Background: Spelling is a vital component of literacy. This is because spelling includes multiple metalinguistic components, such as phoneme-grapheme awareness, orthographic awareness and morphophonemic knowledge. Despite this, there remains, to date, insufficient literature on spelling in the Southern Bantu languages and, more specifically, in…

During work integrated learning (WIL), pre-service mentoring helps prepare final-year education students for the workplace. The pre-service teacher is placed alongside a mentor teacher, and the higher education institution (HEI) stipulates the timeline and the requirements. This study follows a wide-ranging research project, identified by the…

Framed by decolonial theory, this paper explores how language and literacy ideologies, including Anglonormativity, or the expectation that children should be proficient in a standardised version of English and are deficient if not, shape language and literacy practices in South African classrooms. While not legitimised, the use of fluid language…

After 1994, South African policy changes brought about variations in language education resulting in many monolingual classrooms becoming multilingual. Much of the current literature focuses on either providing recommendations to diverse approaches of teaching a second language or describing the experiences of second language learners while…

In this article I report on how conscious knowledge could be connected with subconscious advice through career construction counselling to resolve the career choice indecision of a postgraduate psychology student. The participant was purposively selected from a number of people attending a course in narrative career counselling. An explanatory,…

In the study reported on here, we focused on the use of English as language of learning and teaching (LoLT) for isiXhosa-speaking Foundation Phase learners in a historically disadvantaged school in the Western Cape, South Africa. It was a qualitative case study within an interpretive research paradigm. We used focus groups and interviews for data…

The teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa are conducted through the authorised Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). South Africa has eleven official languages, and English is a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) from the Intermediate and Further Education and Training (FET) Phase. This study explores teachers' views on…

Background: Teaching English as home language (EHL) could be a complicated process in a country like South Africa, where there are eleven official languages operating in a multicultural society. This requires capacitating teachers with appropriate and relevant strategies to strengthen their teaching, especially in the foundation phase. Aim: This…

To write a linguistic autobiography is to explore and reflect on our lived experiences with language. The purpose of this research was to gain insight into students' language experiences through their linguistic autobiographies and to gain a greater understanding of their relationship with and thoughts on language within their social contexts. In…

Visualisation plays a critical role in the teaching and learning of mathematics word problems. It is an essential tool for enabling learners to create meaningful mental pictures necessary for solving mathematical problems. Appropriate visualisation requires good reading skills, English proficiency and an understanding of mathematical vocabulary,…

Despite less than 10% of South Africans claiming English as their home language, it has become the de facto language of instruction. Yet we cannot assume that teachers have sufficient command of this language when using it for instructional purposes. As a sub-study, in this article we report on the oral proficiency of isiZulu-speaking pre-service…

Background: IsiXhosa students enrolled for the BEd Foundation Phase qualification at a university in South Africa failed their first year in identified at-risk subjects, namely Mathematics in Education, Language in Education and Computer Literacy. The students stated the reasons for failure as not understanding the concepts and terms of the…

This exploratory research focused on describing Setswana-speaking early adolescents' perceptions of respect in educator-learner relationships in the South African context. A lack of mutual respect obstructs adolescents' freedom to pursue personal goals in South Africa's school communities. Adding to this incongruity is the isolating of relational…

This study's focus was two-fold, first to look at forms of gestures teachers of multilingual mathematics classes use during teaching; and second to find out how teachers of multilingual mathematics classes utilize learners' home language, language of learning and teaching and gestures to foster understanding in the teaching of mathematics. This…

This paper analyses student teachers' meta-narratives associated with 'doing' mathematics. The quality of the vocabulary associated with the doing of the mathematical objects of a sample of 56 multilingual third-year mathematics methodology students preparing to be secondary teachers was explored and assessed. Sfard's theoretical concept of…