Translation as a Pedagogy in the Development of English Second Language in a Rural University

Abstract

English proficiency among black South African learners and students has been found to be generally difficult to attain despite English being used as the sole medium of instruction in schools and at universities. To mitigate the issue, this paper explores the use of translation pedagogy as an approach in enabling bilingual students to utilise their linguistic repertoire as a tool not only to enhance their English Second Language development but to also give recognition to their first language. The contribution of the study is made significant by the fact that available related research has largely been conducted at kindergarten and school level leaving a gap in the higher education environment. An observational qualitative data collection methodology was conducted in which a university lecturer presented a lesson prepared by the researcher. The participants were bilingual in a predominantly African language speaking university community in a rural area of South Africa. The use of students’ African language (IsiZulu) was observed to enhance their English vocabulary which in the process saw them participating freely in both languages throughout the lesson. The main finding of the study is that English competency can be enhanced with the learners’ home language in a carefully prepared lesson that draws from translation pedagogy.