Understanding parents’ views on multilingual education

Abstract

With multilingualism been the norm within society, there is an increasing focus both internationally and locally on the phenomenon from a societal and educational viewpoint. Currently, numerous stakeholders, such as educators’ and linguists’, views on multilingual education exist, however, regardless of the increasing attention there is limited literature in South Africa on parents’ understanding and view of multilingual education. The purpose of this study was to explore parents’ views on multilingual education. A qualitative approach using a case study design was employed with Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory as the theoretical framework. Purposive and convenience sampling was utilised to select the seven participants from a school in Gauteng, South Africa. Data was obtained through a focus group discussion, semi-structured interview and field notes. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that parents have a fundamental understanding of societal multilingualism; however, parents understanding of multilingual education was limited. The findings further suggest that parents viewed multilingualism positively as they highlighted that individuals would be able to interact with other individuals from diverse linguistic backgrounds. However, the parents also indicated the possible hindrances to multilingual education which included limited resources and the extent of classroom time required. From the findings, it is recommended that a large-scale study of parents’ understanding of multilingual education in the greater Gauteng province and other provinces should be explored. An additional recommendation is to determine whether parents’ views of multilingual education differ depending on various factors, such as their child’s age, grade and developmental stage.