Reading 2:

De Klerk V. (2002) Language issues in our schools: Whose voice counts? Part 2: The
teachers speak. Perspectives in Education 20(1): 15-27

Step 1: Working with the title

The title clearly indicates that this part of the research will look at what the teachers in the
English schools have to say about the experience of Xhosa-speaking learners in the schools.
What do you think their opinions and attitudes will be? Will they be similar to or different to
the parents? Jot down your expectations before you do any of the pre-reading activities.

Step 2: Previewing the text

Pre-Reading Questions

1. Has the new language-in-education policy, which supports the use of mother-tongue
instruction, generally been carried out and supported? Give reasons for your answer.

2. What evidence is presented in this article to support Mother Tongue (Home

3. There is a strong argument for bilingual education in the article – how is bilingual
education described in this article?

4. What did English schools do about admitting/selecting learners who were non-English
speakers? What reasons did they give for their actions? What do you feel about their
actions?

5. What policy was followed in schools about speaking different languages? What do
you feel about this issue?

6. What opinions were expressed about the best mix of English and non-English
speakers for non-English speakers to get the most benefit in learning English? What
has been your experience of this type of situation?

7. What problems face the teaching of Xhosa in the schools that were part of the
research study?

8. What were the teachers’ views, in the research study, about mother-tongue education?

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 What are your views?

9. What arguments does de Klerk propose for bilingual education?

10. How does de Klerk link the issue of bilingual education to a more democratic and
equal society?

Now:

a. Read the title

b. Read the whole of the Introduction

c. Read the first sentence of each paragraph and at the same time the headings and
subheadings. The first sentences of paragraphs are most likely to contain the topic/
theme/controlling idea (whichever name you prefer) of the paragraph. These sentences
should give you a good idea of what the rest of the paragraph is about.

d. Read the whole of the conclusion

Start jotting down your answers to the pre-reading questions from the preview reading. Also,
think about what is relevant to the essay question posed in the previous reading:

The situation in our schooling system is encouraging parents and learners to

Do not worry if you do not understand completely at this stage. Your understanding will
develop as you read the synopsis and the whole text. Building this understanding as you go
along will make your reading more active and successful.

Step 3: Reading the synopsis

The Introduction provides some background to the research into what teachers at English
schools have to say about the experience of Xhosa-speaking learners in their schools. It starts
off with a quotation from a teacher about his/her experience with Xhosa speakers, where s/he
mentions the successes, but also indicates that academically weaker children would struggle
because they would not understand the language being used for teaching.

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The introduction points to the difference in official language-in-education policies on the one
hand, which promote bilingual education, and actual implementation of the policy on the
other, which fails to support and develop bilingualism. de Klerk quotes Heugh, who states
that the result of this lack of support is that the majority of children are being under-educated
and not being given an equal chance. de Klerk refers to different research which indicates that
the most effective way to reach high levels in a second language is through being taught in
one’s MT, and reaching high levels of literacy in the MT first. A second language should be
developed alongside a MT and gradually introduced as a MOI. If this does not happen, then it
is likely that the majority of learners will have low levels of language proficiency in both
their MT and the second language.

In the previous section (Part 1), de Klerk felt that those parents who sent their Xhosa-
speaking children to English schools in the early days of integration were the most fortunate,
as the rapid change in racial mix of those English schools mean that they are becoming
ineffective environments for learning English.

The section ‘Whom to admit?’ focuses on the admission policies English schools adopted
when Xhosa speakers applied for positions. Although language-based admission tests are not
officially allowed, the schools reported that they conducted some tests as ‘rough’ guides to
learners’ language proficiency to see if they would be able to cope in an English
environment. As they could not actually refuse learners admission to schools, many tried to
persuade parents not to send their children because the schools felt that they would not be
able to cope with the language problem. Their fears about children’s ability to cope came
from experience of children who had had severe problems. They felt that this was very hard
on the child and unfair to them. Schools felt that when children had very little English they
had to think very carefully about whether they had the teaching and other resources to help
the child (bridge) into ordinary English classes.

The next section talks about what schools and teachers did to cope with the changing learner
population they had to teach (Coping strategies). Teachers reported that there was very little
guidance available for them and they also had to operate in a situation where there were

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limitations placed on them in terms of time, expertise and resources. While many of their
fears about cultural and social problems did not occur, the language problems had been worse
than they expected. Discussions and experience made them realize that it was not an issue
only for English teachers to deal, but something which all teachers across the curriculum
had to deal with. There were various ways in which schools responded, and these are detailed
on pages 18 and 19. Some of these were:

 A language enrichment programme where Xhosa speakers covered the normal

 In one school, special teachers were appointed who offered three hours a week of
extra lessons in English.

 In another school, children were taken out of normal lessons for extra lessons with the
class teachers.

 After-hours extra classes were tried but did not work, nor did using non-examination
periods for English for Xhosa children.

Various other strategies were used, such as helping children after hours, special teaching
methods, holding children back a year, streaming according to ability, pairing Xhosa speakers
with English speakers, and voluntary conversation groups run by English-speaking parents,
amongst many other strategies.

What was learned from these experiences was the need to create a positive attitude towards
strategies, and that it did not help to take children out of class. However, because of the
administrative problems, most schools felt that what actually happened was a ‘sink or swim’
experience for the Xhosa-speaking learners.

In evaluating how they fared, most schools felt that there had been improved levels of
English ability because children were being exposed to English at an earlier age. There were
a number of factors that they felt related to progress in English:

 Those who stayed in boarding school progressed more rapidly because they were
exposed to more English.

 Language development happened together with increased levels of confidence.

 Many educators felt that success was related to academic ability but found that most

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 Xhosa speakers till came in the last third of the class academically.

 Teachers felt that the earlier children entered the system the better e.g. at English pre-
school level, the better it was for their progress.

On the question of whether schools promoted assimilation (learners adopting the English
language and culture) or promoted diversity (promoting both languages and cultures), de
Klerk found a change from an earlier insistence on English only to a more relaxed and
accepting attitude. Schools did not prescribe what language children should speak outside the
classroom. In English classes, they tended to insist on English, but allowed children to speak
in Xhosa in discussion groups in other subjects. There was some concern about children of
the same language tending to group together, and the school teachers felt that they had to do
more to encourage integration. However, in state schools where non-English speakers were
becoming the majority, there were greater problems with speaking in different languages.
Teachers also stopped encouraging parents to use English at home because they felt they
would not be good enough models of English for their children. Also, teachers did not want
to undermine learners’ MTS and stop them from using these languages in their homes.

Teachers felt pressure from parents to integrate and assimilate learners into the English
language and culture. Teachers reported that learners were anxious about learning English
because of pressure from their parents.

In the section on ‘The ideal mix?’, de Klerk explores the issue she raised earlier about the
rapid change in the ratio of non-English speakers to English speakers in the schools. She feels
that this has an impact on schools’ ability to provide a very good environment for learning
English. Teachers’ opinions varied on this, some saying that 20% non-English speakers were
ideal. They felt that a higher percentage than this would mean that Xhosa-speaking learners
would start asserting themselves as a group and would not assimilate as readily to the
dominant language and culture. Most teachers seemed to think that a 50-50 ratio was
important, but they were worried that this situation was becoming increasingly rare. Schools
were rapidly changing because of an increase in demand from Xhosa speakers and, at the
same time, a tendency for English-speaking children to leave these state schools.

