Prácticas De Manejo

Prior to their engagement in the programme, I interviewed the participants to gain insight into the academic challenges that they were experiencing with regard to being taught in English, specifically in relation to the subject Life Sciences. All the participants, with the exception of Kurt, grew up in homes where isiXhosa was their home language. As Table 4.2. below shows, some started formal schooling being taught in their home language up to Grade 3 while others were taught in a second language. According to the Language in Education Policy (Department of Education, 1997a) schools can decide

67

on their own language of learning and teaching. Although the policy encourages schools to use the learners’ home language, which in this case should be isiXhosa, it is evident from the data collected that the medium of instruction eventually ended up being

English and/or Afrikaans.

Table 4.2: Language of instruction in primary school

Participant Home language Former schooling experience

Tanya isiXhosa Grades R–3: Afrikaans, English Grades 4–7: English, Afrikaans Ester isiXhosa Grades R–6: isiXhosa, English

Grades 6–7: English, Afrikaans

Anele isiXhosa Grade R: English

Grades 1–7: English, Afrikaans Nancy isiXhosa Grades R–5: isiXhosa, English

Grades 6–7: English, Afrikaans

AJ isiXhosa Grades R–4: isiXhosa, English

Grades 4–7: English, Afrikaans Anja isiXhosa Grades R–3: isiXhosa, English

Grades 4–7: English, Afrikaans

Kurt Kinyarwanda Grades R–6: Kinyarwanda, English, French Grades 6–7: English, Afrikaans

Charles isiXhosa Grades R–3: isiXhosa, English Grades 4–7: English, Afrikaans Ursula isiXhosa Grades 1–3: English

Grades 4–7: English, Afrikaans Olga isiXhosa Grades R–4: isiXhosa, English

Grades 5–7: English, Afrikaans

From what can be seen in the table, Ester, Nancy, AJ, Anja, Charles and Olga’s

medium of instruction in Grade 1 till Grade 3 was isiXhosa. Anele and Ursula’s medium of instruction was English while Kurt’s was Kinyarwanda and Tanya’s was Afrikaans.

68

Although the participants’ medium of instruction was different, all of them had the

subject, English as second language. By Grade 4, Tanya, AJ, Anja, Charles and Ursula were being taught in English and did English as first language and Afrikaans as second language subjects. Olga’s medium of instruction was still isiXhosa in Grade 4, Ester and Nancy were taught in isiXhosa till Grade 6 and Kurt’s medium of instruction was

Kinyarwanda also till Grade 6.

While English was required to be studied as a subject and later became the medium of instruction for all these participants, Ursula, Kurt, Anja, Ester, Nancy and Anele recalled that they only had opportunity to speak English at school as the language used at home was exclusively isiXhosa. Though Charles and Olga had opportunity to communicate in English with their parents and friends, such individuals were not mother tongue

speakers of English.

AJ was schooled in isiXhosa in the first five grades, and then he had to switch to English. However, despite the occasional conversation, English was not the language that his family was conversant in. The lack of opportunities to speak English at home led to limited comprehension skills in the language, as AJ reported:

So to us, where we don’t use English as a common language at home, there’s different ways that we talk English so it won’t be the same as people that talk English at home. So there would be some words that would twist so it won’t make sense like explaining stuff. Other people (teachers) will find it difficult, like you won’t put it as they want you to. (AJ interview data, 2017)

69

For most of the participants, English was used outside of the home only and then only in contexts such as school when communicating with teachers or those learners in their classes who did not speak isiXhosa. This led to a lack of opportunities to extend their vocabulary and resulted in a continuous limited proficiency in English.

Olga, Kurt and Charles said that it was hard at first being taught in English but now that they had learnt it, it was easier; they had become more adapted to it by now. Nancy, AJ and Anele stated that they enjoyed being taught in English because they had learnt to understand English and how to speak a language that is used internationally. Nancy said the following:

For me it’s good cause, like, I learn how to speak words in English or how to communicate with the different people who doesn’t know my language. It’s good. (Nancy interview data, 2017)

Their views were, however, not reflective of those of all the participants. Ursula and Ester held negative views about being taught in English. They found the language confusing and difficult to master, and this led to their having trouble understanding the work. When I asked Ursula how she experienced being taught in English, she

responded as follows:

It’s not 100% good for me because sometimes I really wish the teacher would be, I would be like, miss can you please explain it in my native language so that maybe I can understand it more … what you’re trying to say. (Ursula interview data, 2017)

70

Anele found it difficult to remember difficult English words, and Tanya struggled with comprehension. She often did not understand the questions that teachers posed due to her limited understanding of English. Kurt also thought that teachers did not necessarily take into account that a learner’s home language might be different from that of other learners.

When asked what influence being taught in English had on their academic success in class, there were mixed responses. It was only Olga who stated that her academic achievement was hampered by being taught in English:

Since English is not my home language I think it has influenced my marks, I don’t like pass with high marks, like code sevens since it’s not my home language. (Olga interview data, 2017)