This research reports on the findings regarding the perceptions of teachers towards creating space for the use of code switching as a teaching strategy in Afrikaans learning and teaching in the isiXhosa-speaking environments of the Transkei region. The aim of this investigation was to establish whether or not code switching can be used as a teaching strategy. A sample of 13 teachers from 12 schools was purposefully selected. A qualitative approach was used. Interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The teachers admitted that they code switch during Afrikaans classes. It also transpired that teachers perceived code switching as the best way to facilitate understanding. The recommendations postulate a gradual move from a high tolerance of code switching in the lower classes to a low tolerance thereof in higher classes.
There are 11 official languages in South Africa (SeSotho, Tswana, Swati, Venda, Tsonga, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu) which, according to the Constitution of South Africa, enjoy equal status. This, however, is not so in the academic and corporate environments. English still plays a dominant role in these areas (Du Plessis
Scholars have approached CS from many different angles and have produced phonological, morphological, grammatical and societal perspectives on the phenomenon (Berthold, Mangubhai & Batorowicz 1993; Myers-Scotton
One of the features of the post-apartheid educational context of South Africa is that learners from various linguistic backgrounds are often intermingled in single classrooms. This calls for a reconsideration of the purist stance in L2 teaching (Mati
There is a plethora of definitions assigned to CS, of which a few will be mentioned here. Gumperz (
Research confirms that CS is a world-wide phenomenon, which occurs in various social and educational contexts (Madonsela
Tonkin (
The Language in Education Policy (LiEP) (1997) states clearly that in terms of the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the government, and the Department of Education, recognise that our cultural diversity is a valuable national asset. Hence, these institutions are tasked, among other things, with the promotion of multilingualism, the development of the official languages and creating respect for all languages used in the country, including South African Sign Language. The standpoint of this policy confirms language equity and intends to dispel any tendency of undermining minority languages. Those who view CS in a positive light (Gough
In the language education classroom, difficulties and frustrations have been and are still being experienced in teaching Afrikaans second language. The problem lies with getting learners to speak ‘suiwer Afrikaans’ (
Having experienced how Afrikaans is taught as an L2 in the researched area, the researchers are aware of the frustration experienced by both teachers and learners when well-designed teaching aids, gestures and facial expressions utilised in delivering lessons fail to yield the preconceived results because of a lack of a mutually understood lexicon. Sometimes, the language classroom situations demand the use of CS to enhance learner understanding of the language, but both learners and teachers are hindered by the fact that the assessment of learners does not allow trans-linguistic coding. The authors of this article feel that if the prevalence of a monolingual approach to the teaching of Afrikaans second language is not addressed, the L2 learners’ performance in Afrikaans will continue to suffer because of the incongruence between classroom language realities (CS) and the purist assessment of learners’ Afrikaans skills (e.g. questions set in Afrikaans only). This discrepancy is caused by the fact that the CS that takes place in the Afrikaans second language classroom is not yet provided for in the curriculum, even though the South African language policy is advocating for language equity. Afrikaans teachers use CS to facilitate teaching but in language assessment, on the other hand, no CS is allowed. This poses an academic dilemma for the learners because they answer incorrectly not because of lack of intellect but because they do not know certain Afrikaans words that are key to the question (MacCabe
The acceptance of CS is still problematic as it is not explicitly catered for in any curriculum-prescribed language teaching and learning methods. Probyn et al. (
The main question that comes to the fore in this line of reasoning is: How should CS be perceived in light of the language policy documents? Traditionally, the monolingual approach to language teaching and learning demanded strict adherence to the conventional grammatical rules of the target language to the total exclusion of the mother tongue. Concerning the rigidity of language teaching, Tonkin (
Foreign language teachers, for their part, teach standard forms of language that may be far removed from the experience of many native speakers. They give little attention to non-standard forms. They may be right to do so, since their goal is to equip their students to succeed in an elite environment; but emphasis on standard forms may make it more difficult for their students to perceive the sheer diversity of linguistic expression and its function in the target society. In fact, their students may not fully understand what language is, and how it functions in society generally. (p. 1)
The above citation alerts language practitioners to the tendency of L2 teachers to subject their learners to a traditional approach of L2 language learning that could affect learners’ acquisition of second languages negatively. In the present research setting, teachers are known to use CS in the process of teaching and learning Afrikaans to L2 learners, but the assessment of Afrikaans is only done via the standard form of the target language. Thus, a discrepancy exists between what prevails inside and outside the classroom (where CS is the norm). According to Foertsch (
This article seeks to contribute to our knowledge of the usefulness of CS as an appropriate teaching and learning strategy. In order to address the research problem, the following research questions were asked:
What medium of instruction do teachers use in the teaching of Afrikaans second language?
