Thesis (M.A. (English)) --University of Limpopo (Turfloop Campus), 2007 / The study sought to investigate the challenges which teachers and learners
encountered on daily basis when they use English as the medium of
instruction (MOI) in content subjects. The study was conducted at Jim
Chavani High school which was convenient for the researcher who is a
deputy principal of the school. The researcher has purposively selected
Biology which is regarded as one of the most difficult subjects and which
has high failure rate in most schools in the Malamulele area.
The literature review was obtained from a variety of sources which include
library books, journals, government gazettes, news papers and the internet.
The review shed light on the challenges of teaching through the medium of
English among learners with indigenous language backgrounds. This body
of research has shown that attention was placed on townships and urban
areas with little or no focus on remote rural areas such as Malamulele.
The researcher used the qualitative research methodology to collect data
through classroom observations, interviews, and writing protocols.The use
of qualitative enquiry enabled the researcher to explore the challenges in a
natural setting. Three teachers and eighteen learners were respondents in the
study.
Data collected were discussed and analysed in order to select the most
suitable information which could address the aim and objectives of the
study. The result of the study showed that the learners were negative towards
the use of English as the MOI. On the converse, the teachers have mixed
feeling on the choice for English even though they acknowledge difficulties
iv
posed by English in their classrooms. Spoken data showed a varied degree of
code-alternation and culturally induced strategies were found in their writing
protocols.
Given these findings, the study draws a conclusion that using English as the
MOI in remote rural areas further disadvantages the learners from getting the
full benefits for comprehension in the content subject. It was therefore
recommended that language planners needed to step up the process of
allowing indigenous African languages as the media of learning while
English is taught as the school subject.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/101 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Maluleke, M'zamane Johannes |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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