Language (S) of Instruction in Township Schools in The
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.... LANGUAGE (S) OF INSTRUCTION IN TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS IN THE KWAMAKHUTHA AREA By THEMBILE PASCHALIA NZUZA Submitted in pmiial fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS (by course work and dissertation) in the Department of Linguistics, University ofKwaZulu-Natal, Durban Supervisor: Mrs A. Geyser 2006 DECLARATION.. The Registrar (Academic) University ofKwaZulu-Natal Private Bag X54001 Durban 4000 Dear Sir/Madam I, Thembile Paschalia Nzuza Registration number 981207021 hereby declare that the thesis entitled Language(s) of instruction in township schools in the KwaMakhutha area Except for the quotations indicated in this thesis and such help as is acknowledged, is the result ofmy own original work and has not been submitted in part or in full for any other degree or to any other university. Date /, 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to extend my gratitude to the following: God, the almighty for giving me will power to complete this thesis. My advisor, Annellie Geyser, for her tireless efforts and patience in helping me with ideas, which contributed to my completion of this thesis. Her wlderstanding husband for allowing me to use the family home for our meetings and her children for the family time I have robbed them ofwhilst working with their mother. The KwaZulu Department of Education for allowing me to conduct research in schools in KwaMakhutha. My family and friends for patience, support and understanding when I had to sacrifice family time working on this thesis, especially my kids Thina and Mfundi. Mr Wade in Masakhaneni High School and Mrs Ngidi in KwaMakhutha High School who administered the questionnaire for me in their schools The ed'ucators who agreed to be interviewed. Last but not the least, my mother Clotilda (Masangweni) Nzuza and my father, the late Gladstone Mtukayise Nzuza er dedicate the thesis to him) for bringing me up. iii TABLE Of CONTENTS PAGE NO. ABSTRACT vu WRITING CONVENTIONS VUl CHAPTER ONE ORIENTATION 1.1 Preview 1 1.2 Introduction l.3 Rationale for the study 2 1.4 Questions 3 1.5 Overview of chapters CHAPTER 2 6 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 Principal theories 7 2.2.1 Gramsci's hegemony theory (1971) 7 2.2.2 Language ideology and power 8 2. 3 Language policy 11 2.3.1 Past language policies in South Africa (1953- 1993) 11 2.3.2 The present language policies (1997 to date) 12 2.4 Language planning 15 2.4.1 Mother tongue education 20 2.4.2 Bilingual education 21 2.5 Attitudes 25 2.6 Conclusion 25 IV CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 Methodol9gy 27 3.2.1 QuestiOlmaire 27 3.2.1.1 The leamer questionnaire 28 3.2.1.2 The governing body questionnaire 29 3.2.1.3 Pre testing 30 3.2.1.4 Administering the questionnaire 31 3.2.2 Interviews 33 3.2.2.1 Administering interviews 34 3.2.3 Documents 35 3.3 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER FOUR 37 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 37 4.1 Introduction 37 4.2 Le·arner questionnaire 37 4.2.1 Demographics 37 4.2.2 Language policy and language planning 38 4.3 The governing body questionnaire 49 4.3.1 Demographics 49 4.3.2 Language policy and language plmming 50 4.4 The interviews 60 4.4.1 The learner's interviews 60 4.4.2 Educators interviews 61 4.5 Document analysis 71 4.6 Conclusion 72 v CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction 73 5.2 Conclusion 73 5.3 Recommendations 75 5.4 Conclusion 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY 78 LIST OF APPENDICES 84 vi ABSTRACT A quantitative study on the merits of using the learner's mother-tongue (instead of English) as a medium of instruction. This investigation attempts to find out how many schools and parents in KwaMakhutha implement (or know about) the Language in Education Po'licy in 1997 (LiEP). vii WRITING CONVENTIONS I wish to draw the attention of the reader to the following conventions that I have followed in this study: 1. I am using the abbreviated Harvard style ofreferencing, for an example: Gramsci (1971 :443) means Gramsci 1971 page 443. 2. Tables are shown as tables 1 - 22. They all follow the chronological order. 3. A copy ofthe questionnaire for learners are attached in addendum 1 4. A copy of the questionnaire for parents of the governmg bodies are attached m addendum 2 s. A copy ofthe letter requesting permission is attached as addendum 3 6. A copy ofthe interview schedule for teachers are attached in addendum 4 7. The transcripts ofthe interviews are attached as addendum 5 viii CHAPTER ONE ORIENTATION 1.1 PREVIEW In this chapter I will outline the general content of this thesis for readers. I will introduce this 5tudy by giving some background mentioning the rationale for the study. The rest of the chapter will state the focus ofeach chapter. 