The Impact of Multilingualism on Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Home language teaching and learning are largely dominated by monolingual-oriented practices in the South African context, and such practices are being challenged. Despite this, there remains a dearth of research on the concurrent use of more than one language in home language teaching and learning in this context. This chapter reports on the results of a study conducted on the impact of multilingualism on teaching and learning in a Sesotho home language classroom in one university in South Africa. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six Sesotho lecturers from different universities and 12 students enrolled in Sesotho home language course. Data were analysed using thematic inductive approach. The recommendation is that teachers should consider the use of multilingual pedagogic teaching practices to address language diversity in their home language classrooms.