The data gleaned from interviews reveal that the literacy practices of immigrant learners are yet to be incorporated in the classroom activities and the school curriculum. However, numerous studies have attested to the importance of utilizing the "funds of knowledge” children bring from home to the school context. This study also portrays French-speaking Cameroonian learners, forming learning communities in the classroom with learners from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ability of these groups of immigrants to speak French serve as a tool that unifies them. In these learning communities, the Congolese learners who have acquired English in South Africa assist the Cameroonian learners by explaining concepts in class to them in French which enhances their understanding. In this instance, Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of mediation in learning is evidence where a more knowledgeable peer scaffolds learning to the less knowledgeable person. As simply put by Chen & Gregory (2014) peers who speak a common language act as skilled facilitators of classroom learning. It was also interesting to find out that one of the Cameroonian immigrant learners resisted learning the local languages spoken in South Africa as she regards them as not useful since they are not global languages.
An analysis of the interviews with teachers at school reveal that the presence of learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds and cultures has placed educators in a difficult position on how to meet the needs of these learners. Chetty in Kajee (nd) notes that South African educators are faced with the predicament of teaching children of immigrant descent. Likewise, Schleicher (2015: 16) argues that "teachers in schools with diverse populations recognize that handling cultural diversity in class is difficult and requires preparation". Teachers in this study reveal how challenging it is to teach immigrant learners from different language and cultural backgrounds. Especially, with the fact that they have a curriculum to complete in a certain time limit. The challenges include their inability to read and write in English, as well as to comprehend the
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contents taught, poor communication skills and even lack of confidence during communication. The data also reveal some of the strategies educators have been employing to teach immigrant learners in order to enhance understanding. In addition, in some schools’ efforts have been made to incorporate the home literacies of Urdu speakers in the school context by employing a teacher for that group of learners. Kajee (2011: 444), notes that "schools need to give up their roles as gate-keepers of the dominant culture, and acknowledge the right of all to basic education". Hence, in this study, I argued that the non-recognition of the literacy practices of immigrant learners in the classroom is unconstitutional as it infringes on the rights of these learners to education. Chetty in Kajee (nd: 14) asserts that “in South Africa educating immigrant children is a duty enshrined in our constitution”. This study also reveals that some of the immigrant parents do not attend meetings in schools perhaps due to their inability to understand the literacies of the school.
The main point of departure in Chapter Five was to illustrate how the home languages of Cameroonian immigrant learners can contribute to teaching and learning at school. In a quest to answer this research question, I argued that literacy learning begins at home, and literacy is embedded in activities such as playing board games, Bible reading, engaging in home chores. The analysis of the data reveals that when French- speaking immigrant children play a game such as a Monopoly at home, it improves their communication and numeracy skills. Moreover, Monopoly enhances their knowledge of the new dwelling place and familiarizes them with core concepts in life such as how to purchase a property, taxation and saving money. Taxation and saving money are concepts which are intricately linked to a school subject such as Economics and Management Sciences (EMS). Reading at home was also identified as a booster to school literacies. Therefore, the “funds of knowledge” (Moll et al. 1992) which children bring from home are resources that can be tapped into for school learning.
Furthermore, an analysis of the data reveals that South African educators lack knowledge of the home literacy practices of the learners thus, they are ill-equipped to teach immigrant learners. However, Chetty in Kajee (nd) argues that teaching learners
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from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds is perhaps most effectively achieved when motivated by a sincere desire to learn about those backgrounds. This desire should be shared by the whole teaching and learning community and as such is more useful as a tool for engaging immigrant learners than any other skill or technique. By affording them opportunities to share their experiences, histories, and cultures educators will gain knowledge of the literacy practices of the learners they teach. Kajee (nd: 250) cautions against “placing too much responsibility on already over-burdened teachers, and perhaps such responsibilities could instead be transferred to university students who have to engage with community projects as part of their voluntary work or in-service learning experience”.