Abstract
This article presents an argument and commentary about the concomitant effects of codification, meritocracy and performativity in the academic performance of a cohort of black African Foundation Phase Bachelor of Education degree students at a previously predominantly white institution of higher learning. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the point that the combination of codification, meritocracy and performativity has potentially debilitating ramifications for the performance of this cohort of pre-service teachers. In this instance, language is a codification mechanism and a means towards epistemological access. This paper posits the viewpoint that the sociocultural backgrounds of the cohort predispose them to the resultant negative effects of the combination of the three factors. The study that forms the basis of this article used the qualitative theoretical orientation of the transformative paradigm to pursue a critical emancipatory and transformative theoretical agenda. This agenda is embodied in the recommendations that are informed by an infusion of the literature, the participants’ observations, as accrued from the data, and the researcher’s reflections. The intention of this social-justice-oriented support strategy is to make an implied decolonial contribution towards counteracting and diffusing the potentially debilitating effects of the combination of codification, meritocracy and performativity.
Highlights
This paper is premised upon a study that was positioned to contribute to a transformative Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) mandate to institutions of higher learning
The data that were gleaned from the study, upon which this discussion is based, corroborated the inherent assumptions about the concomitant effects of language and identity-related factors (Maseko, 2015; Cummins, 1996)
In relation to the key question of the research, the data confirmed the implications of the convergence of language and identity and its implications for the academic performance of the black L2 FP B.Ed. pre-service teacher cohort
Summary
This paper is premised upon a study that was positioned to contribute to a transformative Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) mandate to institutions of higher learning. The intention of the mandate was to strengthen and develop the B.Ed. Foundation Phase programme. With this in mind, the focus of the study was on the concomitant effects of the convergence of language and identity on the black African cohort of this programme. This article draws from a DHET-mandated study, as mentioned earlier, to make inferences about the effects of the combination of codification, meritocracy and performativity on a cohort of black B.Ed. Foundation Phase pre-service teachers.
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