Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching Physical Science in the Medium

of English: A Case Study

Hamza O. Mokiwa1 and Vuyisile Msila2

University of South Africa, Further Teacher Education, UNISA 0003,P.O. Box 392, South Africa

E-mail: 1<mokiwho@unisa.ac.za>, 2<msilavt@unisa.ac.za>

KEYWORDS Code Switching. Innovations. Language Competency. Abstract Concepts. Examinations

ABSTRACT There are still many teachers who are daunted by mandates of language policy in South Africa. In historicallyBlack schools some continue using the medium of indigenous languages although the official language of teaching is English.English still dominates the society despite the proclamation that there are 11 official languages. This article draws from aqualitative study conducted in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal where four Physical Science (Black African) teachers wereparticipants. These participants were observed and interviewed as the researchers investigated their conceptions of teachingPhysical Science in the medium of English language. The results show that Black African teachers do not always use Englishin the facilitation of learning in classrooms. They sometimes code switch or at times use the indigenous languages to ensure thatlearning does take place. Furthermore, frequently, overwhelmed by the thought of examinations and understanding, teachersmight use the pupils’ first language instead of English to enhance meaning and understanding.

INTRODUCTION

Ayon (2012) points out that a number of fac-tors will always affect the teachers’ conceptionsof teaching Science in second language. Theteachers’ prior language learning experiencesas pupils and experiences in teacher educationare major influences on the teachers’ concep-tions. These conceptions or beliefs affect theteaching approach as well as the teachers’ pro-fessional development. Canbay and Berecen(2012) also concur that the teachers’ concep-tions shape their instructional decisions in theclassroom. “In other words, what teachers do intheir classrooms is oriented by their conceptionof teaching which are derived from their beliefsincluding a teacher’s prior experiences, schoolpractices, and a teacher’s individual personal-ity” (Canbay and Berecen 2012: 71). Teachersform conceptions consciously and these guidetheir teaching throughout their careers.

The debates around the teachers’ conceptionshighlight the notion that teaching is a cognitiveprocess and the teachers’ beliefs impact im-mensely on their instructional decisions in theclassroom (Farrell and Particia 2005). Further-more, these authors cite Johnson who points outthat research on the teachers’ conceptions andbeliefs share three basic assumptions; (i) Teach-ers’ beliefs influence perception and judgement;(ii) Teachers’ beliefs play a role in how infor-mation on teaching is translated into classroompractices; and (iii) Understanding teachers’ be-

liefs is essential to improving teaching practicesand teacher education programmes. The teach-ers’ conceptions are also crucial to investigate,especially in an educational environment thatis constantly changing. Teachers have a role indetermining what is needed or what works bestwith their pupils (Eslami and Fatahi 2008).Moreover, the teachers’ conceptions have aninfluence on pupil success.

This study reports on the findings of teacherconceptions of teaching Physical Science in themedium of English from four KwaZulu-Natalpracticing teachers. The following researchquestions were posed in the study:• How do Physical Science educators select

their language of teaching outside thepolicy mandates?

• How do they view the utilisation of stra-tegies such as code-switching in their class-rooms?

• What challenges do teachers experience inbalancing English proficiency and contentmastering in the pupils?

Objectives of the Study

This study seeks to explore the followingobjectives:• To investigate the rationale for teachers to

select alternative ways to teach withoutusing English language although the latteris the official language of teaching;

• To examine the potential of alternativeways of teaching such as code switching;

© Kamla-Raj 2013 Int J Edu Sci, 5(1): 55-62 (2013)

• To explore how teachers attempt to useEnglish 2nd or 3rd language effectively whilefacing the challenge of presenting theScience content.

Literature Review

The challenge posed by English to non-na-tive speakers appears to be common in a num-ber of countries. Vizconde (2006) contends:

The attitude of teachers comes to the fore asthey reflect upon the language that they use inteaching. Consciously or unconsciously, theirattitudes play a crucial role in languages’growth and decay, restoration or destruction(Baker 1988). Their attitudes, too, as part oftheir cultural orientation, influence heavily theiryoung students. What kind of attitudes towardsEnglish should teachers have in order for themto teach Science and mathematics concepts suc-cessfully.

