Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of
Master of Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / The literacy levels in South African schools are alarmingly low. Educators are
challenged in diverse classrooms with multicultural and multilingual learners as they
are faced with the problems that these learners are experiencing in literacy.
Educators therefore need to be able to adapt their teaching strategies to suit the
needs of their learners to address learners’ different learning needs and styles.
This study investigated the use of adapted teaching strategies used by grade 3
educators in literacy in selected schools in northern KwaZulu-Natal. A mixed
methods research design was used which included the use of a questionnaire and
semi-structured interviews to gather data.
The findings which were linked to the literature review revealed that educators
lacked adequate knowledge and skills to adapt their teaching strategies as they have
not been adequately trained to teach literacy within multilingual contexts. Although
some educators were using adapted teaching strategies they were not using them
effectively in their multilingual classrooms while some educators did not have a wellstructured
intervention programme at school to deal with learners who were
experiencing problems with literacy. Inexperienced educators also had problems
identifying learning styles and adapting their teaching strategies. This study found
that teachers require continual professional development to enable them to
effectively adapt their teaching strategies to suit individual learning needs and styles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:dut/oai:localhost:10321/750 |
| Date | 21 August 2012 |
| Creators | Loopoo, Veena |
| Contributors | Singh, Penny |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 119 p |
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