Browsing by Author "Joubert, Daisy Christine"

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    Exploring the lifelong learning journeys of two South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreters at a South African university
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-10-25) Joubert, Daisy Christine; Rule, Peter; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the lifelong learning journeys of two South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreters, focusing on how their formal learning in general and the acquisition of SASL, in particular, influenced how they navigate the acquisition of new literacies, especially as educational interpreters. Differentiation was made between interpreters based on the fact that one is the child of Deaf adults (CODA), while the other is the child of hearing adults (COHA). This provided insight into how their lifelong learning (LLL) journeys from childhood to professional South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreters have influenced how they now acquire new literacies and how they make meaning of newly acquired knowledge. To form an understanding of their lifelong learning journey, the study looked at each participants relationship with SASL, their membership to the Deaf community and how it influenced their learning journeys to date. While the study explores their entire learning journey from a SASL-related point of view, the greater focus is on their current realities as full-time SASL educational interpreters at a South African university. To adequately conceptualise and understand the experience and challenges that these participants had to face, and continue to face, within an educational context, a single theoretical framework is too one-dimensional. The theoretical framework thus uses a three-pronged approach, comprising three theories, namely Jarvis’s learning theory, communities of practice and Dialogical self-theory to analyse and make sense of the data. The research is positioned within the interpretivist research paradigm, using a narrative approach and qualitative style of data gathering. Two participants were identified using purposive sampling and each participant participated in an in-depth narrative interview. The narrative interviews were analysed using thematic analysis to identify the prevailing themes and patterns that emerged from the stories that participants told of their lived experiences. The dominant themes such as workplace literacy, communities of practice and identity were highlighted and investigated in greater depth by using the theoretical framework, as explained above. The analysis and insights gained provided some insight into the complexities that form part of the life-worlds of the two participants. Their daily lives as they straddle the hearing and the Deaf communities in which they work and live are very challenging. Working for or serving members of any marginalised community comes with challenges, but when that community has such a strong culture and identity as the Deaf community, there are additional obstacles and cultural hindrances that must be acknowledged, addressed and respected. The different self-positions that the two participants take on is a clear indication of how their lifelong learning journey influenced how they interact with members of the Deaf community and how they understand and mitigate the barriers that they face in their right and on behalf of their clients―the students.