BackgroundInclusive education requires that the framework within which education is delivered should be broad enough to accommodate equally the needs and circumstances of every learner in the society. This includes learners with disabilities like dyslexia who have been excluded from the formal education system. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study that explored and described the dyslexic learners’ experiences with their peers and teachers in special and public schools in North-West Province of South Africa.MethodsThe study adopted a qualitative methodology and used a phenomenology research design. The sample was purposively selected and comprised nine dyslexic learners. All the learners were in public schools previously and were later moved to a special school after being diagnosed as dyslexic. The participants were aged 9–12 years. The researchers conducted one-on-one interviews with the participants and content-analysed the data.FindingsThe findings revealed that in public schools the dyslexic learners were exposed to ill-treatment by other learners who despised, ridiculed, bullied and undermined them. The findings further revealed that teachers in public schools were not patient with dyslexic learners, did not give them extra attention and that some teachers used negative comments that embarrassed them.ConclusionThe article spells out the barriers experienced by dyslexic learners in public schools and also recommends training of teachers so that they know how to deal with dyslexic learners, thereby eliminating the barriers. The study further recommended awareness campaigns among the student body about dyslexia.

Background: Rural learners face severe reading challenges that are unique to their environment. The challenges include parents’ low level of education, little or no parental support, lack of reading material, and parents’ low socio-economic status. It is therefore important that rural education research highlights these challenges in order to help in addressing them.Objectives: The study sought to explore the factors affecting the reading performance of Grade 6 learners from the Maluti District in the Eastern Cape.Methods: The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was followed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 purposively selected learners. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory was used as a theoretical framework to anchor the study. Content analysis was used to analyse the data.Results: The findings showed that the reading performance of learners from rural areas such as the Maluti District was affected by several factors, specifically, the low level of education of their parents, a home environment that is not conducive for after-school reading, the parents’ socio-economic status, and non-availability of reading material at school and at home.Conclusion: Recommendations are made for appropriate interventions that seek to overcome the identified factors that hinder rural learners’ reading performance. The study identified a number of contributing factors that are likely to serve as barriers to rural learners’ reading performance. Knowing these factors is likely to assist teachers in making educated judgements regarding the teaching methods and the appropriate strategies to employ to help learners overcome the identified barriers to reading.

Background: Many developed countries have made rapid strides in addressing issues related to dyslexia but in the developing countries like South Africa, it has not received adequate attention.Objectives: The study therefore sought to evaluate awareness and knowledge of dyslexia among primary school teachers working in the government sector.Methods: A phenomenological design was used and the study followed a mixed methods approach. The sample included 30 purposively selected primary school teachers. A questionnaire that consisted of true and false questions, closed-ended questions and open-ended questions was used to collect data. SPSS Version 22 and Excel Data Analyser 4 were used to analyse the quantitative data whereas the qualitative data was analysed thematically.Results: The results indicated that the primary school teachers had a basic awareness and knowledge of dyslexia. Many of them were found to be using limited strategies in order to teach learners with dyslexia in their classrooms.Conclusion: Based on the findings, recommendations such as early diagnoses through testing, parental involvement, conducive learning environment and teachers’ professional development regarding dyslexia were made.

This article examines the resistance of an African woman to patriarchy in the Setswana novel, Bogosi Kupe. To illustrate this resistance, it analyzes a woman protagonist, Matlhodi, in this Setswana novel. The article contends that Matlhodi employs self-defining and authentic stratagems to counteract both patriarchal hegemony, and familial, cultural, and ideological hegemony. Employing Africana womanism and Africana critical theory, it argues that Matlhodi deploys her body, her clandestine love affair, her pregnancy, and her husband's death as weapons to resist the patriarchal ethos foisted on her by her family.

This paper investigates teknonymy and multi-nominality as multiple identity markers for Vhavenḓa from an autochthonic view. Employing an ethnographic research design, and locating its argument within a six-pronged theoretical framework, the paper gleaned its data from two sources − interviews and document reviews. Its participants comprised 100 respondents. From this standpoint, the paper has mounted a discussion of the Vhavenḓa teknonymy. With reference to the latter, it has given pride of place to both teknonymy and multi-nominality, arguing that the two help engender multiple references, multiple addresses, and multiple identities.