Annalene van Staden

• Lecturer at University of the Free State

This paper reports on a project to collect, document and distribute South African Sign Language (SASL) place names. The importance of documenting place names has been well established (from various perspectives). Place names in sign languages, or signed place names, however, is an under-researched area of study. As with spoken languages, signed pla...

Research confirms the multifaceted nature of spelling development and emphasizes the importance of both cognitive and linguistic skills (such as working and long-term memory, phonological processing, rapid automatized naming, orthographic awareness, mental orthographic images, semantic knowledge and morphological awareness) that affect spelling dev...

Globally, reading proficiency has been a major area of difficulty for English second-language (ESL) learners. This research inter alia utilised a quantitative, quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test research design to address the paucity of evidence-based second-language reading research internationally, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in Les...

This collaborative research investigated the quality of early language and literacy environments in South Africa and Spain via multiple methods of data gathering (i.e. the administration of the ELLCO; the recording of field notes; and individual interviews with teachers). In addition, it identified the challenges that teachers experience in their q...

According to the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights, with their emphasis on a culture of civil liberties and the democratic values of liberty, equality and human rights, the country’s education system should be inherently capable of meeting the diverse needs of every child and preventing the breakdown and exclusion of any learner. In rea...

The causes and characteristics of the reading and spelling deficits of learners with cerebral palsy (CP), as well as the working memory processing are discussed. Due to the vision, hearing and speech disabilities of these learners, the phonological loop in the working memory receives and rejects an unclear message, because the sub-vocal repetition...

Many factors contribute to and predict success in mathematics. In the South African education system, an alarming number of learners enter formal schooling without the necessary competence in the prerequisite skills, which influences their learning experiences negatively. This disadvantage makes them vulnerable and places them at risk to develop ma...

The reading skills of many deaf children lag several years behind those of hearing children, and there is a need for identifying reading difficulties and implementing effective reading support strategies in this population. This study embraces a balanced reading approach, and investigates the efficacy of applying multi-sensory coding strategies and...

The inability of many English second-language (ESL) learners to read at desirable levels is universal, but reasons for this and solutions have not yet been addressed. Within the South African teaching context especially there is a paucity of evidence-based research findings available on the literacy challenges faced by ESL learners and the applicat...

This paper discusses two key cognitive theories underlying spelling acquisition, i.e. the developmental stage theory and the overlapping waves theory. Within the developmental stage framework, learning to spell is viewed as a process of moving from spelling that represents sound to spelling that represents meaning, following a sequence of qualitati...

This article argues the importance of allowing deaf children to acquire sign language from an early age. It demonstrates firstly that the critical/sensitive period hypothesis for language acquisition can be applied to specific language aspects of spoken language as well as sign languages (i.e. phonology, grammatical processing and syntax). This mak...

Research suggests that restricted access to phonological coding exacerbates deaf children’s reading and writing problems. Conversely, bilingual-bicultural programs are advocated on the hypothesis that well-developed sign language skills and visual coding strategies (based on sign language) may offer deaf children phonological/orthographic link, thu...

I argue that language skills and social interaction, specifically quality social discourse (reciprocal interaction) concerning mental states are pivotal in the development of social understanding and ‘theory of mind’ development. Thus, this research is grounded and positioned within the theories of social constructivism. Theory of mind' development...

This empirical paper argues that intermediate dyslexic learners’ literacy skills can be enhanced through a community-based service learning project. Hence, this research is grounded and positioned within Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and the theories of experiential education, as described by Dewey and Kolb. In collaboration with eight...

South Africa is in the midst of a catastrophic AIDS epidemic. HIV prevalence statistics in most countries indicate that up to 60% of all new infections occur among 15 to 24 year olds, whilst this group also boasts the highest incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Statistical findings among South African students predict a 10% increas...

The aim of this study is to investigate the sexual campus culture of students at the University of the Free State (UFS), by specifically focussing on gender and culture as patterns of high-risk sexual behaviour. The sample consisted of 396 participants, 211 female and 185 male students, with a mean age of 19.9 years. Sixty one percent (61%) of the...

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--University of the Free State, 2003. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 22-23).