Please note: The majority of the text here is directly extracted from the CAPS, English First Additional Language, FET Phase Grades 10-12 document. So are all the images included.

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (PG 3)

1.4 Time allocation (pg 6)

SECTION 2: INTRODUCING THE LANGUAGES (PG 8)

2.1 Language levels (pg 8)

The names Home Language (HL) and First Additional Language (FAL) refer to the proficiency levels at which the language is offered, and not the native (Home) or acquired (as in the Additional) languages. For the purposes of this policy, any reference to Home Language should be understood to refer to the level and not the language itself.

The First Additional Language level assumes that learners do not necessarily have any knowledge of the language when they arrive at school. The focus in the first few years of school is on developing learners’ ability to understand and speak the language-basic interpersonal communication skills.

By Grade 10, learners should be reasonably proficient, but the reality is that many learners still cannot communicate well in their Additional Language at this stage.

The challenge in Grades 10-12, therefore, is to provide support for these learners at the same time as providing a curriculum that enables learners to meet the standards required in Grade 12. These standards must be such that learners can use their additional language at a high level of proficiency to prepare them for further or higher education or the world of work.

2.2 Specific aims of learning Additional Languages (pg 9)

Learning a First Additional Language should enable learners to:

acquire the language skills necessary to communicate accurately and appropriately taking into account audience, purpose and context;
use their Additional Language for academic learning across the curriculum;
listen, speak, read/view and write/present the language with confidence and enjoyment. These skills and attitudes form the basis for lifelong learning;
express and justify, orally and in writing, their own ideas, views and emotions confidently in order to become independent and analytical thinkers;
use their Additional Language and their imagination to find out more about themselves and the world around them. This will enable them to express their experiences and findings about the world orally and in writing;
use their Additional Language to access and manage information for learning across the curriculum and in a wide range of other contexts. Information literacy is a vital skill in the ‘information age’ and forms the basis for lifelong learning;
use their Additional Language as a means of critical and creative thinking: for expressing their opinions on ethical issues and values; for interacting critically with a wide range of texts; for challenging the perspectives, values and power relations embedded in texts; and for reading texts for various purposes, such as enjoyment, research, critique.

2.3 Overview of the language curriculum (pg 10)

The curriculum is organised according to the following skills and content:

Listening and Speaking
Reading and Viewing
Writing and Presenting
Language Structures and Conventions

Language structures and conventions (pg 11)

Language structures and conventions are taught in the context of the above skills and also as part of a systematic language development programme. This should include word choice, spelling, sentence construction, punctuation, paragraph writing, revision of grammatical structures taught in earlier grades, and the introduction of new language structures

2.4 Teaching the First Additional Language (pg 11)

In order to learn an additional language well, one needs as much exposure to it as possible. Learners also need to use their Additional Language frequently for a range of purposes. Teachers should develop learners’ reading and writing strategies so that they can become independent and lifelong readers and writers. Learners also need to know the basics of language: grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation.

It is important to remember that the role of grammar teaching is to support correct language use, and that it has little value if taught as decontexualised rules.

When planning a two-week unit of lessons, teachers should integrate language skills, together with the basics of language. They should choose a text type and a topic that will interest learners as little or no learning can be achieved if learners are not engaged and motivated.

For example, a topic for an argumentative essay might be ‘Should education be free?’ Teachers could introduce the topic through listening and/or reading, building the language and vocabulary knowledge necessary for speaking. Among others, learners could read articles presenting different views about ‘free education’ and they could then debate the issue. Once learners are familiar with the language necessary for this topic, they could do a writing activity, such as an argumentative essay. This would provide further opportunities for working with language. Teachers should provide feedback throughout the process and an appropriate assessment activity at the end.

In Grades 10-12, it is important that (pg 12):

there is a strong focus on reading and writing;
there is continued support for the development of vocabulary, sentence and paragraph construction, and
grammar;
learners work with a range of texts and that these texts increase in difficulty as they move through the grades;
learners are well prepared for using their Additional Language as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT);
learners are well prepared for the examination at the end of Grade 12.

Listening and speaking (pg 12)

Where learners are not able to interact with speakers of the language, they need to practise a variety of informal and formal spoken forms in the classroom. The teacher will need to build the vocabulary and language structures necessary for learners to do this.

