Innovative teaching strategies in South African classrooms enhance mathematics comprehension through multilingual education.
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As South Africa grapples with low literacy and numeracy outcomes, a groundbreaking collaboration between Funda Wande and Wits University is redefining how teachers navigate multilingualism.
At a national dissemination event in Johannesburg on Friday, researchers shared insights on Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education (MTBBE), moving beyond mere translation toward “meaning-making” in the classroom.
Professor Anthony Essien emphasised that the traditional “transition model”, where pupils abruptly switch from their home language to English in Grade 4, is a reality that often hinders deep understanding.
He argues for a shift toward harnessing the multiple languages already present in the classroom.
Essien questioned how we can draw on the different languages that are present in the class to teach for meaning.
“Mother tongue-based bilingual education is about moving from the target language only to an incremental use of English. Any use of language at all must serve the purpose of mathematical understanding. Our learners need to understand the mathematics they are being taught.
“We cannot simply fulfil a curriculum requirement to speak a certain language if the children walk out of the room still confused by the basic logic of the lesson. It is about epistemic access, the actual knowledge of the subject, which is frequently lost when we ignore the linguistic tools children already possess.”
Essien further challenged the current policy of fixed percentage allocations for instructional languages.
“If you begin to do percentage allocations (80% home language, 20% English), then you are assuming that there is homogeneity. Our work is showing that this is not the right way to go. It inscribes monolingual assumptions.”
This approach ignores the reality of varied language proficiencies across schools and within individual classrooms.
“We want translanguaging, the fluid movement between languages, which genuinely supports diverse learners. Rigidly sticking to a clock to decide when to switch languages is contradictory to the goal of fluid understanding; we should be focusing on the moment the lightbulb goes on for the student, regardless of which language sparks it.”
Juliah Maphutha, Limpopo intervention lead, provided data from 30 schools where these strategies are being implemented.
Her findings show that while teacher-centred instruction remains persistent, significant shifts are occurring in Grade 1 and 2 classrooms.
“In this study, we can see a shift that working together, we can really put these policies into action and not just talk about them,” Maphutha said.
“We observed a movement from repetition-focused teaching to more meaning-making activities. Teachers showed greater confidence using manipulatives and integrated English academic terminology more effectively. For example, the increased comfort with teaching aids directly contributed to clearer explanations of abstract concepts.
Maphutha said they are encouraging teachers to tap into the linguistic repertoire of the pupils.
“When we see a teacher moving beyond simple choral responses to actually asking a child to explain their reasoning in their own words, we know the needle is beginning to move. These small classroom victories are what build the foundation for long-term academic success.”
She noted that while change takes time, the use of bilingual materials has been transformative.
“Already we are implementing the bilingual education policy in Grade 1 and train teachers at the beginning so that they are aware of the concepts that they are supposed to develop for learners to master mathematics and literacy.”
With regard to language and multilingual practices, for example, she said Sepedi remained the primary language of instruction, but teachers used translanguaging to support comprehension. The ultimate goal is for learners to have deep conceptual understanding through the use of languages.
“We have seen that providing materials where English and the local language sit side-by-side allows both the teacher and the student to navigate the content without the fear of ‘breaking the rules’ of a single-language classroom.”
Professor Jill Adler, a world-renowned expert in mathematics education, reflected on the long journey of this research, noting that teaching in multilingual contexts is inherently complex and requires sustained support.
She said that while teaching mathematics is complex, teaching in multilingual contexts is even more complicated.
“We need to talk to learn, and we need to learn to talk the specialised language of mathematics. This includes specific vocabulary and disciplinary ways of reasoning that are often obscured by language barriers. What Tony is developing are the ‘soft’ practices that don’t mean you have to be fluent in every language, but practices that harness those languages to enable conceptual development.”
Adler noted that requiring teachers to be both language and subject specialists is a high bar that demands consistent coaching and resources.
In addition, she also highlighted the tension between deep learning and curriculum pacing.
“The dilemma of time is real,” said Adler, noting that moving across languages within a lesson takes time, and our ATP (Annual Teaching Plan) does not help.
She said teachers are in a race to cover the curriculum at the expense of meaning-making.
“We must be respectful of the reality that teachers have to manage these tensions every day. If the system penalises a teacher for falling behind schedule because they stayed on a topic long enough for every child to actually understand it, then the system itself is creating a barrier to the very literacy and numeracy outcomes we claim to be chasing.”
karen.singh@inl.co.za