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EST1501 Assignment 2 Memo | Due 30 May 2025. All questions fully answered. QUESTION 1: ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE
Read the sentences below and fix the grammar and language errors that appear. You will also be required to respond to questions based on grammatical rules.
1.1 Define what a subject and a verb are in the context of a sentence. (1)
1.2 List two common mistakes that occur when the subject-verb agreement is used correctly. (1)
1.3 In the sentence “The tomatoes in spaghetti sauce give me heartburn,” identify the subject and the verb. (1)
1.4 Explain why the sentence “There was too many people in that hall” is grammatically incorrect. (1)
1.5 Identify the error in the following sentence and rewrite it to correct the error: “The teacher, along with the students, are excited for the trip.” (2)
1.6 Identify whether the following group of words are a complete sentence or a sentence fragment: “After the rain stopped” (1)
1.7 Consider your response in question 1.6. Explain why it is a sentence fragment or a complete sentence. (1)
1.8 The following sentences are incorrect because of run-on or comma-splice errors. Correct each one of them. (a) “I love reading, I don’t like writing essays.” (1)
(b) “He studied hard for the exam, he passed with flying colors.” (1)
QUESTION 1 TOTAL: 10
QUESTION 2: ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Punctuate the paragraphs below:
Successful implementation of mother tongue-based education is a complex task that can lead SA into the future
The South African context
South Africa is culturally and linguistically diverse, with 12 languages recognised as official languages however english and afrikaans have long dominated as the languages of teaching and learning in schools, creating a significant barrier to understanding participation and academic success for many learners who do not primarily speak these languages
The importance of using the mother tongue in early education is well documented in global and local research studies have shown that children taught in their mother tongue for at least the first six years of school tend to have better cognitive development improved literacy and higher overall academic achievement they also develop a stronger sense of cultural identity and self esteem
EST1501/2025
ASSESSMENT 2
4
with South Africas history of inequality in education Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education if implemented effectively could serve as a powerful tool to improve educational outcomes especially for the majority of learners in no-fee schools
QUESTION 2 TOTAL: 20
QUESTION 3: READING TECHNIQUES
3.1 Scan through the article below and answer the following questions:
3.1.1 What are the key challenges for Initial Teacher Education in South Africa regarding Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education? (1)
3.1.2 What are two specific strategies that teachers should be trained in to effectively teach in bilingual classrooms? (1)
3.2 Skim read through the article and identify the main focus of the article regarding education in South Africa. (3)
3.3 Critically read the article below taken from the Daily Maverick, published on 07 November 2024, and create a topical map that categorises the key themes and ideas discussed in the article. (10)
3.4 Use the topical map you created in 3.3 above to provide a brief summary of the main arguments or key points presented in the article. The summary should comprise one paragraph of 150 words. (10)
Successful implementation of Mother Tongue-based Education is a complex task that can lead SA into the future
Paragraph 1:
South Africa has always placed emphasis on the critical role of home language in education, and recently, the Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education approach is the latest bold move in policy efforts towards the realisation of this. The growing push for Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education comes with significant implications for the country’s education system — especially for Initial Teacher Education. Neville Alexander, a proponent of the use of home languages in education, recognising that mother tongue has never been fully established as the medium of instruction across the African continent, argued that Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education should be the future of education (Alexander, 2009).
The South African context
Paragraph 2:
South Africa is culturally and linguistically diverse, with 12 languages recognised as official languages. However, English and Afrikaans have long dominated as the languages of teaching and learning in schools, creating a significant barrier to understanding, participation, and academic success for many learners who do not primarily speak these languages.
EST1501/2025
ASSESSMENT 2
5
Paragraph 3:
The importance of using the mother tongue in early education is well documented in global and local research. Studies have shown that children taught in their mother tongue for at least the first six years of school tend to have better cognitive development, improved literacy, and higher overall academic achievement. They also develop a stronger sense of cultural identity and self-esteem.
Paragraph 4:
With South Africa’s history of inequality in education, Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education, if implemented effectively, could serve as a powerful tool to improve educational outcomes, especially for the majority of learners in no-fee schools.
