Learning (dis)advantage in matriculation language classrooms

During the first decade of democracy in South Africa formal education has been characterised by sweeping policy shifts and consequent curriculum revision. In many instances, curricular revisions are criticised for failing to effect desired or anticipated changes. In this chapter the focus is on the language curriculum and the associated practices, or what I refer to as the literacy practices that have become naturalised over decades and persist in the present. The argument that is presented here contends that to enable effective change, it is essential to understand better what has historically constituted literacy practices and to recognise their social, cultural and economic implications