Using readability, comprehensibility and lexical coverage to evaluate the suitability of an introductory accountancy textbook to its readership

At universities, textbooks are still a primary source of course content. However, this can only be efficacious if the intended readers are able to comprehend the content of the textbooks adequately. This study investigated three possible approaches to determining whether the intended readership of a prescribed Introductory Accountancy textbook (Cornelius & Weyers 2011) will be able to make meaning of that textbook. Such an investigation has important implications for authors, publishers of textbooks and subject lecturers prescribing the texts. Readability of the textbook was determined by using the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level indices, as well as the average of five conveniently calculated grade level reading indices. A Cloze procedure test was administered to a selection of students to determine their reading comprehension of a reading text. Finally, Nations’ Vocabulary Size Test (Nation and Beglar 2007: 9, 11) was used to determine whether the vocabulary size of the selection of students provides adequate lexical coverage of the lexis used in the textbook to enable comprehension of the text. The findings were somewhat conflicting. The readability indices, and to a lesser extent the vocabulary size test, indicated suitability of the textbook to its intended readership. The Cloze test results suggested contradictory findings that users of the textbook will be reading at their frustration level. These conflicting findings are discussed.Keywords: readability, reading comprehension, vocabulary size, higher educatio

Technological pedagogical content knowledge in South African mathematics classrooms: A secondary analysis of SITES 2006 data

This article reports on a secondary data analysis conducted on the South African mathematics teachers’ dataset of the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES 2006). The sample consisted of a stratified sample of 640 mathematics teachers from 504 randomly selected computer-using and non–computer-using schools that completed the SITES 2006 teachers’ questionnaire, which investigated their pedagogical use of Information Communication Technology (ICT). The purpose of the current investigation was to investigate the level of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of mathematics teachers, and how TPACK attributes contribute towards more effective Grade 8 mathematics teaching in South African schools, using the TPACK conceptual framework. The findings are presented according to the three clusters identified through the association between the main variables of the TPACK model and other variables on the SITES 2006 teachers’ questionnaire: (1) impact of ICT use, (2) teacher practices and (3) barriers. A Cramér V of between 0.3 and 0.4 was considered to signal a medium effect that tended towards practically significant association, and a Cramér V of 0.4 or larger was considered to signal a large effect with practically significant association. The results indicate that the TPACK of mathematics teachers contributes towards more effective Grade 8 mathematics teaching in South African schools

Silencing dissent in an online discussion forum of a higher education institution

In an online forum at a higher education institution in South Africa, interventions from management in order to moderate discussions, result in antagonism and the smothering of dissident discourse. Critical poststructuralist theory, the model of communicative democratic discourse as held by Iris Marion Young, and the tenets of ideal speech as held by Jürgen Habermas, inform the study while it investigates how the internal and external moderation of the forum limit and terminate essential discourse which could be instrumental in the critical construction of meaning and the exercise of freedom of speech. The methodology of grounded theory and the approach of critical discourse analysis direct the exploration of interview transcripts and forum text. In the analysis of characteristics displayed in discursive moderating strategies, the researchers are enabled to propose a form of emancipatory moderation within the discourse which could result in better understanding among opposing parties. The hegemonous and distant character as seen in the discourse concerning current moderation is subversed to allow participatory and equal moderation for the establishment of an enabling, accepting and diverse online environment. Keywords: moderation of online forum; higher education institution; freedom of speech; censorship; democratic discours

TOWARDS A TABLE-TOPBOARDGAME FORSOUTH AFRICANHIGHER EDUCATION ACCOUNTANCY STUDENTS

A growing body of literature on undergraduate teaching and learning indicatesthat lecturers should constantly amend their teaching practices and pedagogicalframework.Responses from the business world and the accounting professionindicate that lecturers should incorporate workplace skills, as well asthepracticalapplicationof theory in theirteaching practices. Teaching and learningresearchacross disciplines suggeststhat the use of games in classrooms could not onlyaddress the skillsrequired in practice, but also enhance students’ motivationtolearn.The objective of thispaperwas to develop atable-topboard game foraccounting students to address the skills they require in the workplace, but alsotoapply theoretical concepts learntby playing the game in order to motivate studentsto deepen their learning. Thispaperwas designed as alocally boundcase study.Accounting students, as research participants, played thecustom-madetable-topboardgame and later, by means of a questionnaire,reflected that they feltmotivated to learn subject matter through playing thegame.The game alsoinspired them to apply the theory theypreviously learnt in order to progress in andbe successful in the game. The game was alsoconducive todeveloping other softskills.The authorspostulate thatthe use ofa boardgame could change the waystudents learn, how students andlecturers interact with one another, as well ashow lecturers adapt their approach to teaching andlearning.Theresearchindicatesthat using a board game for accountancy education could contributetowards the redesign of students’ classroom experiences

