‘Look at the balloon blow up’: Student teacher-talk in linguistically diverse Foundation Phase classrooms

Abstract

This article provides vignettes from teaching practice site visits in linguistically diverse South African Foundation Phase classrooms. The purpose is to point to the complexity of encounters between student teachers and learners when neither are first language speakers of English, the instructional language. The vignettes presented here suggest the potential negative social and pedagogical consequences for learners, in part due to teachers’ lack of awareness that language can create a barrier to learning. In noting instances of instructional dissonance, the article concludes by underlining the need for teacher education to include more content relating to the critical role of language in learning as well as to the importance of recognising the rich linguistic and cultural repertoire that learners bring to the multilingual classroom. In addition, teacher graduates’ proficiency in the language of instruction cannot be assumed to be adequate; this requires focused attention in policy documents and in teacher education programmes.