Abstract:
Official policy in post-apartheid education is aimed at redressing linguistic inequity
in schooling by promoting the 11 official languages of South Africa through mother
tongue instruction. However, since the life chances of children are inextricably
linked to the language of power, many parents believe that their children would
benefit from instruction in English. Consequently, there has been an ever-increasing
demand for English to be the language of instruction in schools. Utilising case
studies of Grade 4 pupils at three desegregated schools, this research sought to
determine whether Grade 4 learners, whose mother tongue is not English, would
be able to express their conceptual mathematical understanding better when tested
in English or in their mother tongue. The major finding was that although many
non-first-language English speaking Grade 4 learners are challenged by having to
acquire abstract subject knowledge through a non-mother tongue medium, they face
an even greater challenge when tested in their mother tongue.
