The shift to Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated online learning at home for South African (and other) students. Using a critical paradigm, qualitative approach and case study design, this study, underpinned by critical theory, used interviews, voice notes and text messages to generate data to explore how South African university students’ home contexts shape their experiences of ERTL. Using thematic analysis, the findings indicated that student learning at home was negatively impacted by poor internet connectivity, home responsibilities, cramped living conditions, lack of safety, and financial and psycho-social stresses. The findings exposed the lived realities of students’ home contexts, made more difficult through the pandemic. This study adds to the literature on student adaptation to learning in the pandemic within home contexts characterised by resource poverty and challenging psycho-social conditions.

This article examines, through the prism of the sociocultural theory’s concept of mediation, the discrepancy between what South African township English Second Language teachers claim they do in their classes and what they actually do when teaching speaking skills. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a case study design, underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm. Eight (8) EFAL teachers were drawn from two (2) township high schools that were randomly selected from two (2) separate districts. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and semi-structured lesson observations. The semi-structured interviews facilitated the participants’ introspection from a professional perspective with a view to both questioning and ratifying the teachers’ personal views, beliefs and the philosophical underpinnings of their professional practice regarding speaking skills. The thematic approach by Lacey and Luff (2009) was used for data analysis. The study found four major problems that influenced the process of teaching speaking skills: (1) a lack of actual learner speaking, (2) teachers’ misconceptions of what a speaking lesson should entail, (3) speaking for the sake of not keeping quiet and (4) ignorance of curriculum requirements. The study found that despite township EFAL teachers claiming to develop speaking skills in line with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement, their lessons indicate differently. This could be explained by the crisis currently facing the South African education system, with poor quality teachers and low levels of teacher effort often cited as major drivers thereof.

Across the globe, the advent of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has propelled most sectors to do their business online. Higher education institutions (HEIs) in particular have had to move their teaching and learning online, with Moodle reported to be one of the most used platforms internationally. In the context of Covid-19, educational researchers and  publications have discussed various ways in which this platform has influenced the three types of curricula, namely: competence curriculum; pragmatic curriculum and performance curriculum. However, there is less emphasis on  ideological-ware in the use of Moodle as a teaching and learning resource, which presents a serious challenge and requires systemic debate and reflection. This study uses critical discourse analysis and community of inquiry through purposive and convenience sampling to identify the published documents on the use of Moodle in the context of Covid-19. Findings indicate that most scholars are advocating that the successful use of Moodle in higher education institutions relies on ensuring that hardware and software resources are available for both lecturers and students. This suggests that HEIs are focusing on the performance and competence-based curriculum, yet limited mention is given to ideological-ware as an important aspect when using Moodle.

Listening and speaking proficiently in English Second Language teaching is a perennial problem in South Africa. While scholars in the domain of ESL acknowledge that there is a severe challenge with teaching listening and speaking skills, there is a shortage of literature in this sphere. Although English is not the home language for most Black learners in South Africa, they are compelled to use English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). This serves as a hindrance in developing learner’s proficiency in listening and speaking, which is further exacerbated by poor ESL teaching performed by teachers whose own ESL proficiency is limited. This paper seeks to explore the strategies used by teachers to teach listening and speaking skills to ESL Grade eleven learners’ in selected township schools in the Pinetown District, KwaZulu Natal. Township, in South Africa, refers to racially segregated and often underdeveloped urban areas created for people of color during the apartheid regime. Data was generated using individual semi-structured interviews with eight participating teachers and observation of classroom lessons and document analysis. A significant finding revealed that the claims made by the ESL teachers about their pedagogical practices tallied with the requirements of the Continuous Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and their lesson plans but contradicted the ESL teachers’ actual practice in the classroom.