Speaking can be a source of anxiety for Additional Language speakers so classroom environments should be supportive and relaxed. Relevant, interesting topics can help to overcome inhibition.

Teaching approaches which encourage learners to participate through asking and answering questions and discussion will help to make learners more comfortable with formal speaking tasks and activities.

In Grades 10-12, teachers should approach listening as a three-phase activity:

Pre-listening
During listening
Post-listening

Speaking happens informally in the classroom, for example, in group work. Learners also need opportunities to practise the kind of informal conversations they might not normally have in the classroom. Teachers should provide instruction in formal speaking and presenting, e.g. prepared or an unprepared speech, reading aloud, an interview, a debate, etc.

Reading and Viewing (pg 13)

By Grade 10 learners should be confident, independent readers in their First Additional Language, selecting texts for their own interests and tastes. However, this may not be the case for all learners. At the start of the year, it is necessary, therefore, to assess learners’ reading comprehension and to plan teaching accordingly.

In Grades 10-12 teachers should approach reading as a three-phase activity:

Pre-reading
Reading
Post-reading

In this curriculum there are three different focuses for reading: short texts, setworks, and learners’ personal choices.

Learners will practice intensive reading of short texts for comprehension, note-taking, summary and critical language awareness.
Learners will study setworks, with a focus on the aesthetic and cultural qualities of texts such as poems, plays, films, novels and short stories. Setwork study allows learners to engage creatively with important cultural and aesthetic texts and to explore their own reality through this engagement. Setwork study will introduce learners to the meta-language/ technical terms used in literary criticism, e.g. “plot” and “character” for novels or “long shot” for film.

In Grades 10-12 learners should study a range of literary texts. For example, a teacher could choose a range of poems over the two years (Grades 10 and 11), short stories from different countries, novels and plays from different periods or films by different directors.

Learners should be involved in extensive reading of a variety of written and visual texts. Teachers should guide learners in selecting texts of the right level which are interesting and accessible.

Library visits, book clubs, classroom libraries, donated or subscribed magazines and newspapers in the classroom support this aspect of the reading programme.

Writing and presenting (pg 14)

At the start of the year, it is necessary to assess learners’ writing. Teachers may find that they need to review some of the basics of writing, for example, paragraph structure, sentence structure and punctuation. It may be necessary to continue giving learners guidance and practice throughout the year.

A first step in teaching extended writing is to select an appropriate text type. Teachers should choose text types at an appropriate level of challenge for the grades they are teaching.

Teachers should make sure that they cover text types that are important in other subjects, for example, information reports, explanations, and persuasive and argumentative essays.

Suggested steps for selecting a text type: pg 15

Language structures and conventions (pg 15)

The skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be put into practice without a sound knowledge of language structure and practice in using it. Learners also need a wide vocabulary, which is perhaps the single most important factor enabling a person to communicate well in an additional language. A wide vocabulary is essential for all the language skills, but especially for reading and writing.

The most effective way for learners to improve their grammar and increase their vocabulary is by doing lots and lots of reading inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers need to find a place for extensive reading in the First Additional Language programme.

Grammar and vocabulary also need to be taught, both in context and in activities with a specific focus on these aspects of language. They can be taught in context as part of reading comprehension lessons, where there is an intensive focus on a short passage.

2.5 Language teaching approaches (pg 16)

The approaches to teaching language in these documents are text-based, communicative, integrated and process orientated.

A text-based approach teaches learners to become competent, confident and critical readers, writers, viewers, and designers of texts. This approach is informed by an understanding of how texts are constructed.

A communicative approach suggests that when learning a language a learner should have a great deal of exposure to the target language and many opportunities to practise or produce the language. Learners learn to read by doing a great deal of reading and learn to write by doing much writing.

The process approach is used when learners read and produce oral and written texts. The learners engage in different stages of the listening, speaking, reading, and writing processes. The teaching of writing does not focus on the product only but also focuses on the purpose and process of writing. During process writing, learners are taught how to generate ideas, to think about the purpose and audience, to write drafts, to edit their work, and to present a written product that communicates their thoughts.

Approaches to teaching literature (pg 16)

The main reason for reading literature in the classroom is to develop in learners a sensitivity to a special use of language that is more refined, literary, figurative, symbolic, and deeply meaningful than much of what else they may read.

