The teachers were required to identify some of the incidences that specifically impact on instructional time during EFAL lessons. Table 5 shows a list of incidences specific to EFAL lessons and the number of teachers who acknowledged that these incidences impact on instructional time.
4.4.1 Inappropriate use of code switching
All teachers indicated that inappropriate code switching impacted on instructional time. This was because teachers had to code switch every sentence to English in a lesson which was made up of isiXhosa and Afrikaans first language learners. Code Switching was used with the intention for the learners to have an understanding. As a result, a lesson could drag on for so many periods before it was completed since those who do not understand the language spoken by the teacher disrupted the class. In line with the above discussion code switching could be effective when all the learners speak the same mother tongue.
4.4.2 Lack of EFAL resources
All the teachers complained about a lack of appropriate EFAL resources impeding efficient teaching and learning. The teachers indicated that parents did not want to buy EFAL textbooks, as a result these learners came to school with very poor understanding of the
English language. Therefore, teachers struggled to communicate with the learners, which took away instructional time. Since most of the learners were from very poor socio-economic backgrounds or communities, they came to school with sometimes no stationery. As a result, during lessons they had to borrow stationery from other learners, which wasted instructional time since it always ended up in disruption as the teacher had to discipline learners. Teacher C indicated that:
Some of the learners come to school with no resources and EFAL requires a lot of resources, since learners have to do so many activities in one lesson in order for learning to take place and each time they had to run around to borrow resources like pens, pencil, and eraser.
4.4.3 Lack of EFAL teaching aids
Three teachers emphasized the lack of teaching aids impacted on instructional time. Teachers would have to explain various concepts without teaching aids, as a result most of the learners would not understand the topic, and the teachers would use subsequent periods to repeat the lessons for learners to understand.
Teacher B2 affirmed that:“If am talking about a glass and not showing a picture, then the learners do not know what it is and this takes a very long time to finish a lesson”. Teacher B1 agreed with teacher B2 by indicating that:
some learners don’t understand English language, they do not understand mother tongue, so you have to show pictures and you have to have a concrete object to show the learners that… that is what I am really talking about...without these resources a lesson takes a long time for learners to understand.
4.4.4 Repetition of lessons and concepts
All teachers confirmed that repetition of lessons and concepts took away instructional time since they repeated lessons so many times and still there were learners who would need extra help. Teacher C revealed that:
You will teach a lesson and you think learners have understood but when it comes to individual task, the learners cannot show any evidence of engagement with that topic..., I have to repeat the lesson.
Therefore, a lesson meant for a single period could be taught for more than two periods. Teacher B1 explained, “you can’t teach a lesson once, you have to repeat it two or three times over again and you will find some learners who don’t know it at the end of the third lesson”. Also, since there is a connection between lessons, teachers indicated that most of the time they asked learners questions on previous lessons but learners would not want to talk. Therefore, teachers spent ample instructional time repeating previous lessons before teaching what was planned for the period. As a result, teachers ended up not finishing the lesson anticipated for that period.
4.4.5 Different language levels of learners
All the teachers complained about the language levels of learners. Most of them came to school with a poor understanding of the English language. Most of the learners did not speak the English language at home, and this affected instructional time since these learners needed more attention from the teachers. Therefore, if more than one learner needed individual attention, the teacher ended up utilizing the entire instructional time on the few learners, as a consequence lessons could not be completed within the appropriate duration.
4.4.6 Learners’ negative attitude towards other learners pertaining to poor usage of English language
Three of the teachers highlighted how learners’ negative attitude towards other learners pertaining to poor usage of the English language impacted on instructional time. This was because learners laughed at their peers when they provided incorrect answers to questions posed by teachers or during verbal communication in the classroom. It took a considerable amount of time to calm down learners before the lesson resumed.
Table 5: A list of non-academic incidences specific to EFAL as well as the number of teachers who acknowledged that the incidents impact on instructional time
Non-academic incidences specific to EFAL Number of teachers
1) Inappropriate use of code switching 4
2) Lack of EFAL resources 4
3) Lack of EFAL teaching aids 4
4) Repetition of lessons and concepts 4
5) Poor linguistic background 4
6) Learners negative attitude towards other learners pertaining to poor usage of English language
3