Mosenodi

Editorial

Kemmonye Collete Monaka — 2024-06-14

EXPLORING TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS IN BOTSWANA PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Ikgomotseng Neo Seikano — 2024-06-15

Improving performance in mathematics has remained a major challenge for education stakeholders in Botswana and beyond. With the role of teaching and learning strategies in improving performance in mathematics well established, this study explored teachers’ perspectives on the use of Education Technology (ET) in teaching and learning of mathematics in Gaborone. The study uses a phenomenological qualitative research design underpinned by interpretivism. Data was collected by means of oral interviews and was collected from 16 mathematics teachers selected from eight public and private schools. The findings showed that private schools applied technology more robustly than their public counterparts. However, power cuts, internet cuts, and lack of dedicated classrooms for teaching of mathematics were major hindrances to applying technology in the schools. Public schools were further hindered by lack of resources, training, monitoring, and supervision, with some of the available resources not being put to good use, especially by learners. Public school participants however concurred with private school participants that technology had the capacity to improve learning outcomes when applied correctly. These findings underscore the need for improved technology at the level of policy and practice, especially in public schools through public-private partnerships.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS INFLUENCING GRADUATE PROGRAMME COMPLETION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

Dorcas B. Molefe — 2024-06-14

Higher education institutions worldwide face the challenge of reversing the downward trend in programme completion and graduation rates. This paper explores students’ perception of influences on timely and delayed graduate programme completion in the Botswana context. This correlational research involved a sample of 155 participants drawn from the 2014 and 2015 cohorts of graduate students at the University of Botswana. Participants completed a questionnaire requesting sociodemographic information and data on facilitators and barriers related to timely and delayed degree programme completion. Logistic regression was used for data analysis. The statistically significant predictor variables were age group, study mode, sponsorship, and students’ attributes. The results point to a number of policy and practical interventions for boosting graduate students’ success and completion rates.

LEARNER PERFORMANCE IN BOTSWANA AND BEYOND: A CRITICAL REFLECTION

Oreeditse Ramothonyana — 2024-06-13

This article reflects on concerns about poor performance of learners in schools in Botswana and internationally by exploring research on learner performance locally, regionally, and abroad. It reports on factors that contribute to low academic achievement including lack of parental involvement, poor support to the teachers, and poor school leadership and management skills. It also presents intervention strategies used in Botswana including the provision of trained and qualified teachers, implementation of performance reforms such as performance management system (PMS), school-based professional development activities and parental involvement in learning and teaching. The study further avers that there may be other possible interventions such as classroom interaction and learner-centeredness. The study is based on a critical assessment of the diverse perspectives observed in the literature and seeks to problematize poor learner performance and presents it as an issue that needs concerted examination. It is hoped that policy makers, educators, curriculum developers and other relevant stakeholders in the education fraternity would take note of concerning student performance and make relevant, practical recommendations to improve the situation.

POOR COMPLETION RATES OF GRADUATE PROGRAMMES: A REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE

Dorcas Molefe — 2024-06-13

Despite the growing concern for universities across the globe to perform well in increasing graduate output to participate and function more effectively in the knowledge economy, literature worldwide points to the prevalence of both low graduate output and delayed graduate programme completion. The factors influencing completion are varied, however, the purpose of the paper is to review selected literature on demographic and institutional factors affecting graduate programme completion in universities. The factors include race-ethnicity, finances, study mode, gender, first-generation, and supervisory model, mindset, context, and experience. The article focuses on both quantitative and qualitative studies on completion of the Masters and Doctoral level studies. It covers research questions under investigation, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used, the methodology used, graduate programmes included, participant inclusivity, the studies’ findings and recommendations. The article critiques the studies with the view to identify the limitations in the studies.

TEACHER-STUDENT INSTRUCTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS IN A SETSWANA CLASSROOM

Oreeditse Ramothonyana — 2024-06-13

Poor academic performance the world over is a cause for concern. The abysmal failure of students in public examination has made stakeholders such as governments, teachers, parents, and learners themselves get concerned. Developed counties such as USA have experienced low academic performance in their schools. Similarly, in Africa cases of low performance have been reported. Botswana is not an exception as it has also recorded poor academic performance in different schools. Whilst causes of poor performance may in some cases be known in Botswana, the underlying factors of such causes may be unclear and hence needing to be interrogated. The current study is therefore an attempt to understand the causes of poor academic performance in one region of the country, the Tutume Sub-District, by analysing teacher-student instructional interactions (TSII) in a Setswana classroom in one junior secondary school, and the implication in learners’ academic performance using Flanders Interactional Analysis as the analytical tool. Observational case study was adopted, and purposive sampling technique for participant recruitment was used. The major findings of the study revealed that content cross was the most dominant TSII.

UTILIZING CORPORA IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES (EAP): A POST COVID-19 ANALYSIS

Michael Chima Ochu — 2024-06-13

This article explores the utilization of corpora in teaching English for Academic Purposes in the post-COVID-19 era. The central argument is that corpora, large collections of written and spoken texts, offer valuable insights into language use patterns, which can inform pedagogical practices and enhance language proficiency. By analysing the integration of corpora into EAP instruction, this article aims to provide strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of language teaching in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review of literature covers corpus approaches in addressing the linguistic needs of EAP learners; the role of corpus-based activities in promoting learner autonomy and critical thinking skills in EAP instruction; and the impact of corpus-based tools on writing skills development among EAP learners. Issues that emerged from the discussion of literature are discussed in conceptual perspective in the discussion section. The study concludes by addressing the implications of using corpora in teaching EAP. Thus, its position is that integrating corpus-based activities and materials into EAP teaching offers numerous benefits for both educators and learners. Therefore, by incorporating authentic language data into instructional materials, educators can provide learners with exposure to real-world language use in academic contexts, thereby enhancing their language proficiency and academic skills.

A DICTIONARY OF SETSWANA PERSONAL NAMES

Wazha Lopang — 2024-06-13