The value of investigating teachers’ concep-tions in relation to their instructional practiceis strongly supported in the literature. Brown(2003:1) provides a compelling argument; thatall pedagogical acts “are affected by the con-ceptions teachers have about the act of teach-ing, the process and purpose of assessment, andthe nature of learning”. As noted by BouJaoude(2000) and Zuljan (2007), all teachers possessconceptions that influence their thinking, in-structional decisions and classroom manage-ment. These personal constructs can also serveas lenses of understanding classroom events(Jones and Carter 2007).

The concept, English Second Language(ESL) is used to describe individuals whosemain language is any language other than En-glish. According to Rollnick (2000), ESL Sci-ence teachers can be grouped into two broadcategories. Category 1 is made up those whoare citizens in a given country and from a lan-guage background other than English, but whoteach Science in English. While Category 2comprises of those who have come to a givencountry having received part or all of theirschooling in a language other than English, butteach Science in English. The majority of theteachers in South Africa fall under Category 1.This is because majority of South Africans, BlackSouth Africans in particular, speak one or moreindigenous African language as their mothertongue. This study focuses only on these BlackAfrican teachers.

Language has far reaching effects on educa-tional quality hence critics usually link achieve-ment to language of learning and teaching.Fleisch (2008) writes about the challenges thatrural and historically Black schools encounterfrequently. This author points out that the qual-ity of education is affected by five main factors:(i) Many teachers are not literate and have

poor subject knowledge;(ii) Pupils receive less instructional time be-

cause of poor punctuality, absenteeism;(iii) Teachers have low expectations of pupils;(iv) There is poor utilisation of existing mater-

ials; and(v) There are inadequate methods of instruc-

tions used.All the above factors result in poor teaching

and learning. Poor teaching has the obviousnegative impact on pupils’ success. Furthermore,the above have far reaching effects on the pupillearning in any class.

There is also research that shows that the selfperceptions of teachers who are non-nativespeakers of English (sampled from 20 countries)acknowledge the challenges they encounter inthe second language classrooms. They are awareof their different nature to English first languageteachers and affirm that this lower proficiencyin English exerts negative effects on their teach-ing (Braine 2006). Some educators though citethe absence of parental involvement in educa-tion as among the most common reasons forstruggling pupils.

Theoretical Underpinnings

The study reported here is underpinned bythe constructivist theory (Vygotsky 1978). Fromthe constructivist perspective, knowledge is notdirectly transmitted from one knower to another,but constructed within individual minds “basedupon the interaction of what they know and be-lieve, and the phenomena or ideas with whichthey come into contact” (Richardson 1997: 3).Science as a learning area is practiced basedhence the construction of knowledge therein isknowledge for practice. Borg et al. (2012) pointout that issues such as who is involved in knowl-edge construction, with what objectives and forwhich audience are very crucial to be touchedupon. It is then crucial to look at these whenlooking at the teachers’ conceptions and theclassroom practice.

HAMZA O. MOKIWA AND VUYISILE MSILA56

Borg et al. (2012) argue that knowledge forpractice is embedded in knowledge-in-practice,and that knowledge construction needs to begenerated to what actually happens in actualpractice. The pupils need to be involved whengenerating new knowledge in the classroom.Hedges (2012) writes about the way in whichpupils are motivated to explore their experiencesfrom their surroundings. She opines:

Within cultural-historical approaches, tem-porality, motive, culturally-valued knowledgeand pursuits are central to understandingchildren’s thinking. During children’s inquiryinto their worlds, their thinking is dynamic andinvolves theorising and developing ideas, oftenin creative ways that relate to their current, al-beit limited, experiences. In general, theoriesare viewed as ways to seek patterns, meaningsand explanations about phenomena.

