There is a need to move away from the negative perceptions of African languages, and towards accepting the first language as an asset. Literature confirms the issues of language policies and practices in South African schools, as well as the predominant socio-economic challenges as contributing factors affecting learners and teachers in multilingual classrooms. Over the last decade, a concrete theoretical foundation of translanguaging as a pedagogy has expanded and gained momentum. Accepting the use of multiple languages to co-exist in multilingual classrooms, translanguaging has been recognised worldwide. The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how teachers manage translanguaging and how learners in multilingual classrooms learn by using home languages, to facilitate the learning and teaching process. From a qualitative mode of enquiry influenced by the interpretive philosophy and a conceptual framework grounded in the socio-cultural theory and asset-based approach; translanguaging practices were introduced in two schools to potentially understand how it affects learning and teaching practices in multilingual classrooms. Participants included the English teachers and Grade 5 and Grade 6 learners using their first languages alongside English. Data was collected qualitatively through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, worksheets and storyboards. Thematic data analysis was applied to the gathered data. The study established that the inclusion of first languages mediated the process of learning and teaching and provided guided support to accommodate academic development in multilingual classrooms. Findings revealed the positive attitude and emotions of the learners towards translanguaging, and the consequent appeal for more translanguaging lessons since the strategy informed better understanding. Moreover recommendations included that policy should incorporate teacher training to facilitate translanguaging practices in multilingual classrooms. As solutions to support translanguaging, policy ought to recognise strategies that value the importance of first language as a resource to be implemented in multilingual classrooms. Furthermore, educational psychologists understanding of the systemic needs of all parties involved, and developing proactive support strategies to be initiated in schools as potential learning and teaching methods is recommended. Further studies should include expanding on a comparative and longitudinal research to gain a profound understanding of the effects of translanguaging as pedagogy. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

In Sweden and in many places around the world there is a great discussion about using L1 or not in teaching. The fact that 43% of the pupils having a parent speaking another language do not qualify for upper secondary studies in Sweden is worrying. The aim of the thesis was to collect a classroom teacher's experiences and how the teacher perceived the pupils' participation and the perspectives of the mother tongue teacher over three lessons. The research was carried out in a multilingual grade 3, consisting of 19 pupils. The focus was the experience of the classroom teacher and mother tongue teachers. The result was positive for pupils in many ways but the organisation of how to use L1 is an issue to solve. The data collection was carried out through observations from three lessons and interviews with teacher and mother tongue teachers. Recommendations for further studies include to get a better point of view concerning the organisation round mother tongue tuition and how the pupils develop their knowledge. / <p>Educational work/ English</p><p>Pedagogiskt arbete/ Engelska</p>

Code-switching has been shown to be beneficial for students’ language learning and forstrengthening their identities. Despite this, it can be interpreted that code-switching isnot encouraged in the syllabus for English in upper secondary school in Sweden.Because of this potential disagreement, this study aims to broaden the knowledge ofhow upper secondary school teachers relate to code-switching in their differentclassrooms. Thereby, this study seeks to examine some upper secondary school EFLteachers’ understanding of code-switching as well as the use of code-switching in theirdifferent classrooms. In this qualitative study, four upper secondary school teachers ofEnglish participated in semi-structured interviews followed by classroom observations.The teachers represent all courses of English at upper secondary school level and theyrepresent schools with different programs and students with different first languages.The results show that the teachers have limited knowledge of code-switching and thatthey believe that a large amount of target language use in the classroom is favorable.Nevertheless, the results also show that the teachers as well as their students use codeswitchingboth intentionally and unintentionally for various purposes, but none of theparticipating teachers seem to use code-switching as a strategy to promote long-standinglanguage acquisition. However, the results indicate that the teachers seem to effectivelyadapt their code-switching behavior to their student group. The findings of this studyare in line with earlier research where it, for instance, is argued that code-switching ismore suitable for classes with students with lower language proficiency.

