I am currently the Head of Department, of the Department of Secondary and Post-School Education which offers a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education, Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainability Learning, BEd Hons, MEd and PhD programs. In my role as a Senior Lecturer in Science Education, I am passionate about exploring discourse, semiotic, and curriculum knowledge aspects of science education in South Africa and Namibia. I have successfully supervised and co-supervised 15 MEd students and am keen on expanding my supervision to PhD (Science Education) level. I am also a TAU (Teaching Advancement at Universities) Fellow.
African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020
The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to enga... more The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to engage meaningfully with knowledge and skills. While verbal language is the primary medium for constructing, communicating and learning scientific knowledge and concepts, visuals can help learners to gain knowledge that they may not develop from verbal explanations alone. Verbal and visual semiotic modes have the potential to function in a complementary way, working together to strengthen meaning. This paper explores the dynamics of verbal–visual intersemiotic complementarity in the classroom practice of three junior secondary physical science teachers in the Oshana region of Namibia. It reports on a qualitative case study employing Systemic Functional Linguistics in the analysis of multimodal discourse. The results revealed how the content selections in the verbal and visual modes of the science teachers’ practice are related in terms of the meanings and their relationships through all five...
The Advanced Certificate in Education programme in Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST ACE) ... more The Advanced Certificate in Education programme in Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST ACE) offered by the University of KwaZulu-Natal was a collaborative effort between the university and the national Department of Education. The programme was originally offered by the university with classroom support provided to in-service teachers in the general education and training phase. The programme aimed to improve the subject content knowledge and teaching skills of teachers. One innovation of the programme was the inclusion of classroom based mentoring. This paper explores the impact of classroom-based support as offered in the programme on the development of in-service teachers. Data was collected through programme evaluation questionnaires, written submissions from in-service teachers and school visit mentors. Our results show that both in-service teachers and school visit tutors were supportive of the inclusion of the school visit support component of the MST ACE programme. The ...
Refereed Proceedings of the 3 rd International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Stuttgart, Germany World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE), 2018
While work-integrated learning (WIL) continues to gain prominence worldwide, the range of definit... more While work-integrated learning (WIL) continues to gain prominence worldwide, the range of definitions indicates no consensus on what it actually includes. This contributes to a creative space in which to uncover its more nuanced forms and potential. Despite the range of available definitions there appears to be an emphasis on WIL at the level of post-schooling, at the expense of considering its relationship with school curriculum policy. This mirrors the emphasis that many countries seem to place on exit level education outcomes or achievement and can be criticised along the same lines. In response to the paucity of knowledge around WIL at school level, we consider a Legitimation Code Theory perspective on ‘work-integrated learning’ in school science curriculum policy. We provide a general overview of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, paying particular focus on the notion of semantic gravity. With the South African school physical sciences as the case in this qualitative curriculum study, the paper uncovers aspects of school science education curriculum which align it to the precepts of work-integrated learning. The paper reveals the utility of Legitimation Code Theory for uncovering epistemic shifts in school science curriculum that contribute to bridging science theory and contextualised practical knowledge. The results of the study provide insight into the epistemological contribution of work integrating learning, suggesting a complimentary relationship between formal education and work-integrated learning that goes beyond the notion of the former simply including the latter as a stepping stone towards meaningful engagement in the workplace.
In South Africa, Physical Sciences educators play a crucial role in contributing to equal life ch... more In South Africa, Physical Sciences educators play a crucial role in contributing to equal life chances for Physical Sciences learners. This is because they have the opportunity to employ functional language features for increasing access to scientific literacy - a goal of the Physical Sciences National Curriculum Statement. However, no studies were found in the literature which explicitly explored this aspect of a Physical Sciences educator‟s pedagogical content knowledge in the South African context. This study employs the sociocultural view of science as a language and the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics to explore the nature of the utterances of three Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences educators during Physical Sciences lessons. The focus is on the functional language features of nominalisation, lexical density, functional recasting, and lexical cohesion in terms of repetition and cohesive harmony index. Using a multi-case study methodology, pragmatic paradigm and mixed-methods approach, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Physical Sciences educators in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English Second Language to total number of learners. The results reveal that lexical cohesion, measured by the cohesive harmony index and proportion of repeated content words relative to total words, increased with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. Nominalisation and lexical density did not decrease with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. The functional recasting results provide insight into numerous types of functional recasting available to Physical Sciences educators. In addition, a model is proposed regarding how the outcomes to which the functional recasting types contribute, impact on movement towards the everyday or scientific registers of English. Furthermore, each individual Physical Sciences educator had a „signature‟ talk, unrelated to the language context in which they taught. This study has significant implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge in pre-service and in-service education and training of Physical Sciences educators. Training programmes need to place a greater emphasis on the functional use of language in order to empower Physical Sciences educators to adequately apprentice their learners into the use of the register of scientific English.
