The strategies in teaching isiXhosa semantics in Foundation Phase: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Foundation Phase teachers in the South African Department of Basic Education system daily encounter a challenge with learners struggling to read with understanding. This motive was displayed and made available to readers and authors by the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy 2021, which articulated that learners in the Foundation Phase need to be reading their home language (isiXhosa) with understanding.

Objectives: This study sought insights into improving children’s reading ability in the Foundation Phase.

Method: The research adopted the quantitative research method through the systematic review of what other authors have conducted. It has focused on children’s reading of Home Language isiXhosa with semantic meaning.

Results: The analysis followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach. It has shown that teaching semantics of isiXhosa in the Foundation Phase, in the South African context, has been seen as an easy pedagogical strategy. In addition, teachers use the dominant language to make examples.

Conclusion: The article echoed that translanguaging is used by teachers, especially in multilingual classrooms. This approach of translanguaging is not an official pedagogical approach to learning; however, teachers use it to break the barrier of not communicating appropriate skills to children. Translanguaging is an act of acknowledging the diversity of South Africa and embracing it.

Contribution: The impact the study has made and suggested is the use of translanguaging in the classrooms. This is based on and due to the diversity in the classrooms. There are insufficient articles addressing the semantic teaching of isiXhosa in multilingual classrooms.