The teaching of literature is never easy, but it is impossible without personal, thoughtful, and honest interpretations and comments from the learners themselves. Unless they learn how to understand a literary text on their own, they will not have learnt much.

Teachers often need to restrain their own interpretations and ideas of literary texts and allow as much learner participation as is reasonable. Interpretation is not about right or wrong. It is about searching for what is meaningful to the reader.

The best ways to approach the teaching of literature would involve some or all of the following (pg 17):

Make every attempt to read as much of the text in class as possible without breaking for any other activity. This should not take more than two weeks.
Literary interpretation is essentially a university-level activity, and learners in this phase do not have to learn this advanced level of interpretation. However, the whole purpose of teaching literary texts is to show learners how their Home Language can be used with subtlety, intelligence, imagination and flair. Most of this work should be text-based, but line-by-line analysis of any text is destructive to its subtlety.
Creative writing (and class discussions) should be closely attached to the study of any literary text. Writing activities that demand a close understanding of the text being read can prove very helpful in reaching more creative levels of appreciation on the part of the learners.
Finally, it is important to point out that literature is not about right answers. A whole text means something, not just bits and pieces of it; a good reading of a text incorporates the whole text in interpretative, creative, personal, and exploratory practices.

2.6 Time allocation in the curriculum (pg 17)

The FAL curriculum = 40 week academic year @ 4.5 hours per week.

Language is taught in 2-week cycles of 9 hours.

The time allocation for normal teaching/learning in Grades 10 & 11 is 36 weeks. 4 weeks are set aside for examination purposes.

In Grade 12, there are 30 weeks for normal teaching/learning and then 10 weeks for examinations.

2.7 Requirements to offer First Additional Language as a subject (pg 18)

Each learner should have:

An approved language textbook
Two (2) of the following approved/prescribed literary genres: novel, short stories, drama, poetry
A dictionary; if possible, learners should also have a bilingual dictionary
Media material: a collection of newspapers and magazines
Access to reading material in a class, school and public library for extensive reading.

The teacher should have:

A Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement
Language in Education Policy (LiEP)
The language textbook used by learners and other textbooks for resource purposes in addition to the approved text
Two (2) of the following approved/prescribed literary genres: novel, short stories, drama, poetry
Dictionaries, both monolingual and bilingual, and a thesaurus
A reference textbook for grammar
Media material: A variety of newspapers, magazines, brochures and flyers.
Access to reading material in a class, school and public library in order to guide learners’ extensive reading.

SECTION 3: CONTENT AND TEACHING PLANS FOR LANGUAGE SKILLS (PG 19)

3.1 Listening and speaking (pg 19)

Listening and speaking are different but co-dependent skills. Both are continually present informally in the classroom as learners receive and discuss information. Formal listening and speaking of special forms, e.g. debate, need focused instruction. Formal and informal listening and speaking are integrated with reading, writing and language practice, and speaking may give written text an oral form (e.g. reading aloud).

Examples of expressions used in conversational English – Table available on pg 25

Suggested length of texts to be used for listening comprehension – pg 27

Suggested duration of oral communication – pg 27

3.2 Reading and viewing (pg 28)

Reading and viewing combines two elements: 1) learning and applying strategies for decoding and understanding text; 2) learning and applying knowledge of text features.

Reading and viewing content is arranged into: 1) reading for comprehension; 2) reading for formal study (setworks), and 3) extended independent reading.

Guides for intensive reading of literary and non-literary texts – start on pg 29

Examples of question types for assessing reading – pg 32

Different text types that you can use – pg 33

Length of written texts to be read for intensive reading/comprehension and summary – pg 34

3.3 Writing and presenting (pg 35)

Writing and presenting combines three elements: 1) using the writing process; 2) learning and applying knowledge of the structure and features of different text types; 3) learning and applying knowledge of paragraph and sentence structure and punctuation.

Process writing (pg 35)

Writing instruction will usually involve working through the writing process. However, not every step of the process will be used on every occasion. For example, if learners are writing a familiar text type, they will not need to analyse its structure and language features in so much detail. There may also be occasions when teachers need to focus on sentence construction or paragraph writing, or learners write texts without drafts in preparation for the examination.

