Two bilingual education projects revolutionise in-class learning

When African-language-speaking learners reach Grade 4, they are forced to switch from learning in their mother tongue to learning in English – an abrupt and traumatic shift that often results in learning difficulties and poor in-school performance.

And because expressing themselves in a different language is challenging, asking questions to help them grasp the subject matter better is a near-impossible task. This leads to learners failing multiple subjects, which ultimately leads to high grade repetition rates and drop-out levels.

But two groundbreaking, collaborative projects – bringing together academia, primary and high schools and non-profit organisations to advocate for bilingual in-class learning – are on a mission to change the learning experience for African-language speakers. Both projects are innovative, involve teaching and learning in English and isiXhosa, and demonstrate the power of bilingual learning and the benefits for the learner.

Springboard for Mother-Tongue-based Bilingual Education

Early-literacy expert in the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) School of Education (SoE) Dr Xolisa Guzula said the iSayensi Yethu project (aimed at primary school learners) and the Languaging-for-Learning project (aimed at high-school learners in Grades 8 and 9) have changed the teaching and learning experience for dozens of teachers and learners, and are guaranteed to bring about the change millions of South African children need.

Both projects are springboards for the national Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) Mother-Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) programme, which allows learners to learn in their home language as well as another language.

“These projects allow for large-scale roll-out of bilingual education – providing us with knowledge necessary for this roll-out, as well as the challenges we can learn from.”

“The two projects now act as pilot projects for the MTbBE in schools. They’ve become prototypes alongside the Eastern Cape’s pilot on MTbBE. These projects allow for large-scale roll-out of bilingual education – providing us with knowledge necessary for this roll-out, as well as the challenges we can learn from. What’s great is that they showcase what’s possible through research and collaboration,” Dr Guzula said.

Learning science – differently

According to Guzula, the iSayensi Yethu project – spearheaded by Dr Robyn Tyler at the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and Gilbert Dolo at the Schools Development Unit in UCT’s SoE - aims to make natural science content accessible to learners, especially African-language speakers. Through this project, teachers conducted lessons in both English and isiXhosa, using bilingual learning material. They also encouraged learners to respond in the language they felt most comfortable using.

The project was trialled in the classroom in 2023, and the results were astounding. Guzula said learners engaged excellently with teachers, the subject matter and their peers, and gained an even better understanding of the curriculum. As a consequence, she added, their results improved drastically too.

The project was developed to encourage a love for science, to get more learners interested in the subject and ultimately develop the pipeline of young scientists that the country and the continent desperately need.

“Learners and teachers were thrilled at how interesting science learning had become once they understood the content. And their results improved so well too. Through this innovative project, we hope to support all learners as they uncover the wonderful world of formal science learning in a language they understand,” Guzula said.

The Languaging-for-Learning project

The second project, carried out in partnership with UWC, UCT, Rhodes University and Stellenbosch University and aimed at high-school teachers and learners, was funded by the Zenex Foundation – an independent grant-maker established in 1995 to improve language and mathematics education in South Africa. Introduced as a pilot project, the Languaging-for-Learning initiative targeted Grade 8 and 9 English first additional language, natural science and mathematics teachers at 10 schools in Cape Town. The teachers and the learners at these schools all identified isiXhosa as their home language and English as the language of learning, teaching and assessment.

The project’s main goal, Guzula said, was to equip teachers with the necessary literacy skills, in both isiXhosa and English, to help them engage with the curriculum and teach and assess learners bilingually. The project focused on two main activities: a series of foundational practice-based workshops that focused on how best to introduce bilingual teaching and learning in the classroom, and classroom-based support and mentoring to build links between the workshops and practical in-class sessions. The latter encouraged teachers to try out new, bilingual teaching methods to ultimately improve learning outcomes for learners.

“This project demonstrated the value of bilingual teaching and learning for both the teacher and the learner. Learners automatically developed confidence because they could express themselves in their own language, without worrying about providing a perfect verbal or written English response. We are seeing change, and that is reassuring and exciting,” she continued.

Bolster support

Guzula said the success of both projects demonstrates the need for other universities in the country to come on board, develop similar initiatives and work with the DBE and schools to implement the MTbBE programme, which will be rolled out across the country in 2025.

This, she added, requires training both in-service and pre-service teachers, as well as recruiting publishers to create bilingual teaching and learning material, such as textbooks, in two languages, as opposed to the restricted monolingual versions. It is also necessary to prepare bilingual assessments, to allow learners to write tests and exams in the language they prefer.

“Both projects prove that children do very well when given the opportunity to write a bilingual test. This also means that teachers can now teach bilingually and make use of bilingual posters, notes and other material to encourage engagement with the curriculum. This is a win-win situation,” Guzula said.

Read more about the projects.

Academics who contributed to the Languaging-for-Learning project are Professor Margaret Probyn and Dr Robyn Tyler (UWC), Professor Monica Hendricks (Rhodes University), Dr Simthembile Xeketwana (Stellenbosch University) and Dr Soraya Abdulatief, Professor Carolyn McKinney and Dr Xolisa Guzula (UCT).