Mother tongue education : a case study of grade three children

M.Ed. (Educational Linguistics)This study sets out to examine the use of mother tongue education in one Grade 3 classroom in the foundation phase in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The focus is on learners’ and parents’ whose children are in that Grade 3 classroom as well as educators’ experiences of the use of mother tongue education. The aims of this study were to examine how, when, why and by whom mother tongue is used in the Grade 3 classroom and to examine how mother tongue medium of instruction can contribute to the teaching of literacy in the Grade 3 classroom. With these aims in mind, data were collected from the Grade 3 teacher and the Grade 3 learners as well as the parents of these learners. A qualitative approach was used to obtain data from the Grade 3 teacher, five Grade 3 learners as well as parents of these learners. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews were used as means of collecting data. Interviews were conducted one-on-one and 6 lessons on Literacy as a learning area in the foundation phase were observed. The findings in this study reveal that the mother tongue, Xitsonga was the dominant language during classroom activities. This was influenced by the learners’ inability to use the second language. It is also revealed that the teacher and learners as well as parents have positive attitude towards the mother tongue as a language of learning and teaching in schools. However, some parents still believe that their children should be taught through English as the medium of instruction hoping that they will be able to secure better jobs. Another finding is that not all learners’ language needs are catered for in black African schools, hence, such learners experience difficulties in learning through a language which is not their mother tongue. On the basis of the findings, the study recommends that the Department of Education should support the use of the mother tongue in the L2 classroom in order to strengthen literacy during early learning