INCREMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION OF AFRICAN

LANGUAGES (IIAL) IN ALL SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOL

Presentation to Portfolio Committee11 June 2013

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE1. Purpose of the presentation2. Legislative mandate3.Lessons learnt from provincial initiatives4.The rationale for promoting equitable use of languages5. Assessment (ANA, PIRLS, NSC) 6. The Language Development Framework7. What is IIAL?

PRESENTATION OUTLINE…7. The objectives of the IIAL8. Language selection for FAL9. Implications for implementation of IIAL10. Advocacy11. Plan for consultation12. Implementation plan

1. THE PURPOSE OF THE PRESENTATION

To provide the Portfolio Committee with the rationale for, details of and system readiness for the Incremental Introduction of African Languages (IIAL) in all public schools.

2. LEGISLATIVE MANDATEThe IIAL flows from the following legislative framework:a)SA Constitution, 1996b)National Education Policy Act, Section 3(4)

(m), 1996 - Language in Education Policyc)South African School Act, Section 6(1),

1996 - The Norms and Standards regarding language policy

2A. THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION• The South African Constitution recognises

languages as one of the seven founding provisions.• Section 6 of the Constitution states the following

– (1) The official languages of the Republic are Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.

– (2) Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.

2A. THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION...Section 29(2), under the Bill of Rights • Everyone has the right to receive education in the official

language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable.

• In order to ensure the effective access to, and implementation of, this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account- – (a) equity; – (b) practicability; and – (c) the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory

laws and practices.

2B. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY ACT• The National Education Policy Act of 1996 provides

for the advancement and protection of the fundamental rights of every person guaranteed in terms of Chapter 3 of the Constitution:– It provides for every student to be instructed in

the language of his or her choice where this is reasonably practicable

– It also provides for every person to use the language and participate in the cultural life of his or her choice within an education institution

2B. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY ACT...• Is made possible by the Language in Education

Policy in terms of Section 3(4)(m) of the National Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act 27 of 1996)

• The Norms and Standards in LiEP are published in terms of Section 6(1) of the South African Schools Act, 1996.

• These policies proclaim the objective of providing a strong foundation for the protection and advancement of the country’s diverse cultures and languages

2C. LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION POLICY• The LiEP compels the Department to promote

multilingualism, to develop the official South African languages equitably, and to foster respect for all languages used in the country, including South African Sign Language

• The promotion of multilingualism and the protection of linguistic rights in the schooling system are constitutionally rooted in NEPA and is reflected in the Language in Education Policy (LiEP).

2C. THE AIMS OF THE LiEP• to promote full participation in society and the economy

through equitable and meaningful access to education;• to pursue the language policy most supportive of general

conceptual growth amongst learners, and hence to establish additive multilingualism as an approach to language in education;

• to promote and develop all the official languages; • to support the teaching and learning of all other languages

required by learners or used by communities in South Africa, including languages used for religious purposes, languages which are important for international trade and communication

2C. THE AIMS OF THE LiEP...• to counter disadvantages resulting from

different kinds of mismatches between home languages and languages of learning and teaching;

• to develop programmes for the redress of previously disadvantaged languages.

• To provide Alternative and Augmentative Communication facilitate communication for learners with limited or no speaking skills.

2C. THE AIMS OF THE LiEP...• the promotion, fulfilment and development of the

state's overarching language goals in school education in compliance with the Constitution, namely:

- the protection, promotion, fulfilment and extension of the individual's language rights and means of communication in education; and

- the facilitation of national and international communication through promotion of bi- or multilingualism through cost-efficient and effective mechanisms,

- to redress the neglect of the historically disadvantaged languages in school education.

3. LESSONS LEARNT FROM PROVINCIAL INITIATIVES

Eastern Cape

• The province is piloting usage of IsiXhosa as LoLT in the Intermediate Phase in 74 schools.

• The are former Model C schools that are offering IsiXhosa as SAL in the Foundation Phase.

• The province has a plan to train isiXhosa language teachers to teach at FAL level – utilizing teachers already in the system.

Western Cape

• In 2006 the province piloted usage of IsiXhosa as LoLT in the Intermediate Phase.

• The are former Model C schools that are offering IsiXhosa as SAL in the Foundation Phase.

• The province can train IsiXhosa teachers to teach at FAL level – utilizing teachers already in the system.

North West

• Since 2003 the province introduced Setswana incrementally. It was mainly done at SAL level. They will have to switch to FAL.

3. LESSONS LEARNT FROM PROVINCIAL INITIATIVES

Limpopo • In 2006 the province encouraged former Model C schools to offer African languages at Home Language or First Additional Language level.

• The province provided schools with African languages teachers.

• They are going to utilize teachers already in school staff establishment for the compulsory learning of African languages by all learners.

Mpuma langa

•Schools initiated offering of an African language as a additional subject at FAL level. Learners are given a choice of writing the examination or not.

4. THE RATIONALE FOR PROMOTING EQUITABLE USE OF LANGUAGES

• The analysis of the ANA results have indicated that even in those schools where a learner is not being taught in his home language, that learner is able to access learning using his home language but not proficiently.

• Currently many schools are still not affording learners the opportunity to learn an African language, not fulfilling the Constitutional mandate.

• If African languages are not shown to have utility for teaching and learning, these languages will be lost – together with its culture and heritage

4. THE RATIONALE FOR PROMOTING EQUITABLE USE OF LANGUAGES ...

• Poor learning outcomes in South Africa are in the main as a result of poor language proficiency and utility.

• The results of ANA, PIRLS, TIMSS, SAQMEC and the NSC have confirmed this on various occasions.

