Head of the School of Education, Dr Audrey Msimang, presented an exciting paper at the second School of Education seminar in May.

Her research and presentation aimed to create further understanding of the nature and role of classroom talk in the teaching and learning of science.
The study also drew on the findings from the development of the Language in Science Project, which took effect from 2014.

The paper, entitled “Talking Science: Teaching and Learning Science in South Africa”, included a review on recent curriculum developments, diversity of the context, policy, evidence from the classrooms and language factors in the classrooms.

Her research was conducted from 2014 to 2018 in different phases in the East Gauteng District.

The data showed that out of 144 pre-service teachers, 70 did not agree with permitting home language in the classroom, 58 said they would allow it, and the remaining 16 had no opinion.

In the case of student teachers in their fourth year in educational studies, only 20 out of 74 preferred to be taught in their home language while 54 preferred the co-switching medium of instruction and teaching.

The discussions presented two schools of thought:

• Learners do well if they are taught in their mother tongue as a foundation in their early learning

• Learners must gain an understanding of English early in their education life so that they do not struggle at a later stage.

Teachers’ perceptions on the use of language in the classroom indicated that they faced a complicated situation of using English and other languages in teaching maths and science while being cognisant that teaching in a mother tongue did have some benefits.

For example, in the Northern Cape’s Namakwa District, where the vernacular of the province – Afrikaans – is the most used language of teaching, the district recorded the highest pass rate percentage of 83,7% in the province. It was also the fifth top performing district in the country.