An exploration of translanguaging in a grade ten reading class in Ntambanana circuit schools
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Learners’ poor performance in schools is of grave concern in South Africa due inter alia, to low literacy and numeracy levels. It has been found that, comparatively, learners in South Africa lag behind other learners in other countries in terms of their ability to read with comprehension. The study aimed to explore the employment of translanguaging as a teaching strategy aimed at improving learner comprehension in a Grade ten reading class. Three rural high schools were selected which offer English as a second language and isiZulu as a home language. Ten Grade ten learners in each school were purposively sampled and the study comprised thirty learners. The findings revealed that while some learners are competent enough in English, mainly due to their backgrounds, most of them comprehend better, and they responded more correctly to comprehension-seeking questions when the input language was their home language (isiZulu). The learners in the three high schools pointed out after writing the comprehension tests that even if the text can be written in their second language (English) and they read it without understanding some words and some paragraphs, but if they are questioned in their home language, they can respond with ease to the questions. The findings clearly demonstrate the role that learners’ home language should play in in their learning. The study, therefore, recommends translanguaging as a teaching strategy that teachers can employ to improve learner comprehension and to ensure that learners benefit from their entire linguistic repertoire.
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A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages in the Faculty of Arts, University of Zululand, 2022.