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The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa

This research focusses on how knowledge is represented in a professionally orientated threeyear Diploma programme in Sound Technology and Production. The programme is intended to produce graduates who are workplace ready sound engineers for the local and international audio industry. The research is...

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Main Author: Pike, Jonathan
Other Authors: Wolmarans, Nicolette
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: School of Education 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Pike, Jonathan
author2 Wolmarans, Nicolette
author_browse Pike, Jonathan
Wolmarans, Nicolette
author_facet Wolmarans, Nicolette
Pike, Jonathan
author_sort Pike, Jonathan
collection Thesis
description This research focusses on how knowledge is represented in a professionally orientated threeyear Diploma programme in Sound Technology and Production. The programme is intended to produce graduates who are workplace ready sound engineers for the local and international audio industry. The research is intended to contribute to understanding knowledge practices in practically orientated curricula, and how these curricula prepare practitioners for employment. The research is based on an analysis of selected assessment briefs provided to the students from three modules in the programme. This data has been analysed by operationalizing the concepts of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) – Semantics as theorised by Karl Maton. Specifically, the data has been analysed in terms of how closely the specialised techniques taught in the programme are linked to the context of their application in practice (semantic gravity), as well as how knowledge is represented in terms of its complexity (semantic density) through the three years of the programme. LCT – Semantics has been operationalised for the purposes of this research by linking the concepts of semantic gravity to Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes, and semantic density to Biggs's SOLO taxonomy. The findings of this research show that curricula with professional or vocational modalities, such as diploma programmes, tend to exhibit both strong semantic gravity and strong semantic density, as discussed by Suellen Shay (2016). The findings also support the value of practical curricula and their knowledge practices.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43142
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:45.686Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher School of Education
publisherStr School of Education
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43142 The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa Pike, Jonathan Wolmarans, Nicolette Biggs's SOLO taxonomy Legitimation Code Theory Sound Technology and Production This research focusses on how knowledge is represented in a professionally orientated threeyear Diploma programme in Sound Technology and Production. The programme is intended to produce graduates who are workplace ready sound engineers for the local and international audio industry. The research is intended to contribute to understanding knowledge practices in practically orientated curricula, and how these curricula prepare practitioners for employment. The research is based on an analysis of selected assessment briefs provided to the students from three modules in the programme. This data has been analysed by operationalizing the concepts of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) – Semantics as theorised by Karl Maton. Specifically, the data has been analysed in terms of how closely the specialised techniques taught in the programme are linked to the context of their application in practice (semantic gravity), as well as how knowledge is represented in terms of its complexity (semantic density) through the three years of the programme. LCT – Semantics has been operationalised for the purposes of this research by linking the concepts of semantic gravity to Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes, and semantic density to Biggs's SOLO taxonomy. The findings of this research show that curricula with professional or vocational modalities, such as diploma programmes, tend to exhibit both strong semantic gravity and strong semantic density, as discussed by Suellen Shay (2016). The findings also support the value of practical curricula and their knowledge practices. 2026-04-28T11:47:10Z 2026-04-28T11:47:10Z 2023 2026-04-28T11:44:15Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43142 en eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Biggs's SOLO taxonomy
Legitimation Code Theory
Sound Technology and Production
Pike, Jonathan
The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
title_full The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
title_fullStr The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
title_short The relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in South Africa
title_sort relationship between specialised techniques and their application in practical assessments in a professionally orientated higher education programme in south africa
topic Biggs's SOLO taxonomy
Legitimation Code Theory
Sound Technology and Production
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43142
work_keys_str_mv AT pikejonathan therelationshipbetweenspecialisedtechniquesandtheirapplicationinpracticalassessmentsinaprofessionallyorientatedhighereducationprogrammeinsouthafrica
AT pikejonathan relationshipbetweenspecialisedtechniquesandtheirapplicationinpracticalassessmentsinaprofessionallyorientatedhighereducationprogrammeinsouthafrica