4.1 . INTRODUCTION
4.3 IMPLICATIONS
4.3.2 Implications for ESL teachers and teaching
The role of CS in the classroom also has specific implications for ESL teachers. Teachers across the curriculum, and even more pertinently, teachers of English as a second language, need to experience a change in mind set regarding perceptions of CS in the classroom. Now, more than ever before, with the hype and urgency that teachers and learners have in pursuing English, teachers of English as a second language should realize that switching between codes is not a degenerative form of a language but a code that can be used effectively in the acquisition of the target language. Teachers of English should be made aware of how CS can be used to, for example, build on vocabulary; teach grammatical structure; ensure learners understand difficult concepts and content information; and so on. It also needs to be stressed that in the language classroom, this does not mean that everything that is said in English must be repeated in Zulu and vice versa. Teachers also need to be informed ofthe dangers ofoveruse ofthe mother tongue by both themselves and their pupils.
The findings ofthis study have even more specific implications for the teacher ofliterature. Many literary texts of various genres, both imported and local, have evidence of the use of CS by characters. Both the short stories, 'The Suit' and 'Kid Playboy' are examples oftexts that contain examples ofthe use ofdifferent lects and CS. Teachers should draw attention to how CS is used
to provide information about setting and character, enhance meaning of the text, and more importantly, how CS is used as an effective communicative device. When learners see CS in use by poets and authors, theywillsee that CS is not something to be embarrassed about, but a code that can be used effectively. For pupils to feel this way, it is necessary that teachers themselves feel this way. On this note, Edward (1982:30), observes that teachers -like other members ofthe population - do maintain stereotyped and often negative views of certain language varieties and their speakers. Hence, teachers are in a position to hinder learners' success by imposing their negative perceptions upon their learners. On the opposite side of the coin, alert and sensitized teachers have the power to help learners overcome stereotype notions and misconceptions.
The teacher of literature is also at an added advantage in that s/he can use the text in such a way that it helps learners to increase their communicative competence. By this I mean that the teacher can exploit opportunities presented in literary texts to help. learners acquire linguistic and contextual competence. Linguistic competence can be developed by, for example, meeting vocabulary in context; when learners encounter unfamiliar words they make use of contextual clues to comprehend their meaning; they see how sentences are constructed and so on.
Sociolinguistically, pupils, for example, learn how to perform appropriate speech acts such as greeting, inviting, thanking, refusing etc. in the target language. This again illustrates that literature coupled with CS is a powerful resource for ESL acquisition. Itfollows that teachers themselves have to be empoweredifthey are to empower their learners.
4.3.3 Implications for methodology:
Having discussed the implications of CS in the classroom and for teaching, I go on to present implications ofCS for methodology viz. the issue ofcultural methodology, CS during group work, peer group teaching, and Jacobson's (1981) new concurrent approach.
In conjunction with the various issues I have discussed concerning CS, CS in the classroom also raises the issue ofa culturally relevant methodology. Since (as I have noted) CS is the widespread expression of bilingualism in Port Shepstone, it is both relevant and importantinthe classroom.
CS should therefore occupy a crucial place in the curriculum.
CS also has implications for group work in the classroom. While teachers can supervise and control learner talk in a one-to-one interaction in the classroom, this is not so easily done during group work, especially in large classes. Teachers should encourage learners to \!Se their mother tongueifthey wish to or find the need to, but they must be informed that they are not to do so extensively. Hence, group work activities must be closely monitored so that pupils' talk is not mainly in the mother tongue. Pupils must also be encouraged to assist one another in framing ideas initially conjured in the mother tongue into English equivalents, so that, as far as possible, the report back is given in English. In this way ESL is promoted and pupils better prepare themselves for answering test and examination questions which are posed in English and to which pupils are expected to respond in English.
In classes where the teacher is an English monolingual, teachers can obtain the assistance ofmore
proficient students of English, who by resorting to CS with their peers, would help them along.
Kamwangamalu and Virasamy (1999), for example, show that peer-tutoring which occurs towards the end of a lesson, intended to summarize a lesson, ensures that less proficient learners acquire complete rather than partial understanding ofwhat was discussed. Where pupils are unclear about what is being taught and are uncertain about how to frame a question in English, a more proficient pupil can helphimphrase his/her question. Once again, pupils must be encouraged to use English as far as possible and be warned ofthe dangers of overusing the mother tongue.
Finally, I look at Jacobson's (1981) new concurrent approach (NCA) as a possible way of enhancing effective CS in the classroom. Jacobson's NCA is a scheme for helping teachers modify their own patterns for the most effective use of concurrent approaches in the classroom. In this approach, clear guidelines on when the use oflearners' mother tongue is appropriate, are given.
Jacobson (1981: 19) identifies 16 cues, under the broad categories of classroom strategies, curriculum, language development and interpersonal relationships for initiating switches to the other language (the mother tongue). According to Ovando and Collier (1985:85), this approach pushes teachers to avoid direct translation and to develop natural flow from one language to the other at appropriate times without repetition. If such an approach is incorporated in curriculum planning, teachers; and more specifically, teacher trainees, will see that CS can be used creatively and effectively in the classroom. However, as the NCA presupposes CS as a conscious strategy, and my research shows that CS ismostly an unconscious phenomenon, there is need for greater research in this field before it canbeconsidered in curriculum planning. At the very least, however, teachers and teacher trainees, canbemade aware ofthe possibilities of employing the NCA in the classroom.