "Textbook comprehension questions focus
mostly on recall and simple interpretation skills was discussed above in relation to
theme 4 about textbooks. Of 801 responses, results were 54.6% agreed; 25.2%
disagreed; and 20.2% not sure. Questionnaire statement 7 which said, "When
answering comprehension questions, students should use their prior knowledge of

topic to answer the questions" was responded to in this way: 26.3% agreed;

61.5% disagreed; and 12.3% not sure. Here it is arguable that the examination
paradigm influenced the majority of these teachers to look at issues of
comprehension from the perspective of exams rather than real life reading
situations.

The researcher attended two conferences organized by the Harare Province
education officers for English and Shona. Among other things discussed at these
conferences, students’ performance in examinations was quite a dominant issue.
On the comprehension paper many participants (who were also examiners for
Shona or English public examinations) pointed out that many students do not
perform weU when they encounter a passage taken from a book or theme they
had read or were familiar with. It was argued that such students answered
questions from the perspective of their prior knowledge of the theme of the
comprehension passage rather than the specific demands of the questions. The
general feeling among the conference participants, and indeed, teachers interviewed
for this study was that students should be trained not to use their prior knowledge
when answering comprehension questions.

While the problem of students not sticking to the parameters of the question
asked is a real one, and can be encountered even in situations where students had
no prior knowledge of the passage or theme of the passage in question, it is
misleading students to advice them not to use their experience or prior knowledge
when answering comprehension questions. Research findings on reading
comprehension indicate strongly that the utilization of prior knowledge is crucial to
a reader comprehending what he/she is reading (Anderson and Pearson 1984).
Research findings also maintain that even mature or expert readers experience
knowledge blanks if they read materials whose subject matter they have never

encountered. Readers cannot make sense of any reading materials whose subject

94

matter they have never encountered. Readers cannot make sense of any reading
material unless they can invoke what they already know so as to compare it with
what they are reading . Comprehension occurs when there is some relationship
between what the reader already knows and what he/she is reading. This
relationship between the reader’s prior knowledge and the material he/she is
reading enables the reader to make interpretations, inferences and evaluations
which are higher order comprehension skills.

Questionnaire item 20 said, "A good reader is more concerned with getting
the real meaning of the text than worrying whether he/she agrees with it." Of
799 responses 68.2% agreed; 15.9% disagreed; and 15.9% were not sure. Here is
another possible influence of the testing paradigm on the teachers’
conceptualization of reading. Most comprehension questions given in examination
situations have one answer against which the test taker’s response has to be
judged. Generally there is no room for the respondent to examination questions
to qualify or explain the process of reasoning which led him/her to arrive at that
response. Research on objective testing format has shown the weaknesses of
multiple choice questions in not affording a test-taker to show the process of
his/her thinking in arriving at a given answer. Examinations are a convenient way
of determining accountability of students’ learning, and because of the large
numbers of students to be tested, cost-effective ways of testing have to be devised.
Alvermann and Moore (1991) and Winograd and Johnston (1987) argue that the
problem with accountability and reading comprehension are defining the goals and
deciding how these will be measured. They further argue that emphasis is placed
on literal information because the acquisition of facts seems to be easily

accomplished and is more readily measured than other cognitive operations.

95

What is implied by questionnaire item 20 is that there is one undisputable
meaning in any text and therefore the task of the reader is to search for and get
that meaning. This is a view of reading which Scholes (1989) calls textual
fundamentalism and is in conflict with critical literacy perspectives on reading. To
quote Scholes (1989) again he asserts that:

To read at all, we must read the book of ourselves in the texts in

front of us, and we must bring the text home into our thought

and lives, into our judgements and deeds. We cannot enter the

texts we read, but they can enter us. . . . Such reading involves

looking closely at the text; it also involves situating the text. to

make the text our own in thought. word and deed.

Perhaps this is the view of reading the respondents to questionnaire item 20
were rejecting in favor of an assumed "real meaning" of the text. Since agreeing
or disagreeing with a text is a result of interpretation, can it be concluded that
there is no room for interpretation in reading texts as for as these respondents
were concerned? Questionnaire item 33 addresses this issue.

Questionnaire statement 33 said, "Reading is mostly a matter of interpreting
the text than getting the correct answer." Of 801 responses, 53.4% agreed; 25.8%
disagreed; and 20.9% were not sure. These statistics show that a good majority
believe that interpretation of texts, as a process of reading, is crucial, which was
implied by some aspects of questionnaire item 20 as discussed above which most
of them rejected. How is one to interpret this development? It is interesting to
note that 25.8% of the questionnaire respondents rejected the statement which
suggests that interpretation of texts is more important that getting the correct
answer. Presumably these teachers seriously believe that all written texts have one
meaning which cannot be mistaken for anything if properly searched for and hence
no interpretation is necessary. In other words, all texts have literal meanings

according to these respondents. It should be borne in mind that the questionnaire

was administered to language teaching professionals only working at secondary

96

school level. This makes the figure of 25.8% disagreeing with the suggestion that
reading is mostly a matter of interpreting the text than getting the correct answer
rather significant. Equally significant on the same grounds are 20.9% of the
respondents indicating not sure or non commitment to an agree or disagree
response.

It should be pointed out that whenever time allowed, after interviewing the
51 teachers using pre-prepared questions, the researcher sought to review some of
the questionnaire items with each interviewee. Of particular interest to the
researcher were questionnaire items 7, 20, and 33, all relating to their conceptions
of reading. In each case the researcher gave back an interviewee’s questionnaire
form and then asked him/her to read each of these questionnaire items and how
he/she had responded to them. A discussion always followed when the
interviewee tried to explain his/her response and the researcher tried to point out
at the other angle which might have been considered when choosing a suitable
response. These discussions revealed that many of these interviewees had defined
reading comprehension in terms of examination situations only rather than daily
real-life situations. For instance, on the issue of using prior knowledge in helping
comprehension, many of them had reasoned that this was undesirable because it
often made students fail to address the questions asked in an up-front manner.
Yet when it came to reading newspapers, magazines and ordinary books students
need to use their prior knowledge of whatever they are reading so as to be able
to evaluate it and to make interpretations wherever necessary. A number of these
teachers admitted that they had filled the questionnaire forms in a hurry and had

not given sufficient thought to some of the statements and their implications.

97

Interview

Interview question 4a was. "What are the objectives for teaching reading
skills in Shona/English? The purpose of this question was to give an opportunity
to each interviewee to reflect and synthesize on the various sources for curriculum
goals so that he/she could articulate the way he/she understood them. The
transcripts of a0 the 41 teachers who were asked this question were scrutinized
before a coding scheme was devised. As a result of gleaning through the
transcripts the following coding scheme was decided on. A total of four points
were given on the basis of the following answers given by the respondents: l. to
gain knowledge/information from a text; 2, to critique a text; 3, to overcome
mechanical problems like fluency. pronunciation etc.. and 4.
enjoyment/entertainment. Usually probing or follow-up questions were used in
cases where some respondents did not fully grasp the essence of the question.
Only two English teachers gave all the four possible reasons for teaching reading
skills thus getting 4 points. Again only 5 (12%) teachers gave three reasons and
these were all teachers of English. The majority of teachers, 21 (51%) gave only
two reasons for teaching reading skills. The commonest reasons given were to
overcome mechanical problems like pronunciation, fluency and to gain knowledge
etc. As many as 11 (26.8%) teachers, and the majority of them being Shona
teachers, gave only one objective for teaching reading. Two Shona teachers were
unable to give any answer to the question. Here are a few examples of the

interactions between the researcher and a Shona teacher.

R. What are the major objectives for teaching reading in
Shona? .
T. Basically it’s to teach them to read fluently. Most of our

boys here have problems in reading Shona. They are very
slow, they stammer here and there, so we encourage them
to read fluently and to read and understand.

Comprehensive reading, not just going through words without
understanding.

98

R. Can you elaborate on comprehensive reading? What does it
involve?
T. Comprehensive reading is reading and understanding.

R. What kind of understanding are you talking about?

T. Reading, answering questions, understanding and being able
to relate.

Another Shona teacher‘s response to the question on her objectives for
teaching reading was "It helps the children to enjoy more books in life and also
the students would be able to read Bibles and so on."

A respondent whose response was coded 0 said "I only teach reading at ZJC
(Zimbabwe Junior Certificate). It helps them when they are reading at home."

These examples represent responses on the extreme low end of the range of
opinions expressed. It should be pointed out that generally those teachers whose
responses gave one or two objectives for teaching reading were only slightly better
than the examples given above in the way they responded to the question.

Interview question 4b asked teachers to define, in operational terms, what
they understood by the term reading. The researcher told the interviewees, many
of whom showed some surprise at being asked to define reading. that he was not
expecting them to provide dictionary definition of the term reading, but that which
guided them in their instruction of reading which they presumably did quite often
as language teachers. The researcher told the teachers that responses might
include their perceptions of students they would call good readers, average readers,
poor readers and non readers.

The idea of asking Shona and English teachers for their personal operational
definitions was not out of mere academic interest. It arose from a conviction that
the ways people define things in operational terms are good indicators of the ways

people conceptualize those things. Jones( 1984) argues that both teachers and

99

learners hold particular and identifiable theoretical orientations about reading
which in turn significantly affect expectancies, goals, behavior and outcomes at all
levels of the reading process. He further argues that a teacher’s overall concept
of reading strongly influences his/her method of diagnosing reading difficulties and
of teaching reading. Farr and Rosser (1979) maintain that "as you are guided
toward your own definition of the reading process you will arrive at your own
decisions about what to teach and how to teach it." (p 14.)

After studying the interview transcripts to see the pattern of responses given
by 39 Shona and English teachers who were asked to define reading, the following
coding scheme was adopted. ’A’ stands for a definition of reading which suggests
that it is a process of getting meaning from print. ’8’ stands for a definition of
reading which suggests that it is a process of interacting with print according to a
predefined purpose. ’0’ stands for no definition provided.

As indicated above, this question together with a similar question on writing,
turned out to be the hardest for the interviewees. Many of the interviewees
reacted to the question with a surprise, conveying the impression that they had not
anticipated being asked such a question. This question caused some discomfort
among some teachers interviewed at the beginning of the interviewing process and
as a result the researcher decided to tell those interviewed about three quarters

down the process to say "let’s move on , meaning 1 am not in a position to give
a response to this question.

The majority of those interviewed gave a definition of reading which
suggests that it is a process of getting meaning from print. Twenty (54%)

teachers who were asked this question had responses coded A. Here are two

examples of definitions which fall into this category.

100

A good reader is able to read clearly and pronounce the words

very well. After reading he/she is able to say what he/she read
about. A bad reader is someone who cannot read fluently and

cannot even answer the questions after reading the passage.

This was given by a teacher of English. One of the Shona teachers said,

Reading in most cases is when you have a passage you go over it

and try to find out what it is all about. You want to understand

what is being said in the passage. That is how I define reading.

Only 6 (16%) teachers of those who were asked this question defined
reading in a manner that suggests that it is a process of interacting with print
according to predefined purpose. Here are two examples, the first one from a

teacher of English:

I suppose it’s understanding a given sentence or a section of a
reading passage. It’s not only understanding, but getting the
meaning of words in the sentence. The student must be able to
relate it to others; that means going back and reflecting upon what
the person has read. So it’s not just words on paper as such, it’s
bringing those words to life. The ability to imagine and create a
reflection on what he has read.

A Shona teacher said,

I think reading is to be able to understand and also after reading

one must be able to come up with his own judgement about the

passage. That means that the person has understood the passage.

A total of 11 (29.7%) of those who responded to interview question 4b had
their responses coded O, meaning that the definition was somehow unintelligible or
he/she said "lets move on." One example is:

That’s a difficult question. We have for each class a library

period where we take students to the library and we assume that

they would read but that is not always the case. I do not think

that anyone ever ventures to teach children how to read and yet I

feel there are quite a number of kids who don’t know how to

read.

This was a response given by a teacher of English who was head of the

English department at her school.

101

A Shona teacher said:

In my case I just make everybody read with the hope that they

will copy others who are reading well. This is the mechanics of

reading. Normally I do that when teaching literature. I do not

teach how to read. At times the way I take reading is either

silent or loud reading. From my own perspective when teaching

ZJC (Zimbabwe Junior Certificate, equivalent to grades 8 and 9) I

will be concentrating on the mechanics of reading. At times we

discuss after reading the passage. We discuss the passage and the

characters.

The above examples represent a category of language teachers who did not
have operational definitions of an activity they engage in quite frequently in their
instructional programs. Their inability to articulate coherently what they
understood by reading did not necessarily mean that they did not teach it, but
rather that reading was not approached in a consciously planned manner. Is such
an approach to work expected of professionals in their fields of expertise?

Interview question 4c related to theme 5 about conceptions of reading
comprehension asked teachers to describe how they typically taught
reading/comprehension. The purpose of this question was to learn how the
interviewees linked in operational terms what they asserted were their main
objectives for reading instruction with their definitions of reading in their
instructional activities so as to achieve their goals. Interview transcripts were
closely studied so as to learn key ideas and patterns in the interviewees’ responses
to question 4c. As a result of this procedure the following coding scheme was
adopted. A total of five activities were identified and here they are given the
order of the frequency these activities were mentioned: 1, focusing on mechanical
aspects, e.g., pronunciation, fluency etc.; 2,testing/evaluating students’ reading
comprehension skills; 3, prereading activities; 4, directing students to salient

points/features in the reading text; and 5. soliciting students’ personal responses to

the text.

102

Only one English teacher mentioned all the 5 activities. Six (15%) of the
teachers consisting of 4 English teachers and 2 Shona teachers mentioned 3 out of
the 5 activities. The majority of teachers. 19 (49%) mentioned only 2 of the 5
activities, and as indicated above, these usually were focusing on mechanical
aspects of reading and testing or evaluating students’ comprehension skills. A not
insignificant number of teachers, 10 (26%) mentioned only one activity in their
reading instruction. One teacher of both English and Shona provided a response
to the question that could not be scored and hence his response was coded 0.

Here is an example of a response given by a Shona teacher which was
coded two points.

On comprehension when testing reading skills I can just appoint a
student to read while the rest are listening. There will be two
skills (being tested) at the same time, i.e., reading skills and
listening skills. That’s one of the ways; or else they will read
silently and then I will ask some one to give a summary of what
they have read about.

A Shona teacher’s response coded one point was:

When reading a comprehension (passage), I ask children to read
quietly, then I give them some minutes to reread quietly, then I
ask questions on what they have read.

Here is a response by a teacher of English which was coded four points.

In my choice of the passage I usually like to choose those texts
which pupils are familiar with, and after I have identified the text
that I would like to deal with, I will try by all means to find a
suitable way of introducing this text. First, before I even ask the
students to open their textbooks. so that by the time they go on
to the text, at least they are already informed. They have a
background of some sort and then I usually enjoy letting my pupils
read the text starting from the title. We might have interesting
discussion when pupils try to guess what the text is all about and
then picture it (in their minds). I find that to be very helpful and
they generate a lot of discussion. After this they may be able to
get the idea of the passage. So we usually have a nice time
discussing the text before we really go to know (it), and I have
found that sometimes they will be in a position even to answer
some few oral questions. When I think now they have got

103

somewhere that is when I would tell them to do their silent

reading. 1 usually pick new words and some phrases which we will

explain together as a class after their silent reading. Then after

that I may give them some questions to look at as homework.

It should be noted that data provided by interview question 4c about the
interviewees’ description of how they typically instruct reading are consistent with
data provided by interview question 4a relating to their objectives for teaching
reading as well as data provided by question 4b about their definition of reading.
A majority of the interviewees mentioned 2 out of 4 objectives for teaching
reading, mostly to overcome mechanical problems and acquisition of knowledge.
Again the majority of these interviewees defined reading as a process of getting
meaning from print. Now as has been shown above, most of the interviewees
emphasized two out of five activities in their reading instruction, namely
mechanical aspects of reading and testing or evaluating students’ reading skills.

Interview question 4d asked the interviewees their opinions about the
distinction, if any, between comprehension instruction and comprehension
assessment. Durkin’s (1978-1979) study of elementary school teachers found that
teachers focused more on comprehension assessment rather than direct instruction
and that the teachers’ questions were an attempt to learn whether the children
had comprehended a given reading selection. Durkin’s study left her wondering
whether comprehension skills were fostered through practicing answering
comprehension questions or through direct instruction.

In Zimbabwe’s education system comprehension skills in Shona and English
are tested in language examination papers. Since comprehension testing is an
important feature of language examinations it was considered necessary to find out

whether language teachers’ conceptions of comprehension instruction were

influenced by the testing paradigm.

 

104

After studying 35 transcripts of the interview audio tapes of the teachers
who were asked whether there was any distinction between comprehension
instruction the following coding scheme was adopted. Response were categorized
as yes or no. One point was awarded for a yes or no without providing sound
explanation. and two points were awarded for a yes or no followed by a sound
explanation. Twenty-two (63%) of those 35 who responded to this question
indicated that there were distinctions between comprehension testing and
comprehension instruction. Fourteen (40%) of them were awarded two points for
their responses. On the other hand 11 (31%) of the interviewees’ responses
indicated that there was no distinction between comprehension testing and
comprehension instruction. Seven (64%) of these 11 were teachers of Shona.

Here are some examples of responses coded yes and given two points.

The distinction is clear to me in that you must lead on to the

passage when you are teaching. Lead onto it through discussions of

experiences that are related to the passage. Capitalize as much as

possible on the students’ experiences which are developed in

greater detail in the passage in question. It should be important

all the time to start off by talking about related experience, and

then lead onto the experience on the passage and then after that

extend and come back to the links that have now resulted from a

merge in experience before, experience after the passage and

extensions of the passage which are not necessarily related to the

questions themselves. Highlight the outstanding interconnections

with reality.

This was said by one of the most experienced and better qualified teachers
in the interview sample.

Here is a response which was coded "no" indicating that there is no
distinction in the interviewee’s conception of comprehension assessment and
comprehension instruction.

I think it’s both, because you are teaching and then at the same

time you are testing to see if the pupils have understood what is
being said in the passage. Pupils have to practice in order to

105

have that skill. After reading I give them something to write.

That’s when you can see who is getting or who is not getting what

is being said, and then that way, you can help them.

Another interviewee’s response was the following.

Teaching reading is testing the skiUs and testing is how the student

applies the skills. As we are explaining now there is difference,

but when it comes to the actual thing, there is no distinction. It’s

all done at the same time.

It is interesting to note that although 63% of the teachers who responded to
this question about the distinction between comprehension assessment and
comprehension instruction asserted that there was some distinction, classroom
observation of a sub-sample of these teachers showed that the way they conducted
comprehension lessons was more oriented towards testing than teaching
comprehension skills. The dominant approach followed consisted of a brief
introduction, generally meant to activate students’ knowledge of the subject matter
of the reading passage and then followed by actual reading punctuated by the
teachers asking some questions to check students’ ability to recall details of what
they were reading. When the whole passage was read the teacher fired more
questions, again of a recall nature. and lastly more questions were set for
homework, usually taken from the textbook.

It is possible that many of the interviewees asserted that there was some
distinction between comprehension instruction and comprehension testing because
they sensed that the interviewer believed that there was a distinction since he was
raising that question, and therefore the best answer was to concur with his

perceived position even though their routine approaches to comprehension lessons

did not reflect that orientation.

106

Conclusion on Data on Theme 5

Data presented in this section suggest a positivist conception of reading
which privileges all texts with determinate meaning which transcends all times and
contexts. This is the opposite of a constructivist perspective which views reading as
a construction of meaning by the reader as he/she interacts with a text influenced
by his/her purpose for reading, his/her existing knowledge of the subject matter of
the text and other contextual variables.

The data discussed relating to teachers’ conceptions of reading
comprehension suggest that there appeared to be an absence of a literacy teaching
discourse which helps teachers to reflect on the meaning, goals and instructional
strategies which can be used to promote reading skills beyond the need to prepare
students for public examinations. Reading appears to be perceived in narrow
mechanical terms like fluency, pronunciation, punctuation etc. and the ability to
recall literal information from print. Whatever other conceptions of reading
teachers may have, these seem to be overshadowed by the examination paradigm
which seems to privilege texts with one meaning which transcends time and other
contexts. Classroom observation data indicated an unquestioned assumption that
reading comprehension skills are acquired by learners through a process of

practicing answering comprehension questions.

Theme 6: Conceptions about Writing/Comflsition
The last theme is about English and Shona teachers conceptualization of the
writing curriculum. Reading and writing are closely related cognitive activities
which complement each other. They complement each other in the sense that
writers write for an audience who are the readers. Successful writers, therefore

have a conscious sense of their intended readers (audience). They try to meet

107

their readers’ interests, capacities. and sense of purpose. Writers make
assumptions about the interests, purposes for reading, abilities of the readers and

the context in which what they write will be read.

