Abstract
M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)
The aim of this study was to throw light on the communicative
needs of Afrikaans-speaking pupils at secondary level at Westbury
(and by implication, of similar socio-economic communities), and
to establish whether the present approach to achieve the level of
communication competence expected from them.
The investigator's hypothesis is that the current approach
ignores the need of the older pupil to gain a cognitive insight
into the rule structure of the target language, and proposes that
the failure to address this need may very well contribute to poor
communicative ability.
Current views on second and foreign language acquisition are
examined. These are related to present syllabus requirements and
current methodologies in the light of the constraints operating
in the particular community.
Tests are designed to
cognitive insight into a
English, the Tenses, plays
establish' empirically whether poor
particular set of syntactic rules in
a significant role.
In the final chapter the insights: gained from both the
theoretical and the empirical investigation are discussed,
followed by a recommendation that the need for revising second
language teaching methodology be explored in the light of these
insights. It is claimed that sufficient evidence exists to
suggest that more attention to a cognitive approach in second
language teaching at secondary level will have a positive impact
on the level of communicative skills achieved.