What opinions do teachers have about the use of CS in the classroom?
To what extent do teachers allow CS during Afrikaans second language assessment?
Can CS be used in the teaching of Afrikaans second language to assist learners?
The findings of this article might be useful for curriculum designers and material developers who prepare language materials for Afrikaans second language classrooms. It is also hoped that the findings of this research will not only create an appreciation of the challenges of teaching in an isiXhosa-Afrikaans bilingual setting, but will also sensitise all stakeholders to deal with these challenges with empathy and understanding. Because CS is an international phenomenon (see Allen
This research is underpinned by Giles’s (
having an awareness of what the addressee prefers and to switch accordingly
establishing common ground to meet the addressee halfway with language
employing measures to make yourself understood.
This theory underlies the present investigation. The question was whether or not the teaching situation was intending to meet the addressee (learners) halfway to assist them with their L2 learning, or just to satisfy the requirements of the curriculum, which in most instances uses assimilation approaches (Lemmer, Meyer & Van Wyk
To fulfil the aim of the study, a qualitative approach was employed, which was, broadly speaking, based on the interpretive paradigm. Nieuwenhuis (
The sample was drawn from a population of 59 Afrikaans teachers from the researched area. Forty-nine schools in the area offered Afrikaans as a subject. From this sample, 12 schools were selected – the choice of these schools was guided by the fact they were offering Afrikaans at all grade levels (Afrikaans second language was being phased out in the remaining schools, and was taught either in Grades 11 and 12 or in Grade 12 only). The participants consisted of 13 teachers purposefully selected from the 12 schools. The sample included teachers from remote rural areas as well as from schools in urban areas. Most Afrikaans teachers in the researched schools were L2 speakers of Afrikaans; the implication of this is that CS is unavoidable during lesson presentation, as the teachers’ L1 was an African language.
To solicit information from the participants, face-to-face interviews were conducted. The main focus of the teacher interviews was to establish from them whether they view CS as a teaching strategy when teaching Afrikaans second language. Though it would have been advantageous to use single response questions owing to their easy processing, open-ended questions were included in order to probe more into the meanings the interviewees attached to their responses. At the same time, this enabled the researchers to see some behaviours such as gestures, expressions and mannerisms that could not have been revealed through single response questions. More important was the idea of interacting with the participants in their natural setting (which is the schools where they are teaching). This helped to ensure that the participants were at ease as they participated in the interviews (as opposed to the potentially threatening situation of a strange place). Researchers like McMillan (
The recorded field notes and video tapes of the responses from participants were transcribed and the data were coded. Following this, relevant themes emerged, which were further analysed in order to mine the data for information relevant to the research questions. Broadly speaking, the responses from the participants provided valuable background information against which CS can be used as a possible teaching aid. In what follows, the identified themes are outlined, with reference to some of the responses that led to the identification of these themes.
All the teachers who participated in the study expressed positive opinions of CS in their Afrikaans lessons. They all approved of using CS as a teaching aid in the L2 language lesson. The participants’ reaction to the question on the value of mixing languages in the teaching of Afrikaans was also quite unanimous. Eighty per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that CS assisted learners to understand better. These are verbatim responses in favour of CS by two participants:
The value of mixing isiXhosa and Afrikaans is increased understanding of lessons. [P12, Female, Teacher of Grade 11, Senior Secondary School G]
It facilitates learning. [P9, Female, Teacher of Grade 10, Senior Secondary School G]
However, some participants were of the view that CS did not necessarily improve communication skills. A Grade 8 teacher explained:
‘There is no value in mixing languages, because this retards learning.
This was supported by another teacher:
‘Mixing languages weakens the second language.
To the interview question ‘Is Afrikaans the only language that is spoken during Afrikaans lessons?’, all participants admitted that they code switch to isiXhosa during Afrikaans lessons. The responses below are verbatim answers that were given by the participants.
A teacher from a senior secondary school answered:
Not at all. Mixing language is unavoidable. [P8, Female, Teacher of Grade 10, Senior Secondary School A]
This was echoed by a teacher from another secondary school who stated:
‘If you only speak Afrikaans, you get nowhere with the lesson.
The same sentiment was evident from the responses of the teachers from senior secondary schools. Both these teachers (Grade 10 and Grade 9) also said that CS was inevitable in the classroom:
‘I have to translate, otherwise they do not understand.’ [P11, Male, Teacher of Grade 10, Senior Secondary School D]
and
‘Students struggle when you use Afrikaans only.’ [P2, Female, Teacher of Grade 9, Senior Secondary School F]
In their responses, it also surfaced that monolingual teaching does not yield positive results in that learners struggle to understand the lesson when only Afrikaans is used but they understand better when the teachers code switch.
