Exploring strategies of teaching History in English to Non-English Speaking Intermediate Phase Learners in Xhariep
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Date
2023
Authors
Lekhethe, Kagiso Thapelo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
English is the salient Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) in South Africa from Grade 4 to Grade 12. Scholars have shown that English is one of the factors that have a negative impact on the effective learning and teaching of History, since History is regarded to be demanding linguistically. It requires learners to have acquired a specific language and an academic language demand that are both passive and active. This empirical study sought to explore strategies of teaching non- English speaking Intermediate Phase learners History in English in Xhariep. This study was informed by the social constructivism framework along with the interpretivism paradigm, which guided the qualitative approach. Purposive sampling was adopted to enable collection of relevant data, from which I used 2 teachers and 10 learners altogether, 5 from each of the two schools. Data collection was made through focus group interviews for learners, semi-structured interviews for teachers, participant observation and document analysis for both learners and teachers – where I analysed documents like Learning and Teaching Support Materials, activities and assessments. The findings of this study divulge challenges learners experience, from both the learners’ and teachers’ points of view, by virtue of not understanding the teachers’ talk, not clearly understanding the instructions given in activities and assessments, being unable to understand what they are reading, and finding it difficult to formulate appropriate written and viva-voce responses. Also, it looked at strategies that could be used to mitigate the aforementioned challenges and also recommended, inter-alia, the use of moderate pace to teach, appropriate pronunciation of words, familiar vocabulary to learners and moderate projection. In essence, this study intended to add a new body of knowledge to the existing scholarship on effective learning and teaching of History.
Description
Dissertation (M.Ed.(Psychology))--University of the Free State, 2023
Keywords
English as LoLT, history education