Intervention and language attitudes: the effects of one development programme on the language attitudes of primary school educators

Abstract

The Iilwimi Centre for Multilingualism and the Language Professions ran a development programme for primary school educators from 5 schools in the Helderberg Basin from 2000-2002. The aim of this programme was to help the educators to cope with the demands of the multilingual classroom as learner populations at these schools became increasingly diverse in terms of language and culture. The intervention included the following aspects : Diversity Management; Assistance with the formulation of Language Policy; Language Acquisition in Xhosa and Afrikaans; Assistance with the new curriculum 2005; Multilingual materials production and The creation of a multilingual schools magazine. In 2002, a research project was carried out on the development programme in order to assess the effect of this type of intervention on the teachers' language attitudes, and also to determine whether such effects could be sustained beyond the period of the programme. The latter was assessed by considering the effect of the programme on teachers who experienced the foundation and intermediate phases of the programme through classroom observation, interviews and questionnaires. The period of the research also coincided with the senior phase of the programme. This article is a description of the research project and its findings.