When asked if CS was allowed in the assessment of Afrikaans second language (interview question ‘Are the students allowed to code switch in the tasks and examinations?’), all participants stated that CS is not allowed in the assessment. This is indicative of inequalities in the teaching and learning situation. In the examinations, the non-mother tongue learners struggle to master the questions while their mother tongue counterparts do not experience this hardship. The following verbatim responses illustrate this stance:
‘No, they are not allowed to code switch in the assessment.
This was supported by another teacher, who pointed out:
‘No. If they code switch, they are penalised.
If CS is allowed in the teaching and learning scenario, why is it banned from assessment?
The teachers in this sample explained that learners are not allowed to code switch in the assessment. This results in them failing the examinations. To this effect, a teacher remarked:
‘The learners’ answers display lack of understanding of the language in which the question is asked.
Another teacher concurred:
‘Their answers show lack of understanding of the question.
This finding is in line with MacCabe’s (
In reality some black first-year students at higher education institutions (HEIs) do not fully understand the concepts explained in class (in English); and do not have the level of fluency in English to express themselves clearly in tasks and assessments. (p. 1194)
The study sought to establish how teachers perceived the use of CS as a teaching strategy in the L2 classroom, where the L2 learners are L1 speakers of isiXhosa (on most counts). The teachers interviewed in this study answered with a unanimous ‘
While it transpired that the prevalent medium of instruction is some form of CS in the Afrikaans L2 classroom, it was clearly stated by educators that CS is not allowed in the assessment of Afrikaans second language. Rather, assessment takes place only in standard Afrikaans, which the learners fail because they do not understand the instructions and questions in the question paper. Ironically, the teachers were L2 speakers of Afrikaans too, and thus not equipped to teach learners the standard version of Afrikaans in which the assessment had to take place. The teachers pointed out that the reason for resorting to CS was to assist the learners to understand Afrikaans lessons. But what does it help to understand code-switched lessons when assessment maintains a purist stance? In this regard, the authors of this article suggest that CS be infused as a teaching strategy not only to assist in the teaching of Afrikaans second language, but also to assist L2 learners to understand the target language and comprehend all questions in the assessment. We therefore recommend a gradual move from a high tolerance of CS (in lower classes) to a low tolerance of CS in higher classes. The diagram in
Gradual accommodation of code switching in Afrikaans second language.
Points A–B represent the duration of teaching and learning, which can be one teaching period, a week, a month or a year, or even the whole duration of learning over a period of years. Point C represents the spike of CS application and tolerance. Point D represents the least degree of CS application and tolerance. According to this figure, CS use and tolerance need to be high at the beginning of the learning cycle. The representation is based on the pedagogical principle of moving from the known to the unknown. The more the unknown is mastered, the more the known becomes redundant and is reduced, that is (in this context), the more Afrikaans is mastered, the less CS will be needed (adapted from Songxaba’s,
It became clear from this study that the subcategories of speech accommodation, first introduced by Giles in the 1970s, are still relevant today. In line with the predictions of speech accommodation theory, the teachers in this sample had a clear awareness and understanding of their leaners’ communication needs, and they code-switched accordingly in the L2 language classroom, essentially because they knew that this was the only way to move forward in a lesson. Given that the teachers were also L2 speakers of Afrikaans, it is likely that they also employed CS to make themselves understood in class. The participants made clear efforts to meet their learners halfway in the language learning process, but this accommodation was only evident in the use of CS as a language teaching strategy. Because of existing language-in-education policies and curriculum expectations, learners’ needs could not be accommodated (using CS) in any of the assessments that the L2 learners had to complete. Naturally, this study was limited by its small sample, and the results cannot be generalised to the larger population. Even so, the unanimous view of this sample of Afrikaans second language teachers in the Eastern Cape is that CS is the only way to get learners to understand content in the L2 classroom. This begs for further research into this field, particularly focusing on how CS could be incorporated in the curriculum in an accepted and ‘standardised’ way, not only as a teaching strategy but also as an aid in L2 language assessment.
The power dynamics at play depicted a gloomy picture of the plight of non-mother tongue learners in the Afrikaans classroom. The incongruence between the code-switched teaching and the monolingual assessment puts learners at a disadvantage. This state of affairs leads them to underperform, not because they do not have sufficient intellect, but because of a myriad of language problems (MacCabe
Despite the officialisation of isiXhosa and other African languages following the ushering in of the democratic dispensation in 1994 and the explicit promotion of multilingualism in the language-in-education policy for public schools, African languages continue to have a Cinderella status in education. (p. 5)
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
S.L.S. was responsible for conceptualising the title of the article, writing the first draft of the article and effecting corrections from the reviewers and editors. A.C. contributed to the introduction, literature review and conclusion. J.M.M. contributed to the introduction and literature review.