Reflections on applying critical discourse analysis methodologies in analysing South African history textbooks

Maposa, Marshall Tamuka

doi:10.17159/2223-0386/2015/nl4a3

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The interpretation and explanation relied on literature, theory and the context. These methodological moves are fully explained in another article (Maposa, 2015).…”

Section: Titlementioning

confidence: 99%

The construction of the African being in South African history textbooks

Maposa¹

2016

Journal of Education

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This study is rooted in the move by the South African government at the turn of the 21stcentury to spearhead the conception of what then President Thabo Mbeki referred to as anAfrican Renaissance. This move entailed cultivating an African consciousness; educationbeing one of the key tools. With textbooks still playing a critical role in the educationsystem, I analysed South African National Curriculum Statement-compliant historytextbooks in order to understand the construction of the African being. I employed a criticaldiscourse analysis methodology to analyse a sample of four contemporary South Africanhistory textbooks with a focus on the chapters that deal with post-colonial Africa. At adescriptive level of analysis, the textbooks construct the African being as five-dimensional:the spatial, the physical, the philosophical, the cultural and the experiential notions. Theinterpretation is that the African being is constructed as multidimensional. I usepostcolonial theory to explain that while the macro-level of power produces the dominantdiscourses, the micro-level of the citizen also contributes to the discourses that permeate thehistory textbooks. Indeed, the production of textbooks is influenced by multifarious factorsthat when the discourses from the top and from below meet at the meso-level of textbookproduction, there is not just articulation but also resistance, thus producing heteroglossicrepresentation of the African being.

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“…The interpretation and explanation relied on literature, theory and the context. These methodological moves are fully explained in another article (Maposa, 2015).…”

Section: Titlementioning

confidence: 99%

The construction of the African being in South African history textbooks

Maposa¹

2016

Journal of Education

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“…It is important to note that these are participant voices, and therefore their representations and at times competing stories about the availability of the transition pathways from this ALP do not claim to be 'truths' (McGregor et al, 2017), but rather constructs of the ALP from an emic perspective. The thematic analysis of the data has followed the micro, meso and macro structure that is used in CDA to identify specific structures of inequality and power within a socio-political context (Fairclough, 1989(Fairclough, , 2013McGregor, 2003;Fairclough et al, 2011;Maposa, 2015). This analysis begins with an exploration of staff perceptions of transition pathways and how these impact discourses of power within the ALP.…”

Section: The Study-findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hesitant hopes: How a comprehensive approach to learning impacts on the transition hopes of marginalised young people in an alternative learning programme in regional Australia

Bloomfield

Harreveld

Fisher

2019

British Educational Res J

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Concerns have been raised internationally about whether alternative learning programmes are producing low-skilled labourers for rapidly disappearing twenty-first-century jobs. Researchers claim that learners in alternative programmes are more at risk due to the focus on low-level vocational and basic skill attainment, with a lack of formal academic pathways available to them. This article questions whether and in what ways an alternative learning programme supports young people to achieve successful transitions to sustainable social mobility for informed citizenship through a holistic approach to learning; or if class stratification is being re/enforced through systems' accountability discourses. Hesitant hopes in alternative learning are explored through an ethnographic study of one alternative learning programme across five sites in regional Australia. Contextually, not-forprofit community agencies provide physical infrastructures as well as youth workers and volunteers, while a publicly funded School of Distance Education provides teacher oversight of the curriculum. Findings suggest that the theme of 'hesitant hope' is constructed through the analysis of the discourses of supporting wellbeing, life skill development and academic learning. These discourses facilitate further analysis of the concept of social mobility, suggesting a conceptual starting point for an engaging critique of the differing perspectives on how support could be providing these marginalised young people with a sense of hope for a socially mobile future.

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“…Locally, disciplines like History and Commerce have made inroads by undertaking textbook studies providing insights into a cross section of subfields like heritage, race and social justice (gender and inclusivity etc.). (see Nkwenti 2012;Pillay 2013 ;Maposa 2015 ). Much of the research in SA on textbooks have thus been confined to the subject of History and to a lesser extent to other subjects such as Commerce.…”

Section: A Glimpse At the Nuances Of Textbook Research And School Geomentioning

confidence: 99%

Through the Lens of Teachers: The Use of Geography CAPS Textbooks, Concomitant Challenges and a Reimagining of the Textbook

Manik¹,

Malahlela²

2018

Alternation

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The latest school curriculum offering in South Africa, has been the introduction of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in 2011 and this has logically been followed by the production of new textbooks in 2013 aligned to the current education syllabus requirements. This paper examines the use of the Geography grade 11 and 12 CAPS textbooks and the challenges experienced by teachers (as articulated by them) in their use in two poor provinces that lie on the eastern coast of South Africa. The data emanates from a northern and southern hemisphere Geography Textbook and Pedagogy mixed methods study involving Norway, South Africa (SA), Swaziland and Zimbabwe. This paper utilizes the data generated from two instruments namely questionnaires and interviews from the South African data sets in the following two poor provinces: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Selected theoretical filaments deriving from Bates and Poole's (2003) SECTIONS model (a refinement from Bates, 1995, ACTIONS model) and Kasule's (2011) 'readability' of a textbook, were of significance. The findings on the CAPS textbook use reveal an immense dissatisfaction amongst the Geography teachers. They bemoaned the lack of learner access to textbooks. It was evident that textbook shortages negatively impacted on effective teaching and learning thereby affecting learner performance in the final years of schooling. Teachers also expressed their disappointment at many of the textbooks' quality with respect to inadequate and insufficient geographic content, decontextualised material, extraneous examples and some incorrect information. There were concerns that some of the current textbooks did not adequately acknowledge Sadhana Manik & Tebogo Malahlela 38 the needs of learners for whom English is a second language in these provinces. The authors recommend a reimagining of the CAPS textbooks by stakeholders to address some of the existing challenges in their use.

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Reflections on applying critical discourse analysis methodologies in analysing South African history textbooks

Abstract: This article is a reflection on the choice to apply Critical

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

The construction of the African being in South African history textbooks

The construction of the African being in South African history textbooks

Hesitant hopes: How a comprehensive approach to learning impacts on the transition hopes of marginalised young people in an alternative learning programme in regional Australia

Through the Lens of Teachers: The Use of Geography CAPS Textbooks, Concomitant Challenges and a Reimagining of the Textbook

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