Learning in Mother Tongue: Language Preferences in South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of teachers' learning styles on their classroom teaching and learning practices. The reported mixed method study was conducted in various school districts in a large province in South Africa. The data was collected with the use of questionnaires administered to primary school natural science teachers and classroom observations made during a science lesson. The study examined the preferred learning styles of primary school science teachers. It then investigated how they taught natural science and attempted to establish if their learning styles influenced teaching and learning in their classrooms. Findings from the questionnaires showed that most teachers preferred or learned better partly through visual, active, sequential and intuitive learning styles. However, analyses of classroom observations revealed a contradiction as the teachers' proclaimed learning styles were not emulated, translated into or visible in their classroom teaching practices. The researcher argues and concludes that the teachers' learning styles do not necessary shape or influence their classroom teaching practices.

Influencia del umbral lingüístico en la competencia lectora en estudiantes de educación superior

“…La política educativa recomienda el uso de lenguas indígenas en la educación, mientras que los hombres de campo prefieren con firmeza el inglés, debido a sus mejores oportunidades socioeconómicas (Ndamba et al, 2017). Algo similar se encontró en Sud África, donde alumnos y padres prefirieron el inglés como el idioma de instrucción, a pesar de la invocación al cambio de actitud para apreciar la importancia de la lengua materna en la educación (Phindane, 2015).…”