Pedagogical translanguaging: bridging discourses in South African science classrooms

Probyn, Margie

doi:10.1080/09500782.2014.994525

Cited by 208 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In the context of classroom practice, translanguaging also provides theoretical support for the strategic use of 'code switching' in order to enable learners to make use of the diverse language resources at their disposal in order to access the formal curriculum. The potential for translanguaging in the African context has recently been explored by researchers interested in the effectiveness of a multilingual teaching pedagogy in South African classrooms (Makalela 2015;Probyn 2015). Although not explicitly informed by translanguaging theory, the strategic use of code switching to support learning is considered in the article by Milligan et al in this issue.…”

Section: Language As a Human Capabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial contexts: towards a social justice approach

Tikly

2016

Comparative Education

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The article considers how language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial countries may be better understood from a social justice perspective and some of the implications for policy, practice and research that arise from this. The article starts with a critical overview of the two dominant approaches towards conceptualising language-ineducation policy, namely the instrumental and rights based approaches. The article then sets out a social justice approach that builds critically on a rights based perspective. Key features of the approach include considering language-in-education as a capability that has the potential to contribute to human well-being and to social justice and understanding the pedagogical, institutional and wider social barriers to achieving linguistic social justice in education and means for overcoming these barriers. Based on this understanding the article then sets out a research agenda that can assist in realising linguistic social justice in education across the three inter-related domains of the school, the home/community and the education system.

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Section: Language As a Human Capabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial contexts: towards a social justice approach

Tikly

2016

Comparative Education

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“…However, the extent to which this feedback is feasible in the South African township school context needs to be established because it appears that many of these learners have such low LoLT skills that they instead need skilful and timeconsuming face-to-face guidance by a teacher who mediates dialogue in the vernacular and the LoLT as they help the learner bridge language and conceptual gaps. 13 The intervention described in Stott 9 provided learners with the opportunity to engage with appropriate software to extend teaching and learning time, and to provide immediate, individualised feedback, beyond that given in the face-to-face sessions. The software used included low-languagedemand quizzes as described and argued for in Stott 14 .…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

influence of science reading comprehension on South African township learners’ learning of science

Stott¹,

Beelders²

2019

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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The majority of South African township learners have poor reading comprehension skills, which is known to impact negatively on their understanding of content subjects such as science, although the extent of the impact is not fully understood. We explored this impact, as well as the extent to which reading comprehension accounted for the differential effectiveness observed for out-of-class, text-dependent science intervention programmes. Eye movement and mouse-click data were collected from 65 Grade-8 and Grade-9 township learners as they read texts and answered electronic quizzes about electric circuits and lightning on a computer fitted with eye-tracking hardware and software. These data were used to describe the learners' reading and question-answering patterns and derive a composite English for science and technology (EST) reading comprehension index for each learner. Correlations were sought between this index and the learners' Natural Sciences marks and the benefit gained from two previous out-of-school science intervention programmes. Most learners were able to engage meaningfully with a less text-rich, moderately familiar quiz, but there was a prevalence of reading avoidance, guessing and reliance on superficial text features to answer questions for a more text-rich, unfamiliar quiz. Moderate to strong correlations were found between the EST index and both Natural Sciences and intervention marks. The findings suggest that while a significant number of higher achieving township learners possess sufficient levels of EST reading comprehension skills to benefit from textbased interventions, the majority require help in developing EST reading comprehension skills to enhance the likelihood of the intervention's success. Significance:•From this study, we infer that a small group of South African township learners, identifiable by their relatively high Natural Sciences marks, are able to read English science texts with sufficient comprehension to be able to benefit from text-dependent interventions, including engagement with self-study interactive software. The majority, however, read such texts at the frustration level, making it unlikely for interventions to be effective if they rely on the learner being able to engage in independent reading.

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“…For example, the word 'pipelining' has a different meaning from the commonly known noun 'pipeline'. Therefore, learning science involves a cognitive shift from the common understanding of the world to a scientific view of the world (Probyn, 2015).…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Translanguaging for epistemic access to Computer Science concepts: A call for change

Mbirimi-Hungwe¹,

Hungwe²

2019

PLING

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Multilingual education has seemingly been relegated to English and academic literacy lecturers in South African universities. This paper reports on the use of translanguaging in a multilingual second-year computer science class. Using descriptive statistical analysis as well as qualitative analysis, results showed that students perceived translanguaging to be a helpful pedagogical strategy that could be used to assist them to gain deeper meaning and understanding of difficult concepts in their field of study. The research also showed and proved that, for translanguaging to become relevantly useful to the students, all members of the faculty should be involved in using this pedagogical strategy in the classroom. Therefore, we argue that, through collaborative efforts by using translanguaging among lecturers from different faculties, students will be able to acquire deeper meaning and understanding of subject material, especially in content-based courses or modules.

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Pedagogical translanguaging: bridging discourses in South African science classrooms

Cited by 208 publications

References 16 publications

Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial contexts: towards a social justice approach

Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial contexts: towards a social justice approach

influence of science reading comprehension on South African township learners’ learning of science

Translanguaging for epistemic access to Computer Science concepts: A call for change

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