African children are primarily schooled in English from Grade 4 onwards, and the language-in-education policy has failed to promote indigenous African languages¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · no dated study recorded · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Despite government recommendations for mother-tongue teaching, African children are primarily schooled in English from Grade 4 onwards, a second or third language for most. → Gobodwana 2024

Evidence¶

Gobodwana 2024¶

Gobodwana, A., 2024, 'The strategies in teaching isiXhosa semantics in Foundation Phase: A systematic review', Reading & Writing 15(1), a493. https://doi.org/10.4102/rw.v15i1.493

q2 · i? · review · r2

Under research question 1, the review reports, citing Taylor (2007) and Kamwangamalu (2003), that the DBE language policy failed to work for all languages and that a language shift from indigenous African languages to English is observable in urban Black communities.

"African children specifically, who constitute not only the majority but also the poorest fractions of society, are primarily schooled in English from Grade 4 onwards, a second or third language to most of these children."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Teachers in South African multilingual classrooms use code-switching, offering English content but switching to the mother tongue for elaboration and discussion — related
• L1 and L2 CALP are interdependent: strong promotion of L1 literacy in the early grades entails no adverse consequences for English — a broader claim this one bears on
• Mead argued that treating the mother tongue as inferior impedes movement between home and school language structures — a broader claim this one bears on
• Failure to use mother tongue as the medium of instruction during at least the fundamental years has lasting detrimental impacts on students — related