Evaluation of a franchised supplementary programme in English as a second language in South Africa : A case study
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North-West University (South Africa), Vaal Triangle Campus
Abstract
In South Africa, schooling and literacy in an African home language, in public primary schools, is
initially provided to learners in the first three years but as from the fourth year often change to
English (and in some instances, Afrikaans) as the language of learning as well as the medium
of instruction. Within a multilingual and multicultural context, parents perceive English to be of
greater value for their children to learn and although not all families can afford it, some
households will invest their financial resources in after-school extra-curricular activities such as
private supplementary tutoring. The private tutoring sector is meant to complement the public
schooling system and is often referred to as shadow education. One of the few language
programmes registered as a franchise for teaching and learning English as a second language,
Active English, is offered to learners in communities across South Africa.
In South Africa, there is a paucity of research and studies on marketed private tutoring
opportunities. There is also a perennial need for language education programmes to be
evaluated and improved in order to illustrate best practice. This study focuses on the method
concept to language teaching and evaluates the interrelated components of a programme at the
level of design and approach within an established framework that may be used to evaluate
other franchised language programmes. Every component of the programme that was
evaluated received an overall rating statement that captures the essence of the findings.
Qualitative research, in the form of an ethnographic study (that of a case study) was conducted
at an owner-operated centre in the Vaal Triangle area (Gauteng Province) of the Active English
franchise, in order to collect data and information from Grade 3 and Grade 4 learners enrolled in
the language programme, their parents, and from the franchisor. For this, classroom
observations (including a classroom environment survey) were conducted along with interviews
with the respective grade groups and the franchisor. Documents establishing the programme for
potential franchisees were analysed and interpreted and the responses from a questionnaire
distributed to parents are reported on as frequencies.
Although the programme holds the potential to be effective in other language contexts, the
outcome of the evaluation of the programme is that it is a supplementary tutoring service
working effectively but primarily, for bilingual Afrikaans-English speakers at this moment in time.
This study contributes with findings and data in the broader body of knowledge of shadow
education in South Africa. This study also attempts to address the fact that franchised
supplementary programmes potentially foster inequalities in an already unequal society, uplift
and supplement the perceived inadequate education in public schools in South Africa, and
indicate to policy-makers that they need to play a role in observing, monitoring, and possibly,
regulating this form of shadow education in South Africa.