Questionnaire

There were a number of questionnaire items focussing on the writing
curriculum. Some of these have been discussed above with reference to themes
already discussed. They include questionnaire item 17 which said, "Writing
activities for students should be mostly modeled on how they will be tested in
final exams." As was shown above in connection with theme 2. out of 797
responses, 67.8% agreed; 16.2% disagreed; and 16% were not sure. Questionnaire
item 25 which said, "It is more important to make students write on topics derived
from current news items on radio. T.V. and newspapers than from past
examination papers" was also discussed in connection with theme 3. As was
pointed out above, the responses were 48.1% agreed; 25.6% disagreed; and 26.3%
were not sure. No additional comments need be made about these responses in
connection with theme 6. about conceptions related to the writing curriculum.

Questionnaire statement 21 said "students learn reading and writing skills
best from the teacher’s demonstrations and explanations." Out of 802 responses,
64.3% agreed, 18.2% disagreed, and 17.5 were not sure. This questionnaire item
is subject to two or so possible valid interpretations in connection with literacy
instruction. On the one hand it can be argued that students learn more
effectively reading and writing skills when their teachers provide appropriate
models of the targeted reading and writing skills. Such teacher modeling will be
in the form of scaffolding according to Bruner (1983) or the teacher’s guidance for

a student who is in the zone of proximal development according to Vygotsky

108

(1978). If students are not provided this kind of guidance by an expert, their
learning can be unsystematic and ineffective because it will be based on trial and
error. From this perspective teacher demonstration and explanation are key
components of guided learning essential for students’ mastery of literacy skiUs.
The question is, at what point should the teacher withdraw his/her guidance? 1f
teacher guidance is not withdrawn at the right time, this might lead to students
becoming too dependent on the teacher. and thus compromise the development of
their own independent thinking capacity. The problem of teachers being tempted
to maintain their role beyond what may be regarded as a necessary point is
particularly prevalent in the so-called writing conferences. Writing conferences
have been criticized by some researchers who found them to be occasions when
teachers were more inclined to push their preconceived schema of how the text
should be written than to listen to students’ problems and needs (Florio-Ruane,
1991; Freedman, 1985).

If these two positions are born in mind then it becomes a question of which
value a respondent has taken between valuing student independence in expressing
what he/she wants to express in writing regardless of the sense of what is correct
according to the teacher. Those who value teacher modeling and scaffolding
students’ learning may respond to item 21 differently. Perhaps on hind sight this
was an inappropriate questionnaire item since its strength depends on the
reasoning a respondent gives, which cannot be done on a questionnaire.

Questionnaire item 32 said, "Writing activities should focus more on the use
of correct grammar, good expression and presentation of ideas rather than
revealing the writer’s thinking process." Out of 795 responses, 51.2% agreed;
27.3% disagreed; and 21.5% were not sure. This questionnaire item touched on

an issue of great concern in a situation where the language of instruction is not

1119

the mother tongue of over 95% of the students. Students’ English language
problems were highlighted to the researcher during interviews with many English
teachers in rural and poor urban schools. Poor command of English often was
the cause of poor student participation in lessons which required oral
communication. This was mentioned by many English teachers and the researcher
saw it first hand during class observation visits to schools. It may be recalled that
in response to questionnaire item 11 which said, "Most students cannot think
critically using English because of their poor command of the English," the
responses were 71% agreed and only 18% disagreed with statement. (See
discussion on theme 3 above for more details)

Given this second language context. it is perhaps understandable that over
51% of the respondents to questionnaire statement 32 agreed that writing activities
should focus more on the use of correct grammar. good expression and
presentation of ideas rather than revealing the writer’s thinking process. In other
words one would argue that these respondents put a premium on mechanical
aspects of writing rather than on the cognitive aspects of writing. If a student’s
written composition work is returned full of red marks made by the teacher and
the accompanying comments highlight problems of expression rather than the
quality of the written text, such a student is unlikely to pay great attention to the
content of what he/she writes in future. Such a teaching-learning situation cannot
effectively foster the development of critical or independent thinking and
problem-solving skills through writing activities.

Questionnaire statement 37 said, "It is not a good teaching practice to
present students with frequent choices over what they read or write." Out of 793
responses, 39.2% agreed; 39% disagreed; 21.8% were not sure. What is

interesting is the almost tie between those agreeing and those disagreeing and a

110

rather high percentage of those indicating non committal to the issue. The main
educational argument in favor of allowing students choice is that students would
choose what they are interested in and therefore they will engage in it with more
attention and energy. The argument also implies that knowledge is socially
constructed as people interact with each other in worthwhile activities to their
lives. Since students are human beings, they are therefore capable of contributing
to the social construction of knowledge. What they choose to write about is
important to them and helps them to reflect on their realities. On the other hand
those who believe that knowledge is objective and concrete assume that there are
people who have more knowledge than others. It is therefore the responsibility of
those who have more knowledge to impart it to those who do not have it. Since
students do not have knowledge or valued knowledge, it is not appropriate to
allow them to choose what they should write on. After all, so the argument goes,
examinations test for worthwhile knowledge, therefore it may be in the students’
interest to be exposed to the kind of knowledge they may be tested on. Teachers
are in a better position than students to teU what knowledge is worthwhile
focussing their attention on. Perhaps this is a view of knowledge fostered by the

testing paradigm discussed under theme 2 above.

Interview

Interview questions focusing on teachers’ views and opinions about the
writing curriculum were similar to those discussed above in connection with the
reading curriculum. The questions focused on the teachers’ understanding of the
goals of writing, their definition of writing and how they typically instructed writing

or composition.

111

Interview question 5a was: "What are the objectives of the writing curriculum
for the level you teach as you understand them?" The aim of the question was to
get from each interviewee his/her own understanding of the goals of the writing
curriculum based on his/her interpretation of various curricular sources, e.g., syllabi
textbooks, examinations and his/her perception of students’ needs in terms of
writing skills. After studying all the audio tape transcripts relating to this
question, the following coding scheme was adopted.

The objectives mentioned were: 1, effective communication of
ideas/experience; 2, to foster creative thinking and problem solving skills; 3, to
overcome mechanical problems like spelling, punctuation etc.; 4, prepare students
for examination; and 5, to promote the use of appropriate style/register. Only 6
(17%) of the interviewees gave three writing objectives. Most of the teachers
were content with only one objective. Altogether 17 (49%) of the 35 interviewees
who were asked this question gave one objective for the writing curriculum. A
total of only 10 (29%) gave two objectives. Here are some examples of the
responses given.

The objectives for teaching writing mainly are to prepare them

(students) for examinations so that when they write the

examinations they will not have problems of punctuation, grammar

mistakes or tenses. They will be able to write a good

composition. I will be teaching them to construct good sentences.

Good word division.

Another Shona teacher responded in this way.

So that they (students) will be able to write letters, write books.

Writing is putting the knowledge you have in mind on paper. I

think all the work I give them teaches writing.

One teacher of English gave this response.

To express your own mind on issues so that people should know

what you are thinking. The other objective is to teach students to

be creative when writing. Can they write creatively, and

interestingly? Not only interestingly, but can they’relate to their
own self and others?

 

112

Another teacher of English responded in this way.

I suppose by writing you will be concentrating on the areas like

composition. At ZJC or O’level the students should be able to

write continuous piece of writing on a given topic. That piece of

writing should make sense; like sentence construction, being able

to use the mechanical aspects of the language correctly.

An interview as a research instrument puts the interviewee on the spot and
he/she has to give a response on the spur of the moment to a question or an
issue the researcher has had time to think about. As the researcher in this study
listened to the teachers responding to this question, or even listening to the
audiotapes playing back the interview sessions he felt a sense of struggle on the
part of these interviewees to try to come up with an intelligible response.
Unfortunately that sense of struggle partly expressed by facial expression and
repetition. or incoherence in speech, cannot be accurately captured by interview
transcripts, let alone a random selection of examples given above. On the whole
the interviewees as a group were less confident and less articulate as they
responded to questions relating to reading and writing curriculum. It may be a
case where one has the knowledge based on experience and intuition but one does
not have the words with which to express that practical experience. The majority
of the interviewees talked about one or two objectives for the writing curriculum
out of five identified in the transcripts of their interview responses. Perhaps even
those interviewees who gave only one objective would have accepted the other four
they did not mention if the full list of objectives was later presented to them.
Since this was the last set of questions to be asked, there were fewer probing
questions by the researcher as he was always running out of time. Actually a

good number of the total 51 teachers interviewed were not asked some questions

on reading and writing due to shortage of time.

 

113

Interview question 5b was, "How is writing defined at this school? Is this
your own view of what writing is or should be?" As with all interview questions,
the aim of this question was to make the respondent articulate his/her own
understanding of the process of writing, synthesizing wherever applicable,
knowledge derived from various sources at his/her disposal. As with the case of
reading, the definition of writing was more of the operational one which guided
the individual teacher in his/her enactment of writing curriculum rather than
dictionary definition.

After studying the interview transcripts of the interviewees’ responses, the
following coding scheme was adopted. Responses were put in three categories in
this way: ’A’ for those responses whose definition indicated that writing is a
process of communicating ideas and experiences through print or putting ideas on
paper; ’3’ was for the category of definitions which indicated that writing is a
process of creating ideas or thoughts and organizing them for social interaction;
’0’ was for responses whose definition of writing was intelligible. As with the
case of reading, some interviewees said "let’s move on", meaning that he/she
cannot comfortably say anything about this question. This approach was adopted
as a way of avoiding embarrassing the interviewee by making him/her say
something about an issue he/she has not thought about intelligently.

As many as 24 interviewees were not asked to define writing mainly because
time to conduct the interviews with some teachers was running out. In such cases
the researcher decided to omit this question in preference to interview question 5c
about writing instruction. Of all the interviewees who responded to this question
only one teacher defined writing as a process of creating ideas or thoughts and

organizing them for social interaction. The rest, 18 (86%) defined writing as a

114

process of communicating ideas or experience through print. Here is what the
only teacher who conceptualized writing as creative process said:

I would define writing as a process of creating meaning by

committing your ideas on paper. It goes beyond merely giving

someone, e.g., a report; there is that element at a lower level, but

at a higher level I would look at it as a creative process. A

writer is really creative, putting together ideas. Piecing together,

as it were, personal experience, personal reflection so as to create

meaning. If you tie it with reading, again I would see also

reading as a creative process. as an attempt to create meaning by

interacting with the text.

Unfortunately this weU thought out and well articulated view of writing was
expressed by only one person out of 21 who were asked to define writing. The
rest said something like this: "1 think it’s putting what you are thinking on paper."
Or:

Writing is about writing a composition, writing a comprehension or

answering questions. To look at the question and think about it

critically and organize the information and then write.

Still another one said. "Writing is putting ideas on a piece of paper and
organizing them according to the purpose." Most of the definitions emphasized
communication processes. What was not touched on is the development of
personal voice by the writer as he/she reflects on life experiences. Actually many
of the responses were very brief, usually one sentence responses. Saying more was
probably taken as risky in that one might go on to say something considered
"wrong" by the interviewer. In some cases too short answers reflected lack of
confidence in what one was saying.

The last interview question, 5c, asked teachers to describe how they typically
instructed writing skills. The aim of the question was to learn how these
interviewees linked the objectives for writing they had talked about earlier on with

their instructional Strategies in a coherent manner. After studying the interview

transcripts of the interviewees’ responses, the following coding scheme was adopted.

115

Four activities related to writing were identified which were: 1, prewriting
activities, e.g., understanding topic, generating ideas, etc; 2, directing students’
attention to salient points, e.g., audience and purpose; 3, focusing on organizational
and mechanical aspects, e.g., paragraphing. spelling, punctuation, etc; and 4,
evaluating written work.

Twenty-eight teachers were asked this question and only 7% English teachers
mentioned all the four writing activities for their writing instruction. Another 17%
teachers, again mostly English teachers. mentioned three out of these four writing
instructional activities. The majority of the interviewees mentioned only two or
one writing activity. Forty-six percent of teachers mentioned only two activities,
and 21% of the teachers mentioned only one activity relating to writing instruction.
Seven percent teachers had responses coded 0 indicating that their responses were
not intelligible to the interviewer or the assistant who transcribed the interview
audio-tapes.

Here are some samples of the responses given. First a response which was
coded 0:

You cannot say now I am teaching writing but you just make sure

every time you are teaching there must be a writing exercise.

After every topic there should be a written exercise to show that

the pupils have understood. In writing you can’t use (not clear)

like in talking; that is why writing has to be regular.

This was a response given by a teacher of Shona. Another response given by a
Shona teacher and coded one point out of four is this one.

I give them the basic of what is supposed to be in that type of a

composition. 1 tell them how the introduction is written, then the

main body of the composition, then the conclusion. I give them

the skeleton of the composition. After that the pupils can ask me

some questions on what they are not clear. Then after that I give

them another topic to work on.

Nearly all the responses given by Shona teachers were of similar quality as

those given above. As can be seen, they rather poorly reflect the points given in

11()

the coding scheme. Many of the responses concentrated on mechanical aspects of
composing, especially the division of written texts into introduction. body, and
conclusion.

Here are two samples of the responses by English teachers. The first one
was given 4 out of 4 points.

If it is a composition and I am teaching form ones (grade 8) what
I could do is I will bring the topic to them. What we want to do
is to plan the narrative essay, word for word, step by step. " This
is how we write a narrative essay. I want you to plan the essay
on the board in your notebooks." I will move around looking at
the plans and see if they are reasonable plans (outlines). If they
are not I ask the students to change. After that they have to
write a rough draft. From the rough draft the next stage is a fair
copy (final version). I believe writing should go into many stages,
you cannot start to write in the note-book the first stage.

If is testing, 1 simply write the topic on the board and then I ask
them to write a composition. After writing I would mark (grade)
the notebooks. After marking I would pick the essays that I think
are the best and read them to the class so that they should
appreciate them. We would analyze the essay. "Any problems?
Any mistakes you have seen? What do you think about the
essay?"

If it’s a discursive composition, they will go and research on the
topic and after researching we will come and plan as above, etc.

The following is a response given by a head of English department of a
school situated in the rural areas and catering for students with limited English
exposure outside the classroom.

We have resorted to some remedial classes so that if there is a
pupil in a particular class who cannot write a good sentence in
English we have some remedial exercise for them on Fridays. We
tell the teacher who is on duty for remedial exercises. The pupils
are taught how to construct a sentence, words like the verbs,
nouns, etc. After a month we assess the pupils and see what
progress has been made.

Interviewer: "How do you handle the composition part of it?"

When I have instructed the pupils to write even a very short

composition instead of writing 400 words I say why not write 100
words because 1 know he has a problem on writing English, so it
is better to mark (grade) 100 words of good work than mark 400

117

words of bad work. I will say before you write the full

composition you need to write the introduction only then I mark

that introduction. If it is something good then they can proceed to

the next paragraph. So you will find out that by the end of two,

three weeks they are still writing one composition while the others

have embarked on a fresh topic. So 1 have said (to the students)

you cannot write a paragraph until you can write a good

sentence, and you cannot write the next paragraph until you can

write a good introduction. etc.

Lastly. another English teacher responded in this way:

It varies with the topic. At times 1 try to get a well written

passage and just use that. Discuss with the students, get them to

think why I say it’s a well written passage or any ideas that I can

get on the topic. We then try and use those ideas now to see

how we can plan on how to write a piece of written work.

In general responses by teachers of English emphasized correct language and
organizational aspects of writing, aspects of language which are difficult for second
language learners. To this end planning (making outlines) of the work to be
written about featured quite prominently in their responses.

Classroom observation of English and Shona lessons revealed that writing of
essays and compositions was less frequent than answering comprehension questions.
Out of the four or so lessons the researcher observed each of the 16 teachers
teaching only one was on writing, and generally at the request of the researcher.
Most of those lessons were focused on giving students theoretical knowledge about
how to organize a composition into three parts consisting of an introduction, body,
and conclusion. A good number of these lessons were too theoretical to invoke
students’ interests. Most of the skills emphasized in the lessons on writing
observed were those emphasized in examinations so that one got the impression
that writing was mainly important for examination purposes.

In conclusion to the discussion of data relating to theme 6 concerning Shona

and English teachers views and opinions, the following emerged as the major

patterns. First although as a group the research subjects mentioned five objectives

118

for the writing curriculum which were, 1, to develop effective communication skills;
2, to foster creative thinking or problem-solving skills; 3, to overcome mechanical
problems in writing, e.g., spelling, word division, punctuation, etc.; 4. to prepare
students for examinations in which writing skills are tested; and 5, to make
students develop the habit of using appropriate style or register. However the
individual responses of those interviewed mentioned one or two objectives for the
writing curriculum. The overwhelming majority of the teachers interviewed defined
writing in a manner which suggests that it is a process of communicating ideas
and experiences through print. Again. as a group, the interviewees mentioned four
instructional activities they typicaUy use to teach writing. These are l, prewriting
activities. e.g., understanding the topic, generating ideas, etc.; 2, directing students’
attention to salient points, e.g., intended audience and purpose for writing; 3,
focusing on organizational and mechanical aspects, e.g., paragraphing, spelling,
punctuation, etc.; and 4, evaluating written work. The individual responses of the
majority of these interviewees mentioned one or two writing activities. Most of
the responses were brief, usually one or two sentences. It appeared that most of
the interviewees rarely talked or reflected on the issues being raised by the
research questions and that their enactment of the writing curriculum was guided
by intuition and the need to prepare students for public examinations. There is a
great concern with correct grammar, expression and arrangement of ideas than the
quality of the writer’s thinking process.

The overall conclusions arising from the data presented and discussed in this
chapter will be discussed in chapter 5 which is the next chapter. Chapter 5 will

also discuss how the data discussed in chapter 4 addressed both the research

119

objectives and the research questions using the social constuctivist conceptual
framework used to guide this study. Chapter 5 will also discuss implications of

the findings as well as areas in literacy education which need further research.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How do
Shona and English teachers at secondary school conceptualize the outcomes of
literacy instruction? (2) How do these literacy teachers make instructional decisions
about what to focus on? (3) What literacy skills do these teachers focus on in
their language instruction? and (4) What factors influence language teachers’
conceptions and decision-making processes as regards literacy instruction? Data
addressing the above questions were presented and analyzed in the preceding
chapter organized around six themes. The six themes are (1) literacy teachers’
perspectives of the sources of literacy curricular goals and content and their
understanding of what students should achieve from their literacy instruction; (2)
Shona and English teachers’ views and opinions regarding examinations, especially
their strengths and weaknesses as well as their influence on literacy instruction; (3)
Shona and English teachers’ conceptions of critical thinking and problem-solving
skills in relation to literacy instructional goals; (4) language teachers’ views and
opinions regarding textbooks, especially their quantity and quality as well as the
extent of these teachers’ dependence on textbooks as sources of literacy
instructional goals and content. Themes 5 and 6 relate directly to these teachers’
conceptions of reading and writing, especially their understanding of the goals of
reading, and writing and their enactment of reading and writing instruction so as

to achieve their perceived goals.

120

121

The study was conceived on the assumption that teachers play a critical role
in what students experience in their literacy classes through the teachers’ decisions
concerning what to focus on and what not to focus on, as weU as the teachers’
understandings of the nature and purposes of literacy instruction. The study was
further conceived on the assumption that it is possible to learn what teachers
understand, and believe to be the goals and purposes of what they do through
asking them relevant questions related to what they do, and why they do what
they do. It was a central assumption of this study that listening to what teachers
said in response to questions, and observing what they did in their classrooms was
an effective way of understanding how they conceptualized issues related to literacy
and the contexts of the instruction.

The overall finding of this study is that the social constructivist conceptual
framework in which this study was grounded seems not to be in place to guide
teachers’ conceptualizations of literacy instructional goals and their classroom
practices. Social constructivist perspectives of teaching and learning places a
premium on students’ active engagement in their own learning through critical
reflection, questioning, critiquing, and inquiry. Throughout this process students
make use of their own existing knowledge and experience so as to make sense of
what is presented to them. Social constructivist approaches value multiple
perspectives on all issues under consideration.

It would appear that both English and Shona teachers’ conceptualizations of
literacy instruction are framed by the realities of their situations. The major
features of their teaching situations which shape their conceptions of literacy
instruction are the centralized curricular structures which are examination driven
and bureaucratically organized. Additional features of their work situations are

large classes, inadequate teaching and learning materials, and the use of a

122

language of instruction which is a second language to over 95% of the students.
These situations are more complex in that the first language of the majority of the
students has been marginalize for many years and is now under-utilized in its
written form.

