Assessing grade six second language learners: English home language teachers’ experiences.

Abstract

Since the end of apartheid and the birth of a new democratic South Africa, learners of different races have been at liberty to attend any school of choice. With South Africa having eleven official languages, children attend schools where English as the language of teaching and learning (LoLT) is not the same as children’ mother tongue language (e.g. isiZulu). While the current Curriculum of Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) caters for second language speaking learners’ needs in the provision of English as a First Additional Language (EFAL), many second language speaking learners are forced to learn in English as a Home Language (EHL) because of the schools they attend. As a result, teachers are tasked with teaching and assessing comprehension in EHL to second language English speaking learners who have limited exposure to English, at Home Language level. This study sought to explore the experiences of EHL teachers assessing comprehension of grade six second language learners, as well as the strategies they employ to assess the learners. This study employed the qualitative approach, located within the interpretivist paradigm, to explore the experiences of EHL teachers assessing comprehension of grade six second language speaking learners. A case study methodology was used. Three participants were purposefully selected from three primary schools in the Durban South area, KwaZulu-Natal. The instrument used to generate data was a semi-structured telephonic interview, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Data was then transcribed verbatim, analysed and presented thematically. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978) was used to frame this study. It explained teachers’ experiences assessing comprehension from what learners could do on their own (Actual knowledge) to what they could do with assistance from the teacher (Zone of Potential Development- ZPD). The ZPD components, such as scaffolding and mediation, were used to explain how EHL teachers assessed comprehension to grade six second language learners. From the teachers’ responses, multiple experiences were reported that comprised of constructive experiences of learners increasing their vocabulary, becoming confident, and showing enthusiasm and interest during comprehension assessments. As well as adverse experiences that involved learners experiencing a language barrier as their mother tongue was not the same as the LoLT. Other factors that affected EHL teachers’ experiences of assessing comprehension were EHL teachers not English language specialist teachers, and lacking in-service training and support from internal structures (HODs), and from external structures, such as the Department of Education (DoE), subject advisors and parents. Lack of resources and infrastructure, learner indiscipline, and the Covid-19 pandemic also influenced experiences of assessing comprehension to second language learners. The study also found that grade six second language learners could not complete comprehension tasks successfully on their own without the aid of their EHL teachers and the well thought out strategies used. The findings of this study are useful to the DoE and workshops can be designed to assist and develop EHL teachers in teaching and assessing second language learners in schools. Universities can also benefit as courses can be improved to prepare teachers on how to teach and assess comprehension to second language learners in these contexts. Recommendations emanating from this study call for a more active role by the DoE and parents so that teachers are supported in their teaching roles. This is because EHL teachers need ongoing support from the various stakeholders to teach and assess comprehension to second language English speaking learners successfully.