CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS, CONCLUSION
4.6 FINDINGS FROM THE TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE
4.6.4 Findings from teacher questionnaire statements addressing Objective 3
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implies that most of the learners were in command of the LoLT. The learners’ view was contrary to their teachers’ responses under Objective 3 for statement 27 (chart 4.42); who maintained that their learners had challenges with the LoLT and in answering questions. In their response, 80.39% of the teachers’ confirmed that their learners had challenges in constructing simple logical sentences in English in their Geography lessons. Therefore, these responses by the learners are likely to be untrue or misleading.
Communicative competence entails the ability to construct intelligible sentences and articulate ideas and experiences flexibly in class. Moreno (2010:298) says it incumbent upon expert teachers in their specialised curriculum to expose their learners to active and experiential learning in the medium of instruction. This exposure would develop them, so that they construct sentences based on context. It is the competent curriculum teacher who initiates learning activities to develop learners in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Moreno (2010:298) suggests that practising experiential learning in sentence construction on a regular basis helps learners to perfect their sentence construction through listening to the competent teacher guiding and directing the use of meaningful practical language.
The competent teacher engages the learners in speaking in English, in order to redress any syntactical flaws to prefect their writing skills in Geography. Active engagement in all the activities presupposes the ability in sentence construction (Moreno, 2010:298). Tierney Readence and Dishner (1995:394-396) uphold the acquisition of meta-language/metacognitive skills in learners. Metacognitive skills manifest in the rehearsal of key words by the learner – words, which can be used in sentence construction – to convey ideas in interactive learning in class. Furthermore, sentence construction is practised and planned by the competent teacher granting learning opportunities for the learner to develop communicative skills, and to realise communicative competence in the LoLT.
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varying points of view that emerged emanated from the teacher’s professional discerning of the educational exercises, in contrast with the learner’s level of literacy in terms of the command of the learning content and LoLT. The subject teachers pointed out subtle manifestations of learning challenges that the learners experienced from the didactic activities. On the other hand, the learners’ identified the salient challenges, which would have implications on the outcomes of the study.
Statement 27
Learners generally struggle to construct simple logical sentences in English in Geography lessons.
Figure 4.42
The teachers’ responses were as follows: Four teachers (25%) disagreed (D) versus the 10 teachers (62.5%) who agreed (A), and the 2 teachers (12.5%) who strongly agreed (SA) with the statement. These results imply that the LoLT was impacting on the performance of the learners.
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The reader would have realised that the responses of the teachers were in contrast with those of their learners, as indicated in statement 23 and chart 4.38, statement 24 and chart 4.39, statement 25 and chart 4.40, statement 26 and chart 4.41. In summary, the learners’ responses had implications for the study; because in some cases, they gave contrasting responses that could compromise the reliability of the results of the investigation.
Statement 28
Learners do not command mastery of the subject-verb agreement in oral and written presentations.
Figure 4.43
In response to this statement, 6 teachers (37.5%) responded with disagree (D); while 8 teachers (50%) and 2 teachers (12.5%) responded with agree (A) and strongly agree (SA), respectively.
Rejection of the statement by most of the learners signified that the learners commanded the subject-verb agreement well in their oral and written presentations. This implied that they were intelligible in the presentation of their assessments. However, affirmation of the statement implied that the majority of the learner population had LoLT command challenges with respect
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to the use of the concord, which would render their presentations vulnerable in terms of understanding by the reader.
Statement 29
Learners are often unable to differentiate use of geographical words in context Figure 4.44
The teachers’ responses to this statement were relatively contrasting. They responded as follows:
Two teachers (12.5%) strongly disagreed (SD); 5 teachers (31.25%) disagreed (D); 6 teachers (37.5%) agreed (A); and 3 teachers (18.75%) responded with strongly agree (SA). Disagreement with this statement collectively constituted 43.75%; while affirmation of this statement constituted 56.3%. From the perspective of statements 6 and 30 reflected in charts 4.20 and 4.44, a significant point was raised. This implies that despite the fact that a fair number of learners had acquired the geographical terms, they still could not perform well, according to statement 28.
Moreover, 56.25% affirmed that learners had problems with geographical terms, which impacted their understanding of the subject.
The statement implies that Geography teachers should teach learners Geography-specific language, in order to maximise their conceptual and contextual frameworks. Vermeulen
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(2000:15) says that a Geography teacher who is lacking in Geography-specific language deprives the learners’ opportunity to grow their communicative competence.
Statement 30
Spelling poses serious problems for learners resulting in distortions of meaning in the communication/presentations.
Figure 4.45
Most of the responses affirmed the statement, constituting 75% collectively. The affirmation was split as follows: 8 teachers (50%) agreed (A) and 4 teachers (25%) strongly agreed (SA). This implies that most of the Geography learners have spelling challenges in terms of geographical concepts and the LoLT, in general. The spelling barrier influenced their oral and written presentations, resulting in underperformance in the subject as a whole.
Spelling influences communication enormously: either positively or negatively. It must be practised regularly, in order to enhance good written reporting. Therefore, Geography teachers need to initiate spelling activities (Bears & Barone 1998:18, Skehan 1999:246). On the contrary, Moreno (2010:298) maintains that some geography teachers deny their Geography learners the
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opportunity to perfect their spelling ability – due to their failure to employ the constructive approach.
Statement 31
Learners think effectively in their home language, resulting in distortion of the facts.
Figure 4.46
The responses to the statement were as follows: Two teachers (12.5%) strongly disagreed (SD);
six teachers (37.5%) disagreed (D). This collectively constituted 50% disagreement (D) to the statement. In terms of affirming the statement, eight teachers (50%) agreed (A) with the statement. The teacher respondents displayed inconsistency in their experiences in terms of prevalent barriers to Geography learning and teaching. Regarding affirmation of the statement, consistency was sustained in maintaining that the LoLT was a barrier for second-language learners in Geography.
The importance of teaching learners Geography-specific language can hardly be overemphasized; because it is consequential in their cognitive development in terms of their practice in their future careers. Howell and Lazarus (2003:5) view the language of teaching, or the medium of instruction, as the most significant barrier to learners in Geography, especially if teachers do not engage learners to practise this Geography-specific language. Radnor (2002:14)
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and Govender (2010:4) maintain that Geography teachers should teach their learners Geography- specific language to optimize their language in their cognition or metacognition. Learners can be developed in their cognitive and metacognitive skills by giving them specific-learning activities.
Statement 32
Learners are quite often unable to follow instructions properly in English, resulting in answering questions wrongly – even if they knew the facts/ had information.
Figure 4.47
The responses were as follows: One teacher (6.25%) strongly agreed (SA); two teachers (12.5%) disagreed (D); 11 teachers (68.75%) agreed (A), two teachers (12.5%) strongly agreed (SA) with the statement. The collective results showed that the statement was confirmed overwhelmingly by 81.25% against 18.75%. These responses to the statement confirmed the general view that emerged that the LoLT was considered a barrier to Geography teaching and learning.
Following the instructions is a significant ability underpinned by skills to identify key points and words/concepts in a given passage or a case study. Campbell (2001:23) says that the ability to follow instructions presupposes the ability to predict and analyse facts in a given activity or Geographical undertaking. Cotton (1995:137) says that instructional development in learners
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emanates from the good practice employed by good teachers, who can develop good practice in their learners.
4.6.5 Objective 4: Teachers: Code-switching from English into vernacular languages in