These realities of the Shona and English teachers’ working world put them
in a situation where they have to devise coping mechanisms and develop
conceptions of literacy instruction which are different from those the researchers
are advocating. Like teachers the world over, English and Shona teachers devise
ways of managing the dilemmas they face on a daily basis as well as ways of
meeting some of the expectations of their constituencies. Social constructivist
perspectives may be appealing to researchers and other scholars, but they may not
be the best means of managing many teaching dilemmas and meeting the
expectations of different constituencies, like’administrators, parents, students,
employers and researchers. Thus. Shona and English teachers in the study sample
exhibited conceptualizations of literacy instructional goals and practices dictated by
their perceptions of the demands of their tasks in the circumstances of their
working experiences.

Data collected through interviews. questionnaires and classroom observation
suggest that Shona and English teachers conceptualize the goals of their literacy
instruction through the lenses of public examinations set at ZJC (Zimbabwe Junior
Certificate) and O’level (Ordinary Certificate), which is the terminal point for most
students who do not aspire for higher education. Examinations seem to have a
strong pervasive influence on teachers to the extent of determining most of the
activities they engage on in their instruction.

Data relating to theme 1 about Shona and English teachers’ perspectives

about sources of literacy curricular goals and content showed that examinations,

123

especially past examination questions, influenced what they taught and the breadth
and depth of content coverage even though a good number of teachers mentioned
syllabi as their main source of curricular guidance. Those aspects of literacy which
did not come often in public examinations. such as debates and other oral
communication skills were rarely emphasized in their literacy instruction. Not only
did many teachers believe that using past examinations questions is the best way
to prepare students for their finals, but also many English teachers evaluated the
quality of textbooks in terms of how best they helped them prepare students for
examinations. Past examination questions overshadow national syllabi as sources of
curricular goals because only 42.5% of the teachers surveyed indicated that Shona
and English syllabi give adequate guidance on the goals, depth and breadth of
what they should cover. The rest did not find these syllabi easy to use mainly
because they provided only details of how examinations would be set rather than
details of the expected outcomes of language teaching.

Data related to theme 2, examinations influencing instruction, showed that
the majority of the teachers acknowledged that examinations had a negative effect
on their instruction by setting limitations on their focus. For instance, many
teachers asserted that written activities are given more attention than oral ones
because examinations are set only on reading and writing. What seems to be
even more serious are the limitations imposed on their conceptualization of
reading and writing by the examination paradigm itself. Reading appeared
generally to be a process of getting meaning from print. Texts were assumed to
have meanings which transcend contexts under which they were produced.
Students were discouraged from using their prior knowledge to make sense of a
written text for fear of misreading questions that might be asked about the text.

The search for literal meaning in written texts appeared to be the major purpose

124

for all reading activities. In an extended interview session with one of the
teachers focusing on the issue of reading, the researcher was told by this teacher
that students should give answers they know to be false in a comprehension test
as long as that is the answer suggested by the text. She gave an example of a
passage in which the author wrote that Great Zimbabwe was in Malawi even
though the students’ existing knowledge knows that Great Zimbabwe is in
Zimbabwe. According to this teacher if a comprehension question , "Where is
great Zimbabwe?" were to be asked; the answer should: be," It is in Malawi."

The example itself is may be an over simplification but it highlights the
problem created by applying examination standards to real life situations. In real
life situations literate people know that texts are created by authors who have
their own perspectives as well as strengths and weaknesses which often find their
way into what they write. Those who read these texts likewise have their own
perspectives of that they read. Therefore, it is the responsibility of readers to be
aware of their perspectives so that they can compare and contrast them with those
portrayed in the text.

Data related to theme one showed that many teachers had a narrow range
of reading objectives, mostly confined to the process of getting meaning from
printed texts and training students to overcome mechanical problems like
pronunciation, fluency, intonation, etc. Objectives these tend to make readers
passive recipients of written texts. Classroom observation data confirmed teachers’
preoccupation with a desire to train students to look for literal meaning and to
pay attention to mechanical problems of reading. There was little evidence that
the majority of the teachers considered it necessary to help students reflect
critically on the subject matter of what they were reading. Only a few teachers

asked open ended questions after reading a literature text as a way of encouraging

125

students to appreciate the development of the plot in the text. Although the
majority of the interviewees asserted that there was a difference between
comprehension testing and comprehension instruction, classroom observation data
showed little or no difference. What was tested was what was taught.

Data related to theme five and six. reading and writing, showed that most of
the interview teachers found it difficult to give an operational definition of reading
and writing. Several teachers claimed that they did not have time to teach
reading. A few teachers could not say anything about the definition of reading.
All in all these teachers’ responses to the question of what is reading suggest that
there is no academic or professional discourse going on in schools about the
meanings and processes of reading and writing. The existence of such a discourse
would help teachers reflect on various perspectives or definitions of reading and
enable them create their own individual understandings of reading and writing
which would then guide their instruction. Many teachers gave a common sense
definition of reading which tended to restrict reading to the mouthing of printed
words or getting meaning from print. Most of the teachers did not seem to have
memories of professional definitions of reading and writing that might have been
received from colleges of education during their professional training. These
findings raise disturbing questions about content area teachers also have students
read and write. If teachers who specialized in language instruction have problems
in articulating what they teach on a daily basis, then content teachers who did not
specialize in language instruction may have greater problems.

According to data related to themes two and three, examinations and critical
thinking and problem-solving skills, most of the teachers asserted that examinations
did not generally test for critical thinking and problem-solving skills since most of

the questions focused on simple recall skills. However, there were some teachers

126

who had rather loose definitions of critical thinking which took it to mean any
thinking which was not based on direct memory. Such teachers asserted that
some comprehension and composition questions in examinations required critical
thinking on the part of students to answer them correctly. Their responses suggest
that critical thinking and problem solving skills are not a major concern of the
Shona and English teachers since they can not be fostered through English
because of students’ poor command of that language. Because English is the
language of instruction this appears to limit critical thinking and problem-solving
skills. At the same time Shona is unacceptable as a language of instruction
although it is the main medium through which students can be taught these skiUs.
It is perhaps fair to conclude that the notion of critical thinking and
problem-solving skills as central issues in literacy instruction does not appear to be
at a deliberate and conscious level of operation for most of the teachers in this
study sample. Classroom observation did not provide any evidence of consciously
planned and executed English or Shona lessons to foster critical thinking and
problem-solving skills.

Data related to theme five, reading, did not provide evidence that teachers)
in the study sample conceptualized literacy as a way of making meaning through ,
interpreting, reflecting, questioning and problem solving through print. The data
did not provide evidence that reading is defined as a process of constructing
meaning through the dynamic interaction among the reader’s existing knowledge,
the information suggested by the written text, and the context of the reading
situation. There was no evidence of the existence of critical literacy discourse.
The study did not find evidence of the existence of notions of literacy which, as
McLaren (1988) argues, link language competency to the acquisition of public

discourse in which empowered individuals are capable of critically engaging the

127

social, political and ethical dimensions of everyday life. Rather there was ample
evidence that we need to take heed of Eisemon’s (1988) warning that school
acquired literacy does not necessarily promote-problem solving skills if it is
acquired in a teaching environment which is oriented towards preparing students to
recall information for national examinations.

Data related to theme two, examinations, provided evidence that the
examination paradigm has forced teachers to solve the problem of defining the
goals of reading as those which are measured on large-scale tests. As Alvermann
and Moore (1991) and Winograd and Johnston (1987) argue, emphasis on literal
information becomes the norm because the acquisition of facts seems to be easily
accomplished and is more readily measured than critical thinking and
problem-solving skills. This study confirms Winograd’s and Johnston’s (1987)
observation that researchers may view comprehension as an interactive process, or
believe that strategic reading is important. or feel the need to address both
meaning and sense. Practitioners, however, are still held accountable for how well
their children perform on tests of isolated sub-skills.

Data related to theme four, textbooks confirmed a common research finding
that teachers rely very heavily on textbooks for their instructional goals and
content. This is a disturbing finding because there is a critical shortage of
textbooks in government and district council schools serving poor communities in
both rural and urban centers. The researcher often observed lessons where there
were only two copies of the textbook, one for the teacher, and another one for a
student who read aloud for the whole class. The shortage of textbooks was
always more critical in the case of Shona books. At one school where the

textbook situation was very serious, the teachers complained that the school

128

expected them to do miracles and produce good results when the students did not
even have basic textbooks.

Another discomforting finding was the inability of many teachers in the
interview sample to critically evaluate both the examinations they worried so much
about and the textbooks they depended on so heavily for their language
instruction. In some cases this was perhaps due to the newness of some of these
teachers to the teaching profession, the majority of them having been teaching for
less than five years. However, there was evidence to suggest that many of those
unable to give a well thought out evaluation of either textbooks or examinations
were not in the habit of questioning what they are told to do. They gave the
impression that they were powerless to do anything about these issues and
therefore to point out their strengths and weaknesses would not make any
difference in the way they have to put up with them. Many teachers wondered
why the researcher was asking them such questions.

The discussion about the findings of this study. like all large sample
studies, has highlighted general trends and patterns of Shona and English teachers
conceptions of literacy instructional goals and classroom practices. It should be
remembered that there were a number of individuals in extreme positions whose
conceptions of literacy and classroom practices were not captured in this
discussion. Indeed, there were some individual Shona and English teachers whose
views and opinions and classroom practices were exceptionally enlightened, well
thought out and well presented. For example the Shona teacher who was observed
teaching reading using newspapers and the English teacher who likened the
strengths and weaknesses of textbooks to those of an individual teacher and went
on lament the general tendency among many school administrators to allocate only

one textbook for each subject. Other examples have been given under the

129

discussion of teaching reading. The researcher regrets that he was unable to
capture their articulation of their conceptions of literacy and their enactment of

literacy instruction with a video camera for reasons given in chapter 3.

Implications of the Study

This study has provided data that give insights into the thinking, beliefs and
understandings of English and Shona teachers about issues related to literacy
instruction. The study also described the context in which literacy instruction is
carried out in Zimbabwe. The findings of the study touch on a number of areas
which may be of interest to those attempting to address the question of quality of
the education which is being provided to Zimbabwe’s youths at great financial
costs. It was argued in Chapter I that literacy skills determine the quality of
students’ learning progress in school and workers’ adaptability in work place
settings in an increasingly print mediated world.

A second implication of this study relates to the need for the Ministry of
Education and Culture to come up with a national literacy policy for both primary
and secondary schools. Such a policy statement should be based on relevant
research findings for Zimbabwe and should address issues relating to definitions,
nature and processes of reading and writing as well as their instruction. It may
be necessary for the Ministry of Education and Culture to study literacy related
issues throughout the education system so as to identify needs, problems, and
possible solutions before coming up with a national literacy policy statement. This
study has shown that Zimbabwe students may not be receiving the literacy
education they need to be productive members of a world society. There is an

apparent assumption that language teachers, either through their training or

131.)

practical knowledge of language instruction have adequate literacy expertise for
their instructional needs. Such an assumption seems to be unfounded.

Closely related to the above is the third implication for the need to revise
current national Shona and English syllabi for secondary schools with a view to
providing them with clear guidelines as to the goals of language instruction. In a
system where around 50% of the practicing teachers do not have degrees, let
alone full professional training, it is necessary to provide clear guidance for literacy
instruction. Such guidance will provide minimum requirements, leaving room for
creative teachers to extend the guidelines as they see fit. This is particularly
needed for Shona O’level syllabus which is presently no more than an examination
guideline. There appeared to be an impression among many Shona teachers that
were interviewed that there is not much to teach in Shona besides cultural issues.

The fourth implication relates to conceptions of the role of English and
Shona in schools. Shona and English teachers displayed fairly distinct
characteristics in their conceptualizations of literacy in the two languages. It is
arguable that these distinct characteristics are a product of the colonial legacy
which has remained a noticeable feature of the Zimbabwean education system.
The majority of English teachers were preoccupied with a felt need to help
students acquire a communicative competence in this second language which almost
determines students’ up-ward mobility in further education and in the employment
world. This communicative competence is evaluated in terms of students’ ability to
express themselves in correct grammar, spelling, pronunciation, fluency in speech,
etc., and, ability to comprehend surface meaning in texts. These have become
markers of good language usage irrespective of the content of one’s

communication. Faulty grammar on the part of any speaker often invites open

 

131

ridicule. This situation tends divert teachers’ attention from substantive issues of
communication.

On the other hand. Shona language has had a history of negative images
typical of the status of languages of colonized people. Shona is generally associated
with "uneducated" common people and is thus perceived as having very little to
offer to the "educated elites" since it is not used to communicate western scientific
concepts. Moreover all Shona speaking children go to school already fluent in the
language, and thus creating the impression that there is nothing more to learn in
Shona apart from mechanical aspects of literacy and cultural practices.

In schools the official use of Shona is restricted to the first three grades of
primary education, and only in areas where the majority of the students come
from Shona-speaking homes.

Generally, in many schools. Shona departments are the most understaffed
and experience the most acute shortage of textbooks even though they are usually
the cheapest books on the market. Very few. if any, employment organizations
specifically require a pass in Shona as a condition for recruitment.

These negative factors surrounding the instruction of Shona are part of
most Shona teachers’ working experience, and inevitably, lead to loss of confidence
and the development of self-questioning attitudes among some teachers. These are
real forces pressing on the Shona teachers as they are confronted by an outsider
firing questions about their conceptions of Shona literacy instructional goals. It is
most likely that these pressures make them appear unsure of what it is that they
want their students to learn.

One important implication of the findings of this study relates to public
examinations at various stages of secondary education. There is no doubt that

examinations are an essential component of the education system, especially in

their role as indicators of the quality of student achievement, and in turn, the
quality of the education students get. The advantages derived from a system of
public examinations should be considered alongside their inherent limitations and
possible negative influences. This study has provided data which show strong
evidence that examinations are exerting great influence on how literacy teachers
conceptualize literacy instructional goals and practices. It is perhaps necessary for
the Examinations Branch and the Curriculum Development Unit of the Ministry of
Education and Culture to review current examination practices and their influence
on what goes on in the classrooms. Such a joint review should identify subtle
negative influences of examinations as they are currently administered. There is
strong evidence that examinations, rather than curriculum guides or syllabi, drive
the curriculum which students experience in their secondary school experiences.

This study did not cover teachers’ colleges to learn how literacy is
conceptualized and enacted in teacher education programs. This is an area where
the present researcher wants to pay his attention in the future. However. it is
fair to assume that colleges of education have the major responsibility of providing
teachers with both the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge that
teachers need in order to function effectively. To what extent did these teachers’
responses reflect the knowledge base of literacy issues imparted by colleges of
education? What strengths or weaknesses did these teachers reveal which might
be related to colleges of education? In the light of these findings what changes do
teachers’ colleges need to make in their literacy programs for their language
teachers?

Readers of this study in affluent societies may find it a bit difficult to
believe that teaching and learning materials may be totally lacking in some schools.

At the same time readers familiar with this problem may ask what new ideas are

133

for solving the problem. In short, the shortage or non-existence of basic teaching
and learning materials has been a common feature of Zimbabwean schools opened
after 1980, particularly serving the poor in both rural and urban centers. In
Zimbabwe this problem was at one time highlighted in the media but it still
persists in one form or another. Even in the not-quite-poor schools, it is a
common practice that students are issued one textbook per subject even if there
are other textbooks by different authors available on the market. It is rarely
acknowledged, as one interviewee put it, that textbooks, like their authors, have
their own strengths and weaknesses, and therefore students need to be exposed to
as many different textbooks as possible. In some of the most serious cases only
the teacher had a copy of the textbook to be used for literacy instruction. The
bottom line is that if teachers are dependent on textbooks for literacy instruction,
and such textbooks are either not available or are in serious short supply, students
cannot even begin to acquire the needed knowledge and skills. In this case either
the responsible authority running the school should accept its responsibility of
providing basic teaching and learning materials, or parents should be educated to
shoulder this responsibility for the sake of their children’s education. It is not
difficult to understand the feelings of teachers who are expected to operate
without basic resources for themselves and their students.

Zimbabwe continues to spend disproportionately large sums of the national
revenue on education out of a desire and commitment to develop its human
resources. Financial resources spent on quantitative expansion of the education
system will have been wasted if what goes on in the classrooms is seriously
different from what public rhetoric leads the public to believe is going on. It is a

sincere hope of the present writer that this study has provided some data that can

134

contribute to the generation of debate on the quality of education in general and

literacy education in particular in Zimbabwe.

Limitations of the Study and
Directions for Further Research Endeavors

It is readily acknowledged that no single study carried out by one person
can do justice to issues of such importance and controversy as literacy instruction
and learning. Some of the limitations of this study were imposed by financial and
time constraints on the part of the researcher. The study used questionnaires
administered to mostly two provinces and part of a third province. This means
that teachers in six provinces were totally excluded from the study. There was
also a bias in favor of urban schools in that the researcher personally delivered
questionnaire forms and also personally collected the processed forms. This
ensured a return rate of over 95%. This could not be done with rural schools
which are generaUy widely scattered across provinces. Mailed questionnaires were
used, and as was expected, the return rate was much lower than in the case of
urban schools. Thus the responses from rural schools was 24.470 and the
responses from urban schools was 74%. Since district council schools, which are
the majority of schools opened after 1980, are situated exclusively in rural areas,
this means teachers from district council schools were under represented in the
questionnaire sample.

Also interviews and classroom observations were mostly concentrated in
urban schools because of time and financial constraints. Classroom observation
sessions were carried out mostly in urban schools except for three rural schools
observed on a one day visit basis to each of them.

The study also excluded all non-graduate unqualified teachers, who constitute

over 50% of teachers working in rural secondary schools. In a way the study

‘JI

13

sample was made up of teachers who were either graduates or fully qualified
teachers working in more favorable environments compared to those excluded from
the study. Thus, the findings of this study should be generalized only to schools
and teachers whose circumstances are comparable to those of schools and teachers
in the study sample. It is a firm belief of the writer that problems associated
with conceptualization of literacy instruction and its enactment are probably worse
among teachers excluded in this study than those highlighted in this study.

In view of the limitations of this study outlined above, it is necessary that
similar research be carried out focusing mostly on district council and church
administered schools. There is also a great need to study conceptualizations of
literacy and its instructional enactment in colleges of education so as to understand
the literacy knowledge base prospective teachers are exposed to during their
teacher education programs.

It is also necessary to carry out a similar study directed at primary school
teachers since they have the primary responsibility of laying the foundation of
literacy skills on students before they move up to secondary schools. We would
want to know and understand the continuities and discontinuities of the kinds of
literacy skills students are introduced to in their primary grades and those they are
exposed to in secondary school.

Last, but not least, we need to study both primary and secondary school
students’ conceptualizations of literacy as they go through various stages of their
education. Students are at the receiving end of the educational enterprise and
quite often their own perception of what they are exposed to help to shape what
they learn. We need to know whether students’ conceptions of literacy

instructional goals are influenced by those of their teachers or/and by other forces.

APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF SHONA AND ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF LITERACY
AND HOW THEY RELATE TO CLASSROOM PRACTICES

APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF SHONA AND ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF LITERACY
AND HOW THEY RELATE TO CLASSROOM PRACTICES

Let’s begin our discussion with a review of the questionnaire questions you
asked between February and March 1993. The questionnaire items covered these
areas; attitudes beliefs and perceptions towards English and Shona as media of
communication in a non traditional society; Zimbabwean Shona and English syllabi,
ZJC and Ordinary level examinations, English and Shona textbooks, the instruction
of reading and writing; General classroom instruction and conceptions of critical
thinking in relation to English and Shona as dominant languages.

Are there any questions you would want to raise about any of the items raised in
the questionnaire, either statements or questions which were vague or where you
needed to quality or elaborate the response you gave? Let’s spend a few minutes
reviewing such questionnaire items.

The purpose of our discussion today is to elaborate on some of the issues raised
by the questionnaire items as well as focus on other issues related to literacy
instruction which were not covered by the questionnaire.

1. (a) Let’s start by focussing on the Shona/English curriculum you teach.
Where do you derive your Shona/English curriculum goals and
objectives? (Probe with follow up questions if necessary)

(b) In your opinion what is it that students are required to be able to do
as a result of studying Shona/English at the level you teach?

(c) How do you decide on the scope of what you cover i.e. breadth and
depth of content coverage?

(d) I understand schools are required to produce school syllabuses for the
use by teachers. What difference do you see between the National
syllabus and the school syllabus for Shona/English for the classes you

teach?
(e) To what extent can you as a teacher deviate from these official
syllabuses?
2. (a) To what extent are the ZJC and O’level exams a good reflection of

knowledge, skills, competencies and dispositions you associate with
good education in Shona/English as a major medium of
communication.

(b) To what extent do ZJC and O’level Shona/English exams test for
critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

136

(b)
(C)

(a)
(b)
(C)
(d)
(C)

(0

(g)

(a)

(b)
(C)
(d)

137

What influence do these exams have on what teachers do, believe to
be important and how they teach? (Probe with follow-up questions if
necessary).

