Mother-tongue teaching a dire necessity
The introduction of mothertongue instruction will make pupils have confidence in themselves, while frustration, uncertainty and self-doubt will be things of the past, in my view.
I write in response to Mbulelo Nzo’s letter on the topic “Teaching in mothertongue will be vital for all”, (April 7), and to Leslie Sachet, language specialist, Knysna (“Mother-tongue teaching and learning overdue”, April 20).
I am also happy with the views which were expressed by minister of education Angie Motshekga on the importance of African languages as a medium of instruction.
My suggestion is to have an indaba which includes stakeholders in education as well as representatives of parents and pupils, to debate this and come to a definite decision which will have to be implemented as soon as possible.
Let us not waste time thinking about how to ride this mother-tongue instruction bicycle. Let us ride it.
In my recent research on “learning“, I picked up some expressions and views from teachers and pupils which made me support this view.
The first of these educationists says the following about the importance of mother-tongue instruction:
“In most cases we are happy to hear our children speak English fluently, yet to speak English and learn through it are different things.
“He can speak English fluently, but when it comes to examination, he brings unsatisfactory results.
“The strong foundation is the mother-tongue, that a child may understand what he says, and what he studies in English.”
Our children always bring unsatisfactory results in grade 12 examinations.
One of the reasons is that they are the only group studying and writing examinations in a foreign language.
The second citation is from a teacher.
“Children who do not speak English at home struggle not only with that subject, but with every other subject taught in English.”
Add to that this statement: Studying in a language other than the mother tongue affects pupils’ sense of identity. (“Call for pupils to be taught in own mother tongue”, The Herald, December 13 2018).
The third is as follows: When Rhodes University drafted its new language policy allowing students to use their mother tongue in learning, Dr Hleze Kunju said he knew this would give him an opportunity to conduct work in his vernacular language.
This was easy, he explained, because like many other students he had struggled with English in his undergraduate studies.
“I’d write in [English] and ... it would come back marked in red and the lecturers would ask: ‘What you are trying to say’?”
Writing in isiXhosa was a “beautiful experience”, Kunju said, that left little room for self-doubt.
From pupils, the first was from the Umhlobo Wenene FB Educational Programmes, an attempt by educationists to equip grade 12s with the correct approaches to trial examinations and finals.
All of these are conducted in isiXhosa.
One pupil said at the end of a particular explanation: “Oh! I am happy because it is only now that I understand how it works.”
The next was from one after an exam. “I had problems with the framing of a question.
“When I requested the invigilator to help me, she answered ‘I am sorry I cannot help you... it is part of the examination’.
“When it was explained in isiXhosa after the examination by other learners, I was frustrated because I had not asked the invigilator for the answer, it was only the way the question was framed that I did not understand.
“I lost marks because I left that question unanswered.” (Incidentally, examiners at the end of each year complain that candidates do not read instructions and questions properly).
The last pupil said the following: “As our teacher was busy delivering a lesson one day, he suddenly stopped and asked: ‘Class, am I speaking above your heads instead of through your ears’?
“The reason was that he suspected we were not understanding the language [English] he was using.”
When I was a postgraduate student at Fort Hare University in the middle of the 1970s, we once debated mothertongue teaching.
Our black lecturer said that, during his days as a junior secondary schoolteacher, he once taught one class in English and the other in isiXhosa.
He said though the lesson was the same, the group taught in isiXhosa had done better than the other group when tested.
He repeated the exercise over a long time. In all instances, the results were the same.
Let us see what the fourth educationist’s views are.
East London high school teacher Nompumelelo Kapa became the toast of Fort Hare as her PhD was the first in the university’s 102-year history to be written in isiXhosa.
She was awarded her doctorate in literature at the spring graduation in Alice on October 19 2018.
“I feel very proud that I made history at Fort Hare,” Kapa said.
“IsiXhosa has become stifled, with people finding it fashionable to write and speak in other languages, especially English.
“In the process they lose their identity and their roots and endanger our heritage.”
It is clear from the above citations that English is the main problem facing our black pupils.
This means we must not doubt that the solution is mother-tongue instruction.
Dr Mzwanele Peppeta, New Brighton