Abstract:
This thesis investigates both the information needs of the identified communities of Damonsville and Onverwacht and the contents of the selected Afrikaans literacy ABET programmes in order to determine whether the contents addresses the identified information needs. Educators need to develop material that is relevant and appropriate, for example, content that addresses the information needs of the targeted learners. The results of this content analysis were aligned with the information needs assessments carried out in the communities of Onverwacht and Damonsville. These two communities were chosen because of their close proximity to Pretoria and the high level of illiteracy prevailing in these two mainly Afrikaans-speaking communities. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used in the study. Two communities of Damonsville and Onverwacht were chosen as data collection sites so as to reveal their information needs through the use of questionnaires. The data collected was analysed by using descriptive and statistical tabulation for quantitative and content analysis methods and then compared. The main research question of the study is, “What are the information needs of the Afrikaans pre-literate adult learners of both Damonsville and Onverwacht communities and how can the content of adult literacy training material be tailored to match the information requirements of the identified communities?”. From the data derived from empirical study conducted, a list of activities which serve as information needs of both communities was compiled and could then be used when designing instructional tutorials so as that the content could match the specified needs of the identified communities. From the content analysis of the three literacy programmes, findings have indicated that there exist no correlation between the information needs of the identified communities and the contents of the literacy programmes. The researcher argues this shortcoming as a major implication to instructional design. Based on the findings of a comparison between the content of the Afrikaans literacy programmes and the information needs of the people in Onverwacht and Damonsville, a learning programme in the form of two lesson plans were compiled in which the identified information needs of the learners determined the content. Recommendations for the improvement of the content of literacy programmes that could be used in future were also made.