How would you describe the quality and quantity of Shona/English
textbooks you use for the classes you teach. (Probe the teacher to
talk about the strengths and weaknesses of these curriculum materials).
To what extent do you use these textbooks? e.g. all the time, most of
the time, 50% of the time etc.

If you don’t use Shona/English language textbooks all the time, what
other sources do you use? List them. What are their perceived
advantages?

What are the major objectives for teaching reading skills in
Shona/English? (Probe with appropriate questions)

Where are these objectives given so that interested people can gain
easy access to them if necessary?

How is reading defined at this school? How does this conception of
reading coincide or differ from your own?

Please talk about essential reading processes or behavior you associate
with effective reading.

Describe how you typically teach reading (e.g. selection of reading
materials, the actual conduct of the reading session, the role of the
teacher vis-a-vis the roles of students, and how the reading outcome is
evaluated).

What reading skills, abilities and disposition do you emphasize in your
reading instruction?

How do you distinguish comprehension instruction from comprehension
assessment?

What are the major objectives of the writing curriculum for the level
you teach as they are spelled out by the national and school
syllabuses?

How is writing defined at this school? Is this your own view of what
writing is or should be?

Talk about essential writing processes you associate with the
development of effective writing skills.

Describe how you typically teach writing (e.g., where do you derive
the topics students write about? Which writing processes do you
emphasize and how do you teach them? How often do students
engage in writing activities? How are the writing activities assessed?
etc.

How is the instruction of reading and writing programs influenced by
examinations students write at this level at various time? (Make appropriate
probes)

Do you think Shona/English can be used to foster the development of
higher order thinking skills to students at the level you teach? If so, can
you describe how reading and writing can be taught in such a way as to
achieve these skills.

138

What problems/constraints do you experience in trying to teach
Shona/English in such a way as to foster the development of critical
thinking and problem solving skills in your students?

What aspects of your job as a language teacher do you think your
professional training did a good job of preparing you? Which ones do you
think you need more help?

APPENDIX B

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WITH LANGUAGE E.O.s
LANGUAGE POLICY

10.

11.

APPENDIX B

INTERVIEWS QUESTIONS WITH LANGUAGE E.Os
LANGUAGE POLICY

What are the broad policy guidelines in place at the moment directing the
instruction of Shona/English in secondary schools? Probe with more
questions.

What differences are there between the policies which were in place before
1980 and the existing policies.

What are the major aims and objectives for Shona/English teaching at
secondary school level? How are these aims and objectives communicated t
classroom teachers?

Syllabi: What changes since 1980 have taken place in the Shona/English
syllabi at secondary school level?

How clear are these syllabi to the teacher who have to use them from
your observation of teachers’ language curriculum plans?

What are the aims and objectives of Shona/English teaching as
communicated by the National Syllabi.

What problems if any, do teachers encounter in using the syllabi?

What are the strength of English/Shona instruction you notice in schools?
What are the major weaknesses? How can these be rectified?

What skills, competencies and dispositions do the ZJC and O’level exams
test? Are there other skills which are worth fostering but these exams
aren’t or can’t test?

What influences do these exams have on how Shona/English in taught?
How strong is the influence and what form does it take?

How is reading conceptualized by MOE and how is this conceptualization of

reading translate in reality in terms of everyday classroom instruction by
teachers?

139

14.

140

Similarly how is writing conceptualized and instructed?

What reading and writing skills seem to be satisfactorily developed by the
current English/Shona curriculum and which ones are not satisfactorily
developed?

What are the major shortcomings of English/Shona language curriculum and
instruction you notice as you carry out you duties in schools? How about
successes.

APPENDIX C

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SHONA AND ENGLISH TEACHERS

APPENDIX C

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SHONA AND ENGLISH TEACHERS

The purpose of this study is to understand secondary school Shona and
English teachers’ opinions and views about Shona and English as major school
subjects as well as dominant media of communication in Zimbabwe. As one of the
teachers teaching one of these languages, your honest opinions will greatly help in
making this study a success. There are no right or wrong responses as far as this
study is concerned. I would simply like you to take time to share your views on
some aspects of English and Shona as major languages in Zimbabwe.

All responses are confidential. No reference to individuals or their schools
will be reported in the final study. Completed questionnaires will not be available
for review by officials of your school or the Ministry of Education and Culture. It
is necessary for you to provide your name and that of your school for purposes of
conducting some interviews with some of the respondents of the questionnaires. A
stamped addressed envelope is provided for the return of completed questionnaire
forms.

Directions: Read the following statements and circle one of the responses that will
indicate the relationship of the statement to your feelings about Shona and English
languages and their instruction.
Select ONE best answer that reflects the strength of agreement (SA)
or disagreement (SD). 1 2 3 4 5
SA ,SD
SA means strongly Agree
SD means strongly Disagree

1. Teaching the class as a whole ensures that l 2 3 4 5
the teacher covers all important points SA SD
in his lesson plan.

 

 

2. Textbook comprehension questions focus mostly on 1 2 3 4 5
recall and simple interpretation skills. SA SD
3. When students work in small groups they often 1 2 3 4 5
make mistakes which make group work less SA SD
effective.

141

10.

ll.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

142

. The most effective way of teaching comprehension

is to make students practice answering
comprehension questions.

Using past exam questions is the best way to
ensure that students are effectively prepared
for their final examinations.

It is not possible to teach students critical
thinking skills in Shona.

. When answering comprehension questions, students

should use their prior knowledge of the topic to
answer the questions.

Shona and English syllabi do not give adequate
guidance on the goals, depth and breadth of what
should be covered at any given level.

Since Shona is a mother tongue of most students,
there is really nothing to teach students except
grammar.

It is possible to develop Shona so that it can
replace English in communicating scientific
concepts.

Most students cannot reason and think critically
using English because of their poor command of
the English language.

It is more important for students to express
their points of view in English than to worry
about correct grammar.

The teacher’s primary aim should be to give
students good education rather than to make
them pass final exams.

Students’ interpretations of literature texts
they read should be accepted even if they differ
from those of the teacher.

ZJ.C. and O’Level examinations do a good job of
testing valuable knowledge and skills I value in
English and Shona.

Being a good teacher means that an individual can
provide clear directions and provide good models
that lead to correct answers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD

17.

18.

19.

20.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

143

Writing activities for students should be mostly
modeled on how they will be tested in final
examinations.

When it comes to success in life. English is more
important than Shona because it is a world
language.

I get ideas of what I teach mostly from textbooks
I use in Shona/English.

A good reader is more concerned with getting the
the real meaning of the text than worrying
whether he/she agrees with it.

. Students learn reading and writing skills best

from the teachers’ demonstrations and
explanations.

. It is more important for the teacher to talk

than for the students to talk during lesson
time.

. Students often do not provide good models to

each other of how to think about issues, so it

is not a good practice to call them frequently
in discussion unless there has been sufficient
teacher modeling and demonstrating.

Students do better on assignments that allow them
to respond to teacher structured tasks rather
than to ask their own questions.

It is more important to make students write on
topics derived from current news items on radio,

T.V. and newspapers. than from past exam questions.

It is more important to show students how to reach
a solution than to allow students to make
guesses and speculations.

Students learn best from teacher explanations
rather than from students’ explanations and
discussions.

For most students, Shona language captures the
essence of their thinking and belief systems
than English which is more widely used in
teaching school subjects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD

29

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

38

144

Most students take Shona at O’Level because it
is easy to pass rather than because of its
perceived value in their lives.

All non-Science subjects should be taught through
the medium of Shona up to O’Level.

In my opinion the O’Level examinations in Shona
and English do not test for critical thinking.

Writing activities should focus more on the use
of correct grammar, good expression and
presentation of ideas rather than revealing the
writer’s thinking process.

Reading is mostly a matter of interpreting the
text than getting the correct answer.

The goal of instruction is primarily for students
to remember what they have read or been told.

. Students’ assignments should be derived from

past public examinations or be closely modeled
on those examinations as a way of preparing
students for their finals.

. The teacher should always grade all students’

writing assignments.

. It is not a good teaching practice to present

students with frequent choices over what they
read or write.

English and Shona education officers are very
helpful sources of ideas and advice for teaching
language imaginatively and creatively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

l 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA S D
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD
1 2 3 5
SA SD

to

Name:

 

Gender: M F

Name of School:

 

School location:

Rural Urban

Responsible Authority administering School:
Government Church District Council
Private Foundation Any other

Grades being taught: F1, F2, F3, F4. F5, F6

Highest Academic qualifications:
O’Level A’Level B.Ed BA MA. Any other

Highest Professional qualifications:
T1 T2 Secondary Teachers’ Certificate
Grad. C.E B.Ed. Any other

Teaching Experience:
1-5 years 5-10 years Over 10 years

APPENDIX D

ORGANIZING THEMES FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRE DATA

go

APPENDIX D

ORGANIZING THEMES FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRE DATA

Theme one: Sources of curriculum goals. content and conceptions of what
students should alchieve Questions 8. 10. 12. 18. 28. 30

Questions 8: Shona and English syllabi do not give adequate guidance
on the goals, depth and breadth of what should be covered at any given
level. Responses were 39% agree, 42% disagree, and 18% not sure.

Question 10: It is possible to develop Shona so that it can replace
English in communicating scientific concepts. Responses were 20% agree,
68% disagree, 12% not sure.

Question 28: For most students Shona language capture the essence of
their thinking and belief systems than English which is more widely used in
teaching school subjects. Responses were 64% agree, 16% disagree, and
20% not sure.

Question 30: All non-Science subjects should be taught through the
medium of Shona up to O’level. Responses were 11% agree, 81% disagree,
and 8% not sure.

Question 18: When it comes to success in life, English is more
important than Shona because it is a world language. Responses were 74%
agree, 16% disagree, and 9% not sure.

Question 12: It is more important for students to express their points
of view in English than to worry about correct grammar. Responses were
40% agree, 42% disagree, and 18% not sure.

Theme two: Examinations. what they testfiand their influence on what is
taught Questions 5. 13. 15. 17. 25. 31. and 35

Question 5. Using past exam questions is the best way to ensure that
students are effectively prepared for their final examinations. Responses
were 55% agree, 26% disagree, and 19% not sure.

I46

b)

147

Question 13: The teacher’s primary aim should be to give students
good education rather than to make them pass final exams. Responses were
57% agree, 25% disagree. and 18% not sure.

Question 15: Z.J.C. and O’level examinations do a good job of testing
valuable knowledge and skills I value in English and Shona. Responses were
55% agree, 19% disagree. and 26% not sure.

Question 17: Writing activities for students should be mostly modeled
on how they will be tested in final examinations. Responses were 68%
agree, 16% disagree, 16% not sure.

Question 25: It is more important to make students write on topics
derived from current news items on radio, T.V. and newspapers, than from
past exam questions. Responses were 48% agree, 26% disagree, and 26%
not sure.

Question 31: In my opinion the O’level examinations in English and
Shona do not test for critical thinking. Responses were 31% agree, 48%
disagree, and 21% not sure.

Question 35: Students’ assignments should be derived from past public
examinations or be closely modeled on those examinations as a way of
preparing students for their finals. Responses were 68% agree, 16%
disagree, and 16% not sure.

Theme three: Conceptions of critical thinking in relation to English and
Shona literacy curriculum and instruction Questions 6. IL 144 23. 25. 26. 27,
3_1

Question 6: It is not possible to teach students critical thinking skills
in Shona. Responses were 10% agree, 79% disagree, and 10% not sure.

Question 11: Most students cannot reason and think critically using
English because of their poor command of the English Language.
Responses were 71% agree, 18% disagree, and 11% not sure.

Question 14: Students’ interpretation of literature texts they read
should be accepted even if they differ from those of the teacher. Responses
were 75% agree, 11% disagree, and 14% not sure.

Question _2_3: Students often do not provide good models to each other
of how to think about issues, so it is not a good practice to call them
frequently in discussion unless there has been sufficient teacher modeling
and demonstration. Responses were 21% agree, 60% disagree, and 19% not
sure.

Question 26: It is more important to show students how to reach a
solution than to allow students to make guesses and speculations. Responses
were 74% agree, 16% disagree, and 11% not sure.

148

Question 27: Students learn best from teacher explanations rather than
from students’ explanations and discussions. Responses were 20% agree.
50% disagree, and 30% not sure.

Question 25: It is more important to make students write on topics
derived from current news items on radio. T.V., and newspapers, than from
past exam questions. Responses were 48% agree, 26% disagree, and 26%
not sure.

Question 31: In my opinion the O’level exams in Shona and English
do not test for critical thinking. Responses were 31% agree, 48% disagree,
and 21% not sure.

Question 34: The goal of instruction is primarily for students to
remember what they have read or been bold. Responses were 54% agree,
28% disagree, and 18% not sure.

Theme Four: Teachers’ conceptions of textbooks.

There were only two questionnaire items focusing on this theme, namely
items 2 and 19.

Item 2 said, "Textbook comprehension questions focus mostly on recall
and simple interpretation skills." Responses were 437 (54.6%) agreed; 202
(25.2%) disagreed, and 162 (20.2%) not sure.

Item 19 said; " I get ideas of what I teach mostly from textbooks I
use in Shona/English." Responses were 329 (41%) agreed; 282
(35.1)disagreed, and 192 (23.9) not sure.

Theme Five: Views and opinions about meaning. goals, and instruction of

readinglcomprehension Questions 2, 4, 7, 14%, 21, 33, 37

Question 2: Textbook comprehension questions focus mostly on recall
and simple interpretation skills. Responses were 55% agree, 25% disagree,
and 20% not sure.

Question 4: The most effective way of teaching comprehension is to
make students practice answering comprehension questions. Responses were
61% agree, 24% disagree, and 16% not sure.

Question 7: When answering comprehension questions, students should
use their prior knowledge of the topic to answer the questions. Responses
were 26% agree, 62% disagree, and 12% not sure.

Question 14: Students’ interpretation of literature texts they read
should be accepted even if they differ from those of the teacher. Responses
were 75% agree, 11% disagree, and 14% not sure.

149

Question 20: A good reader is more concerned with getting the real
meaning of the text than worrying whether he agrees with it. Responses
were 68% agree, 16% disagree. and 16% not sure.

Question 21: Students learn reading and writing skills best from the
teachers’ demonstration and explanation. Responses were 64% agree, 18%
disagree, and 18% not sure.

Question 33: Reading is mostly a matter of interpreting the text than
getting the correct answer. Responses were 53% agree, 26% disagree, and
21% not sure.

Theme Six: Views. opinions and beliefs aLbout meaning. goals and instruction
of writing/composition Questions 17, 21, 25L 32. 37

Question 17: Writing activities for students should be mostly modeled
on how they will be tested in final exams. Responses were 68% agree. 16%
disagree. and 16% not sure.

Question 21: Students learn reading and writing skills best from the
teachers’ demonstrations and explanations. Responses were 64% agree, 18%
disagree, and 18% not sure.

Question 25: It is more important to make students write on topics
derived from current news items on radio, T.V. and newspapers than from
past exam questions. Responses were 48% agree, 26% disagree, and 26%
not sure.

Question 32: Writing activities should focus more on the use of
correct grammar, good expression and presentation of ideas rather than
revealing the author’s thinking process. Responses were 51% agree, 27%
disagree. and 22% not sure.

Question 37: It is not a good teaching practice to present students
with frequent choices over what they read or write. Responses were 39%
agree, 39% disagree, and 22% not sure.

APPENDIX E

SUMMARY AND COMMENTS ON
SHONA/ENGLISH CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

APPENDIX E

SUMMARY AND COMMENTS ON
SHONA/ENGLISH CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

Ms. Mbodzwa: En ish

Comprehension. The teacher tried to provide appropriate introductions to
the lessons which helped to activate students’ prior knowledge of the content of
the reading passage. She also tried to make students use the SQ3R reading
technique. Questions asked of students’ reading comprehension skills were always
taken from the textbook and were mostly of simple recall nature. The teacher put
more emphasis on students’ ability to answer questions asked by the textbook
author, and by extension, by an examiner. This appeared to be a direct influence
of the examination system on teachers’ conceptualization of reading comprehension.
Students were not made to interact with the text in a manner that would make
them compare the text and their own experiences. The text was not made a
subject of critiquing of evaluating.

Compositionlletter writing were taught in a manner which put more
emphasis on structural/mechanical and organizational aspects of writing. More class
time was spent on things like parts of composition or a letter. Some textbook
models were ineffectively used, for example, students made to write appropriate
ending to a story about a mother who had left her child in scourging sun while

working on her plot. What was missing in this teacher’s composition lessons was

150

151

how students went about generating ideas to write about which appropriate to the
purpose of the writing exercise. Students’ work showed problems of what to write

about

Ms. Muyamuri: English

Comprehension was taught in a way which suggested that the teacher
believed in using specific techniques for students to comprehend a text. With the
regular class the SQ3R technique was used. The teacher also tried to activate
students’ prior knowledge and experience of the content of the reading passage.
She led students through questions to discuss the education system prior the
colonization, during colonization and after colonization in Zimbabwe arising from a
reading passage on Education in Zimbabwe.

On both occasions comprehension instruction followed a comprehension
testing model. Students were given a topic to write as homework and when their
work was returned teaching would follow, paying special attention to areas not
done satisfactorily by students. Discussion centered on the theme of the reading
text-human sense of sight was poor because the students did not have enough
background knowledge on the topic and copies of the textbook were not enough
for all the students to read for themselves effectively . This teacher also taught
special education students. She did not teach a writing lesson for the researcher to

observe. Summarizing skills were stressed as part of comprehension instruction.

Ms. Masungeni: Shona

Comprehension. Ms. Masungeni often tried to engage students in
pre-reading activities meant to activate students prior knowledge about the subject

matter of the reading passage. Reading itself was done both silently and aloud

although silent reading at times was difficult for students who had only 4 copies of
the textbook. When the material was taken from Rurimi Rwaamai not much
attention was given to discussing the content of the text because of the length of
the passages. A general weakness of the comprehension instruction noted was
inadequate and uncritical discussion of the content of the reading passages, for
example," Mabasa en’anga". Much attention was paid to reading the passage and
answer simple recall questions given at the end of the reading passage. This
teacher taught a lesson on proverbs in which students were asked to narrate a
short story and then give an appropriate proverb to summarize it. Or the teacher
would write an incomplete proverb and then asked students to complete it. This
appeared to have been dictated by ZJC and O level exams which often test
students’ knowledge of proverbs rather than from teacher’s conviction that it was a
worthwhile lesson to teach. This teacher did not teach writing lesson during the

times the researcher went to the school to observe her.

Makunumure: Shona
ReadinglComprehension. Two lessons were taught on reading. In both cases

the teacher introduced the lessons by asking questions meant to activate students’
prior knowledge of the subject matter to be read and to put students in the right
frame of mind for reading. In both lessons there was some attempt to delve into
salient issues raised by the reading passages. In the first passage the effects of
beer drinking were discussed. The teacher asked a few questions meant to make
students make interpretations of some salient issues encountered in the reading.
,However she could not resist the temptation to impose her own interpretations
and to ask leading questions. Over all one got the impression that this teacher

believed in drawing inferences from what students read but then she did not

153

encourage students to explain and defend their own perspectives. She quickly
imposed her own perspective. One is tempted to link this up with a view of
reading promoted by examinations.

This teacher taught two compositions lessons, one on letter writing and
another on discursive composition. The main focus of both lessons were
organizational issues e.q. types of letters, the different formats between a friendly
letter and a business letter, types of compositions, parts of compositions. No
attention was paid to substantive issues like generating appropriate ideas to suit
the purpose and audience for the writing process. Students were assumed to have

no problems in coming up with appropriate ideas to write about.

Ms. Gwedebu : Shona

Configrehension / Reading. Reading comprehension was the main focus of all

 

lessons I observed in this teacher’s class. Usually students took turns to read a
paragraph or two and the teacher constantly posed questions to check on students’
ability to comprehend what was being read and to raise or draw students’
attention to points the teacher regarded as important, like idiomatic expressions or
cultural practices. Usually this teacher did not give her lessons any formal
introductions, for example questions meant to activate students’ prior knowledge of
the theme of the passage to be read. She did not encourage student to student
interactions. When reading literature material great emphasis was put on
interpretations, e.g., the title of the book Makunun’unu Maodzamwoyo. This
teacher had no training in teaching and therefore tended to teach in the way she
was taught at the University. She dominated her literature lessons by giving her
own interpretations of events highlighted in the passage read, and not much was

done in the way of making students react to the issues being raised by the text.

154

For homework students were assigned the task of answering some questions set at

the end of the passage.