DESIGN EVALUATION OF A FORKLIFT SERIOUS GAME

Forklift training is one of many training programmes which involve heavymachinery or industrial equipment. During such sessions, it is not only theequipment, but also the trainer, trainees and others who may be at risk.Theoretical aspects can be presented without any risk, but practical aspects aredangerous, especially where novices are involved. Novice trainees not familiarwith forklift controls, could easily erras theydo not always contemplate theoutcomes of their driving. It would beideal if they could undergo training in a riskfree virtual environment where theycouldhave the opportunity to learn from theirmistakes. Due to advanced technologies in the world we live in, the youngergeneration find the use of technology interestingwhile they perceive learning asboring. Serious games provide Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) which isalso fun when learning and gaming are combined. The authors previouslyinvestigated how a digital forklift training in a virtual environment would benefittrainees. They consequently embarked on developing a digital-based forklifttraining game,OcuLift™, which could be usedin existing forklift training. Thispaper discusses the multimodalmethodology used during this phase of the project for the development of a prototype pertaining to the selection of input/outputdevices, game construction, as well as the rationale for the use of certain gamingelements. The authors tested the game with a local safety training company withsixteenforklift operatorswho played the game and shared their perceptions

GAMES FOR LEARNING IN ACCOUNTANCY EDUCATION:A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Background:Games for learning (educational games)areviewedas instructionalstrategiesrequiringstudentstoengageincompetitive activitieswithpredeterminedrulesand conditions.Various studiesproposebeneficial effects ofgamesfor learningandpredicttheirincreased future use.Theelementsof gamesfor learning contribute towardsmakingthem pedagogically soundandteachersand higher educationlecturershaveincreasingly become interested in usingthemto enhancetraditional teaching and learningenvironments.Aim:This paper documents asystematicreview of empirical and theoreticalarticles on the use of gamesfor learningin teaching and learningin order todeterminehow games for learning could contribute towards AccountancyEducation.Method:Articleslistedindigitalacademic databasesweresystematicallyreviewed according to:(i) the timespan as2011-2017; (ii) the document typeasjournalarticles; (iii) the keywordsas“educational games AND student curiosity;”“educational games AND engagement;” “educational gamesAND skills” and“educational games AND active learning.”Although the authors prefer the use ofthe construct ofgames for learninginstead ofeducational games, the literaturestill related to educational games.Conclusions:The study concludeson:(i)howenjoyabledostudents experiencegamesfor learning;(ii)howgamesinfluence, shape,andenrichlearning;(iii)how studentsgain,processandassimilateinformationfrom games for learning; (iv)thelimitedavailability ofinformationon how games for learningstimulate students’curiosityfor learning; (v)howstudents engage with one another todevelop skillswhile engaging with games for learning;and (vi) the need forfurtherresearchtoassess the effectiveness of gamesfor learning.Recommendations:(i)The decision to use gamesfor learningin teaching andlearning should be based onawell-groundedtheoryof learning, as well asontheskills required for the learning area;and (ii) gamesfor learningshould beemployedaslearningtools, andnot as stand-alone instruction

The development, validation and standardisation of a questionnaire for ICT proffessional development of Mathematics teachers

This article reports on the development of a custom-made questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed with the aim to compile guidelines for the professional development (PD) of mathematics teachers for the pedagogical use of information and communication technology (ICT) integration in teaching and learning. During the standardisation and validation of the questionnaire it was distributed to 179 schools and 300 teachers in eight educational management districts in the Western Cape, South Africa. The extracted factors had a reliability level higher than 0.8, which indicates the items in the questionnaire are significant to address the research problem and the questionnaire is valid for ICT PD

Meat quality and carcass characteristics of the vondo, Thryonomys swinderianus

Animals, maintained from birth on a higher and lower fibre diet, were slaughtered when postnatal growth curves flattened off. Males tended to be larger than females. The meat of females tended to have higher lipid (9.2 g/100 g fresh mass) and energy (767 J/100 g fresh mass) contents than that of males. The cholesterol content of vondo meat was low (48.5-53.4 mg/100 g fresh mass) compared to values for beef and goat. The two diets did not affect carcass characteristics and meat quality significantly.https://www.sasas.co.za/resources/sa-journal-animal-sciencehj2020EconomicsZoology and Entomolog

Reflections on the Use of Grounded Theory to Uncover Patterns of Exclusion in an Online Discussion Forum at an Institution of Higher Education

This article reports on an example of grounded theory methodology used in a case study to describe power inequalities among participants in an online forum at a higher education institution in South Africa. Critical poststructuralist theory informs the study as it investigates how hegemony influences the strategic interaction of participants. An interpretive analysis through coding procedures uncovered elements of intensified exclusion, inequality, and oppression. This took place within a virtual space which is theoretically idealized as an equalizer and promoter of freedom of speech. The process involved in the eliciting of voices and in the analysing and interpreting of subjective accounts is described to give an account of disillusioned experiences with a potentially liberating form of technology. The article contributes to qualitative methodology in applying the generic paradigmatic conditions within grounded theory and illustrates both the interrelatedness and the cyclic nature of the conditions within the specific paradigms of participants