Geography of first additional languages teaching: landscaping the foundation phase years

Abstract

Public schooling in South Africa is comprehensively categorised in terms of geography (rural/urban/township), infrastructure (quintiles 1 to 5), performance (performing and non-performing schools) and many other formal and non-formal categories. These categories have largely been used in reporting learner performances and interventions, yet these categories may have serious implications for teaching and learning and may ultimately impact learner performance. This study explored the teaching of a first additional language (FAL) in different geographical contexts. Research on first additional language teaching has been on the agenda in South Africa, and indeed the world, for several decades now. Interventions have been made in response to systemic findings, yet little success has been noted in terms of advancement to a sustainable degree. As a result, on-going research in this focus area is needed to enrich scholarly debates and the practice of additional language teaching with new insights. This research report alludes to the new insights that were obtained in its quest to determine if there were any significant deviations in the pedagogical practices that primary school teachers employed when teaching a first additional language in different contexts. The study was underpinned by Bernstein’s pedagogic theory and Bourdieu’s social topography conceptual framework which is a construct of his field theory. The application of both theoretical lenses mutually contributed to the understanding of the significance of social space for one’s shape of pedagogic practice and behaviour. The study employed a qualitative interpretive approach. It was constructed as a multi-case study that involved three Foundation Phase teachers who taught FAL in three geographically different primary schools in the Ilembe, Umlazi and Pinetown Districts. The teachers were purposively sampled. Data were generated by means of multiple data generation methods that included semi-structured interviews, structured observations, post-observation interviews, and document analysis. The data were thematically analysed using content and context analyses, and the results are presented in this thesis as collated key findings. The findings revealed variances in the manner in which teachers taught FAL. These variances could be linked to that contextual variations clearly influenced the way they taught. The challenges that were identified included lack of departmental officials’ support, lack of teachers’ knowledge of how to teach a FAL, teachers’ attitude towards the teaching of a FAL (which resulted in default teaching that could be related to challenges experienced in each geographical context). It is argued that these and other challenges were factors that contributed to the differentiated teaching and learning of a FAL in geographically different contexts. The study contributes to a fresh understanding of how geographical variations influence the teaching and learning of a FAL and how these variations ultimately impact learner performance in the Foundation Phase.