1.2 INTRODUCTION This study focuses on the language(s) high schools in KwaMakhutha choose as the language of instruction and those that they choose as subjects. KwaMakhutha is a small African township just outside Amanzimtoti with three high schools. The schools fall under the eThekwini Region, uMlazi district. I am an educator (for the past 12 years) at one of the schools being investigated. The school where I teach has shown very little evidence that the language practices have changed since 1997 when the National Language Policy was introduced, therefore I want to find Jut why. This study aims to establish whether educators in the targeted schools are aware of the Nationa1 Language Policy and if they are implementing it. I also aim to raise the level of awareness among educators in the targeted schools and assist with the implementation of the policy, which addresses the marginalisation of indigenous languages. In trying to understand why the National Language Policy is not implemented, attitudes of the educators and learners towards languages will be revealed. Finally I aim to make recommendations on how the schools can be assisted in implementing the National Language Policy, thus enhancing the status of all languages including the indigenous languages. 1 1.3 RATIONALE After the promulgation of the National Language in Education Policy (LiEP) in terms of the National Education Policy Act no 27 (1996) (NEPA), I was prompted (as a language educator) to investigate whether the targeted schools are keeping up with LiEP, which aims to promote additive bilingualism. In my school English is regarded as the medium of instruction but the reality is that very little English is used in classes during lessons. Educators use mostly isiZulu, which is, in many cases, the first language of the learners, yet the medium in the school is English. This has been the status quo since the Education and Training Act no 90 (1979). According to this Act, English was to be used as medium of instruction from grade 5 upwards. This was put in place in South African state schools to replace the Bantu Education Act (1953). Now that NEPA has been passed, I want to investigate whether the schools in kwaMakhutha are embracing the change by implementing LiEP and the reasons for it. The situation has been that schools in the Republic of South Africa were separated according to the colour and the language of the speakers during the apartheid era (1948 to 1993). This separation meant the language, which the schools choose as media of instruction, were mostly official languages (English and Afrikaans), the indigenous languages were not used as media of instruction as they were not official languages. As a result the indigenous languages were margi~alised and the language policies during that era segregated different language groups in ;;chools. When the democratic government was instituted in 1994 it addressed the issue of marginalised languages by declaring another 9 indigenous languages official. The adoption of the Constitution ofthe Republic ofSouth Africa integrated all language groups; no language was regarded as inferior. In addition, Act no 27 (1997) makes provision that any official language can be used as medium of instruction in South African school. All schools in the Republic of South Africa are open for all racial groups according to the South African schools Act no 84 (1996) as amended by Act no 48 (1999). The South African Schools Act and the National Education Policy Act repealed all apartheid legislation, including the compulsory use of English as a medium of instruction, in schools. Now all schools are free to choose their medium ofinstruction. 2 .t' This study aims to establish whether the schools that form part of this study carry out the new legislation in education that makes provision for the use of any of the official languages as medium of instruction. If this is not happening, reasons for the non-implementation have to be identified and recommendations for the implementation of the legislation need to be made. Similar research on the non-implementation ofthe legislation includes Chick and Mc Kay (1999) who reported about the non-implementation of LiEP in the study they conducted in one former Indian school and one former coloured school in Durban. In this study, Chick and Mc Kay (1999) discovered that educators in these schools had ambivalent attitudes towards the inclusion of isiZulu in their schools even though the majority of the learners were isiZulu first language speakers. These educators argued that because their schools were English medium schools they saw no benefit in including isiZulu in the curriculum, they further believed the medium, which is i -. ,. English, should be maintained and no provision should be made for isiZulu at all.