Grammatical errors made by Grade 7 learners when writing Tshivenda home language creative essays at Sekgosese North Circuit, Vhembe West District, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

The study sought to investigate grammatical errors committed by Grade 7 learners when writing Tshivenda Home Language Creative Essays. The nature of the study and type of data collected motivated the researcher to use a qualitative approach. This study adopted communicative competence theory. The interpretivism paradigm necessitated the use of qualitative approach and case study design to understand the experiences and opinions of participants regarding grammatical error challenges when learners write creative essays. The researcher used three data collection instruments, namely, structured interview, non-participant observation and document review. The data collected were analyzed thematically. The most common grammatical challenges unearthed were capitalization, punctuation and spelling. The main contributing factors to these challenges were the shortage of resources, the excessive use of social media by learners, insufficient practice by learners, failure to implement the main principles of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement and poor classroom management due to overcrowding. To lessen the gravity of this problem, the researcher suggested few recommendations, and some of them are: building of school libraries to mitigate the shortage of grammar books, parental involvement in their children's education, installation of grammar app on learners’ smartphones, extra lessons and extended opportunities be made available for learners and implementing Drop all and Read programme.