Attitudes towards IsiXhosa-in-Education in the Eastern Cape: advocacy for increased informedness about benefits of mothertongue- based bilingual education and relevant legislative provisions for it.

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of selected studies’ findings on some amaXhosa stakeholders’ perspectives, attitudes and beliefs towards their mother tongue and its involvement in education in the Eastern Cape. The studies’ methodologies were also briefly interrogated to determine the extent of participants’ prior knowledge of and insight into, language related constitutional mandates, the languagein- education policy (LiEP) and mother tongue supported bilingual education and its benefits. The results of the reviews are combined with language related findings from Mini’s (2016) dissertation study to demonstrate the presence of adequate positivity towards isiXhosa-in-education, along with English. Data collection for the said dissertation (Mini, 2016) was by means of individual and focus group interviews, as well as limited classroom observations. Data analysis was by the qualitative thematic analysis method as expatiated by Braun & Clarke (2006).

Keywords: LiEP, bilingual educational access, comprehension, attitudinal change, culture, identity, advocacy.