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An abundant and diversified research attests to the existence of disadvantaged groups in Science education (Adigwe, 2000:773; Baker and Taylor, 2005:695; Ezeife, 2003:319; Grayson, 2001:107; Mordi, 2000:588). Compared to their counterparts in Europe or America, learners in African countries constitute disadvantaged or underachieving groups in as far as Science education is concerned. Research confirms that African countries perform poorly in

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Science education. Lewin (2001: 203) reports that “the proportion of schools scoring below the lowest school in the highest scoring country (Hungary) is high in the lows-scoring developing countries in the population 2 sample (Ghana 64%, Nigeria 88%, Zimbabwe 80%). In these countries the performance of the lowest 20% of the learners tested indicates that they have learned very little Science as a result of using a second language as a medium of instruction. This is particularly worrying when it is realized that the Nigerian learners were from a higher grade than in other countries, and the Ghanaian learners were from selective elite schools. The IEA data suggests that the bottom 20% of the learners in Ghana, Italy, Nigeria, and the Philippines are scientifically illiterate”.

In the excerpt above Lewin (2001: 206) explains the performance of African countries in the second IEA study. Population 2 sample were 14 years old learners in middle secondary school. As indicated in the excerpt, the performance of African learners was very poor. It should be borne in mind that what were compared in the IEA studies are average scores. As indicated in the following paragraphs African scholars have taken on the task of explaining these low average scores.

Peacock (2001:149) sees the problem of learning Science in Africa as one of dissonance between concepts of learning embedded in current Science curricula and the concept of learning traditionally held by learners and their parents. The factors that contribute to failure in learners’ learning in African countries have further been summarized by Grayson (2001) as:

 Inadequate background in the language of instruction and in Science.

 Use of inappropriate learning styles.

 Behaviours that may have a detrimental effect on their learning.

 Absence of prerequisite cognitive skills in the learner.

 Lack of practical skills.

 Absence of metacognitive awareness.

In support for the factors listed above, studies have shown that learners’ fluency in the language of learning and teaching is an important factor in determining achievement (Human

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Vogel and Bouwer, 2005:229; Kozulin, 2000:23; Kulkarni, 2001:150; Ross and Sutton, 2003:311; Prophet, 2001:13).

Similarly the importance of language ability in learning Science has been widely acknowledged (Claxton, 1991:75; Hudson and Liberman, 2002:117; Okpala and Onocha, 2000:361; Starvy and Tiroshi, 2000:13). What appears to be missing from Grayson’s list is epistemology of Science. A spate of studies has in recent years suggested that learners’ epistemological beliefs about Science and Science learning are significantly related to their orientations to Science learning and integration of scientific knowledge (Songer and Linn, 2001:761).

Ross and Sutton (2003:323) arrived at a similar conclusion in their study of concept profiles and cultural contexts. These authors set out to identify language barriers that secondary school learners in Nigeria experience when learning Science. Although their study showed that it was cultural differences rather than language differences that contribute significantly to variation in performance between their samples, they acknowledged the inconveniences of learning Science in a second language.

Furthermore, in a study by Prophet and Dow (2003:205) from Botswana, a set of Science concepts was taught to an experimental group in Setswana and to a control group in English. The researchers tested understanding of these concepts and found that Grade 8 learners taught in Setswana had developed a significantly better understanding of the concepts than those Grade 8 learners taught in English.

A similar study with the same results has been carried out in Tanzania. Secondary school learners taught Science concepts in Kiswahili did far better than those who had been taught in English (Mwinsheikhe, 2002:303).

In Ghana, Wilmot (2003:12) conducted a case study among second graders which shows some effects of the English language policy of Ghana. He made clinical interviews with 30 selected learners by probing each child’s problem solving behaviour in Science, by using various tasks.

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By changing the language of learning from English to a home language, this study revealed how much more learners know and how much better they learn when taught in a language familiar to them. Wilmot (2003:135) shows that “children who were classified as low achieving children actually had a lot of knowledge which by the school was incorrectly assessed because the children did not master the foreign language which was the language of instruction”.

The foregoing review has suggested that the problem of poor performance in Science is a problem of disadvantaged or underprepared learners. Characteristics of disadvantaged learners have been delineated. However, these characteristics may be more of the symptoms of the disease, as it were, rather than its causes. Attempts have been made to improve the performance of disadvantaged group.

This study sought to determine whether the use of English second language has an effect in the learning of Science among Grade 8 learners in rural Limpopo. The aim was to investigate how the use of English as a language of learning and teaching can influence the learning of Science at the secondary schools in the research area.

Below is a discussion of the situation of the language of learning and teaching Science as a national problem.

2.13 Research on Language of Learning and Teaching Science: A National (South