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.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for degree: MASTER OF ARTS in the department of GENERAL LINGUISTICS at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 2010. / The objective of this study was to determine learner errors in both rural and urban schools. The first aim was to determine through literature the types of errors and their probable causes. The second aim was to conduct an investigation into errors committed by learners and experienced by educators from learners. The questionnaires were developed by the researcher for both educators of English as a second language and learners of English as a second language. By using the questionnaires the researcher was interested in determining whether factors such as lack of resources such as libraries, learning material, under qualification in English as a subject, lack of training in the structure of English and other factors had any influence in the committing of errors by learners. In terms of factors associated with errors, the most common factor to which all educators responded as a causal factor was the lack of facilities, among others, was the shortage of libraries and library books in cases where there are libraries. One other factor which was prominent was the lack of training in the structure of English as a subject. The last chapter of this investigation recommends a variety of strategies that could be employed both by the educators and the Department of Education to minimise English errors among learners of English.

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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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