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A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town.
This qualitative case study focusses on the experiences and challenges f multilingual learners when writing monolingual assessments. It draws on a growing body of poststructuralist theory on linguistic repertoire and translanguaging in order to understand how grade 6 multilingual learners engaged wi...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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School of Education
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613267974684672 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Cingo, Siviwe Innocent |
| author2 | Kapp, Rochelle |
| author_browse | Cingo, Siviwe Innocent Kapp, Rochelle |
| author_facet | Kapp, Rochelle Cingo, Siviwe Innocent |
| author_sort | Cingo, Siviwe Innocent |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This qualitative case study focusses on the experiences and challenges f multilingual learners when writing monolingual assessments. It draws on a growing body of poststructuralist theory on linguistic repertoire and translanguaging in order to understand how grade 6 multilingual learners engaged with monolingual assessments in a working-class school in the Western Cape where English is the language of learning and teaching for all learners except those for whom Afrikaans is a home language. Using ethnographic methods, I focused on 3 grade 6 classrooms and observed 46 lessons over a period of 8 weeks. In addition, I collected assessment transcripts, learners' notebooks and conducted interviews with 14 learners and their teachers. The data shows how classroom pedagogy tended to be mainly oral and dominated by teacher talk with limited space for learner engagement. Informal written assessment tasks were monolingual, but generally mediated by translanguaging and translation. Learners relied on teachers and on the linguistic resources of peers to facilitate comprehension of assessment questions and assessment content. By contrast, formal, high-stakes assessments included no mediation prior to and during assessment. Thematic analysis of learners' written answers shows how the majority of learners struggled with language comprehension at the level of vocabulary, sentence, as well as schooled academic literacy. The study concludes that both teachers and learners are placed in an untenable position by language in education policies that insist on monolingual assessment practices. Such policy results in compensatory, and contradictory classroom teaching and learning that is aimed at instrumental, assessment focused practices rather than meaningful learning. The study ends with recommendations for policy and practice. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37215 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:26.520Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | School of Education |
| publisherStr | School of Education |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37215 A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. Cingo, Siviwe Innocent Kapp, Rochelle monolingual assessments multilingualism Translanguaging multilingual assessments assessment challenges This qualitative case study focusses on the experiences and challenges f multilingual learners when writing monolingual assessments. It draws on a growing body of poststructuralist theory on linguistic repertoire and translanguaging in order to understand how grade 6 multilingual learners engaged with monolingual assessments in a working-class school in the Western Cape where English is the language of learning and teaching for all learners except those for whom Afrikaans is a home language. Using ethnographic methods, I focused on 3 grade 6 classrooms and observed 46 lessons over a period of 8 weeks. In addition, I collected assessment transcripts, learners' notebooks and conducted interviews with 14 learners and their teachers. The data shows how classroom pedagogy tended to be mainly oral and dominated by teacher talk with limited space for learner engagement. Informal written assessment tasks were monolingual, but generally mediated by translanguaging and translation. Learners relied on teachers and on the linguistic resources of peers to facilitate comprehension of assessment questions and assessment content. By contrast, formal, high-stakes assessments included no mediation prior to and during assessment. Thematic analysis of learners' written answers shows how the majority of learners struggled with language comprehension at the level of vocabulary, sentence, as well as schooled academic literacy. The study concludes that both teachers and learners are placed in an untenable position by language in education policies that insist on monolingual assessment practices. Such policy results in compensatory, and contradictory classroom teaching and learning that is aimed at instrumental, assessment focused practices rather than meaningful learning. The study ends with recommendations for policy and practice. 2023-03-03T12:42:27Z 2023-03-03T12:42:27Z 2022 2023-02-20T12:25:41Z Master Thesis Masters MEd http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37215 eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | monolingual assessments multilingualism Translanguaging multilingual assessments assessment challenges Cingo, Siviwe Innocent A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| title_full | A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| title_fullStr | A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| title_short | A case study of grade 6 multilingual learners' experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working-class township school in Cape Town. |
| title_sort | case study of grade 6 multilingual learners experiences with monolingual assessment practices in a working class township school in cape town |
| topic | monolingual assessments multilingualism Translanguaging multilingual assessments assessment challenges |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37215 |
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