Mrs. Chindere: Shona

Comprehension] Reading. Reading was always preceded by some prereading
activities, mostly students answered questions posed by the teacher meant to
activate their prior knowledge of the theme of the reading passage. When it came
to reading the chosen passage students took turns to read a paragraph or so,
while the rest of the class followed in their textbooks. The teacher asked questions
as the reading progressed meant to check on students’ comprehension of salient
issues met in the passage, e.g., idiomatic expressions, interesting points, and
difficult points which needed interpretation, etc. When the actual reading was
completed, students were asked questions meant to get their reactions to some of
the issues read as well as to check on their overall comprehension. This teacher
did not depend on textbook questions. rather she formulated her own which suited
her own objectives of reading. Even the reading materials were not restricted to
textbook passages. Newspapers were used and students were asked to identify what
they wanted to read. They would then explain to the class what they found
interesting, significant or educative. Students were asked to write what they would
do if they were in the situation of the characters depicted in the reading.

Writing Composition. Before students were set work to write they got a lot
of help through class discussion of the issues to be written about, including
unpacking the title itself. The students were made to brainstorm what they would
write about and the teacher also gave an example on which the students could

model their own writing. The class paid attention to vocabulary and arrangement.

(J1
'J1

Appropriateness of content and language were also central to the writing skiUs

students were being taught.

Ms. Kasanje: Shona

 

Reading Comprehension. The teacher can be described as average and
slightly above average in her instructional competence. Reading lessons were always
introduced by the teacher asking some questions to activate students’ prior
knowledge of the theme of the reading passage. Then the teacher would read one
or two paragraphs to model what she wanted students to do. As students took
turns to read aloud the teacher would interrupt the reading to ask questions
meant to check students’ comprehension as well as to draw their attention to some
salient points met in the reading, like new expressions, difficult points which need
interpretation as well as interesting points. When the reading was completed, This
teacher would ask mostly simple recall questions taken from the textbook. Some
of these questions would be answered as sit work in class or as homework. One
or two questions which need interpretation or inference would be asked. What was
conspicuously missing is a systematic attempt to make students critically interact
with the text to express their own reactions to what the passage was about in
terms of both content and form, i.e. language and organization. Reading was
taught the way it is tested in exams--students answer textbook questions and that
is it. What can we infer from this about the teacher’s definition of reading?

Composition. This area of literacy was slightly better handled than reading.
The lesson taught began with the teacher asking to students to give examples of
one word composition titles. This led to the mentioning of "Nzozi" and "Barika"
etc. The class then discussed "Barika" as a possible composition title. Through

questions the teacher led the class to discuss the organization of a composition of

156

this type into introduction, body and conclusion and the kind of ideas which can
be discussed in each part. However the teacher led discussion was shallow in that
it focused on surface issues like the experience of students of polygamy. Critical
issues like historical origins of " Barika" and its future in a fast changing social
and economic environment were not discussed. The teacher’s perspective of "
Barika" was unambiguously conveyed to the students rather uncritically. Nor were
students assisted in taking a critical look at their own perspectives of "Barika".
Structurally, Mrs. Kasanga’s lesson was satisfactory but it failed to be an occasion

for critical reflection. and problem-solving skills using literacy.

Mrs. Madude: English

Reading Comprehension. This teacher’s instruction of reading was openly
influenced by the context of her teaching English as a second language. Emphasis
was put on students’ ability to comprehend what they read, i.e. ability to
remember or recall skills. Hence the passages were read more than once and
follow up questions were all meant to check on students’ ability to recall
information they encountered in the reading passage. In another lesson several
students read a dialogue involving several characters, each reader representing one
character in the passage. In another lesson the emphasis of the instruction was
on making students master reading technique SQ3R. Reading in all cases was a
means of gaining knowledge-information but not creating meaning nor critiquing
the text by the reader. The question is, do second language learners have the
linguistic skills which can make them interact with the text so as to evaluate it,
draw conclusions based on their experience and make interpretations? At the level
of Form 2 or 3 it is fair to say students should be able to react to what is

contained in the text rather than simply concentrate on understanding what the

157

text is saying. Should the two aspects be separated just because the learners are
second language learners? I would say no. This teacher’s reading instruction did
not make students interact with the text as active readers, rather it concentrated
on making them absorb what is in the text rather passively.

Composition Writing. The writing lesson 1 observed this teacher teaching
was situational composition, a kind of composition which requires students to
develop some ideas given about a specific situation. Students were presented a
situation where by a neighbor’s house catches fire and were required to write
about this situation. Students were led to brainstorm the ideas they would write
about in groups and then they would report this to the class. The rest of the class
was required to comment on each other’s reports. for example, ideas, arrangement
of ideas, and the language used. Students got a lot of assistance through a model
found in the reading passage and the teacher’s comments as we” as each other’s
comments.

This teacher’s literacy instruction appeared to be greatly influences by exam
requirements. e.g., the special ZJC English Practice Book she often used as a
textbook is written specifically to drill on specific linguistic skills. Emphasis was on
correctness rather than on creativity, interaction, reflection and problem-solving

skills.

Mr. Hindumurwa: Shona
All the five lessons taught while I observed this teacher’s classroom practice
were on reading literature set Wakandigoma Wena. On one or two occasions the
teacher began the lesson by asking students a few recall questions meant to link
the lesson with previous lessons on the subject of literature. On the other

occasions 3\4 of the time was spent on the actual reading. In all cases one or two

158

good student readers would read for the whole class which did not have copies of
the set book. Only the teacher had a copy of his own and he would give the
other copy to a student to read aloud to the whole class. Occasionally the teacher
would ask a few recall questions at the end of a chapter. The overall aim was to
read as many chapters as possible in one lesson. This meant that very little time
was spent on discussing characters, events and conflicts. Thus the questions asked
were meant to check on students’ recall skills rather than to critique aspects of
the plot. the theme and characters. Only in the last lesson were students given sit
work to answer a question on the appropriateness of the book’s title Wakadigona
Wepa in relation to the conflicts dealt with in the book. When students were
asked to read what they had written it was clear that they had problems in
answering the question. From my point of view this was not surprising given the
fact that students had no copies of the text to read\study closely on their own,
and also given the speed at which the reading was done without any meaningful
follow-up discussion. What is the definition of reading portrayed by this kind of
instructional process? At best it is a mere mouthing of the words printed in a
text hoping that such a process can help a listener to remember what he\she has
heard. This teacher’s teaching represented one of the worst cases 1 had ever
experienced in that one could not infer any well throughout objectives in what he
was doing. He was quite cynical about whole situation. Admittedly the absence of
textbooks for this subject was very serious problem for this teacher, but then a lot
more could have been done in the circumstances than what he did.

He did not teach any writing for me to observe other than the seatwork
students were asked to do answering a literature question. It was only for about
10 minutes and it was more of a test than a lesson meant to teach students the

skills of writing.

159

Mr. Ganhirai: Shona

 

fiding Comprehension. One lesson was focused on poetry reading/study
and the other one was focused on reading a novel, a literature set text. The
poetry reading lesson covered such aspects classification of poems according to
thematic frames, stylistic devices used in the poem, for example. repetition,
alliteration, use of similes, proverbs, and idiomatic expressions. The teacher used
questions to lead students to identify these stylistic devices. Students were also
given chance to identify these stylistic devices in the poems they read. Students
were also given chance to ask the teacher questions about the poem or what he
was trying to make them learn. In this lesson the main preoccupation was to
equip students with skills needed to study poetryuability to identify stylistic devices
and their effects. This is the format used in public examination questions at this
level. Students were not asked or made to say out their own reaction to the poem
"Ndirni here nhai vanasikana." There was no attempt to evaluate the poem in
terms of its theme or language, etc. The focus was on what the poet presented.
The aim of the lesson appeared to be reading as many chapters as possible in the
35 minutes session. The teacher asked very few questions meant to check on
students’ ability to remember what they had just read, but not to react to the
reading by bringing their own perspectives based on their experiences. Where
interpretations were necessary the teacher himself did that, e.g., the practice of"
Kutizira" when a girl fell pregnant before marriage. All together four chapters of
the set book were read in this one lesson.

Composition Writing. The lesson was taught at my request a day or two
before it was taught. The lesson focussed mainly on mechanical aspects, e.g.,

introduction, body and conclusion, and the types of compositions students knew.

160

Two or so composition topics were used to illustrate these aspects. These were
topics used "Ndambakuudzwa akaonekwa ava nembonje pahuma" and
"Matambudziko akasanganikwa nawo pamusana pekusanaya mvuru gore rakapera."
These were typical topics set in O’level exams. The teacher was mostly interested
in teaching students how to write an effective introduction. There was no
discussion of what makes a good introduction followed by brainstorming to give
students chance to practice writing effective introductions. When students were
asked to write suitable introductions for the two composition topics, they were
unable to do this effectively showing that they had not been effectively helped to
master this skill. For homework students were asked to choose a topic of their
liking and then write a five lines composition concentrating on introduction. On
the whole this was a poor lesson which displayed poor/or inadequate
conceptualization of its objectives and appropriate strategies to be used to achieve

them.

Ms. Tarirako: Shona

Rigging Comprehension. Two lessons on literature reading were observed
being taught by this teacher, one poetry and another novel, Makunun’unu
Maodzamwoyo. The poetry lesson emphasized knowledge of and ability to identify
stylistic devices in a poem. Students were not asked to react to the poem so as to
reflect on the theme, message and other aspects in terms of their own experiences.
They were not asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the poet’s stylistic devices.
The way poetry is examined in final public exams is the way it is taught -students
have to demonstrate their knowledge of poetic devices rather than their
perspectives of the text in terms of its theme and subject matter. The reading of

the novel was quick paced, two chapters were covered in 35 minutes by using one

161

or two very fluent readers to read for the whole class which did not have copies
of the text anyway. At strategic points the teacher would interrupt the reading to
ask one or two recall questions and to comment on interesting events. If there
was any interpretation to be made it was done by the teacher who did not appear
to have identified salient points in the reading passages for close analysis. Again
the text was not made a subject of close analysis through student reaction,
questioning and evaluating what was being read.

Composition Writing. The topic was "Mutsauko wavepo pakuwanana
kwakare nekwamazuvano". First the teacher drew students’ attention to the three
main parts of a composition, i.e., introduction. body and conclusion. Using this
title the class was led to discuss what would be covered in each part. The class
discussed the various types of marriage practices followed before colonial period
and during colonial period as weU as what is now being followed. This gave the
material/content of the composition. Throughout the discussion the teacher gave
students the information which they did not have. Some more knowledgeable
students also participated effectively to give the required knowledge about different
marriage practices. This was a well handled lesson although student participation
could have been increased by using cooperative groups to discuss various types of

marriage practices among the Shona people.

Ms. Madavaenzi: Shona
Reading Comprehension. This was done in the context of very limited if
not non existent supply of textbooks. The two lessons observed focusing on reading
comprehension were more of review/revision lessons following students’ rather poor
performance on work set as homework. For the first lesson students had not done
well a summary exercise. So the passage was read again and later the students

were asked to identify topic sentences in every paragraph as a strategy to use

162

when doing a summary exercise. A few students who had performed better than
others were asked to read their work as a way to help others see what was
expected of them. On the whole the lesson was more on testing reading
comprehension than teaching it. The teaching which followed the testing focused
mostly on rectifying identified weaknesses in students’ written work.

After this part of the lesson the teacher introduction another reading
exercise although there were only about 7 minutes before the lesson was due to
end. When the passage was read students were set questions to answer as
homework. The questions were taken from the textbook. Once again emphasis was
on testing reading comprehension. The other reading lesson observed was
structured more or less as the one described above, i.e. review of written work
followed by loud reading and answering comprehension questions as homework.
There was no discussion of salient points and characters met in the reading.
Students were not made to react to the passage other than through answering
comprehension questions. Questions asked of the students were taken from the
textbook.

Composition Writing. The lesson on composition was the second part of a
lesson which had started as a reading comprehension lesson. In other words there
was no conceptual relationship between the two parts. Thus both parts did not get
adequate time. Students were given a choice of composition topics to write on.
Either "Vakomana nevasikana vanofanira kuita mabasa akafanana" or " Muimbi or
Mutambi webhora or Mudzidzisi or Mutungamiriri wenyika wandinofarira". This
was to be written as homework. Students were required to write a plan for the
composition before actually writing the composition. There was no teaching
component in this part of the lesson . rather there were testing procedures. The

"teaching" of literacy by this teacher is mostly restricted to giving assignments and

163

tests rather than to give students direct instruction of skills they need to develop
competence in literacy. She is an example of the teachers D. Durkin found testing
and asking questions rather than getting involved in direct teaching of literacy
skills. What is the definition of reading and writing implied by this kind of

teaching?

Mrs. Mhemhede: English

Reading Comprehension. Four lessons focusing on reading comprehension
were observed including poetry reading. Basically the teacher followed a thematic
approach to her reading instruction. This means that the teacher would study
closely the theme of the passage to be read in class and then base her instruction
on trying to make students understand this theme through her closely focused and
well thought out questions. Mrs. Mhende always aimed at fundamental issues
rather than surface meaning. The lessons would be introduced with the teacher
leading the students through questions to talk about the subject matter of the
reading passage, e.g., prison life (poem), writing drama, one’s hobbies. This was a
way of making students use their experience in making sense of the reading
passage. . . . In addition to this key vocabulary related to the theme of the
reading passage would be introduced for discussion. The passage would be read
and the teacher would take note of salient points for further discussion. This
teacher’s main aim was to make students understand the essential points in the
reading passage and to show this understanding by being able to talk about them,
and reflect on their meaning in students’ own experience. Students would work in
small groups or as individuals focusing on one aspect of the passage and would be
asked to read their thoughts or findings to the whole class which was expected to
comment and critique these group or individual reports. She displayed a good

mastery of literature and

l ()4

language perhaps due to her being a trained graduate teacher. Unfortunately the
students, because of their poor command of the English language, were not
forthcoming in expressing their feelings and thoughts despite the teacher’s close
probings. In the end she did more talking than she would have liked to do, and
fortunately she was aware of this problem.

Composition Writing. Like the reading lessons, the writing lesson had been
thoroughly prepared for before it was taught. The teacher thought through the
theme of the writing exercise-presenting an argument and how to make students
understand and apply the skills and techniques of argumentation. The lesson was
introduced by the teacher leading students through questions to discuss the term
"argue" and what is involved in making an argument. The term was broadly
defined and the process of argumentation was exemplified. The teacher read a
summary of techniques to follow when making an argument from a book. She then
displayed a chart summarizing the process of expressing opinions where some
people agree and others disagree and yet still others appear neutral. Students were
then put into smaU groups of 5 and each group was given a controversial issue
around which the group was required to make a stand. A number of these
controversial issues, appropriate for the class’ age group, were written on the
board. Later groups were given chance to report to the class their written
summaries, and the class, in turn. commented on the reports. Finally. a topic
about decontrolling the price if cornflour, the national staple food, was given.
This issue was current news in the country. Students were to write this as

homework.

165

Ms. Hombarume: English

Reading Comprehension. There was evidence that this teacher did a lot to
prepare for her lessons, for example collecting newspapers and identifying sources
which dealt with the theme of the reading passage. In other words reading
comprehension instruction was organized around a definite theme, e.g., causality,
economic hardships, murder, etc. The students had been asked to look for and
collect newspaper articles. Two newspaper articles dealing with murder were read
and discussed in class. The teacher led the class to speculate on the possible
causes of the murder. The class turned to a similar theme in a textbook passage.
The class was asked to use the survey method, first looking at the heading,
pictures in the text, and reading the first paragraph to predict what the theme of
the passage might be. The teacher fired questions which were meant to direct
students’ attention on specific issues. The students worked in cooperative groups to
answer some questions. Towards the end of the lesson the students were asked to
put themselves in the position of some of the characters they read about and say
what they would have done in those situations. This was meant to make students
not just understand the passage but come to grips with human conflicts and
dilemmas, and hence think critically of problems people meet in life. Another
reading lesson was focused on making a summary, and to this end the teacher
concentrated on teaching students strategies to be followed when attempting to
make a summary. This teacher’s instruction of reading was consistent with her
conceptualization and definition of reading which emphasized both moral and
cognitive development.

Composition Writing. Again a lot of thought was put into the preparation
for this lesson as was shown by the manner in which it was executed. The teacher

asked students to look for "stop-press" summaries in newspapers and then compare

166

them with fully developed stories. She wanted her students to appreciate the
differences, similarities and relationships between stop-press stories and full stories.
To this end real newspaper stop-press examples were used. for example, the class
read a passage on the bombing of Hiroshima and made a stop-press summary. In
groups students worked on two stop-presses which they were to develop into full
stories. They were to discuss or brainstorm the ideas needed to make a full story
out of each summary. The stop-presses were; a bus accident following attempts to
cross a flooded river and the resulting death and injuries of some passengers, and
a fire which guttered a block of apartments. After working in groups to write
appropriate or suitable stories out of these summaries, students were to read their
stories to the whole class which in turn was to comment and critique on the
group stories pointing out strengths and weaknesses and awarding an appropriate

grade or mark for the report.

Ms. Mhemberero: Shona

Reading Comprehension. Reading lessons for this teacher, like other Shona
teachers in many government schools are made less effective through lack of books
in addition to the teacher’s weaknesses. This teacher always introduced her
reading lessons with a brief discussion of some of the aspects of theme of the
reading passage, a way of preparing students for comprehension by activating their
prior knowledge. Reading is done aloud by one or two pupils taking turns
followed by the teacher asking recall questions to check students’ comprehension as
well as meanings of proverbs and idiomatic expressions. When the reading was
completed a few more simple recall questions were asked and then students were
set homework which required them to answer five or so more recall questions

taken from the textbook. There was no attempt to generate students’ reflection

167

and/or evaluation of what was read, what they found interesting, unusual,
disagreeable. etc. There seemed be a belief that the text can not be questioned
by the students, all they need to do is to understand what it is all about.
Composition Writing. A double period lesson was used to teach both
reading comprehension and composition. The passage read for comprehension
entitled Makwikwi Munhandare Yebhora was used as a model for a composition
lesson. Students were given a composition topic" Makwikwi ekuimba ezvikoro zviri
mudunhu medu andakaona." Using the reading comprehension passage as a model
for composition writing is a good idea, but it can stifle creativity on the part of
many students who may think there is only one way to write a descriptive
composition of that type. Apart from this. the teacher did not assist students in
creating ideas to write about. perhaps under the assumption that students will
transfer or apply what was done in the reading passage on to the composition
task. What was emphasized was the division of the composition into introduction,
body and conclusion. The teacher emphasized the need for students to write
effective introductions. To this end students were asked to review the way the

reading passage was introduced.

Ms. Gwedebu: Shona
ComprehensionZReading. Reading comprehension was the main focus of all
the lessons I observed Ms. Gwete teaching. Usually students took turns to do a
paragraph or two and the teacher constantly posed questions to check on students’
ability to comprehend what was being read and to raise or draw students’
attention to points the teacher regarded as important like idiomatic expressions or
cultural practices. Usually Gwete did not give her lessons any forma introduction,

e.g., activate students prior knowledge of the theme of the passage to be read.

168

She did not encourage students to student interactions. When reading literature
material great emphasis was put on interpretations, e.g., the title of the book
Makunun’una Maodzamwoyo. Mrs. Gwete has no training in teaching and
therefore tended to teach in the way she was taught at the university. She
dominated her literature lesson by giving her own interpretations of events
highlighted in the passage read and reduced students to the role of mere listeners.
The lessons on reading comprehension on "botso" was spent on loud reading and
not much was done in the way of making students react to the issues being raised
by the text. For homework students were assigned the task of answering some

questions set at the end of the passage.

APPENDIX F

ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW DATA WITH
45 LANGUAGE TEACHERS

APPENDIX F

ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW DATA WITH
45LANGUAGETEACHERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Representing ouL of Four
I T t 111 r 1
jUhere do you derive your 5 Four i Three | Two One Zero Not
jinglish/Shona Curriculum l l l Asked
. 1 1 1 1
II

lEnglish Teachers j 4 j 4 l 9.5 l 6.5 l 0 j 1 l
‘ . . .o’
Shona Teachers ’ l 2 l D.) l 8.3 1 l 1

Lg g , l
lTotal l 5 l 6 l 16 j 15 1 2 l

 

 

 

 

Key: l-Syllabus; Z-Textbooks; 3-Examinations; 4-Perceived needs of students
or society

 

 

 

 

 

Questi2n_112
Representing out of Three

1 Uhat is that student are required Three Two One Zero Not
to be able to do as a result of Asked
studying English/Shana at the level
you teach?

I English Teachers 1 1 l 12 10 0 2 l

1 Ghana Teachers l O l 13 l 6 I O 1 l
Total 3 l 25 j 13 o 3 l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icy: 3-Communication skills in various situations by various means; 2-To
be critical and creative in and when using language; 3-Gain knowledge
e.g. culture.

