Perspectives of primary school teachers on effective multilingual teaching approaches

Abstract

There are several major factors that teachers must take into account when dealing with multilingual classrooms such as culture and language diversity. Therefore teaching in a multilingual classroom requires teachers to make the curriculum accessible to all learners through the use of various multilingual teaching approaches. This study explored the perspectives of teachers on effective multilingual teaching approaches in accommodating linguistically diverse learners in their classrooms. Qualitative research methods were employed and data was gathered through focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants who were nine teachers from two resource constrained primary schools situated in a semi urban area in Gauteng. The data was analysed by using thematic analyses technique. The findings indicated that participants perceive the utilisation of code switching and peer teaching to be effective multilingual teaching approaches. Furthermore, the teachers viewed visual aids; concrete objects as useful tools for supporting learners in multilingual classrooms. . The participants stated that they experienced challenges such as excessive workload, and limited time to support learners. Despite these challenges, the participants believe that it is worthwhile to strive to respond to the needs of diverse leaners in multilingual classrooms. It is recommended that teacher training focused on teaching linguistically diverse learners in multilingual classroom should be provided as part of a teacher professional development initiative and also included in the pre-service training of teachers.