Acceso usuarios
Mashaba Mashala, Debbie A. Sanders
Internationally, the term ‘translanguaging’ has gained marked interest education, particularly as it pertains to supporting learners whose home language is not the same as the language of teaching and learning. Within the South African context, inconsistencies remain regarding to the features of this term, as well as the implementation of this approach in classrooms. The purpose of this article is to explore Intermediate Phase teachers’ perceptions of the use of translanguaging to support the teaching of literacy. For this qualitative investigation, a participatory action research design was chosen, with data being collected from Intermediate Phase teachers selected as study participants through homogenous purposeful sampling. The data collected were coded using the induction method. A literature review was conducted in which recent research on this topic was analysed and used to correlate the findings of the field research for this study. This article reports on the views of Intermediate Phase teachers regarding translanguaging as an approach to teaching literacy, and what support they need to ensure its success. The findings and their relevance to the improvement of learners’ literacy skills are described. The conclusion is that this approach is beneficial, provided that teachers are supported and guided by the relevant stakeholders.
