Meaning-focused vs form-focused L2 instruction : implications for writing educational materials for South African learners of English
Date
2005
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch University, Department of Linguistics
Abstract
In a report on the Third International Mathematics and Science Repeat Study (Human Sciences
Research Council 2000), conducted in 1998/1999 to measure school learners' proficiency in
mathematics and science, it was stated that South African learners achieved the lowest results of
the 38 countries that took part. One reason cited for this was that the majority of South African
learners were not fluent in English, the language of the test, and thus struggled to understand the
questions and to communicate their ideas clearly. Significantly, however, learners from other
participating countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, who also face the challenge of having to
learn in a second language (L2), performed comparatively well. Yet, unlike these countries,
which have one common language in which all learners receive their instruction, the South
African language policy of "additive multilingualism" (National Department of Education 2002)
dictates that learners learn their home language and at least one additional official language. This
could be English, or one of the other ten official South African languages.
Description
CITATION: Ollerhead, S. & Oosthuizen, J. 2005. Meaning-focused vs form-focused L2 instruction : implications for writing educational materials for South African learners of English. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 36:59-84, doi:0.5774/36-0-13.
The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.za
The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.za
Keywords
South African literature (English), Second language acquisition, Language arts, English language -- Study and teaching, Language and languages -- Study and teaching
Citation
Ollerhead, S. & Oosthuizen, J. 2005. Meaning-focused vs form-focused L2 instruction : implications for writing educational materials for South African learners of English. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 36:59-84, doi:0.5774/36-0-13