The Role of Instructional Support in Teaching and Learning of English First Additional Language in the Intermediate Phase in Selected Soutpansberg North Circuit, Vhembe District

Abstract

Despite the central role of English First Additional Language (EFAL) in learners’ academic development, instructional support for EFAL teaching in rural school contexts remains insufficiently examined and inadequately theorised. Against this background, this study investigated the role of instructional support in the teaching and learning of EFAL at the Intermediate Phase in the Soutpansberg North Circuit, Vhembe District. Guided by a constructivist-interpretivist theoretical lens, the study sought to address a gap in existing scholarship concerning how instructional support structures mediate teachers’ pedagogical practices and professional learning in resource-constrained EFAL classrooms. A qualitative research approach was employed, with data collected through semi-structured interviews with purposively selected participants: ten school principals, ten departmental heads, and one curriculum advisor (n = 21). The data were analysed thematically to interpret participants’ lived experiences and to identify patterns related to instructional leadership, professional development, and classroom-based support. The findings reveal systemic inadequacies in the quality, coherence, and sustainability of professional development initiatives for EFAL teachers, which constrain pedagogical capacity and limit opportunities for improving learners’ language proficiency and academic performance. The study contributes to an enhanced understanding of instructional support as a context-sensitive, relational, and pedagogical process, and offers analytically grounded insights to inform leadership practices and policy interventions aimed at strengthening EFAL teaching and learning in rural schooling contexts.