ARACELLY DEL REFUGIO CACERES CIME, CARLOS ALBERTO BURGOS PECH;

Perceptions on the supportive nature of the school context were interrogated in relation to material provision and time availability.

Material provision: adequacy and access

Teachers also rated the nature of the support the teaching-learning context provided in terms of material and time provisions. Generally, material provisions were either scarce or were unavailable. An example was that of dictionaries which were only present and accessible by learners in Alice’s class. The rest of the teachers’ classes did not have dictionaries. In Christine’s class as in Gladys’ the reading books were scarce unlike in Florence’s. Only in Betty’s class had learners access to the library. Six classes out of the ten (Betty, Florence, Gladys, Jane, Henrietta and Kate) had some big books. Even in the classes with the big books for shared reading, it was only in Kate’s class that the attendant small readers which accompany the big books were found. The problem was captured by Betty who said, “[W]e have got these books (big books) we get them from the library but we do not have the small ones. If you are doing shared reading you want to use the small books. The bookshops, if you say I want the small books of this one, it is too expensive.” Christine saw lack of reading material provisions as militating against successful L2 learning. She said, “There are not enough readers for them to read because reading is everything.” Time provision was however, perceived differently.

Time allocated to English First Additional Language in Grade 3

In terms of time allocation, there was consensus on the time allocated for English FAL being adequate. Alice and Betty qualified their perception of time being adequate respectively by noting that they could “do a lot” or “cover”. Time provision was perceived as adequate on the basis of the amount of work that could be covered within the time allocated. Time adequacy was not defined in terms of raising learners to a certain level of proficiency, but in terms of coverage. Florence said, “I think so (but) it’s difficult for us because even in our timetables most of the periods are Xhosa. Mathematics and eh we are doing them in Xhosa, you know.” To her, time allocated for English FAL was adequate but she observed the need for an extension of the role of English to other learning areas in the FP.

Gladys’ qualification of why she considered time allocated as adequate was rather ironic. She said, “It is enough because English is new so they should be given little time and increase as

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they to understand.” Her belief was that at the lowest levels of L2 proficiency learners needed less time in its study when one would have expected that that is when the learners needed more exposure to the language.

This section presented data from the teacher interviews from which emerging trends were manifest. Some such trends include the apparent preference for decontextualisation of vocabulary instruction which started from the point of initial introduction of learners to English through the naming of objects and labelling of parts on objects. The nature of the classroom environment emerged as an important resource as most of the naming and labelling was said to be done on familiar objects especially those in the classroom environment.

The role of the learners’ books also came through as key in the English FAL instruction. The learner books were identified as key sources of vocabulary as well as major determinants of the novelty of words to learners. They were seen as determiners of words that needed to be accorded priority in the form of word lists.

Although the role of learners was peripherally acknowledged by two of the teachers as both sources of new words as well as determiners of the novelty of words, they were overshadowed by the role of the teacher in both aspects. The teachers acknowledged being the key players in deciding what words were new to learners, which sources to consult and also acknowledged being the key players for explaining word meanings to learners. As noted earlier, one teacher even said she did for the learners what the dictionary would do and so did not use the dictionary. Word meanings were identified as the top priority dimension by the majority of teachers but it was word writing that was identified as problematic for the learners

The role of the first language in the English FAL was perceived as a hindrance to the quantity of English vocabulary as in the case of the English speaking Rotary volunteer teacher being seen by one teacher as potentially registering greater success with the English teaching on account of using the language all the time. In another instance, the isiXhosa first language was identified as a resource to facilitate comprehensibility. There was manifest reservation on both the potential of the outside world for impacting the vocabulary development of learners and on the readiness of the learners for the transition to Grade 4.

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Having looked at the beliefs and perceptions teachers held on various aspects of L2 learning and vocabulary development, as well as the pedagogical choices they make, the next major section explored their professed pedagogical practices in relation to their observed practices. The professed practices emanated from the interviews and the observed practices from the observations. As such, the next section links interview and observation data in trying to understand how much of teachers’ professed practices translated into actual classroom practice.

6.3 Teachers’ Perceived and Observed Pedagogical Practices Related to Vocabulary