In line with Vygotsky’s theory pupils need tobe supported to achieve development in Sciencelearning. Pupils need support in their cognitivedevelopment and this is what is referred to asscaffolding. The construct of teachers’ concep-tions in the study is explored within tenets whichassert that scientific knowledge is tentative, in-tuitive, subjective and dynamic. Such knowledgeoriginates from observations, experimentationand abstraction using senses (Abd-El-Khalicket al. 2000). Part of the South African trend toconstructivist and information processing hasbeen concerns for the Black African pupils,bringing to the fore questions of language andculture. In Jegede’s (1995) words African stu-dents have to “cross border” as move in and outof Science. ESL teachers of Physical Scienceneed to facilitate this “border crossing” processfor effective learning to occur. Effective teach-ing involves equipping pupils with conceptualunderstanding of the process skills that enablethem to individually or collectively develop arepertoire for constructing powerful construc-tions that concur with viable scientific knowl-edge.

METHODOLOGY

A qualitative research approach was em-ployed since the purpose of this exploratory casestudy was to describe the four participatingteachers’ conceptions of teaching Physical Sci-ence in the medium of English (Creswell 2009;Fair-brother 2009; Ivankova et al. 2008). Theparticipants’ conceptions of teaching PhysicalScience in the medium of English, was informedby data from four participants, it can be thoughtas a collective case study (Stake 1995). The ra-tionale for using a multiple participant designwas to inform the case by producing “potentiallycontrasting results for predicable reasons” (Yin1989). A purposive and convenience sample offour teachers from KwaZulu-Natal was used. Allthe participants teach Physical Science at theFurther Education and Training (FET) Band.Within the context of South African educationthe FET Band includes grades 10 to 12. It alsoincludes career-oriented education and trainingoffered in other Further Education and Train-ing institutions – technical colleges, communitycolleges and private colleges. Table 1 illustratesthe characteristics of the participants. The re-searchers are aware that this sample cannot beregarded as a representative of all the PhysicalScience teachers in KwaZulu-Natal Province;the findings may nevertheless be substantivelyapplicable to other teachers in similar settings.

Data Collection

Data from the semi-structured interviewswith the four Physical Science teachers wereaudio-taped after they granted their consent.Research ethics require researchers to ask forconsent whenever their utterances are to be re-corded. The duration of these interviews werebetween 45-60 minutes. The interviews weretriangulated with lesson observations as well asfocus group discussion among the four. Eachparticipant was observed twice in a period of

Table 1: Characteristics of teachers in the study

Teacher Academic Subjects taught Teaching Grades Firstqualifications experience taught language

T1 BEd* Honours Physical Science 13 years 11 and 12 IsiZuluT2 BEd Honours Mathematics and Physical Science 09 years 10 and 11 SeTswanaT3 BEd Physical Science and Technology 11 years 9 and 11 IsiZuluT4 BEd Biology and Physical Science 06 10 and 11 IsiZulu

*Bachelor of Education

PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN A SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM 57

twelve months. The first interview was con-ducted during the first week and the second onejust before the finalisation of the study. For trust-worthiness of data from interviews and groupdiscussions transcript were taken back to theparticipants to verify if the transcriptions re-flected their intended views. A few semanticchanges were made to the satisfaction of theparticipants. In case of lesson observation thecontextual features as suggested by Cohen andManion (2000) regarding learning and teach-ing process in relation to language of learningand teaching was used by ticking items as theyhappen during lesson observations.

Analysis of Data

The analysis of data, was subjected to open,axial and selective coding (De Vos 2010). Opencoding was done line by line, followed by axialcoding where paragraphs were compared to giveprecision to a category. Lastly, core categorieswere selected during selective coding. The analy-sis was done in three phases. The first phaseinvolved, transcribing the audio-recorded data.Then the transcripts were read several times inorder to get familiar with them. This was fol-lowed by coding the data. This being a case studyof the conceptions of four ESL teachers, the re-searchers’ emphasis was on the discussion andclassification of their views rather than on theteachers themselves. In the second phase datafrom the lesson observations were grouped intocategories. Lesson observations aimed at inter-rogating the ESL teachers’ instructional prac-tices. This approach was deemed appropriate asit serves as a way to validate and triangulate theinterviews. In the third phase, the data from thefocus group discussion was transcribed thencoded using open coding.