169

170

Representing out of Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

T’* I I T I I
I How do you decide on the scope of I Three I Two I One I Zero I Not I
I content coverage when teaching? I I I I I AskedI
L . l I I
I I I I

I English Teachers I 1 I 5 I 3.5 I 5 I 15 I
L4, ; . ‘

IShOna Teachers I 1 I 3 I 5.5 I 1.5 I 9 I
I Total I 2 I 8 9 2 I 24 I

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key: 3-Stndents' easiness uben acquiring target skills; Z-liae

constraints; l-exaeinations guidelines

Question 1d,

Representing out of Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IIhat are the differences between Two One Zero Not
the school syllabus and the national Asked
syllabus? I
I English Teachers I 6 I 14 I 0 5 I
I Shona Teachers I 5 I 8 I 4 I 3
I Total I 11 22 I 4 I 8 I

J J i l l

 

Key: Z-Sclool syllabus is lore elaborate or detailed; Z-ibe school
syllabus is geared toward the specific circnestances oi the school

and its students.

171

Question lc.

Representing out oi One

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

r__.m._l-..___.__w_.____--u --I- .

ITo what extent can one deviate fro- One Zero Not

Ithe syllabus? Asked

I English Teachers I 5.5 I 3 I 16.5 I

I Shona Teachers I 7.5 I O I 12.5 I

I +

I Total I 13 I 3 I 29 I
in 1 1 I

 

Key: There is no limit as long as there is a balance in the attention
paid to various language skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

52!!! &- 9n ”:—
To what extent are the ZJC and Yes No partially Off Not
O'Level exans a good reflection Topic Asked
of knowledge, skills, conpetencies
and dispositions you associate
with good education in Shona 1 2 1 2 1 2

I English Teachers I 1 I O I 2 I 9 I 1 I 3 I 6 I 2

I Shona Teachers I 3 I 0 I 5 I 3 I 2 I 1 I 6 I O

I Total I 4 I 19 I 7 I 13 I 2

I I1 I, I] I I1 I

 

 

 

Key: 1-point nere yes
2-points yes, plus good explanation

172

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wits.
To what extent do ZJC and O'Level Yes No partially Off Not
exans test for critical thinking Topic Asked
and problen-solving skills.
2 2 1 2
I , I I I - I I I I
I English Teachers I 4 I O I 1 I b I 7 I 2 I 3 I 2
I h I I I I I I I I I
I shona Teachers I 4 I O I 5 4 I 3 I l 3 I O I
I I I I I
I Total 8 I 16 I 13 I 6 2 I
l l l l L 1
Key: 1-point mere yes
2-points yes, plus good explanation
W
Hhat influence do these exans have Yes No partially Not
on what teachers do, believe to be Asked
inmortant and how they teach? I I
II1 II 21' III ZJI JI II
I I
I English Teachers I O I 3 I 5 I12.5I I I
I Shona Teachers I 4 I 1 I 3 I11.5I 6 I
I I I I I I
8 I 32 I 1 I 13 I

I Total

 

l

l

 

Icy: 1-point nere yes

2-points yes, plus good explanation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W
flow would you describe the quality I Enough I Not Enough Not AskedI
of textbooks you use for classes I I I
you teach? I I I I
t f I I
I English Teachers I 11.5 I 8 I 3.5 I
I 4: I I
Shona Teachers I 5.5 I 13 I 3.5 I
I _L J J
I I I I
I Total I 17 I 21 I 7 I
I l I I
W2...
Representing out of Three
IQuality of texts you use. Two I One Zero Not
I I Asked
I English Teachers 21 3.5 I O 1
Shona Teachers 8 8.5 I 1 2
I Total 29 I 12 I 1 I 3
l _L 1
Key: 2-Description plus example; l-Here description;
O-Inadequate description
W
Representing out of Four
ITo what extent do you use A B C D Not
textbooks? Asked
IEnglish Teachers 1 I 9.5 5 I O 9.5 I
IShona Teachers 1 12.5 2 I 2 I 2.5 I
ITotal 2 I 22 7 I 2 12
Key: Arall the tine; books; B-Host of the tine; C-SOZ of the tine

D-less than 502.

 

Question 3c.

U8

I74

Representing out of Four

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

 

Uhat other sources besides A B I C Unintell Not
textbooks do you use to -igible Asked
teach English/Shona?

IEnglish Teachers 4.5 6 4 O 8.5
Shona Teachers 6.5 4 2 1 6.5
Total 11 12 6 I 1 15

Key: A-l type of source; B-Z types of sources; C-3 types of sources

'on 4a.

Representing out of Four

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iflhat are the major Four Three Two One Zero Not
objectives for the reading Asked
curriculum?

IEnglish Teachers I 2 I 5 I 11.5 I 3.5 O 3
Shona Teachers I 0 I 0 9.5 7.5 2 I 1 I
Total I 2 I 5 21 I 11 2 I 4

 

 

Rey: Objectives of reading; 1-To gain knowledge or information;
2-Critique a text; 3-To overcome mechanical problems e.g. fluency,
pronunciation etc; 4-enjoyment or pleasure

Qasatien_&bi

Representing out of Three

 

 

I

 

l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

l

IRow'do you define reading? I A I B 0 Not I
I Asked I
English Teachers I 12.5 I 4 4.5 4
Shona Teachers I 7.5 2 7.5 2
Total 20 I 6 I 12.5 I 6 I

Rey: Ara process of getting meaning from print; B-a process of interacting
with print according to a predefined purpose; O-no definition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nggtion 4C.
Representing out of Five
I How do you typically Five Four Three Two One Zero Not
teach reading? Asked

I I I I I I I
I English Teachers I 1 I 1 I 4 I 11.5 I 5 I .5 I 3

I I I s I I I I
I Shona Teachers I 0 I 1 I 2 I 7.5 I 5 I .5 3

I I I I I; I a I
I Total I 1 I 2 I 6 I 19 I 10 I 1 I 6

1 l J l 1 l L I

 

 

Rey: 1-Prereading activities; 2-Directing students to salient points and
features; 3-Student's personal response to the text; 4-Focusing on
mechanical aspects e.g. pronunciation, fluency, punctuation, etc;
S-Testing or evaluating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

t' 4d
Row do you distinguish I Yes I No IUnintell-I Not
comprehension instruction from I igible Asked
comprehension assessment? I I I I
I
I 4T 4E] I 1
I I1|2I1I2I
I
I English Teachers I 5 I 7 4.5I 0 I 1 I 5.5 I
I Shona Teachers 2 I 5 8.5 1 I 1 I 5.5 I
I Total I 19 I 13 II 2 I 11 II
I l 1 l I

 

 

Icy Distinction between comprehension testing and teaching

Yes or no plus plausible explanation

176

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qggfitign 5c.
Representing out of Five
IHhat are the major Five Four Three Two One Zero Not
Objectives of the Asked
writing curriculum
English Teachers I O I 1 4 I 7 I5.5 I 1 I 6.5 I
I I ‘ I 1 I
I Shona Teachers I o I o 2 I 3 II1.5 I o I 3.5 I
Is I I I I
I Total I 0 I 1 6 I 10 I 17 I 1 I 10 I
#1 l J I 4 l I
Rey: 1-Effective communication; 2-Creative thinking or problem-solving
activities; 3-Overcone mechanical problems; 4-Prepare students for
exams; 5-Use of appropriate idiom or style/register.
W
Representing out of Three
flow is writing defined? A I 0 Not
I I Asked I
I English Teachers 8 1 I 2 15 I
I Shona Teachers 10 I 0 I 1 9 I
I Total 18 I 1 I 3 I 24 I
J P i l ]
Rey: Ara process of communicating ideas and experiences through print or

putting ideas on paper; B-a process creating ideas or thoughts and

organizing them for social interaction.

177

 

 

 

 

Question 5c.
Representing out of Four
IRow do you typically Four Three Two One Zero Not
teach writing? Asked
English Teachers I 2 I 4 9 I 1.5 I .5 I 8
Shona Teachers I 0 I 1 4 I 4.5 1.5 I 9
Total 2 5 13 6 2 17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rey: l-Prewriting activities e.g. understanding topic, generating ideas, etc
2-Directing students to salient points e.g. audience and purpose;
3-Focusing on organizational and mechanical aspects e.g paragraphing,
spelling, punctuation etc. 4-Evaluating written work.

APPENDIX C

ENGLISH O’LEVEL SYLLABUS

APPENDIX G

ENGLISH O’LEVEL SYLLABUS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
IMPORTANT NOTE

Candidates for English language MUST enter as follows:

(0) Candidates in the Caribbean area must enter for Subject ll l5:
(b) Candidates in Singapore and Brunei must enter for Subject I 120:
(r) Candidates in Zambia must enter for Subject ll2l(‘):

(d) Candidates tn Seychelles must enter for Subject ”24:

(e) Candidates in Mauritius must enter for Subject “25 or I l26:

(0 Candidates elsewhere must enter for Subject l l23.

N0 candidate nury enter for more than one English language subject.

GCE (0) Subject 1115
(Amiluble at Caribbean centres curly).

Three compulsory papers (Papers lllS/Io3) will be set as follows:
IllS/l (I hr.)

Ills/2 (I'A hrs.)

HIS/3 (I hr.)

Paras IIISII and lllS/l will both contain a choice of alternative subjects for continuous composition. In both
papers candidates will write one composition. A similar choice of subjects will be set in both papers.

The Chief Examiner does not wish to encourage candidates to indulge in time-sasting word counts but suggests
that about 500 words is an appropriate length. \hbrit that is much shorter will tend not to deal adequately with
the topic. while greater length tends to produce an abundance of error frorn all but the ablest.

Paves HIS/2 will consist of a passage or passages of prose upon which questions will be set to test the
candidates‘ ability to understand the content and argument of the given at and to infer information and
meanings from it. Questions to test the ability to summarize rrmy be included.

What the examiners reward in the summary is precise detailed material. a mark being given for each relevant
point. the maximum number of points available being greaterthan the total rnarlt forthis section (i.e. acandidate
canscore full marksforthescction withoutrnentioningallthepoints). Aboutaquarterofthemarksinthis
questionareallocatedforcorrectwriting.a Vi mark beingdeductedfrornthatallocationforeacherror.

GCE (0) Subjects 1120, 1123. 1114, 1125

IMPORTANT. These subjects are available only as stated in Notes (b). M). (e) and (t) abate

Two compulsory papers will be set in all three subjects as follows:

Paper I (composition) (In hrs.) (50 marks)

Paper 2 (comprehension) (Wt hrs.) (50 marks)

A third compulsory paper(oral test) is set forcandidates in Singapore (Paper ll20l$)and Brunei (Paper "20(4):
the oral test is optional for candidates in Seychelles (Paper "2413).

Pam l will contain:

(a) Acompositionononeofanumberofaltemativesubjects.
(b)Acompositionbasedonasituationdescribedindetail.‘l'hesituationmaybedescribedinwords
or pictures.

Parts 2 willconsistofapassageorpassagesofproscuponwhichquestions willbesettotestthecandidates'
ability to understand the contern and argument of the given test and to infer information and meanings from
it. Questions to test the ability to summarize will be included. See also comments about summary in HIS/2
above.

- mmuwmrawauuwmaw.

178

17‘)

ENGLISH LITERATURE

Note: The cditmns of C lmm‘cr and Shakespeare which will be used by the examiner: at both Ordinary and
Advanced levels will be those ufRubtnson (0. U. P.) and of Alexander (Collins) respectively, unless otherwise
stated. It is not intended . lllltt‘t'l't‘f. that these should be regarded as prescribed editions; candidates may use
any edition for study. unless otherwise stated.

GCE (0) Subject 2000
(Available at Caribbean centres only) [May not be taken with Subject 9000]
One paper (Paper 2000/l) of 2 hours 40 minutes will be set.

Candidates will be required to answer five questions as follows: one context question and one further question
in Section A on either Shakespeare or another major English writer. and three essay questions tn Section B
on at least two other texts.

The context questions may require candidates to explain words and phrases. to re-write passages in modern
English. or to relate an extract to the work as a whole. There will be one context. one text-based and one essay
question on each of the texts set in Section A. There will be one text-based and two essay questions on each
of the texts set in Section B.

The prescribed texts‘ are:

Section A

'Shaltespearc The Merchant of Venice
Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre

Charles Dickens Great Expectations
Section B

'Chinua Achebe No Longer at Ease

'Mildred Taylor Roll of Thunder. Hear My Cry
Singapore Short Stories ed. R. Yeo (Heinemann)
Graham Greene Brighton Roch

lack Hydes Touched With Fire (Section C)

l. B. Priestley An Inspector Calls

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
GCE (0) Subject 2010

(Not available at Caribbean centres) [May not be taken with Subjects 9M. 9N3]
The format of and texts for this examination are as for Subject 2W English Literature (above).

(Note anune 1993. questions forSubjethOlO willbesetcnmetextspreacribedinthesyllabuslor
November 1992.)

GCE (A0) Subjects 8014 and 8015/8016

(Not available at Caribbean centres.)
Principal subject papers 9002. 900311 or 7 may be offered as a subsidiary subject.

° Seaman‘s—dove.
'Setatsoiorlm.

APPENDIX H

SPECIMEN SHONA EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 1

 

APPENDIX H

SPECIMEN SHONA EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 1

3159/1 0 NOV
SHONA
PAPER 1

Monday 22 OCTOBER 1990 2 hours

(No additional materials required)

MOM” mmmmmuwmmmnmv
Mm- ___ .:
mmmnmvwmmmmnmvuuu’mm
”amusement“ mmmflMUMlu “MM"
muwmmmmnmvwmmmmnmv
nan-untu‘ us, in vw‘mm
mmmvwmmmmnmwwmm
mmwmmmmmnmvwmmmm
W'MMM‘MWUMWMMNWO

wtmmmnmvmm
mmvwmmmmvmmmmm

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
in collaboration with
THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, ZIMBABWE

General Certificate of Education

 

Ordinary Level
Instructions to candidates:
Mibvunzo yose inofenire kupindurwe neCHISHONA chats.
Pindura mibvunzo YOSE.

180

 

 

1

2.

[SI

Chiltamu I: Rondadzero

(Zvichakubetsira kuti upedze AWA IMWE CHETE pachikamu chino.)

Setudze musoro MUMWE CHETE kubva pane inotevera. Zvino chinyora neChishone
chekenaka rondedzeto. kena hurukuro. kena tsamba ina mapeji anokwana matatu chete.

(a)
(b)

(a)

(d)
(e)

Dzinza rangu.

Nyora rungeno runenge ruchisanganise vanhu eva mukati marwo: amei.
mwanekomane wavo. matsotsi. mepurise.

Nyora hurukuro paketi pomu‘komane nomusikena. Mukomane ati'kuremba musikena
weakakangenisa asi musikana ari Ituti unondiroore chete.

Hope.

Nyora tsambe kuhema yenyu yeketeme mudunhu menyu kete kare uchiiudze
kusanduke kweite dunhu rokwenyu kubve 'rnuna 1980 petakawena kuzvitonga
kuzere.

[50]

Chiltemu II: Zvirungemuteuro

Tipe tsumo dzeChishona dzinowitirana netsanenguro dziri pano. Sarudze tsenenguro
SHANU chete.

(a)

(b)
(c)

(d)
(a)

(f)
(a)

(h)

Mwana wokumba huru kunyenge ari muduku zvakedii. anowene rukudzo kubva
kuvakuru.

Kane ishe akapara mhosva. haazvitongi; enototongwa navemwe. '

Kane matembudziko ekawira vme mubatsiri nomubatsirwi zvinopa nhamo
yakakombe.

Musi wenyatwa vanhu vanotaridze rudo nemutsa Itune uye anenoe awiiwa nenjodzi.

Kuone munhu mupiumi otambura zvokuti anopemha zvinenoe zvichireva kuti pave
nenhamo huru.

Muupenyu hwavanhu hazviwanzi kuitika Ituti musikena akanaka agoroorana
nemultomene akenaka.

Kane munhu achiita chinhu ngeekurumidze nacho nokuti kunonoka
kunaengokonzera zvinhu zvizhinii zvingamutadzisa kuchipedzise.

Nyangwe Itune chinhu chisingakodzeri kuonekwa. meso enongoetekane atatisa.

182

3 Nyora zvakare ndima inotevera asi uchiisa zviito zvekekodzere panzvimbo
yenyaudzosingwi dzakanyorwa namavara metete (italics)

Godzi akati ndichibeye nepfumo. Jekanyika ndokuti perutivi svetu. plume reGodzi
ndokuti muuswa rimbwa rimbwe. Jekanyika ndokuriti dzu/ru dzuku dzuku. tibu ndokuriti

.....

Godzi akegoti nduni yeive muchiuno make yaive nomusoro unenge ehikete chemvura
wee; Jekenyika ndokuzvuvawo yaks; vose ndokudziti mumeoko dzvi, dzvi.
Vakagonyahwairirana vekatarisana. Ndidopunza. musoro waJekanyika netsvimbo.
gomene ndoltuti zvero pakadaro dau; tsvimbo yaGodzi ndokusvotoka mumeoko yoti
kwakedaro vhii. iye muridzi oitevera ndokuti muuswa tsurundundu nomusoro. [10]

Chiltemu Ill: szvisiso nepfupiltiso

4 Nyatsoverenga nyaye iyi u90pindura neChishona mibvunzo inotevera:

Rimwe zuve Mendigone ekenge ari mumba make achingofunga
nezvenhemo dzake. Pfungwa dzakamuku'nda ndokubva are‘ge It't‘t‘ruke
kwaeiite. Akepfugema ndokuise maoko eke pechigero ndokuite
somunhu eida kunemata. Akange obvunde neheshe. Akavambe
kutaura. "Nhai veri kumatenga. ndakepara mhosvai isinaaripwi
zvondoperangwa rope reyendisingezivi Irweyakadyiwe?
Zvondorumwa nemego andisine kudenhe nhende yawo, zvait'e sei?
Hamusimi here munoti gerwe heridyi chemupiupi nekureva?
Muchitizve chero chinoze neronga? Nhei veri kumatenga ndieniko
anondikende jecha kumeso?" Misodzi yakabva yavamba kubuda.
icho chifundi choita sechume kumeso kwake. "Musha wepinde
mhunzamushe; mhuri yaperal“ Akambomira ndokupukute misodzi
nekechira. “Mekendipa mepudzi ekewende chaizvo. ndikekuomberai
nemuiaro mukuru. Zvamenditorera mapudzi angu matatu esati agute
mvure. munoti nditi midzimu yedzvove here? Dengwe rengu
makaritont rave dununu. Mwenasikana wenguzve ndiye wameketora
esati obvire kuvigwe peehuru. NdiMariga here alteti adye nenhete?
Inge ndinoite zvamunode' zvekuti kana kuchinpe kvvaneya mukombe
uyo. ndichiti mupotewo muchidzivirire mhuri mhepo. dzokei imi
mops mhuri yenyu mekotsi. Hamunzwiwo here zvinorehwa
nernucheche wenyu? lnoneye inosiya numera; ko iyi ndeyepi
yokukure ivhu rose?" Akambonyarare kwakanguva kadiki
ndokuzorusimudzirezve. "lye murume wengu pane zveanoziva.
Ndakemuti kugata akatyorera zvimiti munzeve. Munhu ari age here
iyeye? Zvichida ndiye akebura nyuchi dzisine mote. Dei ekeremba
kunzwa zvendekareva ndeingoti kundiehore. Babemunini vake
vakemuti kugate vekaone kuri kumalteta. Niere dziye dzeisifashukire
dzakemutize. Nhasi tsime rekepwe. Kumbe kwangu ongokuuye kana
kune urwere. Nguve zhinji opedzere kumukadzi mudiki. Asi pane
chevanorangane veri veviri? Ihwo hwende hwevo hwebvepi vanhu
venge voita hwenhungo dzedenge? Ndaimboti chamusi bare
kutamba nembvva; asi nhasi chiaepe chevo chave cheruva nenyuchi.”

