62 | P a g e students and teachers express their thoughts and interests freely as they engage in different learning activities in an unrestrictive space.
63 | P a g e and the two languages can function as separate reading media without confusing the students, but to present both codes at the same time results in uncertainty and confusion for some students.
As indicated by the conversational IsiZulu course packs, additive bilingualism allows lecturers to emphasize the acquisition of oral language which is necessary in reading and writing in Isizulu as a second language. This view is supported by experts on language teaching cited by Sharp in Ngara (2002), who generally agreed that in the early stages of second language learning, oral language development is crucial. Learning to read before the spoken word is mastered is to invite
“Pseudo-literacy” which is a problem predominant in many African nations where children fail to become competent in both the L1 and the L2 (Hawes, 1979; Duminy 1975; Bamgbose, 1991).
A growing body of research also suggests that bilingualism promotes overall cognitive development (Borich and Tombari, 1997). These authors observed that studies by Hakuta, Friedman and Diaz (1987) indicate that bilingual children perform better on tests of analytical reasoning, concept formation and cognitive flexibility. Travers et al (1993), however, state that the findings that the higher the degree of bilingualism the better the level of cognitive attainment is only possible when the first language is maintained, the social climate is positive, and when the non-English speakers are not negatively judged. Experimental work carried out by Peal and Lambert (1962) in Jeffreys (1996) also suggests that those bilinguals who loved and respected both of their languages showed positive effects in the areas of creativity and mental flexibility as compared with monolinguals and those who believe that one of the languages is better than the other.
Whereas those who learn through their L1 are at an advantage, students who learn through a second language are disadvantaged (Wallwork, 1985; Ngara, 1982; Macnamara, 1973; Miti, 1995). Chaudron (1988) asserts that in a learning situation where only the L2 is used as a medium of instruction, students face problems because their task is threefold. The first is that the student has to make sense of the instructional tasks which are presented in the second language.
In light of the findings that bilingualism has positive effects and that the mother tongue is crucial in the initial phase of the students’ school life, UKZN found it necessary to implement an education language policy which recognizes an indigenous language as a language of instruction.
This was done through the use of the transitional or the late immersion model of bilingualism
64 | P a g e where students would learn in another language as a way of expanding their linguistic horizon. It was hoped that this language policy for the students would reflect some of the expectations and assumptions of bilingualism that the students understand concepts better in their world; skills would transfer from the L1 to the L2; all instruction in L2 should be delayed until initial literacy in the L1, and that some oral fluency in the L2 is achieved.
McLaughlin (1985), however, noted that the major problem of the transitional model is that there is a tendency to emphasis IsiZulu at the expense of their first language. Instead of using linguistic and cognitive development in the first language for later development in the second language, many programmes in this bilingual model give superficial attention to mother tongue instruction and sometimes students are exited into the L2 medium of instruction before they have mastered enough of the language to enable them to access the curriculum. In this study, it is expected that IsiZulu and English reading will be done at the same time before students had acquired sufficient oral language in the L2.
As explained in the above section, Cummins (2000) distinguishes between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) - the registers of language that students acquire in school and which they need to use effectively if they are to progress successfully through the grades. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) is context embedded and used in social situations. BICS is about the development of conversational fluency. CALP describes the use of language in decontextualized academic situations, where higher order thinking skills are developed such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Although students may be able to use IsiZulu competently among peers and in social settings (BICS), they may not be proficient in the type of language expected in the classroom (CALP) (Cummins, 2000). Cummins states that L2 students could take about seven years to be competent in IsiZulu and to reach the same level as their first language. Drawing on research in Cananda, Feinberg (2002) contends that it takes four to seven years to develop the ability in second language to achieve term success in the curriculum (Feinberg, 2002).
Chomsky (1965) explains that the logical problem of learning is caused by messy and fragmentary input, and by teaching abstract concepts based on limited examples. This
65 | P a g e inadequate language input is at times due to teachers’ own limited English language proficiency.
Krashen (1982) argues that the essential ingredients for L2 acquisition of good reading comprehensive input is through teacher talk. Krashen (1982) argued that second languages are best and most successfully taught in a friendly natural way, or encountered spontaneously, for example, in the playground. Such conditions allow the second language to be acquired in much the same way as L1 is acquired.
Krashan’s arguments link to the method of language learning referred to as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). British linguist, D. A. Wilkins (1972) cited in Hernández (2011) stressed the functional or communicative aspect of language learning rather than the traditional concepts of grammar and vocabulary. Wilkins emphasized the systems of meanings that lay behind the communicative uses of language. CLT emphasizes learning to communicate in the second language or target language through social interaction. Hymes (1972) explains that the key aim of language teaching is to develop communicative competence. Classroom activities used in communicative language teaching include the following role-play, pair work, group work, games. The teacher gives space for students’ personal experience to be linked to classroom learning. The idea is that students gain communicative competence in an authentic, meaningful context. CLT is a learner centered approach and gives prominence to the interests and needs of the student.
In summary, the above-discussed studies suggest that lecturers need to create supportive writing environments and opportunities that encourage bilingual and L2 students to express themselves in meaningful ways. When this happens, not only will these students come to appreciate learning a second language as a meaningful and authentic learning activity, but they will also be encouraged to explore their bilingual and bicultural identities. Furthermore, supportive writing contexts will encourage bilingual and L2 students to develop as critical writers who are able to
‘write the word’ and ‘write the world’—to paraphrase Freire and Macedo (1987). In my study, I was keen to assess students’ perception of conversational IsiZulu as a compulsory module in a South African university.
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