A research report submitted to the WITS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Science Education). Johannesburg 2015 / Using qualitative methods, this study reports on the selection and use examples in Probability by a teacher in a multilingual mathematics classroom where learners learn in a language which is not their first or home language. The study involved one teacher together with his Grade 11 multilingual class in a township school in Ekurhuleni South Johannesburg. Data was collected through audio-visual recording of four lessons. In addition two one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teacher. Data was analysed using Rowland‘s (2008) categories of exemplification alongside Staples' (2007) conceptual model of collaborative inquiry mathematics practices. In the study it emerged that it is important for teachers to select examples by considering the context, ability of the example to be generalised, consistency in the use of symbols, syllabus requirements and accessibility. It also emerged that the selection of examples together with the accompanying mathematical practices has the potential to support or impede the learning of mathematics. In particular the findings revealed that the practice of ‗guiding the learners with the map‘ declines the cognitive level of examples and hence impedes learning. Code- switching and re-voicing were most frequently used practices seen in the findings with the use of code-switching encouraging full participation of the learners. The study recommends that methodology courses offered at tertiary institutions to pre-service teachers should include the selection, how to select or design and use examples in multilingual classrooms e.g. what constitutes a good example and how to maintain the cognitive level of an example. The study also recommends that more research needs to be done on effective mathematical practices that may be used to implement worked-out examples in multilingual classrooms.

The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyze practices in multilingual classrooms of mathematics in a compulsory school in Sweden where immigrant students have been known to succeed. The school is situated in a suburban and segregated area outside a major city where pupils come from mainly limited socio-economic backgrounds. The rate of second language learners are 70% of all pupils in this school. By using ethnographic methods, mainly interviews and participant observation, data was collected in four mathematics classrooms which corresponded to consecutive ages of education. The data include field notes and observation of artifacts in the environment as well as interviews and informal conversations with teachers and school leadership. Information from the school website, the authority in charge of quality in Swedish schools (Skolverket) and the municipality were also used. The analysis is based on a socio-political viewpoint that power is relational and reflected within schools. According to this idea the interplay between schools/teachers and the families/students can either support or resist the support of minority groups. The didactics of mathematics are studied through concepts such as intercultural leadership, social constructivism and scaffolding. The questions in focus are: 1) What is emphasized as functional didactics in mathematics for immigrant pupils? 2) What materials are used? 3) How are the pupils’ right to study their mother tongue and bilingual teaching being fulfilled and what attitudes are held towards bilingualism? 4) Which expectations are nurtured towards pupils and 5) How are children in need of support cared for? The findings indicate that a focus on linguistic dimensions in mathematics through the interplay between visual and practical experience builds up a didactic of a social-constructivist nature that has long been sought after in Swedish mathematics classrooms. This correlates with recent research which couples the linguistic approach to the building of a communicative reform-oriented discourse in school mathematics and shows that the success of immigrant students in classrooms of mathematics can be explained by: 1) a linguistic approach to mathematics 2) interplay in classrooms of mathematics between visual and practical materials and problem solving rarely focusing on textbooks, bringing about a didactics of a functional social-constructivist nature 3) a learning and problem solving organization where “Swedishness” (that is to say the Swedish way) is not the norm by which students are judged, including a positive approach to multilingualism 4) high expectations towards pupils and 5) teachers and the school leadership hold an inclusive approach to pupils who need support in learning compulsory school mathematics.

This study explores teacher student and in-service teacher beliefs about using code-switching in the English language classroom. Language classrooms have long adopted amonolingual approach. However, nowadays many classrooms are multilingual and a shifttowards using multilingual strategies to accommodate multilingual pupils can be seen inboth research and steering documents. Plurilingualism is promoted by the EuropeanCouncil and the Swedish syllabus for English, and research shows that code-switchingcan be one method for pupils to draw from all their language skills. Although amonolingual approach is still considered ideal, in research about teacher and teacherstudent beliefs about code-switching most participants use code-switching. This papertherefore investigates teacher student and in-service teacher beliefs in order to explorehow teachers use code-switching. Using the qualitative method of semi-structuredinterviews and analysing our data with the help of a coding scheme, we found that thoughall participants agree that a monolingual standard is ideal, they believe that it is importantto acknowledge pupils’ multilingual backgrounds and that code-switching can be one wayof doing that while still facilitating learning. We also found that the participants’ use ofcode-switching depends on their pupils’ proficiency, that they mainly use code-switchingfor communicative purposes, and that the participants’ own lingual backgrounds affectedtheir beliefs about code-switching. The result of this paper shows that in-service teachersneed to reflect on how and why they use code-switching while teacher educationprogrammes need to acknowledge multilingual strategies and make students aware ofwhen such strategies are beneficial to learning, and when they are not.