The role of parents in the teaching of English First Additional Language in the rural area of Limpopo

Abstract

Parents, through their communication with their children, play an important role in the linguistic development of these children. The linguistic development of children proceeds from the mastery of the mother tongue to the learning of the second language. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of parents in their children’s learning of English First Additional Language (EFAL). The study was conducted at a rural school in the Limpopo Province. The study was qualitative in nature, and an interpretivist approach was followed. Purposive sampling was used to select participants. Eight parents participated in the study. Of the eight parents, seven were female. All the participants were unemployed, and their ages ranged between 22 and 50 years. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The collected data were categorised and themes were identified. It was found that the parents played little or no role in their children’s learning of EFAL. The parents were unable to help their children with EFAL homework, to visit the teachers of their children, to monitor the academic (EFAL) progress of their children, and to provide their children with English reading material. It is recommended that parents should be encouraged to visit the school regularly, to check if homework was done and to provide their children with English reading material.