(Kurumwe necholtuchere by G. T. Runyowa)

183

(a) Mandigona akenga achiita chii asati etange kutaura mezwi ari mundima umu? [I]

(b) Chii chinonzi mhunzamusha? [1]
(c) ”Mwenasikena wenguzve ndiye wemeketora asati obvire kuvigwa pachuru." Ko

patsike yechivanhu mwene uyu akevigwe pai? [I]
(d) Ndaapi mazwi aMendigona anoretidze kuti iye empire midzimu yaks? [I]
(e) “NdiMerige here ekati adye nenhete?" Meshoko eye anotaridzei nokufunge kunoite

Mendigone patsike yechivenhu? [1]
(f) Ipa chikonzero chalteite kuti Mandigona ati. "Munhu ari age here iyeye?" [1]

(9) Tips medimikire eri mundima umu anoreva zvimwe chetezvo namezwi aye:
(i) chinhu chisingawanzoitika
(ii) kuita kuti mumwe munhu apinde mumatambudziko.
‘ [2]
(h) Peizwi rimwe nerimwe reanotevera. ipa rimwe izwi rt’mwe chats rinoreva zvimwe
chetezvo eokushandiswe kwarakaitwe mundima umu:
(i) chinoza
(ii) dununu
(iii) hwende
(M mhopo
[4]
(i) Tsanengura zvirevo izvi sokushendiswa kwazvakaitwa mundima umu:
(i) zvondoperangwa rope reyendisinqazivi kwayedyiwe
(ii) midzimu yedzvova
(iii) mopa mhuri yenyu mekotai
(iv) voite hwenhungo dzedenga
[8]
(n Nyora ndima imwe chete isingadarllti mazwi makumi mashanu uchirondedzera
nemazwi alto pachezvelto zvinonetae Mandigona. [10]
[30]

APPENDIX 1

SPECIMEN SHONA EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 2

APPENDIX 1

SPECIMEN SHONA EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 2

3159/2 0 NOV
SHONA
PAPER 2

Thursday 25 OCTOBER 1990 2 hours

(No additional materials requured)
WAS!" Of CAAOAIDGI LOCAL UAW ”0N8 SYNDICATE WMRSITV OF CAACRIDGL' LOCAL WHOM: SYNDICATE mm 0’
CAACRIDGI LOCAL HANNA "0N3 SYNDt‘CA T! UNIVIRSITY Of CAMSRIDGL’ LOCAL HAUINA "OHS SYNDICATE MIASIYY OF CAURIDGE LOCAL
RAW "0N5 SYNDICAYL’ UNIVERSITY Of CAHORIDGL' LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICA 7! UNIVERSITY Of CAMIAIOGL’ LOCAL mm "0N8
SVNOICA YE UNIVL'RSI" OF CAWAIOGL’ LOCAL mum IIONS SYNDICA 7! UNIVERSITY Of CAUOAIOGL' LOCAL marina "MS SVNOICAIL’
WMASIYV OF CARRIDGE LOCAL HANNA YIONS SYNDICA YE OWNERS!" Of CAMORIDGL’ LOCAL HAWA "0N8 SVNOICA Y! WNIRSITY Of
CAHAIDGL’ L OCAL HANNA "OHS SYNDICA If UNIVERSIYY OF CAMOAIOGL’ LOCAL HANNA "0N3 SYNDICA 7E UNIVL'RSI" Of CAAIAIOGL’ LOCAL
(1AM "0N5 SVNDICA 7f UNIVL’ASIYY OF CAMOHIDGL’ LOCAL name "OHS SYNDICA 7‘ WNERSI" OF CAMOAIDGL‘ LOCAL UAW "ON:
SYNDICA re UNIVERSIYY OF CAMBRIDGL’ LOCAL WWNA "OMS SYNDICA I! WNL’RSI" OF CAMORIOGE LOCAL HANNA "OHS SYNOICA 7!
WAS!" 05 CAHAIOGE LOCAL HAW "OHS SVNOICA YE WAS!" O! CAMOAIOGL’ LOCAL mm "at: SYNDICA If UNIVERSITY N
CAI-0106! LOCAL UAMNA "OHS SYNOICA fl UNIVIRSI" OF CAmtOGI LOCAL UAW "0N8 SYNOICA 7! W8!" Of meme LOCAL
WYIONS SVNOICA 7! UNIVL'ASIYY OF “MIAMI LOCAL RAMANONS SYNDICATE W 0' CAHRIOGI LOCAL MOMS

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE

in collaboration with

THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, ZIMBABWE

General Certificate of Education
Ordinary Level

Instructions to candidates:
Yase pemwe chete unofenire K upindura mibvunzo MISHANU chete.

184

Chikamu l
Pindura mibvunzo MlV/Rl CHE TE muchikamu china.

1 Mazwi anotevera anodaidzwa kunzi zvidudziramazita (Oualificatives) Nyatsoaongorora
ugoita izvi:

(a) tipe rudzi (mhando) rwedudzirazita racho.
(b) mupanda kana mipanda yemazita anodudzirwa echo seizvi;

Dudzirazita Rudzi Mupanda

yekudya chirevamwene 4,9
wake — —
umu — —
rimwe — —
mechena — —
vaChipo — —

uko -- —
' [12%]

2 Nyatsoongorora zvirevo zvinotevera ugotipa mood yechiito chakanyorvva nemavara
matete (italics).

(a) Kuti tikasire kusvika kuchikoro ngatifambisei.

(b) Akaenda kumunda ndokusiya vana vachichema nenzara.

(c) lwe mukomana mukuru mhanya unodaidza vasara kumunda.
(d) Akarohwa ekawira pasi.

(e) Ndipei mazwi anodudzire mazita maviri.

(f) Anowenza kuuya kuno mazuva ose.

[12%]

3 Chimwe nechimwe chezvirevo zvinotevera chine chiito chakavandurirwa.
(e) Nyora chiito chacho.

(b) Ttpe rudzi rvvechivanduriro chacho.

(i) Penzura yangu hainyetsobatika.
(ii) Misikanzwa yeke ndiyo incite kuti erohwe.

(iii) Zino irema rinosekera warisingadi.

(iv) Sekuru vaenda kumunda kunodyarurura nzungu dzisina kumera zvekanaka.
(v) Mhepo ndiyo yekapfurunura denga remba yekuchikoro.

(vi) Unotofanire kushingirira kana uchida kupfuma.

(vii) Zvokugara muchitukana hazvina unhu.

(viii) Bhuku iri rine ngeno dzinosetsa.

[12%]

ISO

4 Nyatsoongorora mazwi aya wozopindura mibvunzo inoatevera:

lyi, chena, icho, chino
avo, iri. badza, vedu
mumwe, mai, kure. mberi
Umba capu/ative kubva pane rimwe nerimwe rawo. Usadzokorora kushandisa
sungawirirano yawamboshandisa. [12%]
Chikamu ll
Chikwata A:

Pindura mubvunzo UM WE CHET E muchikwata china.

5 Sarudza nhetembo imwe chete yaunofarira kubva mune dzawakanzi uverenge. Zvino
chitsanangura zvainoreva uye mashandisirwo omutauro sokuti;

dzokororo
mashandisirwo emazwi

wirirano kumagumo emitsetse, nezvimwe

6 Kubva munhetembo dzawakanzi uverenge. sarudza ina dzinotaura nezveimwe nzira
yokurarama nayo muupenyu hwevatema vekare ugotaura zvaiitwa zvacho munhetembo imwe
neimwe. [25]

7 Sarudza nyanduri umwe chete ane nhetembo dzawakanzi uverenge ugotaridza

zvaanenge anonyanyofarira uchishandisa nhetembo dzake nhatu kutsigira zvaunofunga.
[25]

Chikweta B:
Pindura mubvunzo UM WE CHET E muchikweta china.
8 Sarudza munhu mumwe chete waunoti ndiye mutambi mukuru murungano rwuri muna

Kumuzinde Hakune Woko ugotsanangura kuti ndezvipi zvinoitwa nemunhu uyu zvinoita kuti
uti ndiye mutambi mukuru. [25]

9 Tsanangura chidzidzo chaunowana kubva muupenyu hwemumwe nemumwe wevanhu
vane vari muna Rurime Inyoka. [25]

187

10 Mashoko anotevera akatapurwa kubva muna Rurimi lnyoka. Zvino iwe titaurire kuti;
(a) akataurwa nani
(b) kuna ani

(c) chii chakanga chabva kuitika kana kuti kutaurwa

' (i) "Chimbobikira vamwene, vamwene vambozorora. lmba, imba, unoidii mwana
muduku?"

(ii) "Ehe-e zvino ungatevedzere zvezichapa iro tine shanje yokurambwa
kwarakaitwa?"

(iii) "K0, base rangu haurizivi? Ndanga ndazvitaridzwa mubhodyera rangu."

(iv) “Munoti muroora muroora chii? Makamboona amai chaivo vanoti kana mwana
wavo asipo vosara vopfimbira mukadzi wake mumwe mwana?"

(v) "Chetingangoita ndechekuti iwe worega kuenda kumba kwehenzvadzi yako
nhasi. Unoswera zvako pano pamba, ini nditi kubasa."

(vi) "Chokwadi? Rega ndidaidze Mai Mashumba. lzvozvi tanga tichingotaura nhasi
chaiye."

(vii) "Honguka. asi akaramba zvake. Ko. munhu anomanikidzwa here
chaesingedi . . . Anodanane nomudzimai wake."

(viii) Ndingagoita sei? Chii chimwe chandingaite? Ndinoroora. Usatye zvako."
[25]

Chikwata C:

Pindura mubvunzo UM WE CHET E muchikwata chino.

11 Tsanangura matanho akatevedzwa naSajeni Chimedza kusvikira abudirira mukufeye-feye
mhosva iri muna Sajeni Chimedza. [25]

12 Joe Rugare angangonzi ndiye honzeri yematembudziko anowira vanhu murungeno rwuri
mune Pafunge. Unobvumirana nazvo here? Tsigira kufunga kweko neumbowo hunobva
muhhuku iri. [25]

13 Tsanangura zvinhu zvina zviri muna Pafunge zvinoita kuti ufunge kuti upenyu
hwevatema mudhorobhe rereru hwaisayemurika. [25]

APPENDIX J

SPECIMEN ENGLISH EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 1

APPENDIX .1

SPECIMEN ENGLISH EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 1

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
in collaboration with
THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, ZIMBABWE

General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level

ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1122/1
PAPER 1
Monday 6 JUNE 1994 Morning 1 hour 30 minutes
Additional materials:

Answer paper

TIME 1 hour 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Write your name, Centre number and candidate number in the spaces provided on the answer
paper/answer booklet.

Answer two questions.

Answer one question from Section A and the one from Section B.
Read the paper carefully before answering the questions.

Write your answers on the separate answer paper provided.

It you use more than one sheet of paper, fasten the sheets together.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.
You should Spend 50 minutes on Section A and 40 minutes on Section B.

188

189

Section A

Answer one question from this section. Write a composition on one of the following t0pics. Your
answer should be about 350-450 words in length.

1

Describe what happens at your school on the last day of term and your feelings on such a
day. [30]

Write a story based on one of the following statements:
Either (a) It was only then that everybody realised that the villagers had been tricked. [30]

Or (b) It was then that I began to regret having told anyone about what had happened.
[30]

N.B. YOU WILL BE PENALIZED IF YOU REPEAT A STORY WHICH YOU HAVE
ENCOUNTERED ELSEWHERE.

An ungrateful relative. [30]

Would you agree that at school sport is just as important as attending lessons in class? [30]

The long wait. [30]

Discuss the pleasures of one of the following: fishing, photography or swimming. - [30]

Describe some places of interest that you think a visitor to your district would like to see and
learn more about. [30]

190

Section 8

Answer the following question. Begin your answer on a fresh page. You should spend not more
than 40 minutes on this section.

Using the statistical data provided below, write a report for your local newspaper on the
number of road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe.

Your report should deal with the main reasons for the number of accidents and analyse their
trend since 1981. You should also suggest possible ways of reducing the number of
accidents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road Traffic Accidents and their Causes: 1981 — 1993
CAUSES YEAR AND NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS
1 981 1 985 1 989 1 993
Drunken Driving 500 540 596 650
Speeding 860 872 880 995
Faulty Vehicles 700 750 786 860
Unlicensed Drivers 150 1 65 1 80 200
Negligent Driving 850 935 985 1086
TOTALS 3060 3262 3427 3791 [20]

APPENDIX K

SPECIMEN ENGLISH EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 2

APPENDIX K

SPECIMEN ENGLISH EXAM QUESTIONS
PAPER 2

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PAPER 2

Wednesday 27 OCTOBER 1993 2 hours

Additional materials:
Answer paper

WM‘SI" or “Maniac: LOCAL 51mm nous sv~c~cm UWDSIN or maniac: LOCAL (umu Flo-is smoca 'E L~IV§.S"' L“ fund‘s: ;C-CA¢
(uviuncws sworn: wthS-W C“ Emma“ LO-J. em'ms mo,“ tf www.53- o: (maniac: .cca. {mu-i..- “CW5 SW: CA 1 mall's-W 0‘
CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EMMIM in~$ SWOIC‘Y! LWNIR$"V05 CAMBRIDGE LOCAL ('MMUE‘NS SNHOICA'I UMVF'SI’V CJ ‘auB‘O-G! -551. E'AMvMY'-~S
CMICA 'E 4,-NIW'5‘W 0‘ CAMOAIDGE LOCI. Euum ”0N5 SW04“! UNIVE'S'" C“ CWDD'SGE LCCA. (WM ”Cr-S imi-CA ’! uni-'5!" ’* «.‘r' CAMBP'C 56
LOCA. (“MM-ADC!“ SVWCA VP UNIVE.S'" OI CAMGIIDGE LOCI. tummtvo-is SleC-i'f WMINSi" C“ 504108106! LJCAL («MANIA "C'~< iVNClCA'E
WMDSIYV C“ Cane-incl LOCAL (nwmariotvs $V~OvCA7E UNMDS'W 0‘ CAMGDIOGE L034. tumurims SmCrCA-‘T Lam/68$!" 0‘ cunt-moo! .CCA.
(umu-«nous mac-cm until/[89" 0‘ (“09066 LOCI. (WM VON: WiCATE WRRSIYV 0‘ CMML‘GE .CCA. (“MM “6&5 SmCJJ-‘F «MRS-5"” C"
CAMOMOGE LOC‘L (“WMYIONS SWDICA'E umvffls'fir or CAMBRIDGE LOCAL ammo“ sin-OCH: umu/{BIN 0‘ CA val-loo: .CC‘L (umu-4'0“
smpm': WW'SI'V 0t CAMOMOGE LOCAL (UM-u nous smarts Vt wwnsm 0‘ 64538106! LOCAL (WM fio~s 5010:6175 win-sin 0' €08!”th
LOCA. (umu no~s swam it arm/(MIN OI CAMMIDGI LOCAL (mwana-s SYNOvCAYl! wmnsm OF CAMOMOGJ .ocau Euwu no~s SWIM"!

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATIONS SYNDICATE
in collaboration with

THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE, ZIMBABWE

General Certificate of Education
Ordinary Level

 

Instructions to candidates:

Answer all the questions. You should spend not less than one and a half hours on Section A and not
less than 30 minutes on Section B.

The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ 1.

Leave a space of ONE line between your answers to EACH PART of a question, e.g. between 1 lb) and
1 (cl.

Leave a space of at least THREE lines after your completed answer to each WHOLE question.
Mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar may be penalised in any part of the paper.

191

192

Section A (40 marks)
Read the following passage carefully before you attempt any questions.
Answer all. the questions. You are recommended to answer them in the order set.
Mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar may be penalised in any part of the paper.

(The author. along with Martin Nace. Paul Osborne and their team. is attempting to climb
to the top of a peak in the Himalayas, where this story is set.)

Day after day we crept on and upwards through the desolate valley towards the
mountain towering above us. but never appearing to get any nearer. It felt like being
trapped at the bottom of a deep well, for all the progress we were making. Soon we
were thinking of the ascent of the mountain not only as an end in itself but as an
escape. After what seemed to be an eternity, we reached the foot of the mountain,
'established camp and plunged into the arduous task of preparing for the ascent. Our
food and equipment were unpacked, inspected and sorted. then repacked into lighter
loads for transportation to higher camps. Hours on end were spent poring over maps
and charts and laying out possible routes for the actual ascent. Then began the task of
moving up supplies and establishing advance stations.

For more than three weeks the weather held perfectly while we toiled onwards and
upwards, but on our first night after leaving the main camp we had a taste of the
supernatural fury of a high Himalayan snowstorm. There was no sleep for us for thirty-
six hours as the storm. accompanied by howling winds, raged on. When at last it was
over. we were confronted with a world transformed - a world with no single landmark
remaining as it had been before.

Several days passed. but we continued to wait, for to have ventured so much as
one step into that wilderness before the new fallen snow had frozen tight would have
been suicidal; we would have sunk down into its powdery mass. However, as time
dragged on. an unpleasant air of restlessness and tension hung over the camp. At last
it was safe to move on, and, with the first paling of the sky, a single file of men. roped
together and bent almost double beneath the heavy loads of supplies, began slowly to
climb the icy slope. in accordance with prearranged plans. we proceeded in relays. We
were also under the strictest orders that any man who suffered illness or injury should
be brought down immediately.

it is during ordeals such as mountain climbing that the true character of a man is
laid bare. Paul was magnificent. His energy was inexhaustible, and his speed. both on
rock and ice. almost twice that of any other man in the team. In contrast, Martin was
slow, methodical and patient. cutting his footholds in the ice with deliberate care. The
axe he carried with him was given to him by his friend John Fumess who had died
when they were on a similar expedition together. So. day by day, foot by foot, we
ascended.

10

Once we had reached an altitude of about eight thousand metres. climbing became
a real labouring process. The surface of the mountain was bare. offering no protection
from the wind that lashed us day and night. Worse than this, the atmosphere had
become so rarified it could scarcely support life. Even breathing itself was a major
physical effort and our progress consisted of two or three painful steps followed by long
periods of rest. Each of us carried a small cylinder of oxygen, but we only dared use it
in emergencies. The greatest struggle, though, was now mental rather than physical.
The lack of air induced a lethargy of mind and spirit causing powers of thought and
confidence to wane. The mountain. to all of us. seemed no longer a mere giant of rock
and ice; it had become a living thing, an enemy watching us, waiting, ready to attack.

On the fifteenth day of our climb, the summit seemed within arm's reach. victory
securely in our grasp. Then the blow fell. With fiendish timing, the mountain hurled at
us its last line of'defence. lt snowed! For a day and a night the snow drove down upon
us. Then suddenly it stopped. In spite of that. we still had to wait until the snow either
froze or was blown away by the wind. By the third nightfall our nerves were at
breaking-point. We scarcely moved or spoke to each other. I knew that one way or the
other, the end had come. Our meagre food supply was running out, and even with
careful rationing there was enough left for only two more days. It was at this low ebb in
our morale that Martin stirred in his sleeping bag and sat up. ”We'll have to go down
tomorrow.” he said quietly.

For a moment there was silence in the tent. Then Paul struggled to a sitting
position and faced him. "No,“ he said firmly. The following morning we found Paul had
gone. Martin seized his ice axe and we started after him. Our progress was slow and
there seemed to be literally no air at all to breathe. After almost every step we were
forced to rest. We had no sense of height or fear; all our awareness, purpose and will
were concentrated on putting one foot after another, and so we struggled on.

Then we sighted Paul not far off, on an unsupported platform of snow projecting
from the side of the mountain. i felt Martin's body tense up. “Paul,” he cried out.
”Come back!”

Paul hesitated, then took a downward step. but he never took the next! For in the
same instant the snow directly in front of him disappeared. I shut my eyes. but only for
a second. and when l reopened them Paul was still. miraculously, standing there!
Martin was shouting to him, "Don't move! Don't move an inchl" as he cautiously. but
with astonishing rapidity, edged along a rocky ledge close to where Paul was. When he
was close enough he extended his axe. Paul grabbed It and jumped to where Martin
was. accidentally pushing Martin off the ledge.

Martin, still holding the axe. simply disappeared soundlessly. l neither thought nor
felt: my body and mind alike were enveloped in a suffocating numbness. Then I heard
Paul speak. "I am going to try to make it to the top." he said tonelessly. I merely stared
at him, too numb to protest. He turned and began to climb again. I stayed where l was.
After several hours he returned. his clothes in tatters, and announced. ”I couldn't make
it." We roped together silently and began the descent to the camp.

194

11 The following summer a combined English-Swiss team successfully stormed the
mountain, only to find that an axe stood at its summit. lts handle had been embedded
in a cleft in the rock and was covered in ice. On the handle were engraved the words:

"TO MARTIN FROM JOHN".

Adapted from 'TOPMAN' by James Ramsey Ullman.

Answer all the questions.
You are recommended to answer them in the order set.
From paragraph 1:
1 (a) (I) What does the phrase 'we crept on' (line 1) tell you about the way they were
moving? [1]

(II) State the immediate reason why they were determined to get out of the valley. [1]

(III) Write down one word from this paragraph which shows that the men thought the
journey to the foot of the mountain took a long time. [1]

(b) Give different reasons to explain why they had to 'inspect':
(l) their food
(Ii) their equipment. [2]

(c) 'poring over maps and charts' (lines 8-9).
(i) What were they doing?

