The choice of English as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT) in selected public primary schools of Vhembe District

Abstract

The study investigates why English is chosen as a language of learning and teaching by School Governing Bodies in selected public primary schools in Vhembe District. Historically, only English and Afrikaans were regarded as official languages that could be used as media of instruction in schools. The advent of democracy in 1994 saw nine most spoken languages in South Africa, besides English and Afrikaans, being elevated to the level of official languages. These languages included Tshivenda, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Sesotho, Seswati, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana and isiNdebele, Since the South African constitution guarantees equal status to all the eleven major languages that are spoken in South Africa, one would expect to find schools choosing other languages, besides English, as a language of learning and teaching. The Language-in-Education Policy Act of 1997 stipulates that, for the first three years of schooling, learners should be taught in home language. The South African Schools Act number 84 of 1996, gives the mandate to determine the language of learning and teaching to School Governing Bodies (SGB). Amidst this freedom of choice, English remains the language of choice in public primary schools of Vhembe District. Studies have indicated that learners cannot cope with the sudden switch from home language to English, and that they end up failing or even dropping out of school. This study aimed to find out why English remains the language of choice for learning and teaching despite the fact that SGBs have the power to choose indigenous languages. The study was undertaken in the following municipalities: Collins Chabane and Makhado. A collective case study was used as a research design. Twelve respondents, from six selected schools, namely; six SGB chairpersons and six school Principals participated in the study. Respondents were purposively selected because they were the ones responsible for school governance matters. Three data collection methods were used, namely; observations, interviews and document anlysis. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that SGBs lack capacity to execute their duties as school governors, and that English remains the language of choice because of the status it has in the economic and academic world. The study also found that SGBs cannot choose African languages because they are not developed as languages of science and technology. Conclusions drawn from this study are that SGBs do not participate in the v drafting of the language policy because most members are illiterate and are not aware of the power vested in them by SASA to determine the language policy of their schools. The study also concluded that home languages are not chosen as media of instruction because there are no learning and teaching materials in those languages, and also that home languages are not used as media of instruction in secondary schools and tertiary institutions that admit learners from these primary schools. A major recommendation of the study is that indigenous languages should be developed into languages of science and technology if they are to be used as languages of teaching and learning, and that there should be a programme designed to assist grade 4 learners with the transition from using home language as medium of instruction, to using English as medium of instruction.