Onderwyseresse se verwagtinge van tweede of addisionele taal graad R-leerders se kommunikasievaardighede in 'n bepaalde geografiese area van Bloemfontein [electronic resource] /

by Harmse, Ottilie Henriette.

Title: Teachers’ expectations of second or additional language grade R-learners’ communication skills for school readiness in a given geographical area of Bloemfontein. Name: Ottilie Henriette Harmse Supervisor: Ms. E.C. Naudé Co-supervisor: Prof. B. Louw Degree: M. Communication Pathology Teachers often are uncertain about the methods for educating second or additional language learners. Consequently they demand the same communication skills and in the same way from second language learners, as from first language learners. As a large number of South African grade R learners are not competent in English when entering grade R, their basic interactive language skills in English as language of learning and teaching are often not adequate at the end of grade R. As a result, these learners’ cognitive academic language skills cannot develop sufficiently in English and their communication skills for school readiness at the end of grade R are inadequate. This study specifically focuses on grade R teachers as well as grade R learners’ communication skills for school readiness. A sequential transformative design existing of a mixed methods approach in three phases, was selected for executing the research. Phase one comprised a literature study. Grade R teachers were selected as participants for phase two and during phase three a comparison was drawn between the data from phases one and two. Data collection occurred through questionnaires, an interview schedule for semi-structured interviews and a schedule for a iii University of Pretoria etd – Harmse, O H (2006) focus group discussion. A comprehensive developmentally based list of prerequisite communication skills (the list) was identified from the literature. The comunication skills implied by the official grade R curriculum were identified as well. Results of phase two indicated that grade R teachers did not demand all the communication skills from grade R learners according to the list. Results of phase three revealed that grade R teachers demanded more communication skills from learners than were implied by the official grade R curriculum. The clinical value of the study lies in the fact that guidelines are provided for interaction between grade R teachers and learners for facilitating language development in the learners. The research results confirm previous research that grade R teachers can benefit from additional training about speech-language development and communication skills for school readiness. Additional training of teachers regarding communication skills for school readiness can be jointly planned by teachers and speech-language therapists according to the model of collaborative service delivery. The research results can serve as point of departure for future research about the study of challenges which were identified through the current research. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research were identified on the grounds of the conclusions of the research. Data collected during the research are seen as meaningful for the development of an additional programme for teachers to facilitate language development in young children. Key words: grade R, a second or additional language, communication skills, school readiness, curriculum, collaboration, consultation, consultant, language acquisition, intervention. iv University of Pretoria etd – Harmse, O H (2006)