(ll) Why were they doing this? [2]
From paragraph 2:
(d) What evidence in this paragraph shows that the world of the m
o
greatly after the snowstorm? untaineers had changte1cli
From paragraph 4:

(e) The author describes Martin as 'slow. methodical and patient'.
What action of his later in the story contradicts this description? [1]
['l’otal: 9 marks]

From paragraph 9:

2 (a) 'Paul was still, miraculously. standing there!’ Explain what was 'miraculous'. [1]

From paragraph 10:
(b) in your own words state how the author reacted to Martin's sudden fall and
disappearance. [2]

From paragraph 11:

(c) Give a reason to explain why the English-Swiss team could still have been disappointed.
in spite of successfully storming the mountain. [1]

(d) The story ends on a mysterious note. What is the mystery? [2]

(e) Choose five of the following words or phrases. For each of them give one word or short
phrase (of not more than seven words) which has the same meaning as the word used

passage.
1. desolate (line 1) 5. laid bare (line 27)

2. established (line 6) 6. inexhaustible (line 27)

3. arduous (line 6) 7. scarme (line 36)

4. dragged on (line 20) 8. astonishing (line 66) [5]

[Total: 11 marks]

/

3 The passage describes an attempt by three men and their team to climb to the top of a peak
in the Himalaya mountains.

Imagine you are the author writing a report after the expedition. Write an account of the
problems you and your companions faced as you climbed the mountain. and the
precautions you took. up to the time Paul went ahead by himself.

USE ONLY THE MATERIAL FROM LINE 17 TO LINE 58.

Your account. which should be in continuous writing. must not be longer than 160 words.
including the ten words given below.

Begin your account as follows:

We dared not proceed before the snow had frozen because ......

['I’otal: 20 marks]

I90

Section B (10 marks)

Answer all the following questions. You should spend not less than 30 minutes on this section.

4 Listed below are five situations. which are described briefly. Read the description of each
situation carefully. and then answer the questions which follow. briefly.

(a) As you are walking down the street. an old man knocks into you. He falls down. You
say to him:
(I) "Why don't you look where you are going?“
(Ii) ”Sorry. Sir. I hope you are not hurt."

In each case what will the old man think about your manner? Number your answers
separately, (I) and (ii). [2]

(b) The teacher is introducing a new topic to your class. You do not understand his
explanation. You say:

(I) ”Excuse me. Sir. I did not get what you said."
(Ii) "Repeat what you said."

What will the teacher's reaction be to each of these statements? Number your
answers separately, (I) and (il). [2]

(c) A friend borrowed some money from you. but does not return it as promised. You
need the money and ask for it. He says:

(i) 'I haven't got it. You'll just have to wait."
(ii) "I'm sorry. I completely forgot. Here it is.“

What does each of the statements tell you about your friend's character? Number your

answers separately, (I) and (II). [2]
(d) Your teacher is trying to lift something heavy, but with little success. You stand watching

him. He says:

“Can't you help?‘

Give two different reasons why your teacher should say this. Number your answers
separately. (I) and (II). [2)

197

(e) A friend of yours is in tears because he failed English in his recent examination.
Listed below are eight possible remarks that you could make to him:
"I will lend you my notes if you like.”
"You got what you deserve.”
"I am sure you tried your very best.”
”But I always thought you were good at English."
”Poor you. what a shame!”
“It's not the end of the world.”

"I did not have any problems with the paper.”

Choose four statements from the list above which most appropriately show that you are:
(I) sympathetic

(ii) surprised

(III) unconcerned

(iv) encouraging your friend to keep trying.
Write down only the four numbers above and against each of them write out one
appropriate statement In full from the four statements you have chosen.

N.B. YOU WILL BE WRITING DOWN FOUR NUMBERS AND ONE STATEMENT
FOR EACH NUMBER.

DO NOT USE ANY OF THE STATEMENTS TWICE. [2]

(Total: 10 marks]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOG RAPHY

Alvermann, DE, and DA. Hayer (1989). Classroom Discussion of Content Area

Reading Assignments: An Intervention Study. Reading Research Quarterly,
Vol 24(3). Summer 1989.

Alvermann, DE, and D.W. Moore (1991). Secondary School Reading in R. Barr
et al., (Eds), Handbook of Reading Research. Vol. 2. New York: Longman.

Anderson, RC, and Pearson, PD. (1984). A Schematic-Theoretic View of Basic
Processes in Reading Comprehension in PD. Pearson (Ed.). (1984).
Handbook of Reading Research. New York: Longman.

Anderson, R.C, Hiebert, E.H, Scott, 1A. and Wilkinson, TAG. (1984). Becoming a
Nation of Readers. Report of the Commission on Reading. The National
Institute of Education. US. Department of Education: Washington DC. .

Aronowitz, S. and Giroux, HA. (1991). Post Modern Education Politi_C_s, Culture
gnd Social Criticism. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis: Oxford.

Barkhtin, M.M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. (C. Emerson & M. Holquist,
Trans). Austin, TX: University of Texas.

Bartaille, L. (1976). A Turning Point for Literagr: Proceedings of the International
Symposium for Literag. Persepolis, Iran. Oxford: Pergamon Books.

Beach, R. and Bridwell, L.S. (Eds). (1984). New directions in composition research.
New York: Guildford Press.

Bereiter, C., and M. Scardamalia. (1987). An Attainable Version of High Literacy:
Approaches to Teaching Higher-order Skills in Reading and Writing.
Curriculum lnguig, 17I pp 9-30.

Bloom, A. (1987). The Closi of the American Mind: How i er (I cation Has

Failed Democragy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s students. New
York: Simon and Schuster.

 

Bogdan, D. and Straw, S.B. (Ed). (1990). Beyogd Commugication: Reading
Comprehension and Criticism. Bortsmouth, N.H. Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Brown, A.L., and AS. Polncsar. (1989). Guided C00perative Learning and ,
Individual Knowledge Acquisition in Knowing, Learnigg and Instguction:
Essays HI. Hogor of Robert Glaser. (Ed). L.B. Resnick. Hillsdale N.J.:
Erlbaum.

 

198

I99

Bruner. J. (l984b). Vygotsky‘s Zone of Proximal Development: The Agenda. In B.
Rogoll‘. and IV. Wertsech (Eds). Children‘s Learning in the Zone of
Proximal Develtyment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brunet. J. (1985). Vygotsky: A historical and Conceptual Perspective. ln .I.V.
Wertsch (Ed), Culture, Communication and Cofignition. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

Bruner, J. (1986). Actual Mind; possible Worlds. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press.

Cherryholmes, CH. (1991). "Reading Research". Michigan State University. East
Lansing.

Chung, F. (1988). Education Resolution or Reform? in C. Stoneman (Ed.).
Zimbabwe Prospects. London: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Clark, C. M. and P. L., Peterson (1986). Teachers’ Thought Processes in M.C.
Wittrock (Ed), Handbook of Research on Teaching. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company.

Clark, C.M.. and Yinger R.J., (1987). Teacher Planning. In Calderhead (ELL).
Exploring Teacher Thinking. London: Cassell.

Cohen, D.K. (I988) Teaching Practice: Plus ca Change--- (Issue Paper #88-3) East
Lansing MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Education.

Conley, N.W., (1990) "A Dilemma for Teacher Education: The Problems and the
Promise of Secondary Reading". Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Cook-Gumperz, J., (1986) (Ed.), The Social Construction of Literag. M A.
Cambridge University Press.

Chung F. (1988) "Education: Revolution or Reform?" In C. Stoneman (Ed.),
Zimbabwe Prospects. London: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Cotlear, D. (1986) "Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency in Peru: The Role of
schooling, Extension Services and Migration." E.D. & Discussion Paper 49.
World Bank, Population and Human Resources Department, Washington,
DC. Processed

Cuban, L. (1990). Reforming Again, Again, and Again Educational Researcher Vol.
48 No. 5 3-13

 

Cuban, L. (1984). How teachers taught: Constangr and Change in American
_C_lassrooms. 1890-1980. New York: Longman.

Delpit, L. (1986) Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator
Harvard Educational Review Vol 56 No. 4 Nov. 1984 379--385

200

Delpit, L. (1988,). The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other
People’s Children. Harvard Educationzfleview Vol. 59 No. 3 280-298

Dorsey, B.J., Matshazi, M. and Nyagura L. (1991) A Review of Education in
Zimbabwe. Harare: Canadian International Development Agency and the
Government of Zimbabwe.

Dorsey, B.J., (1989). Educational Development and Reform in Zimbabwe .
Conlparative Education Review. Vol. 33 No. 1 1989 by the Comparative
and International Education Society, p. 40-58.

Duffy, G.G., et al., (1986). The Relationship between explicit explanations during
reading skill instruction and student awareness and achievement". Reading
Research Quarterly. Vol. 21(3). Summer 1986.

Duffy, G.G., and LR. Roehler (1989). Improving Classroom Reading Instruction: A
Decision Making Approach. New York: Random House.

Durkin, D. (1981). Reading Comprehension in five basal reader series. Reading
Research Quarterly Vol XVI.

Durkin Dolores (1978-1979). What Classroom Observation Reveal about Reading
instruction. Reading Research Quarterly Vol XIV No. 4

Edwards, D. and Mercer, N. (1987) Common Knowledge: The Development of

Understanding in the classroom. London: Methuen.

Eisemon, TO. (1988) The Consequences of Schooling: A Review of Research On

the Outcomes of Primagr Schooling in Developing Countries. Montreal:
Center for Cognitive and Ethnographic Studies. McGill University.

Englert, CS. and Raphael, TE. (1989) Developing Successful Writers Through
Cognitive Strategy Instruction in J.E. Brophy (Ed.) Advance in Research on
Teaching JAI Press

Erickson, F. (1984) School Literacy, reasoning and civility: An Anthropologist’s
Perspective. Review of Research in Education, 54, 525-546.

Fairclough, N. (1989) Language and Power. London: Longman.

Farr, R. and Rosser, N. (1979). Teaching a child to Read. New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich Inc.

Fish, SE. (1973) What is stylistics and why are they saying such terrible about? In
S. Chatman (Ed.), Approaches to Poetig pp. 109-152 New York: Columbia
University Press.

Florio-Ruane, S. (1991) Instructional Conversations in Learning to Write and
Learning to Teach. ln Idol, L. and Jones, B. (1991) Educational Values and

Cognitive Instruction: Implications for Reform. Hillsdale, NJ. Erlbaum.

201

Freedman, S.W. (Ed.),( 1985) The acquisition of written language: Response and
revision. Norwood: NJ: Ablex.

Freire.P.(1985) The Politics of Education. South Hadley, MA: Bergin Garvey.

Freire. P., (1970) "Cultural Action for Freedom". Monograph Series No. 1.
Cambridge Mass: Harvard Education Review.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Harper and Row.

Freire, P. and Macedo, D. (1987). Literacv: Reading the Word and Reading the
World. South Haattey, M.A: Bergin and Garvey.

Gavelek, J. (199I) "Constructing a Literate School Culture: Toward a
Transformative Instructional Psychology." Michigan State University, East
Lansing.

Gee, J.P. (I989) "What is Literacy?" Literacies Institute Technical Report No. 2
Newton. MA: Education Development Center.

Gere, AR, and Stevens, RS. (1985) The language of writing groups: How oral
response shapes revision. In S.W. Freedman (Ed.), The acquisition of

written language: Response and revision (pp 85-105). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Goodlad, J. (1984). A Place called School. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Graves, D.W. (1983) Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH:

Heinemann

Guthrie, J.T. and Mosenthal, P. (1987). Literacy as Multidimensional locating
information and Reading Comprehension. Educational Psychologist Vol 22 #s
3&4 Summer & Fall 1987

Harker, WJ. (1987). Literary Theory and the Reading Process: A Meeting of
Perspectives Written Communication Vol. 4 No. 3 235-252

Heap, IL. (1988) "Reading as rational action: Functioning and Literacy in Daily
life". National Reading Association, Tuscon, Arizona.

Heath, SB. (1985) "Literacy and Learning in the Making of Citizens,” 1985 Butts

Lecture. In Civic Education, Pluralism and Literag AESA News and
Comment and The Center for the studies of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Syracuse University

Herber, H.L. (1978) Teac in eadin ' o to t eas 2 d . Englewood
Cliffs NJ. Prentice-Hall.

Hirsch, ED. 1987 Cultural Literag: What Every American Needs to Know. New
York: Houghton Mifflin.

202

Holmes” Group (1990) Tomorrow’s Schools "Principles for the Design of
Professional Development Schools."

Hunt, RA. (1990) The Parallel Socialization of Reading Research and Literary
Theory. In D. Bogdan and SB. Straw (Eds) Beyond Communication:
Reading Comprehensioniand Criticism. Portsmouth NH: Boynton/Cook
Publishers.

Jacob, GP. (1982) An ethnographic study of the writing conference: The degree of
student involvement in the writing process. Dissertation abstracts
International, 43. 386A. (University Microfilms no. 8216050)

Jansen J. (1989). Curriculum Reconstruction in Post Colonial Africa: A Review of
the Literature. International Journal of Educational Development Vol. 9 No.
3, pp. 219-231, 1989.

Jones Edgar (1984). The reading process - shackled by our definition. The Bulletin
of the Associate College Center. Vol XX No. 2. U2.

Johnson D. 1990 "The Politics of Literacy and Schooling in Zimbabwe" in Review
of African Political Economy, No. 48 Autumn .

Johnson, DD. and Pearson, PD. (1984) Teaching Reading Vocabulag New York.
CBS. College Publishing

Kennedy, M.M. (1991) "An Agenda for Research on Teacher Learning: NCRTL
Special Report". Michigan state University, East Lansing.

Kozulin, A. (1986) The concept of activity in soviet psychology: Vygotsky, his
disciples and critics. American Psychologist 41, 264-274

Lipsky, M. (1980) Street-level Bureaucrag: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public
Services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

 

Lockheed, ME. and AM. Verspoor (1991) Improving Primag Education in
Developing Countries. World Bank, Oxford University Press.

Mclaren, P. (1988). Culture or Canon? Critical Pedagogy and the Politics of
Literacy. Harvard Educational Review Vol 58 No. 2. 213-234

Micheals, S. and MC. O‘Connor (1990) ”Literacy as Reasoning with Multiple
Discourses: Implications for Policy and Educational Reform.” The Literacies
Institute at the Educational Development Center.

Michigan Board Of Education (1985). Michigan Essential Goals and Opiectives for
Writing Michigan Board of Education: Lansing.

Michigan Reading Association (1984). "Reading Redefined: A Michigan Reading
Association Position Paper." Grand Rapids, Michigan.

203

Michigan Reading Association (1987) "Reading at a Glance for Michigan
Administrators’ Conference". Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Ministry of Education and Culture, Zimbabwe (1991) "SyUabus in Shona: Ordinary
Level for Examinations From 199l - I994". Harare. Zimbabwe.

Murray, D.M. (1968). A Writer teaches Writinfig. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Murray, D.M. (1979). The Listening Eye: Reflections on the Writing Conference.
College Engiish Vol. 41, No. 1 13-18.

Nagel, T. (1992) Qpality between Traditionfiand Modernity: Patterns of

Communication and Cogpition in Teacher Education in Zimbabwe. Dr.
Polit. Ovahandling Pedagogisk Forskningsinstitutt, Universtitetet i, Oslo

National Commission on Testing and Public Policy (1990) From Gatekeeper to
Gateway: Transforming Testing in America Boston College: Chestnut Hill.
MA.

Olson, DR. (1989). Literate Thought. In DC. Topping et al., (Eds), Thinking
Across Cultures the Third International Conference. . Hillsdale. N.J.:
Erlbaum.

Palincsar, A. and Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering
and comprehension-monitoring activities: Cogpition and Instruction Vol. No.
2 117-125

Pearson, DP. (1985) "Changing the Face of Comprehension Instruction". G_in
Occasional Papers.

Pearson, DP and Fielding, L. (1991) Comprehension Instruction In R. Barr et al.,
(Eds), Handbook of Reading Research Volume 2. New York: Longman.

Peterson, P.L., Fennema, E., Carpenter, TR and M. Loef (1989) "Teachers’
Pedagogical content beliefs in Mathematics”. Cpgpiiion and Instruction. Vol
6 (1), pp 1-40.

Raphael, T. and Englert, CS. (1988). Integrating Reading Instruction. Occasional
Paper #118 Institute for Research on Teaching. Michigan State University.
East Lansing

Riddell, R. (1979). Education for Employment: From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.
Gweru: Mambo Press.

Rogoff, B. (1986). Adult Assistance of Children’s Learning. In TE. Raphael (Ed.)
The Contexts of School-based Literag. New York: Random House.

Rogoff. B. (1989). The Joint Socialization of Development by Young Children and
Adults. In D.R.A. Gellatly, and J.A. Slobola (Eds), Qogpitiop and Spgial
Worlds. Oxford: Claredon Press.

204

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social
Context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Rommetveit, R. (1980). On Meaning of Acts and What is Meant and Made
Known by What is Said in a Pluralistic World. In M. Brenner (Ed.), fig
Structure of Action. New York: Martin’s Press.

Sardo-Brown. D. (1988). Twelve Middle School Teachers’ Planning. Elementagy
School Journal. Vol. 89. pp. 69 - 87.

Sardo-Brown, D. (1990) Experienced Teachers’ Planning Practices: A US Survey.
Journal for Education for Teaching. Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 57 -71.

Scholes R. (1989) Protocols of Reading. New Haven, Yale University Press.

Scribner. S. (1987). On reading Vygotsky. The Quarterly Newsletter of the
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognitioni ‘L 94-96

 

Scribner, S. (1985b). Vygotsky’s uses of history. In J. V. Wertsch (Ed.), Culture
Communication and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. New York:

Cambridge University Press

 

Scribner, S. (1984) "Literacy in Three Metaphors". Journal of Education. Vol. 93.
pp. 6-21.

Scribner, S. and M. Cole (1981) The Psychology of litera_cy. Harvard University
Press. Cambridge Mass.

Shalveson, R.J. and P. Stern (1981) "Research on Teachers' Pedagogical Thoughts,
Judgements, Decisions, and Behavior". Review of Educational Research. Vol.
51. pp. 455 - 498.

Show, R., Pettigrew, J., and Van Nostrand, AD. 1983 Tactical Planning of writing
instruction. The Elementary School Journai, 84, 45-51

Shulman, LS. (1986) "Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform"
Harvard Educational Review 57. 1 -22.

Shultz T.W. (1977) "Investment in Human Capital". In J. Karabel and A.H. Halsey

(Eds), Power and Ideology In Education. New York: Oxford University
Press.

Tierney, RJ. and Gee, M. (1990) Reading Comprehension: Readers, Authors and
the World of the Text. In D. Bogdan and SB. Straw (Eds), Beyond

Communipation: Beadm' g Comprehension and Criticism. Portsmouth NH:
Boynton/Cook Publishers

Tierney, R. J. and Shanahan, T. 1991 Research on the Reading-Writing
Relationship: Interactions, Transactions and Outcomes in Barr R. Kamil,

M.L. Mosenthal, P. and Pearson, D. (Ed.), Handbook of Reading Research
Vol. II. New York: Longman

205

Tyler, R.W. (1950) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. Chicago. IL.
University of Chicago Press.

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (1991) International
Examinations English Examinations Syllabus for 1993. Cambridge UK.

Vygotsky, LS. (1973) Mind in Society: The Development Of Higher Psychological

Processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Vygotsky, LS. (1986) Thought and Language. Cambridge Mass. The MIT. Press.

Wertsch, J.V. (1978) Adult-Child interaction and the Roots of metacognition.

The Quarterly Newgletter of the Laboratogz for Comparative Human
Cognition, 2 15-19

Wertsch, J.V. (1981a) The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology: An
Introduction. In J.V. Wertsch (Ed.), The Concept of Activgty in Soviet
Psychology. Armonk, New York: ME. Sharpe.

 

Wertsch. J.V. (1980) The Significance of Dialogue in Vygotsky’s account of social.

egocentric. and inner speech. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 5
150-162

Wertsch, J.V. (1983). The role of Semiosis in LS. Vygotsky’s Theory of Human

Cognition. In B. Bain (Ed.) The Sociogenesis of Langnage and Human
Conduct. New York. Plenum Press.

Wertsch, J.V. (1987). Collective memory: Issues from la sociohistorical perspective.

The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human
Cognition, 9 19-22.

Williams, R. (1961) The Long Revolution. London. Kegan Paul.

Winograd, P. and Johnson, P. ( 1987). Some Consideration for Advancing the
teaching of Reading Comprehension Educational ngchologist. Vol. 22 Nos
3&4 213-230

Wixson, KK. and Peters, CW. (1987) Comprehension Assessment: Implementing
an Interactive View of Reading. Educational chhologiat 22 (2&4) 333-356

Yinger, R.J. (1980). A Study of teacher planning. Elementagy School Journal. Vol.
80. pp. 107-127.

Zvobgo, R.J. (1986) "Education and the Challenge of Independence" in I. Mandaza
( Ed.) 2m babwe: The Political Economy of Tiansition. Codesria.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII