Grade‐appropriate literacy and South African grade seven learners' classroom writing in English

Abstract

This paper reports on the writing of grade seven learners in English as an additional language at four differently resourced schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Because grade seven is the start of the senior phase of schooling, it is vital that learners achieve grade‐level competence in the language used as medium of instruction. Learning outcome five, which states that ‘the learner will be able to use language to think and reason, as well as access, process and use information for learning’, is particularly relevant. The primary research question asked what the writing practices in grade seven additional languages were, and how these contribute to the development of learners' writing. The findings were that literacy practices at all four schools privilege grammar exercises and personal, expressive writing. In terms of Cummins's constructs of basic interpersonal communicative skill and cognitive academic language proficiency, learners' written competencies are mainly conversational (basic interpersonal communicative skill). The personal expressive texts that predominate in learners' writing have done little to develop a formal, impersonal academic register (cognitive academic language proficiency). Learners need to become familiar with the more abstract impersonal factual genres associated with disciplinary‐based knowledge.