Preparing isiXhosa home language teachers for the 21st century classroom: Student teachers' experiences, challenges and reflections

The aim of the article is to identify the gaps between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training with special reference to the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase (Grades 10–12) in some Western Cape high schools. The article is based on data that was collected from Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students taking isiXhosa (home language) as one of their teaching method subjects as part of their pre-service training. The data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and an analysis of student teachers’ reflective journals. The article provides an analysis of PGCE students’ experiences and reflections on the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language in schools. It argues that if there is a gap between theory underpinning initial pre-service training and actual practice in schools, there will be no significant improvement in the teaching of isiXhosa as a home language. It concludes by proposing ways of improving both pre-service and in-service teacher education practice to develop African languages as academic or intellectual languages at school level

Unlocking the grid: Language-in-education policy realisation in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper reflects on the state of educational language policy two decades into a postApartheid South Africa caught between official multilingualism and English. The focus is on the national language-in-education policy (LiEP) that advocates additive bi/multilingualism, and a provincial counterpart, the language transformation plan (LTP). Using Ricento and Hornberger’s onion metaphor, the paper seeks to uncover the meanings of policy realisation in education at legislative, institutional, and interpersonal levels. The LiEP’s non-realisation at institutional level is indexed by a ‘gridlock of collusion’ (Alexander, personal communication) between political elites and the majority of African-language speakers, who emulatively seek the goods that an English-medium education promises. To illustrate how teachers can become policy advocates, data are presented from a bilingual education in-service programme that supported the LTP. The paper argues that sociolinguistic insights into speakers’ heteroglossic practices should be used to counter prevailing monoglossic policy discourses and school language practices, and that all languages should be used as learning resources. Strategic essentialism would recognise the schooling system’s need to separately classify language subjects and to identify the languages most productively used for teaching across the curriculum. The paper concludes with a call for the revision of the LiEP

Exploratory mathematics talk in a second language: a sociolinguistic perspective:

This paper illuminates challenges confronting teachers and students at the literacy/numeracy interface in contexts where students have not developed sufficient English language proficiency to be learning mathematics through English but, due to socio-politically and economically driven perceptions are being taught in English. We analyse transcript data of classroom talk in a South African grade 4 mathematics lesson on fractions. Together with interview data, the lesson data highlight some of the consequences students’ diminished access to their home language appear to have on their access to mathematical meaning-making

Teachers' conceptions of standards in South African Basic Education and Training: A case study

In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education and Training (DBE) is responsible for primary and secondary education (Grades R-12). In an effort to improve educational standards in literacy, numeracy and mathematics, especially in the Foundation Phase (FP) levels of education, the DBE has developed several initiatives and campaigns. To monitor the standards and set targets, the department administers high-stakes standardised tests similar to those conducted in the United States of America (USA) at elementary and secondary schools. In spite of these efforts, the national low performance levels of Grades R-12 remain a grave social concern. This study investigated the conceptions of standards from a purposive sample of twenty elementary school teachers selected from three Cape Town schools, with the objective of establishing how their understandings of standards influenced their classroom pedagogical practices. Activity theory informed this research. Data were collected through focus group semi-structured interviews. Results showed that teachers perceived the disadvantaged contexts in which they function as limiting their pedagogical practices and availability of socio-cultural artefacts that they need, thus preventing them from achieving their objectives of maintaining good educational standards. Evidently, the lack of a clear definition of standards, and teachers’ exclusion from participation in the standards-setting processes appear to restrict their understanding of standards and, by implication, their classroom practices and activities aimed at promoting standards. We conclude that a lack of clarity on the definition of standards for FP teachers has detrimental effects on their classroom practices as they function in diverse educational environments

Historiography of African Linguistics/Sociolinguistics: XHS 311

Historiography of African Linguistics/Sociolinguistics: XHS 311, Supplementary examination July 2010

Nguni Linguistics (Advanced): XHS 323

Nguni Linguistics (Advanced): XHS 323, supplementary examination February 2010

Gendered VoicesReflections on Gender and Education in South Africa and Sudan /

online resource