Configuración de la identidad nacional como antecedente de la lucha en la literatura del exilio

In comparing academic performance in language subjects, MacDonald (1990) found that the Grade 5 learners in her quantitative and qualitative study performed very poorly in English but performed much better in their mother tongue. This was also reflected in their poor listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills in other subjects, which were all in English. They did not possess adequate vocabulary required at their grade, while spelling and grammar was also found to be very poor. When presented with questions, students were unable to answer them even though the answers were also provided. Because they did not understand most of the terminology, they were unable to recognise that the answers were also there. When asked by the researcher to execute the same tasks in their mother tongue, the students were found to do much better in those same subjects. This indicated an existence of knowledge of subject content and cognitive skills, albeit insufficient for their academic level. This limited knowledge, though, was hard to discover because of the inability of the students to express themselves in English. MacDonald (1990) points out that, in general, teaching tasks in these schools -

explanations and discussions between educators and their learners – were conducted in their mother tongue. When it came to teaching subject content in English, the learners would either copy text as it was in their textbooks or on the board, or if a particular task was conducted verbally, they would chant the exact words that their teacher had read out to them and had asked them to repeat. This content would then be memorised for attempts at reproduction in formal assessments. MacDonald (1990) also discovered that the English proficiencies of the teachers themselves were not adequate for them to be teaching through the language. She found that these factors contributed to the loss of meaning of subject content for the learners, and a missed opportunity to acquire new English vocabulary and cognitive skills.

Other studies conducted more recently have found the same challenges amongst Black South African learners in former Black DET schools, all the way up to the end of the 12th Grade. Probyn (2001) recorded lessons conducted by Grade 8 and Grade 9 teachers of different subjects in a former Black DET school. These teachers were later interviewed regarding their perceptions of teaching through an additional language. All the teachers pointed out that their students had poor proficiency in the English language. They expressed that learners looked confused when the educator spoke in English and would hardly attempt to respond in the language. When educators questioned this lack of response, the learners claimed that it was because they did not understand what the educator was saying, and either did not know how to say what they themselves wanted to say or were too embarrassed to express themselves in broken English. To overcome this challenge, educators end up teaching through both English and the mother tongue. They expressed that, in as much as they want their students to understand English, they were also concerned with ensuring that their students acquired meaningful knowledge of subject content, which they found was more possible if explained in the mother tongue. Learners’ inability to become proficient in English has led to high failure rates because exams are conducted in English (Probyn, 2001). These challenges were also discovered by Vermeulen (2001), and by Masitsa (2004) and Setati et al. (2002) amongst Black South African Grade 12 students. Nel and Müller (2010) explored the impact of Black South African teachers’ limited proficiency in English on their Black South African learners’ development in the language. They found that students reflected the exact same phonological, spelling and grammatical errors as their teachers. The educators seemed to be unaware of this transference and had misperceptions of their own English proficiency. They expressed that they had adequate levels of proficiency and did not need further training in the language, but also expressed that they were not confident enough to teach through English.

All educators in the studies conducted in former Black DET schools expressed that they use their mother tongues to explain the meaning of subject content and to allow the students to communicate their confusion and understanding, and then use English to expose the students to the vocabulary that the subject is represented in and which they will have to use in formal assessments (MacDonald, 1990; Probyn, 2001; Setati et al., 2002; Vermeulen, 2001). Although students understand their subjects in their mother tongue, they end up rote-learning the English content. This then becomes the default method of learning for the students throughout their primary and secondary school years. The damaging effects of such methods of teaching and learning can be seen in the high failure rates in former Black DET schools, in dropouts, and in the inadequate English proficiency of the few students who do manage to qualify for tertiary education (Masitsa, 2004; Paxton, 2009; Setati et al., 2002; Webb, 2002). Researchers have pointed out that even though the method of code-switching between the mother tongue and the additional school language is unofficial in the formal education system, it is the most effective and efficient way of teaching meaningfully as the mother tongue is the language that the learners know best (Banda, 2000; Cummins, 1980, 2000; Heugh, 2000; Phillipson, 1996; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2009).

2.6.5. Academic performance and language of tuition in higher education, post