As far as the teaching of Xhosa was concerned, de Klerk found that teachers in English
schools were in favour of Xhosa being taught in the schools, both for MT speakers of Xhosa
and for non-Xhosa speakers. Schools felt a need to promote and enhance Xhosa culture and

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language at their schools. The problems about the introduction of Xhosa in schools were: a
shortage of qualified teachers; it was often offered only as a third language in private schools;
some schools discouraged Xhosa speakers from taking it; and pressure from parents resulted
in learners taking subjects like French and Afrikaans rather than Xhosa. Teachers did not feel
that Xhosa would replace Afrikaans in the foreseeable future because Afrikaans was still
widely used in the area researched, and there was still a strong demand for it. In addition,
there was a shortage of textbooks and reading material in Xhosa, and there was not enough
governmental support to develop these resources.

Teachers generally felt that MT instruction for children was ‘first prize’, but also realised that
English has a lot of advantages in the modern world. Teachers also felt that language was not
the only issue. They felt that parents were also choosing good education in well-resourced,
stable learning environments. Teachers felt strongly that parents should ensure that learners
maintained their language and culture and did not become totally anglicised (like English
speakers in language and culture). There was a general belief amongst English-speaking
teachers that non-MT instruction in English is important as long as the MT is maintained
alongside the second language. They also felt positive about racial mixing and that the
benefits were great.

In her conclusion, de Klerk sums up what emerged from her research into teachers’ feelings
and experiences (read the dot list pages on 24/25), and then argues for what she feels is the
most appropriate language-in-education policy for South Africa. She argues that the present
situation in our education system seems to offer only a choice between English or an African
language as a medium of instruction for learners. (However, in reality, there is only a choice
of an African language as MOI in the first three years of schooling, followed by English as
MOI. The choice is thus between having English as an MOI in one of the disadvantaged
African schools or in the better-resourced and more stable English schools. The only African
parents with this choice are the ones with enough money to send their children to the more
expensive English schools – Comment by Mike Hart.

What de Klerk and other commentators are critical of is that there is no option available for a
bilingual education, which requires developing the MT as an MOI for longer in the school
system and adding a second language. This would allow a choice for those parents who want
to maintain their MTs and culture - a choice they do not have at the moment. Heugh’s (2001)
research, mentioned by de Klerk, indicated that in the Bantu Education system, from 1953-
1976, (see footnote at bottom of page 25) African learners studied in their MT until the end of

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primary school and switched to English as MOI only in secondary school. Under this policy,
despite extremely poor educational conditions, the matriculation pass rate steadily increased,
reaching 87% in 1975. The change after 1976, to only four years of MT instruction, saw the
pass rate decline rapidly.

De Klerk argues that the poor teaching conditions and poor teaching in many African schools
mean that children are not given effective access to English. In the face of this situation,
parents have chosen to send their children to English schools that offer better teaching
conditions and better teaching in English. However, these English state schools are rapidly
changing to a situation where there are more African learners than English MT learners.
Under these conditions, they are no longer able to offer the quality of English experience that
they are used to. Also, she argues it is only the elite, middle-class African parents who can
afford to do this; the majority have no option but to be educated in disadvantaged schools.

She calls for more support for developing African MTs and educational resources, such as
textbooks and literature, so they can be used as MOI, as they were from 1953-1976. Unless
this is done, the indigenous African languages and their speakers will be increasingly
marginalised in South African society. The gap between the rich (those who can pay for
access to English) and the poor (those who cannot) will widen. This is what she calls a
linguatocracy. She feels this will not be good for South African democracy, will create
increasing inequality, and will endanger the stability of our society.

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Assessment Task: You will submit this task in the following
lecture.
The situation in our schooling system is encouraging parents and learners to
abandon their mother tongue in favour of English. This will lead to growing
inequality in our society. Only the elite will get access to high levels of English.
At the same time, the majority will not have enough competence in any language
by the time they leave school to participate in the economy effectively.

1. Look at the essay question above and underline the words that are important when
trying to understand the question.

2. Look at the notes you made about the two articles written by De Klerk and look for at
least 5-7 facts that will support the argument that parents and learners are choosing
English over Indigenous languages.

3. Show these facts in a mind map or spider diagram. Do not write a paragraph.
Complete sentences are not required.

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