African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020
The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to enga... more The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to engage meaningfully with knowledge and skills. While verbal language is the primary medium for constructing, communicating and learning scientific knowledge and concepts, visuals can help learners to gain knowledge that they may not develop from verbal explanations alone. Verbal and visual semiotic modes have the potential to function in a complementary way, working together to strengthen meaning. This paper explores the dynamics of verbal–visual intersemiotic complementarity in the classroom practice of three junior secondary physical science teachers in the Oshana region of Namibia. It reports on a qualitative case study employing Systemic Functional Linguistics in the analysis of multimodal discourse. The results revealed how the content selections in the verbal and visual modes of the science teachers’ practice are related in terms of the meanings and their relationships through all five...
The Advanced Certificate in Education programme in Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST ACE) ... more The Advanced Certificate in Education programme in Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST ACE) offered by the University of KwaZulu-Natal was a collaborative effort between the university and the national Department of Education. The programme was originally offered by the university with classroom support provided to in-service teachers in the general education and training phase. The programme aimed to improve the subject content knowledge and teaching skills of teachers. One innovation of the programme was the inclusion of classroom based mentoring. This paper explores the impact of classroom-based support as offered in the programme on the development of in-service teachers. Data was collected through programme evaluation questionnaires, written submissions from in-service teachers and school visit mentors. Our results show that both in-service teachers and school visit tutors were supportive of the inclusion of the school visit support component of the MST ACE programme. The ...
Refereed Proceedings of the 3 rd International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Stuttgart, Germany World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE), 2018
While work-integrated learning (WIL) continues to gain prominence worldwide, the range of definit... more While work-integrated learning (WIL) continues to gain prominence worldwide, the range of definitions indicates no consensus on what it actually includes. This contributes to a creative space in which to uncover its more nuanced forms and potential. Despite the range of available definitions there appears to be an emphasis on WIL at the level of post-schooling, at the expense of considering its relationship with school curriculum policy. This mirrors the emphasis that many countries seem to place on exit level education outcomes or achievement and can be criticised along the same lines. In response to the paucity of knowledge around WIL at school level, we consider a Legitimation Code Theory perspective on ‘work-integrated learning’ in school science curriculum policy. We provide a general overview of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, paying particular focus on the notion of semantic gravity. With the South African school physical sciences as the case in this qualitative curriculum study, the paper uncovers aspects of school science education curriculum which align it to the precepts of work-integrated learning. The paper reveals the utility of Legitimation Code Theory for uncovering epistemic shifts in school science curriculum that contribute to bridging science theory and contextualised practical knowledge. The results of the study provide insight into the epistemological contribution of work integrating learning, suggesting a complimentary relationship between formal education and work-integrated learning that goes beyond the notion of the former simply including the latter as a stepping stone towards meaningful engagement in the workplace.
In South Africa, Physical Sciences educators play a crucial role in contributing to equal life ch... more In South Africa, Physical Sciences educators play a crucial role in contributing to equal life chances for Physical Sciences learners. This is because they have the opportunity to employ functional language features for increasing access to scientific literacy - a goal of the Physical Sciences National Curriculum Statement. However, no studies were found in the literature which explicitly explored this aspect of a Physical Sciences educator‟s pedagogical content knowledge in the South African context. This study employs the sociocultural view of science as a language and the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics to explore the nature of the utterances of three Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences educators during Physical Sciences lessons. The focus is on the functional language features of nominalisation, lexical density, functional recasting, and lexical cohesion in terms of repetition and cohesive harmony index. Using a multi-case study methodology, pragmatic paradigm and mixed-methods approach, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Physical Sciences educators in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English Second Language to total number of learners. The results reveal that lexical cohesion, measured by the cohesive harmony index and proportion of repeated content words relative to total words, increased with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. Nominalisation and lexical density did not decrease with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. The functional recasting results provide insight into numerous types of functional recasting available to Physical Sciences educators. In addition, a model is proposed regarding how the outcomes to which the functional recasting types contribute, impact on movement towards the everyday or scientific registers of English. Furthermore, each individual Physical Sciences educator had a „signature‟ talk, unrelated to the language context in which they taught. This study has significant implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge in pre-service and in-service education and training of Physical Sciences educators. Training programmes need to place a greater emphasis on the functional use of language in order to empower Physical Sciences educators to adequately apprentice their learners into the use of the register of scientific English.
