Constituting grammar and its pedagogy : the reform of the South African English Home Language intermediate phase curriculum between 1997 and 2012

Post-apartheid curriculum reform in South Africa has impacted the constitution and organisation of English language knowledge, including grammatical knowledge and its pedagogy. Additionally, changes in theoretical viewpoints on grammar instruction and early literacy instruction have influenced the conceptualisation and teaching of English grammar. This study aims to determine how grammar and its pedagogy have been constituted and explicated in the South African Intermediate Phase (IP) English Home Language (HL) curricula through curriculum reforms after 1997. It also seeks to explore how the constitution of grammar within Curriculum 2005 (C2005), the Revised National Curriculum Statements (RNCS), and the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) have been influenced by changing grammar and early literacy instruction theories and language teaching methodologies. The study analyses and compares the organisation and structure of grammatical knowledge and its suggested pedagogy in the three curriculum documents using Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing. Grammar instruction theories and conceptualisations of grammar types as prescriptive, descriptive and rhetorical (drawn from a variety of grammar instruction commentators including Lefstein, Thornbury and Hudson & Walmsley) are identified in teacher guides and other supporting literature accompanying the three curricula. These documents are also analysed to identify the predominant early literacy instruction theories - skills/phonics-based, whole language, and balanced language approaches – underpinning curriculum development. The analysis shows that through the curriculum reforms, grammatical knowledge has been more strongly classified and framed resulting in a more explicit constitution of grammar as a skill to be acquired by learners for the development of an English meta-language. The CAPS English HL IP syllabus has returned to a contents- or knowledge-based curriculum. This clearer constitution of grammatical knowledge mirrors the re-emergence of explicit grammar instruction internationally, most notably in the UK. The analysis also shows that indistinct progression requirements, pertaining to the acquisition of specific grammatical knowledge, with an arbitrary basis between grades are a consistent concern in all three curricula. It also finds that conceptual ambiguity, regarding early literacy instruction approaches in curricula and accompanying guides, present since the inception of the RNCS and continuing in the CAPS, makes the task of curriculum interpretation difficult. The study concludes with some possible implications the areas of concern may have for teacher training and suggestions on grammatical knowledge organisation for clearer curriculum interpretation and implementation.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Moore, Colleen Patricia

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hoadley, Ursula Kate

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13353

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13353