Abstract:
The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors that contribute to the problem of
poor performance by grade 7 learners in the Tshivenḓa Home Language subject at
Khavhambe Primary School with the aim to improve their performance. The approach
that was adopted is a qualitative approach with interviews, document analysis and
observation as the chosen data collection instruments. A focus group research design
was chosen to complement the qualitative approach. In this study the researcher used
a social critical theory as the research paradigm to support the overall undertaking of the
study. Six participants, namely five learners and one educator, were randomly sampled
and the two data analysis techniques that were used are coding and interpretation.
Amongst the overall findings of the study, are the following main findings: most learners
struggle to read and write, some learners undermine the Tshivenḓa Home Language
subject and they do not study it, neither do they prepare themselves when going to write
a test or examination. Learners do not write their given schoolwork, instead they copy
from other learners and lastly, parents/guardians fail to support their children in their
studies (the Tshivenḓa Home Language subject or any other subject for that matter) as
they are not helping them with their homework or show any interest in their children’s
education.
The researcher recommends the following: The Tshivenḓa Home Language educators
are advised to allocate time in their weekly periods to train their learners to read and
write. Parents/guardians are urged to develop a habit of reading stories to their children
so that children will be fascinated and also encouraged to read for themselves. Learners
should be encouraged to value their Home Language so that they take it seriously and
study it as they do other subjects. Educators must identify learners who do not write
schoolwork and try to discover the reasons behind that so as to help them.
Parents/guardians must be part of their children’s studies by helping them with
schoolwork, encouraging them to work hard and trying to provide them with the necessary help for their studies.