• Very little or nothing has been done by institutions, broader civil society or the sector to address this perennial problem.

• The time has now come to comprehensively deal with this challenge through the implementation of the Language Development Framework.

ASSESSMENT EXAMPLES

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ANA - HOME LANGUAGES- GRADE 3Specific skills/knowledge/competencies assessed

What misconceptions were found?

Writing rewrite a given sentence correctly using the correct punctuationrecognise a question and use a question markuse an apostrophe to show possessionuse a capital letter to start a sentence

Learners did not understand the instruction and the use of the word “rewrite” and “punctuate”.

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PREPIRLS 2011 PERFORMANCE BY TEST LANGUAGE

International Centre point

prePIRLS 2011 Performance for Learners Writing in the Same or

Different Language to their Home Language

PIRLS 2011 PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO REFERENCE COUNTRIES

PIRLS 2011 OVERALL RESULTS

NSC LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE

Q1 Comprehension

Q2 Summary

Q3 Analysing and

advertisement

Q4 Analysing a

cartoon

Q5 Language and

editing skills

Paper 1

Q1To Kill a Mockingbird (Essay)Q2 To Kill a Mockingbird (Contextual)Q3 Lord of the Flies (Essay)Q4 Lord of the Flies (ContextualQ5 A Grain of Wheat (Essay)Q6 A Grain of Wheat (Contextual)Q7 Romeo and Juliet (Essay)Q8 Romeo and Juliet (Contextual)Q9 Nothing but the Truth (Essay)Q10 Nothing but the Truth (Contextual)Q11 The Coffee-cart Girl (Essay)Q12 Relatives (Contextual)Q13 On his blindness (Contextual)Q14 The Serf (Contextual)Q15 Auto Wreck (Contextual)Q16 Cheetah (Contextual

Paper 2

Q1 Essay

Q2 Longer transitional text

Q3 Shorter text

Paper 3

5. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKProject to prepare for

Progress

EFAL Introduced in 2012 in Grade 1 and in 2013 in Grade2

IIAL Consultation at different fora; Advocacy through discussions and presentations; lessons from provincial initiatives; draft policy; basic LTSM in place; implementation plan in place

SA Sign Language

Curriculum completed in 2012; piloting in GP and Ec in 2013 to prepare for full implementation in 2014

English across the curriculum

Concept document developed. Working with provinces to prepare for implementation in 2014.

6. WHAT IS IIAL?• Promoting the development and increased

utility of African languages by introducing learners incrementally to learning an African language from Grade R to 12;

• It aims to strengthen the use of African languages at Home Language level, and so increase use of those languages for academic purposes, as well as ensure that all non-African language speakers speak an African Language.

7. THE OBJECTIVES OF IIAL• To improve proficiency in and utility of the previously

marginalised African languages (at First Additional Language level); raise confidence of parents to choose their own languages as languages for learning and teaching;

• To increase access to languages by all learners, beyond English and Afrikaans;

• To promote social cohesion and expand opportunities for the development of African languages as a significant part of preserving heritage and cultures.

8. LANGUAGE SELECTION FOR FAL1 Xitsonga2 *Nguni languages IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, IsiNdebele and

Siswati3 *Sotho languages Sepedi, Setswana and Sesotho4 Tshivenda5 Afrikaans• All learners are compelled to offer English – as FAL or HL• All learners will be compelled to offer a second FAL, which should be an African language from the above provision

*The terms “Nguni” and “Sotho” are used solely for the purpose of this presentation

9. THE IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF IIALAreas that have implications

Responsibility Timeframe Progress

Time allocation Branch T Sept 2013 Meeting with the relevant stakeholders regarding extension of school contact timeDiscussion with the ELRC

Post provisioning model Branch T Jan 2014 Provinces were requested to work at post provisioning models to accommodate IIAL

Orientation of teachers to teach African languages at FAL level

Branch T Oct 2013 • FP CAPS orientation took place in 2011.• EFAL training on teaching methodologies took place in 2011.

LTSM – primary teaching and learning support materials – workbooks and textbooks

Branch C Currently available

April 2014

• FAL Workbooks are available for all languages – Grade 1.•National Catalogue of textbooks developed for Grades 1-12•The Grade R resource kit is available to support the teaching of languages. •Exemplar ANA items for drill-and-practice have been developed for distribution.•Special call for submission from publishers– FAL readers and textbooks in African languages.

Initial teacher training HEIs Ongoing • Funza Lushaka Bursary targets FP and African languages teachers.•UKZN has made isiZulu a compulsory subject for all under-graduate students

Financial implications Branch P & C Oct 2013 • The branch is putting in a bid to National Treasury for funding the IIAL.

10. ADVOCACY• The Minister and the MECs should take the lead• An aggressive advocacy campaign targeting parents

and learners is being finalized and aims at: – Promoting the use of Home Languages in the

early grades, – Promoting workbooks to support the teaching of

African languages, and – Promoting the use of African languages in the

early grades - developing learner’s competence in English at the same time

11. PLAN FOR CONSULTATIONStakeholder Groupings ProgressHEDCOM Consultation done; Policy endorsed and

recommended to CEM for approvalCEM Approved further consultationNCF and SAPA Presentations made and discussions are

ongoingBroader public and civil society

Draft policy will be released for public comment

Organized Labour (HEDCOM Sub-Committee)

Presentation made and discussions

Education Portfolio Committee

Presentation on 11 June 2013

12. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE POLICY

WHO CAN DOUBT THE IMPORTANCE OF ONE’S OWN LANGUAGE ?

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

- Nelson Mandela

THANK YOU

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