Abstract
M.A.
The disadvantage experienced by many language minority pupils in
USA, Britain and Canada illustrates how language proficiency in the
dominant language or lack therof shapes academic achievement. For instance,
drop-out rates among culturally diverse school populations in the United States
show that minority pupils with a limited proficiency in the medium of instruction,
English, are the ones who are most at risk of school failure. (Ovando, cited in Le
Roux, 1993:146)
A similar situation is evident in the Hlanganani area (where this research has been
conducted ), where there is a high drop-out rate and high rate of illiteracy and
unemployment. Hlanganani is situated in the Limpopo region in the Northern Province,
(about 20 km East of Louis Trichardt). The seriousness of the educational problems for
which second language as the medium of instruction is one contributing factor in this area,
is clearly indicated in the following quotation by the Northern Province MEC for
Education, Dr. Motsoaledi:
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki visited our schools earlier this year.
During that visit, he did the most unusual thing: he declared our
Province an education disaster area. Perhaps we are the only Province in the
whole world where a president of a country found it appropriate to declare an
area as experienceng a disaster in education (1996:3).