Abstract
D.Ed. (Didactic Education)
The main problem regarding the teaching of Afrikaans First Language was pinpointed as being a largely unscientific realisation of the particular subject curriculum and syllabus. This implies that a complete and systematic restructuring of the curriculum should be done, because it would be the only way in which the particular subject curriculum could be realised in a scientific way. The method of research used was the phenomenological method whilst various means were introduced to support the research, inter alia correspondence with the various Provincial Education Departments and a literature study. It became apparent that two very important phenomena were
related to the teaching of the child's mother tongue, namely language and school. It was therefore necessary to make an in depth study of both phenomena, and the researcher came to the following conclusions: * Language is essentially a characteristic of being human. * Language is a very important medium through which
man constitutes his own world. * The mother tongue is the medium par excellence through which man constitutes his own world. * The school's primary task is that of intellectualising the pupil (rationalisation), whilst the general forming of the pupil (for example socialisation) also forms part of the task of the school. The above mentioned research is a necessary base for any attempt to address the particular problem, namely the structuringof the mother tongue (Afrikaans) into a school subject. Further grounding includes a discussion of the role of values in the teaching of the mother tongue and the explication of the formative value of the mother tongue. Futhermore: In structuring the mother tongue into a school subject, one should adhere to the so called curriculum cycle. For the purpose of this research the parameters for any explicit situation-analysis were concentrated on, while attention was given to the concepts objectives and goals and, very briefly, the other aspects of the curriculum cycle.
This research does not claim to make full and final statements regarding the mother tongue as a school subject, but only tries to formulate a basis as parameters for further
research.