Steps in process writing (pg 35)

Planning/Pre-writing
Drafting
Revising, editing, proofreading and presenting

Language structures and conventions during the writing process (pg 36)

Register, style and voice
Word choice
Sentence construction
Simple, compound and complex sentences
Conjunctions to join clauses in compound sentences
Subordinating conjunctions to join clauses in complex sentences
Using sequencing
Noun phrases, adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases to expand sentences
Paragraph writing
Language conventions (spelling and punctuation)

Text types – structure and language features (pg 37)

Teachers should ensure that learners write a range of texts during the year. There should be a balance between short and long texts and writing for different purposes: cognitive academic, creative, personal/interpersonal and work related. Teachers should choose a text type and an appropriate topic to write about, for example, an argumentative essay on the topic ‘Cell phones are taking over our lives’.

Tables outlining the range of text types that Grade 10-12 learners should be taught:

· Essays, Longer and shorter transactional texts (Cognitive academic and creative) – pg 38

· Longer and shorter transactional texts (Personal/Interpersonal) – pg 40

· Transactional texts (Business) – pg 43

· Transactional texts (Informative) – pg 45

· Length of written texts to be produced – pg 45

3.4 Language structures and conventions – reference list (pg 46)

Presented in table form

· Vocabulary development and language use – pg 46

· Sentence structures and conventions (grammar) – pg 46

· Critical language awareness – pg 48

3.5. Teaching plans (pg 49)

Each cycle will include one or more units focused on each of the skills: listening, speaking, reading, viewing, writing, presenting and language. Each cycle will provide activities for learners to study, read or view a series of oral, written and visual texts. In each cycle the activities would draw learners’ attention to correct grammar and genre forms.

Over a year, approximately 18 of these cycles would cover all aspects of the curriculum in 36 weeks.

In addition, the level of difficulty in all areas would increase from term to term and year to year until, over the course of three years, the learners would be ready to write the final Grade 12 examination. Progression therefore also becomes part of the organising of learning programmes.

This structure gives learners and teachers the opportunity to build context, to consolidate vocabulary, and to become familiar with language structures over two weeks before moving on to other skills. At the same time it offers variety and can be tailored to the interests of a group. For example, “Soccer” was a common teaching theme during the World Cup, but could be followed by a cycle on traditional weddings or good environmental practice.

Integrated language teaching: the teaching cycle (pg 49)

Novel / drama / film

If a novel, drama or film is chosen, the teacher will need to divide the text into as many units as there is time available in the Teaching Plan, e.g. 10 units if it is to be studied in the first two terms of Grade 10. These units could be 10 chapters, 10 sections of the drama or 10 scenes of the film which use intensive reading strategies for exploring meaning and effect. Additional sections of the work will be read as homework or part of the extended reading programme.

Grammar

This curriculum presents an explicit grammar focus. In practice, language will take about an hour every two weeks, with half taught in context with writing and reading, and half taught explicitly. In addition to planned grammar teaching there will be remedial teaching or revision of language drawn from learners’ writing errors.

Example of Grade 10, Term 1 Teaching Plan – pg 50

Example of Grade 10 Teaching Plan (Year Plan) – pg 53

Example of Grade 11 Teaching Plan (Year Plan) – pg 61

Example of Grade 12 Teaching Plan (Year Plan) – pg 69

In Grade 12 the texts for formal study (setworks) have been counted 1-18, i.e. about two hours per cycle for one poem or one short story or one unit of a novel or drama. If drama or a novel has been chosen, the teacher would need to divide the work into appropriate units to be covered in that time. Much of the time in Grade 12 will be spent on revision and preparing learners for the final external examination.

SECTION 4: ASSESSMENT IN FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (PG 77)

4.1 Introduction (pg 77)

Assessment is a continuous planned process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about the performance of learners, using various forms of assessment. It involves four steps: generating and collecting evidence of achievement; evaluating this evidence; recording the findings and using this information to understand and thereby assist the learner’s development in order to improve the process of learning and teaching.

Assessment should be both informal (Assessment for Learning) and formal (Assessment of Learning). In both cases regular feedback should be provided to learners to enhance the learning experience.

4.3 Formal assessment (pg 77)

Overview of formal assessments

Formal assessments must cater for a range of cognitive levels and abilities of learners.