Bibliography: leaves 196-201. / The empirical survey of Xhosa amongst Standard 10 pupils in Cape Education Department Schools (CED) sought to verify or negate two central concerns which surf aced in a pilot study of five Western Cape schools. This thesis contends that little has changed throughout South Africa's colonial and apartheid history with regard to the status of African languages within South Africa and particularly in CED schools. The second contention is that various factors, including the lack of second language expertise and contact with mother tongue speakers, continue to undermine the potential development of pupils' communicative competence in Xhosa. Separate questionnaires which included categorical and open ended questions were posted to Xhosa-teachers, Standard 10 non-mother tongue Xhosa pupils and their parents. The Xhosa teachers administered the questionnaires. There was an 80% response from the total population of CED schools offering Xhosa. The number of subjects included 169 Xhosa pupils, 154 parents and 26 Xhosa teachers. STATGRAPHICS and BMDP were the statistical packages used in the analysis. Chi-Squared tests with the Yates correction for continuity were used to compare frequencies between categorical variables. ANOVA and t-tests were used with continuous variables. Findings indicated the deteriorating status of Xhosa in schools. The low number of CED schools ( 13. 0%) offering Xhosa and a 0. 5% growth rate in Standard 10 pupils doing Xhosa between 1988 and 1991 are an indication of this. The lack of encouragement and support for Xhosa from schools and the CED, coupled with problematic subject choice options, the Xhosa syllabus and the examination system, has affected the status of Xhosa and the motivation of pupils adversely. In the survey, pupils had low communicative competence in Xhosa levels of perceived due to the lack of informal, natural acquisition environments and the over- emphasis of grammatical aspects in the classroom and in examinations. Furthermore, the lack of quality primary and secondary education based on negatively affected pupils' second language theory has attitudes, motivation and communicative competence levels in Xhosa. The recognition of the importance of African languages in a future non-racial South Africa in the current language debate has highlighted the contradiction that exists today. This contradiction necessitates the urgent re-assessment of language and education policies, strategies and teaching methodologies in order to uplift the status of African languages and improve the levels of competence in the target language amongst school pupils.

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Research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Masters in applied language and literacy education in the division of languages, literacies and literatures school of education at the University of the Witwatersrand June 2017 / This study explored and compared how language structures and conventions were taught in the intermediate phase English Home Language classroom at a public and at an independent school in central Johannesburg, South Africa. The aim was to identify challenges and strategies in an attempt at promoting pedagogies that enhance the learning of language structures and conventions. Specific themes related to the teaching and learning of language structures and conventions have been highlighted as the main point of departure in the study. Such themes include: a synthesis of the curriculum applied at public and independent schools; theoretical viewpoints in the teaching and learning of language structures and conventions, highlighting challenges experienced in the EHL classroom; and lastly, the teaching strategies used in overcoming the challenges. A qualitative research approach was adopted, using a case study as the research design. Most case studies allow space for generalisations to be made, however, in this study I was limited to making such generalisations because my study is considered a minor study. The research methods consisted of: biographical questionnaires; 8 teacher interviews (Grades 4 – 6); and 5 classroom observations (only Grade 6) per school which were audio-taped. The findings suggested that the most common teaching approach used throughout the lessons in both schools was the text-based approach, which is advocated in the CAPS (2011). The classroom observations conducted at the public school illustrated that the Audio-lingual Method of language teaching was used, as opposed to CLT which was evident in the classroom observations at the independent school. Lessons in the public school were primarily teacher-centered, where the teacher engaged in giving instructions, providing explanations and eliciting responses. The type of questions asked consisted of lower level thinking (literal). Learners in the independent school, however, showed more enthusiasm towards participating in classroom discussions and answering questions, thus creating a learner-centered culture. It is evident that the independent school is more flexible in selecting the language components that need to be covered within a specific period. Based on the interview sessions, the teachers at the independent school mention that it is more important for them to cover a minimum amount of work in-depth rather than covering everything and not having learners understand what they are learning. As a future recommendation, a similar study can be conducted comparing an urban public school and a rural public school that apply the CAPS. This study adds to the understanding of how language structures and conventions are taught in the intermediate phase EHL classroom in the South African context. By encouraging and promoting the teaching of grammar, we are able to identify approaches best suited for quality learning to take place. / MT 2018

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Several foreign language teaching methods facilitate the acquisition of a second language. This research proposes a new pedagogical method for teaching second languages, which is especially practical for younger L2 learners. Lenneberg (1967) has proposed the Critical Period Hypothesis which states that the critical period for foreign language acquisition ends when the acquirer reaches puberty (DeKeyser 2000). Therefore, his work may imply that learning a second language during this “critical period” is useful for foreign language learning. Furthermore, Krashen’s (1982) “Affective Filter Hypothesis” links authentic input as a useful tool in the second language classroom because this type of input can lower the “Affective Filter” of the second language learner. The current study examines if authentic input leads to acquisition of lexical chunks , acquisition of vocabulary and the beginning stages of the acquisition of some aspects of the lexicon, such as root morphemes and plural morphemes, and in some cases, gender morphemes in Spanish for a group of second language learners whose native language is English. Authentic input is incorporated into the language instruction through the use of songs, games, stories that are derived from the target language and culture. This research proposes that language transference is occurring from first language, or L1, to second language, or L2, as the participants may fall under Minimal Trees Hypothesis of Vainikka and Young Scholten (1994; 1996a; 1996b). Since the participants are still developing lexicon and lexical chunks in their L1, this occurrence may aide in the transference from the L1 to the L2. The subjects of the study are seventeen kindergarten, first and second grade students, who have not previously learned a second language. The results from the study confirm that the participants did learn lexical chunks in the target language after being introduced to the L2 via the authentic materials. Additionally, the participants were able to demonstrate acquisition of agreement in number in the L2. The long-term results also confirm the initial set of results.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what effect reading in a second language has on the knowledge and language performance of young adult missionaries studying to learn a foreign language. It was hypothesized that reading would improve vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension, and it was further hypothesized that reading aloud would improve language speaking performance. The subjects of the study were 214 missionaries learning Spanish as a second language at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. The missionaries were all beginner level students of Spanish, and they were randomly assigned to reading aloud and silent reading groups, as well as groups which received reading strategy training and groups that received no training. Missionaries were also assigned to a control group. The treatment groups were each part of a 2 by 2 factorial design. All treatment groups read a scriptural text for thirty minutes each day for five weeks. One group read the text aloud each day while another group read silently. The third and fourth groups read aloud and silently, respectively, but they also received metacognitive reading strategy training on their first day, followed by weekly surveys which asked the learners which reading strategies they were using. The learners were tested for vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, as well as grammar knowledge and performance in completing language tasks. The factorial design was used to test for the effects of the combined treatments and for any interaction. The treatment groups were also pooled to test for the effect of reading versus not reading. The study found that reading had a significant effect on vocabulary learning, when compared with the control group. No significant differences were found in reading comprehension, grammar, or speaking performance, however. Reading aloud had no significant effect on language knowledge or performance, when compared to reading silently. Reading strategy training had no effect on language outcomes.