The impact of English language as medium of instruction versus South African indigenous languages offered as modules on academic progress of first year higher education students: A case study of the University of Venda, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

This article discusses students’ impressions and performance during the teaching and assessment of various courses. It shows students’ reactions when they first saw English and African languages’ materials. They cover the teaching of the courses, the languages used and how the students  participated in their class discussions. The results narrate some of the factors that affected their performance. In most cases, students do not  answer properly the question papers of different courses in English but do better in question papers in their African languages. The aim of this  article is to show that English language in most cases pose some problems to the first entering students at the higher institutions of learning, more  especially, those at the University of Venda. This slacks their academic performance because English is not their mother-tongue. English is imposed  on them even though it is not their strongest language and, as such, they are not coping well in their studies. Many students struggle to understand  the lessons that are offered by the lecturers. This university is in a multi-lingual country where the medium of instruction remains an  important issue. Some lecturers are videotaped while teaching the contents of other courses in English and many students do not seem to  understand. After the lessons, few students are interviewed. It is found that many lecturers switch to student’s indigenous languages to explain  different concepts to them so that they can understand them better. Students revert to their indigenous languages because they cannot express  themselves in their language of teaching and learning, i. e., the language of instruction. Code-switching appears to solve the problem. Because of  code-switching, the quality of communication becomes strengthened because the lecturers and the students understand each other. Students then  found a way of assessing the contents of the courses they attend and things look much easier. The lecturers should help the students to see the link  between new information and their prior knowledge. This article shows that students understand African languages better than English.