Teaching methods and strategies used by English second language teachers to develop grade 5 English learners’ speaking abilities in township schools.

Abstract

This qualitative study adopted an interpretivist paradigm to gain insight into English second language teachers’ teaching methods and strategies to develop Grade 5 learners’ English-speaking abilities. This study used face-to-face semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and document analysis to generate qualitative data from five participants. The study is underpinned by Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism, indicating that learning is socially constructed and learners should actively participate in constructing new knowledge. The theory emphasises social interaction and that people learn from one another when constructing new knowledge. Therefore, through tripolar social interaction, learners can learn English from teachers, fellow learners and the community to improve their English-speaking abilities. However, this study’s findings revealed that although Grade 5 English second language teachers employ different teaching methods and strategies to teach English speaking proficiency, learners still cannot speak English fluently because the tripolar education, where learners learn from their teachers, peers and community, is incomplete. It is incomplete because English is not spoken in these learners’ communities because it is not their home language. Consequently, these learners do not use English frequently outside the classroom. Therefore, this study revealed that the multi-pedagogical approach adopted by English second language teachers would only bear fruit if the tripolar education cycle is complete, where learners can speak English freely with their teachers, peers and community, within and outside the school parameters. Moreover, since the community factor is lacking in the English second language learning context of the schools where this study was conducted, the problem of learners’ inability to communicate fluently and intelligibly in English is unlikely to be addressed. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see teachers employing different teaching methods and strategies for teaching English-speaking proficiency, particularly the paradigm shift pedagogical approaches, such as translanguaging, code-switching and translation and interactive teaching methods, such as debates, discussions, storytelling and dramatisation. This multi-pedagogical approach allows learners to work individually or as groups to practice using English in the real communicative context; however, this is not enough because these learners do not continue using English when they are in their communities. Instead, they use isiZulu, their home language. Therefore, these learners continue to encounter hardships in expressing themselves clearly in English. This study argues that unless the community factor is incorporated into the tripolar education system of teaching English second language, the problem will continue to exist.