FINDINGS

Results from phase 1 that explored what theESL teachers make of the statement “proficiencyin English language is a prerequisite to Scienceknowledge”. Three out of the four participantsagreed with the statement (T1 to T4 refers toteachers 1 to 4).

T1: I agree with this statement because thereis a term here “proficiency” How do you ex-pect an African child who started to learn En-glish at his or her secondary level to be good at

English? We are brought up in these disadvan-taged communities and we learnt in these mis-erable schools where we had unqualified teach-ers, some of them didn’t know English, so howcan you expect learner to be proficient in En-glish in their schools?

T2: I don’t believe in that…the best thing isfor the learners to understand. Some teachersjust teach learners terminologies not explain-ing the meanings.

T3: Yes; you need to know English in orderto learn or teach Science ….We were made tobelieve that fluency in English means intelli-gence; and only intelligent students were al-lowed to do Science. It was the system of edu-cation those days. That was the criteria so thaton its own gave us recognition. It made us feelbig in a small town.

T4: Yes it is, because learners will be able tounderstand questions in exams and have thelanguage to answer what they have alreadyconceptualised in their languages.

With regards to question 2, which sought toexplore the teachers’ preference in relation toEnglish, three preferences were noted:• The use of both IsiZulu and English in the

teaching of Science;• The use of IsiZulu only in the teaching of

Science and;• The use of English only in the teaching of

Science.The participants added:T1: Perhaps if we can try to use both lan-

guages, English and the mother tongue in theteaching. At least there must be 70% mothertongue and 30% English if we want the learnerto understand.

T2: My home is in the North West Provinceand I’m working in KwaZulu- Natal Province.Now that means each and every teaching is inEnglish because here I cannot speak IsiZulu.So I prefer English. I don’t want to use the homelanguage in teaching Science as it is going tomake those learners not to be able to read andunderstand question papers. But using Englishlanguage is going to make them get used to thelanguage of exam papers, that’s why I preferEnglish.

T3: I would love to teach Science in IsiZulu,because we spend most of the time trying to in-terpret what is in English and then back toIsiZulu, and for these learners if there was anIsiZulu Science book maybe things were going

HAMZA O. MOKIWA AND VUYISILE MSILA58

to be simpler, because even at home parents weregoing to be able to help their learners duringtheir study time.

T4: I would prefer teaching Science inIsiZulu, reason being I believe that classroomscience can only be useful to my learners if theyare able to apply it in their lives. And they canonly be able to apply it after they have alreadyconceptualised it in their languages. It is easyif we start with let’s say IsiZulu, then, after un-derstanding the aspects in IsiZulu, we bring inEnglish.

Results from lesson observations that is,phase 2, formed the second set of data. Table 2provides a summary of all the contextual fea-tures as suggested by Cohen and Manion (2000)of the learning and teaching process in relationto Language of learning and teaching. The threemain languages for the participants and theirpupils are English-E; IsiZulu- Z; SeTswana- T.

Table 2 findings indicate that T1 and T4 inthe study demonstrated a one-to-one relation-ship between their conceptions and the use ofEnglish in the teaching of Science. This wasevident in the three themes; pupil-teacher dis-cussion, classroom regulation of pupil activityand linking pupils’ experiences and interests tothe world outside school. This showed consis-tency between participants’ espoused theoriesand instructional practice.

