Grade R teachers’ perceived competency and knowledge of oral language development in isiXhosa

Abstract

Oral language development is a concern to the early childhood development sector due to the fact that Grade R learners generally display lack of readiness development on language skills. With a vast majority of unqualified Grade R teachers in schools and independent sites it becomes a challenge to address the problem. The Minister of Basic Education commented that the quality of the Grade R teachers’ knowledge and skills is still a challenge for these practitioners. The theoretical framework for this study is drawn from Chall’s (1996a:21) reading stage theory, Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of social development and Ehri’s (2005) phases of learning to read as they relate to the connection between early oral language development and later reading comprehension in children. The purpose of this study was to determine: • Grade R teachers’ knowledge of strategies involving dialogic reading, promoting extended discourse and using specific vocabulary. • Grade R teachers’ perceived knowledge of strategies involving engaging in dialogic reading, promoting extended discourse and using specific vocabulary for developing oral language. • To what extent these above-mentioned practices are practiced in the Grade R classrooms. The research design used in this study is a multiple site case study. It is applicable to this study because multiple perspectives from the isiXhosa-speaking Grade R teachers was gathered to get a better understanding of their competency and knowledge of oral language development in isiXhosa. The inquiry was done in nine schools in a district in the North West Province where communities speak more than one African language. The nine participants were selected because they taught isiXhosa home language in the Grade R class. Interviews, observations, questionnaires and document analysis were conducted to determine the participants‘ perspectives of their competency and knowledge of oral language development. Data were analysed through a qualitative content analysis process, by tracing major emerging themes that were in line with the research questions. The results indicated that Grade R teachers understood some of the principles of oral language development, however, there is a gap in their pedagogical content knowledge. Their perceptions indicated that participants had challenges with understanding what was required of them with regard to implementing strategies for oral language development. The participants rated their own knowledge as fairly good on dialogic reading, these ratings also revealed that participants had a fair understanding of extended discourse, however with the use of vocabulary and rare words, participants had challenges.

Limitations in this case study included the diversity of languages which limited the scope to only nine schools that offered teaching and learning in isiXhosa throughout the district. This study cannot be generalised to other languages as it was conducted with isiXhosa Home Language Grade R teachers. In spite of its limitations, the study brought to light Grade R teachers’ perceived competency and knowledge of oral language development in isiXhosa and the support strategies required to assist these teachers. Recommendations were made in terms of the employment of isiXhosa home language subject advisors who should be deployed to provide guidance and support to Grade R teachers in the form of quarterly workshops and evaluate the process in collaboration with cluster leaders and Head of Departments in schools.