Effects of Coding in Digital Technology on Grade 10 and 11 Learners’ Performance in Information Technology at a Selected High School in One District of the Eastern Cape

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_21How to use a DOI?

Keywords

coding; digital technology; information technology; learner performance; programming

Abstract

The paper examined the effects of coding in Digital Technology offered in grades 8 and 9 on the performance of grades 10 and 11 learners in Information Technology at a selected secondary school in a district of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The study used a mixed-methods research approach to explore how prior engagement with coding activities in the General Education and Training (GET) phase influences learners’ performance in the subject in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. The sample for the study was 42 learners, constituting an equal number of grades 10 and 11. Quantitative data was gathered through a structured questionnaire that was administered to the 42 learners, while qualitative insights were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 6 grade 10 and 4 grade 11 learners enrolled in Information Technology. The study found that exposure to coding in grades 8 and 9 was a motivating factor for many learners in selecting Information Technology in grade 10. However, while early block-based coding developed general computational thinking and learner confidence, it did not adequately prepare learners for the syntax-heavy and logic-intensive demands of Delphi programming taught in the FET phase. Learners also expressed a need for more structured and language-specific preparation in the GET phase. This paper concludes that prior coding experiences influence learners’ self-efficacy, confidence in technical subjects, and preparedness for advanced programming curricula. Recommendations include that the design and implementation of early coding curricula are pivotal in influencing subject choice trajectories and academic confidence in the digital domain. Another recommendation is the need to align Digital Technology curriculum with long-term IT subject pathways, teacher preparedness, and learner support strategies to enhance learner metacognition and engagement.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lewis Nyanhi
AU  - Israel Kariyana
AU  - Simon Christopher Fernandez
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/29
TI  - Effects of Coding in Digital Technology on Grade 10 and 11 Learners’ Performance in Information Technology at a Selected High School in One District of the Eastern Cape
BT  - Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 320
EP  - 351
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_21
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-521-8_21
ID  - Nyanhi2025
ER  -