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Papers by Kavish Jawahar
of post-schooling, at the expense of considering its relationship with school curriculum policy. This mirrors the emphasis that many countries seem to place on exit level education outcomes or achievement and can be criticised along the same lines. In response to the paucity of knowledge around WIL at school level, we consider a Legitimation Code Theory perspective on ‘work-integrated learning’ in school science curriculum policy. We provide a general overview of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, paying particular focus on the notion of semantic gravity. With the South African school physical sciences as the case in this qualitative curriculum study, the paper uncovers aspects of school science education curriculum which align it to the precepts of work-integrated learning. The paper reveals the utility of Legitimation Code Theory for uncovering epistemic shifts in school science curriculum that contribute to bridging science theory and contextualised practical knowledge. The results of the study provide insight into the epistemological contribution of work integrating learning, suggesting a complimentary relationship between formal education and work-integrated learning that goes beyond the notion of the former simply including the latter as a stepping stone towards meaningful engagement in the workplace.
functional language features for increasing access to scientific literacy - a goal of the Physical Sciences National Curriculum Statement. However, no studies were found in the literature which explicitly explored this aspect of a Physical Sciences educator‟s pedagogical content knowledge in the South African context. This study employs the sociocultural view of science as a language and the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics to explore the nature of the utterances of three Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences educators during Physical Sciences lessons. The focus is on the functional language features of nominalisation, lexical density, functional recasting, and lexical cohesion in terms of repetition and cohesive harmony index. Using a multi-case study methodology, pragmatic paradigm and mixed-methods approach, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Physical Sciences educators in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English Second Language to total number of learners.
The results reveal that lexical cohesion, measured by the cohesive harmony index and proportion of repeated content words relative to total words, increased with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. Nominalisation and lexical density did not decrease with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. The functional recasting results provide insight into numerous types of functional recasting available to Physical Sciences educators. In addition, a model is proposed regarding how the outcomes to which the functional recasting types contribute, impact on movement towards the everyday or scientific registers of English. Furthermore,
each individual Physical Sciences educator had a „signature‟ talk, unrelated to the language context in which they taught.
This study has significant implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge in pre-service and in-service education and training of Physical Sciences
educators. Training programmes need to place a greater emphasis on the functional use of language in order to empower Physical Sciences educators to adequately apprentice their learners into the use of the register of scientific English.
Book Chapter by Kavish Jawahar
of post-schooling, at the expense of considering its relationship with school curriculum policy. This mirrors the emphasis that many countries seem to place on exit level education outcomes or achievement and can be criticised along the same lines. In response to the paucity of knowledge around WIL at school level, we consider a Legitimation Code Theory perspective on ‘work-integrated learning’ in school science curriculum policy. We provide a general overview of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, paying particular focus on the notion of semantic gravity. With the South African school physical sciences as the case in this qualitative curriculum study, the paper uncovers aspects of school science education curriculum which align it to the precepts of work-integrated learning. The paper reveals the utility of Legitimation Code Theory for uncovering epistemic shifts in school science curriculum that contribute to bridging science theory and contextualised practical knowledge. The results of the study provide insight into the epistemological contribution of work integrating learning, suggesting a complimentary relationship between formal education and work-integrated learning that goes beyond the notion of the former simply including the latter as a stepping stone towards meaningful engagement in the workplace.
functional language features for increasing access to scientific literacy - a goal of the Physical Sciences National Curriculum Statement. However, no studies were found in the literature which explicitly explored this aspect of a Physical Sciences educator‟s pedagogical content knowledge in the South African context. This study employs the sociocultural view of science as a language and the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics to explore the nature of the utterances of three Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences educators during Physical Sciences lessons. The focus is on the functional language features of nominalisation, lexical density, functional recasting, and lexical cohesion in terms of repetition and cohesive harmony index. Using a multi-case study methodology, pragmatic paradigm and mixed-methods approach, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Physical Sciences educators in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English Second Language to total number of learners.
The results reveal that lexical cohesion, measured by the cohesive harmony index and proportion of repeated content words relative to total words, increased with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. Nominalisation and lexical density did not decrease with an increasing proportion of English Second Language to total number of learners. The functional recasting results provide insight into numerous types of functional recasting available to Physical Sciences educators. In addition, a model is proposed regarding how the outcomes to which the functional recasting types contribute, impact on movement towards the everyday or scientific registers of English. Furthermore,
each individual Physical Sciences educator had a „signature‟ talk, unrelated to the language context in which they taught.
This study has significant implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge in pre-service and in-service education and training of Physical Sciences
educators. Training programmes need to place a greater emphasis on the functional use of language in order to empower Physical Sciences educators to adequately apprentice their learners into the use of the register of scientific English.