There was also evidence of consistency in theConcept Development theme for participants.T2 showed a one-to-one relationship betweenhis conceptions and the use of English in theteaching of Science. He uses only Englishthroughout his teaching. What is exciting hereis that all participants in the study use Englishfor classroom regulation of discipline and man-agement. In general, the findings from the ob-served lessons revealed that the ESL teachers’

Table 2: Themes that guided lesson observations

T1 T2 T3 T4

How is language used in the classroom in terms of: E Z T E Z T E Z T E Z T

Concept development X x x xClassroom-led group discussion X x x x xTeacher-learner discussion X x x xLearner-teacher discussion x X x x x x xClassroom regulation of learner activity x X x x x xClassroom regulation of discipline and management x x x xLinking learners’ experiences and interests to the x X x x x x world outside school, that is, in- and -out of school experiencesPercentages 40 60 0 100 0 0 71 29 0 50 50 0

espoused theories informed their instructionalpractice to a great extent. There is no tension ordilemma between what the teachers say or pro-fess to believe and their classroom practices,namely, the use of English in teaching Science.

Findings from phase 3: Contrary to the find-ings of the individual interviews which pointedto three preferences, the analysis of the focusgroup interview reflected two preferences,namely:• The use of both mother tongue and English

is seen as a vehicle for accessing scientificknowledge; and

• The use of English only is seen as a vehiclefor accessing scientific knowledge.

In general, analysis of data collected find-ings from the interview schedule and focusgroup interview allude to the following. ESLteachers preferred the use of:• Both English and mother tongue as

vehicles for accessing scientific knowledge;and

• English only as the vehicle for accessingscientific knowledge.

However, these preferences suggest a di-chotomy of socio-economic and examinationissues. Social issues include their disadvantagedmilieu characterised by under-qualified teach-ers, while examination issues include Englishas a language of examination. Furthermore, itwas observed that the teachers’ conceptions de-pended on what they foregrounded. When un-derstanding is foregrounded, teachers tend toopt for IsiZulu together with English as themedium. When examinations are foregrounded,however, English is seen as the suitable mediumfor teaching. Therefore, it can be argued thatthe teachers in the study perceive understand-ing in Science to be achievable through othermeans or languages other than English. How-

PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN A SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM 59

ever, they draw a clear distinction between teach-ing for understanding and teaching for exami-nation.

DISCUSSION

The idea of considering personal conceptionsof teaching Physical Science in the medium ofEnglish was novel to the participants in thestudy. All of them indicated that they found ituseful to reflect on their own conceptions ofteaching Science using English as a second lan-guage. As indicated in the study, the findingsfrom the case interviews reflect that some teach-ers prefer the use of:• Both English and mother tongue as vehicles

for accessing scientific knowledge; and• English only as the vehicle for accessing

scientific knowledge.Discussion around these preferences, how-

ever, has two qualifiers, that issues of languageacquisition or proficiency in English cannot bedivorced from the socio-economic issues oflearning Science and issues of English as a lan-guage of examination.

The study further reveals that the existingconceptions held by some Physical Scienceteachers play a major role in shaping their in-structional practices, that is, that what teachersforeground form the basis of their views andconceptions. For instance, when understandingis foregrounded, teachers tend to opt for bothIsiZulu and English as the language of teach-ing and learning. When examinations areforegrounded, English is seen as the suitablemedium for teaching. The findings of the studyalso provide support for the idea that PhysicalScience teachers in the similar contexts to thoseparticipants under study hold uncomplicatedconceptions of teaching, at least when comparedto Hewson and Hewson’s (1988) ideas about “anappropriate conception of teaching Science”.Similar to the findings reported by Aguirre etal. (1990), the majority of English second lan-guage teachers emphasise a transmission ap-proach to Science teaching. It can be argued thatthis has been influenced by the current languagepolicy which gives authoritative powers toSchool Governing Bodies to determine theirrespective language of teaching policies whilefailing to recognise educators’ inputs in theimplementation of the language policy. Thisresult in styles of teaching that emphasise teach-

ing factual knowledge about scientific conceptsand principles, as opposed to practical applica-tions of scientific knowledge described in both;the Outcomes Based Education and the recentlylaunched Curriculum and Assessment PolicyStatement (DoE 2010). These findings are rea-sons for concern, especially when viewed againstthe teacher’s role as that of a learning mediator.In agreement with Hewson and Hewson’s (1988)“appropriate conception of teaching Science”,Curriculum and Aassessment Policy Statementhave called upon teachers to conceptualise learn-ing as a constructive endeavour that enablesconceptual change and to conceptualise teach-ing in a way that mediates this type of learning.

