Bilingual classrooms : a case study of educators' and learners perspectives at private and public schools in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Argument directed to bilingual instruction in South Africa is not new. The issue of eleven official languages in education remains contested. The apartheid language in education policy infused with imbalance proficiency demands for educators and learners’in the country. The policy was replaced in 1997 with a new policy based on non –discriminatory language use and the internationally accepted principle of home language education in the contest of bilingual or multilingual framework. The policy was designed to accommodate home language (HL)maintenance, proficiency and first additional language (FAL), English for the majority of learners and optimal cognitive development. The policy has not been accompanied by any significant government or language department to ensure the implementation plan. It has however been met with several arguments of bilingual resource and well –trained educators. The argument paved a way into publications which have been used to deflect government’s responsibility regarding bilingual instruction .The difference in language policy however disregard the fact that South Africa is multilingual and that home language is the most appropriate language of learning everywhere in the world. The implementation and understanding of bilingual and linguistic interdependence of both English and African languages have a role to pay in the development and sustainability of democratic country. The underlying implication is that since English and Afrikaans as the media of instruction that disadvantaged the majority of South African citizens over the years, it is time African languages be implementated alongside English or Afrikaans in education system. South Africa’s new language in Education policy (LiEP) has been regarded as one of the best progressive in the world. The dissertation describes research that investigates the gap between the policy expections and what is prevailing at some private and public primary school in Limpopo Province.