Policy adoption in Initial Teacher Education
Paragraph 5:
The shift to Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education raises crucial questions about teacher development, an aspect that is recognised in government plans for the adoption and implementation of Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education. Initial Teacher Education would require substantial transformation to align with the goals of Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education. At present, Initial Teacher Education in South Africa predominantly focuses on English and Afrikaans, with limited emphasis on preparing teachers to effectively teach in African languages, which have long been neglected by the South African academy.
Language competence
Paragraph 6:
To this end, one of the immediate challenges for Initial Teacher Education is the need to produce teachers who are proficient in African languages, both as first and second languages. In many cases, teachers themselves may not be adequately equipped to teach content in their mother tongue, through no fault of their own. Well-trained teachers in African languages recognise the language-specific challenges, including orthographic nuances, to distinguish learning difficulty that stems from language interference. This suggests the alignment of teacher training programmes with the goals of Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education.
Paragraph 7:
Training teachers in African languages is a critical step in achieving inclusive, multilingual education. Although teachers who speak an African language have a good start, this is hardly an adequate measure of whether a teacher can teach effectively in that language. Teachers need adequate training to use the language effectively as a medium of instruction across various subjects. Initial Teacher Education programmes will need to incorporate comprehensive language development courses that focus not only on conversational proficiency, but also on literacy development and content delivery in African languages specific to academic subjects.
Bilingual pedagogy and resources
Paragraph 8:
EST1501/2025
ASSESSMENT 2
6
Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education’s premise is that English should support the mother tongue so that classrooms become bilingual. Therefore, teacher education must emphasise bilingual pedagogy — how to effectively teach in two languages without causing cognitive overload for learners. This includes training teachers in pedagogic strategies such as translanguaging, language learning scaffolding, and other bilingual and multilingual teaching and learning strategies. Further, developing discipline-specific literacies in African languages is a priority.
Paragraph 9:
There is an acute need for instructional resources, including textbooks, digital tools, and other educational materials, to be developed in South Africa’s indigenous languages. Currently, there is a dearth of quality resources in many of these languages, and Initial Teacher Education programmes must address how future teachers can navigate this challenge. Teachers need to be trained in adapting and developing their own materials or creatively using existing resources to teach content in African languages, to complement the resources that the government will provide.
QUESTION 3 TOTAL: 25
QUESTION 4: READING EFFECTIVELY (CATEGORISING PARAGRAPHS)
Read the section in your study guide on “Classifying paragraphs according to type,” and use the skills learned from the study guide to classify the paragraphs according to the features advanced by Samone (1991).
4.1 Reading the article in Question 3, identify each kind of paragraph and substantiate your choice by citing some information from the article.
QUESTION 4 TOTAL: 20
QUESTION 5: READING TECHINIQUES – SKIMMING
5.1 Skim-read the table of contents below and write a paragraph of about 150 words on what you think the book is about. (15)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Reading
1.1 The Importance of Reading
1.2 The Reading Process
1.3 Types of Reading
1.4 Reading Skills and Strategies
Chapter 2: Pre-Reading Strategies
2.1 Activating Prior Knowledge
2.2 Setting Reading Goals
2.3 Previewing and Predicting
EST1501/2025
ASSESSMENT 2
7
2.4 Annotating Texts
Chapter 3: During Reading Strategies
3.1 Active Reading Techniques
3.2 Comprehension Monitoring
3.3 Vocabulary Development
3.4 Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
Chapter 4: Post-Reading Strategies
4.1 Summarizing and Synthesizing
4.2 Critical Thinking and Analysis
4.3 Evaluating Information
4.4 Reflecting on Reading
Chapter 5: Reading for Different Purposes
5.1 Reading for Information
5.2 Reading for Pleasure and Entertainment
5.3 Academic Reading
5.4 Professional and Technical Reading
5.2 Consider the paragraph you created in question 3.1. Analyse it according to the headings below: (10)
Title:
Topic sentence:
Thesis statement:
Details and examples:
QUESTION 5 TOTAL: 25
TOTAL: [100]
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