In terms of promoting multi-lingualism inSouth African classrooms, however, some of theobserved teachers’ conceptions seem to be in linewith national language policy. The majority ofthe English second language teachers in thestudy preferred the use of both English and thepupils’ main language(s) as medium of teach-ing; though many Black South African parents,through School Governing Bodies, prefer En-glish use in the classrooms. As mentioned ear-lier, ESL teachers’ conceptions in the study havetheir roots in the secondary education institu-tions they attended. This is coupled with theperceived teachers’ role in the learning of Sci-ence. It is these experiences that, in Nespor’s(1987) words, influence and frame ways inwhich one uses what has been learned. ESLteachers who opt for the use of both Englishand the pupils’ main language as LoLT perceivepotential insights about the use of the two lan-guages. Likewise, the ESL teacher who opts forthe use of English only as language of learningand teaching perceives potential insights aboutits use. In both cases, the impact on the teach-ing and learning of Physical Science within thecontext of the language policy is considerable.

In case of the former, ESL teachers who haveforegrounded understanding of Science wouldhave taken their own initiative in the promo-tion of multilingualism in their Science class-rooms. In the later case, a teacher who has fore-grounded an understanding of instructions inexamination papers would unknowingly be pro-moting inequality in languages, and this is con-trary to the aims of the language policy in thatonly black South African pupils would be ex-pected to communicate with pupils from otherlinguistic background (English), and is neverthe other way round.

HAMZA O. MOKIWA AND VUYISILE MSILA60

According to Jegede (1995) communicationin a language requires not only a language struc-ture, but also the propagation of a culture andvalues embedded in that language or border-crossing. This would mean that black SouthAfrican pupils assume a foreign culture as theylearn and communicate Science in English. Itis therefore recommended that as much as manymight embrace the diverse cultural backgrounds,Science teachers who employ English secondlanguage and other roleplayers need to explorea variety of conceptions of teaching and learn-ing of Science. This has to be approached in away that ensures that the aims of language policyare attained, moreover, to ensure that Scienceteachers become effective through the use of ef-fective use of language.

CONCLUSION

This study focused at various ways in whichteacher conceptions influence teaching andlearning. It is clear from the participants thatteaching should utilise aspects that would makeit easy for the pupil to grasp the content and beable to apply it in different situations. The par-ticipants’ conceptions also show that there is aneed to see the pupils’ point of view; that teach-ing approaches should take the pupils into cog-nisance at all times. The participants had em-pathy with the pupils whose first language isnot English. Among others, the participants usedtheir own experience as pupils to teach. Codeswitching that the teachers used was a way ofensuring that the pupils followed the contentwell. The use of IsiZulu in teaching was to makesure that the pupils did follow the conceptualunderstanding in Science classrooms. However,the importance of the examinations which arein English also made the teachers adjust theirteaching to be suitable for this purpose. Lan-guage in ESL classes will always be crucial butthis can be positive if the teachers’ conceptionstake the pupils’ worldview into consideration.Effective teachers who use language effectivelywill be able to demystify Science and ensure thattheir pupils succeed.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations were drawnin an attempt to contribute to address some ofthe apparent challenges in teaching second lan-guage pupils.

• Science teachers should continually im-prove their language use in classrooms.Science deals with aspects such as kinetics,audio-visual aspects as well as the sense ofsmell and touch. Effective teachers shouldbe able to explain these in the languagesimple to pupils;

• Linked to the above is that teachers shouldtry and be bilingual. It helps the process oflearning when teachers can speak morethan one language including the first lang-uage of the majority of the pupils.

• Pedagogic tools such as journal writingmight also help teachers understand theirconception and their practice in Scienceclassrooms;

• More research needs to be conducted in thisarea. When effective teachers can use lang-uage effectively, many schools can attainsuccess.

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