The needs of black farm school teachers in relation to using English as the medium of instruction.

[摘要] The research, conducted as part of a project aimed at improving teachers' English.skills, set out to answer the question: What are the needs of farm school teachersin relation to the use of English as the medium of instruction? Clarification of thisquestion involved the examination of teachers' English proficiency, the teachingof English as a subject and the.observation of the learning/teaching situation in thefarm school classroom. The research raised questions concerning the underlyingassumption that an English language intervention could bring about major changein the classroom. As a result, further enquiries into the socio-economic context-ofthe schools were instituted. In addition, the learning/teaching situation wasexamined in the light of theories of cognition and change. A range of researchmethods involving both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized topenetrate this highly complex situation. The findings indicated a clear need on the.part of ihe teachers for an English proficiency course. At the same time. thefindings also indicated most strongly that a fundamental change is needed in tneteachers' understanding of their role if they are to become agents of significantchange.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand