Abstract
M.A.
The changing circumstances in South Africa up to date can be seen as the inspiration for
the investigation of how language teaching, and language learning is affected by this.
Dramatic reform is taking place in South Africa regarding changing political and
constitutional views on education, with a rapidly increasing trend towards Multicultural
education. Multicultural education is a trend that has manifested itself worldwide. The
primary goal is to accommodate pupils of diverse and different cultures in one education
system. Language teaching must therefore also change in order for it to still be sensible and useful for the learner with regard to future consideration eg. higher learning, career opportunities and everyday communication. This study investigated the possibility that certain relevant aspects from the fields of psychology and sociology have an effect on the way a learner acquires/learns the language, in this instance Afrikaans First Language. Furthermore the study also examines the way which the teacher has to adapt/adjust to these different influences in his/her method of teaching. From an applied linguistic perspective, we find that language skills form part of the language user's communicative competence. This study endeavours to place language teaching within the framework of a communicative approach to language teaching with the emphasis on the needs of the language learner, the functionality of the acquired skills (to eventually eradicate illiteracy and communicative incompetence) and the active participation of the language learner in the teaching activities (discussions, debates, projects etc.).