The Language for Learning project: Developing language-sensitive subject-teaching in South African secondary schools

Abstract

The Language for Learning project is an initiative in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal which aims to help secondary school subject teachers to take account of language and learning. It operates in schools with varied patterns of intake and in a range of secondary school subjects. Teachers involved conduct small-scale action research projects on aspects of the role of language in classroom practice or school policy which influence the teaching of their subject.


The project takes as its starting-point the under-achievement of students who use languages other than English in home and community. It assumes that this has in large part to do with the restricted role of these languages in education, the quality of English language use in the pedagogy of subject teachers, and the learners' own lack of proficiency in academic English.


This paper discusses the theoretical and practical background of the project with respect to language in education. It then describes the aims, structure, stakeholders and workplan of the project and outlines its progress in the first few months of its operation. Finally it speculates on the outcomes of the project and their relevance in South Africa as a whole.



(S/ern Af Linguistics & Applied Language Stud: 2001 19(3&4): 149-161)