English as an additional language: Professional development needs of early childhood practitioners in historically disadvantaged contexts

Carmen Milton,Sandra Du Plessis,Hendry Van Der Heever

doi:10.4102/sajce.v10i1.804

Abstract

Background: Early childhood development (ECD) practitioners face tremendous challenges in supporting learners’ development in English as an additional language (EAL). The lack of a formal ECD curriculum in South Africa exacerbates this challenge for African learners from historically disadvantaged backgrounds as there is a lack of guidance on how to introduce EAL. Aim: This study investigated factors impacting on ECD practitioners’ ability to facilitate EAL, determine the professional development needs of ECD practitioners at historically disadvantaged ECD centres in facilitating the acquisition of EAL and used the results to make recommendations to be considered when developing support initiatives to ECD practitioners in this context. Setting: Ga-Rankuwa, a township north of Pretoria. Methods: A descriptive survey design was employed to collect mainly quantitative data and a limited amount of qualitative data. The data were descriptively analysed. Results: Prevalent factors that could impact ECD practitioners’ abilities to facilitate EAL included their English proficiency, qualifications and the language of learning and teaching used in the classroom. The participants communicated a need for assistance with (1) enhancing their knowledge on the acquisition of EAL, (2) materials to use in language lessons and (3) lesson planning. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop support structures to assist historically disadvantaged ECD practitioners in facilitating the acquisition of EAL. The results of the study can serve as a starting point for planning workshops where ECD practitioners can be trained to develop suitable lesson plans and resources as well as appropriate techniques to enhance preschool learners’ acquisition of EAL.

Highlights

Despite a growing awareness that education in the home language is more effective for learning (Heugh 2017), English remains the dominant language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in South African schools as well as in other high-status domains such as politics and the media (Chetty 2012)
Professional profile of the early childhood development practitioners and prevalent factors that may impact on their ability to facilitate the English additional language skills of learners
This study provided insight into how the professional profile of the early childhood development (ECD) practitioners in a historically disadvantaged setting may impact on their ability to facilitate the acquisition of English as an additional language (EAL)

Summary

Introduction

Despite a growing awareness that education in the home language is more effective for learning (Heugh 2017), English remains the dominant language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in South African schools as well as in other high-status domains such as politics and the media (Chetty 2012). As home language education is not currently the reality in South Africa, learners need to be supported to reach the highest levels of English proficiency to aid their academic performance Given that it can take 5 years or more for a learner to acquire academic competency in an additional language (Clifford, Rhodes & Paxton 2014), Du Plessis and Louw (2008) recommends that English needs to be introduced from as early as the preschool years, gradually increasing the learners’ exposure to English as the LoLT as their understanding of English grows.

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