Original title: Challenges that impact the teaching of isiZulu as a home language in multilingual classrooms in Gauteng townships in South Africa
Gauteng township classrooms may include learners who speak different African languages. Yet a school may offer only one of those languages as the home languageA school subject level for a language that learners are expected to study at a high level, whether or not it is the language they speak at home., so learners can be required to study isiZulu even if it is not their first language. A review of existing research reports low isiZulu proficiency, weak reading, and teaching approaches that do not fit these classrooms. The article proposes multilingual teaching that takes learners’ different languages into account.
Imagine a cooking class where everyone is told to follow the same recipe, though some students have never used its language. They may know the ingredients but still struggle to read the steps, while the teacher has to explain them in a way that works for everyone. In this paper, the recipe is isiZulu instruction, the students’ different languages shape what they understand, and the proposed approach makes room for those differences.
When learners have limited isiZulu skills or struggle to read it, lessons can be hard to follow. The article identifies challenges for teachers and proposes teaching that makes room for the different languages learners bring to class.
The article reports challenges identified through a critical review of existing research; the abstract gives no details about the studies reviewed or how many schools they covered. It proposes a multilingual teaching approach, but the abstract does not report testing its effects.
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Challenges that impact the teaching of isiZulu as a home language in multilingual classrooms in Gauteng townships in South Africa — Choice Dimakhatso Mpanza, Sindisiwe Cynthia Msani — South African Journal of African Languages — doi:10.1080/02572117.2026.2708763
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.