This qualitative study sought to explore the training of pre-service teachers for

mother-tongue-based bilingual Mathematics teaching in the Foundation Phase. The

study employed a case study design, comprising twelve (12) participants from two
public universities in the Eastern Cape Province. Purposeful sampling was employed
to select twelve participants (four lecturers and eight pre-service teachers in the
Foundation Phase). Two lecturers were selected per university and four pre-service
teachers per university. Multiple data generation tools were utilized, such as semi-
structured interviews, classroom observations and documents analysis. Data was
analysed through content analysis, then summarise, and and finally categorised to
themes.

Findings revealed that the participants had a better understanding of bilingual

Mathematics teaching in the Foundation Phase through the lecturers have a better
understanding of bilingual Mathematics teaching than the students. The lecturers
made emphases on the mother tongue and English while the students made
emphases on two languages without putting into consideration mother tongue and
English. Different methods were revealed in training pre-service teachers in the
Foundation Phase; which are: code-switching, e-learning and visual and organizing
of special language classes. This study also found that bilingual Mathematics
teaching improves students’ cognitive development and confidence of students in
expressing themselves during their communication in class. However, lack of
resources in the indigenous language teaching, lecturers’ incapability/incompetency
in bilingual teaching and lack of appropriate Mathematics vocabulary in mother
tongue were viewed as major challenges faced by pre-service teachers in the
Foundation Phase in the current training practice. Due to the findings of the study the
following recommendations were made: The need for policy change in respect of the
language for teaching and learning in South Africa universities, the use of Mother-
tongue based Mathematics teaching should be made compulsory and properly
implemented in the universities in the training of pre-service Foundation Phase
Mathematics teachers and special programmes mainly on mother tongue
Mathematics pedagogical content knowledge should be introduced in training pre-
service Foundation Phase teachers.
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Within the South African context, mathematics is one of the four main subjects
offered to learners in the Foundation Phase, thus, mathematics is compulsory for all
pre-service students during the four year Bachelor of Education programme. Several
researchers (Mohan, 2012; Tatto et al. 2012) assert that the purpose of initial
teacher education is to provide and scaffold Foundation Phase mathematics pre-
service teachers with new sets of mathematics experiences, skills, resources, and
knowledge for teaching and learning.
South Africa repeatedly suffer a great loss of prospects from young students who
lose interest in mathematics at an early stage. There are several reasons suggested
to be the major causes of student’s poor performance in mathematics and
mathematics dropouts. Usiskin (2004) argue that low productivity is the major
setback to students` performance. On the other hand, Blanton (2008) is of the notion
that the language of instruction is significantly impacting on the interest of the
students to pursue mathematics. Also, Carnoy, Chisholm and Chibisa (2012)
projects that foundation phase teachers lack knowledge, competencies and skills
needed to improve knowledge transfer. Jansen (2011) classifies five causes for the
low throughput of the school system in South Africa, these include; “lack of
systematic routines and rituals; knowledge problem; bureaucratic and administrative
ineptitude; lack of accountability and lack of capacity and expertise”.
Research in pre-service in bilingual mathematics teacher training is a multi-faceted
and growing field that attracts a range of theoretical perspectives concerning pre-
service teacher learning and development (Goos & Bennison, 2008). Providing
superior quality learning experiences is the goal of pre-services teacher preparation
programs (Grant & Sleeter, 2006). As a result, it is important to acknowledge the
significance of current teaching practices that dictate the learning environment of
pre-services bilingual mathematics teachers. The literature suggest that there is a
drastic shift from traditional practices of preparing pre-services foundation teachers.
Hastings and Tracey (2005) applauds the importance of technology use in education
and the acceptance of technology as an important driver to knowledge transfer.
Many researchers have posited that technology use with relevant teaching methods
improves student learning (Kozma, 2003; Winn, 2002). Despite the significance of
technology in education, previous research shows that traditional teaching methods
are still dominant despite the rapid increase in technology related teaching
approaches to pre-service teacher education.
The teaching practices available to foundation phase pre-service teachers dictate
their understanding of Mathematical concepts and terms as well as the development
of their pedagogical content knowledge. Furthermore, effectiveness of current
practices also may support or bring more challenges to pre-service teachers. On this
note, it is evident that the quality of pre-service teacher is a result of efficient and well
implemented teaching practices. In support of this provision, Carnoy et al. (2008)
suggest that high quality mathematics teaching is positively related to learner
achievement.
In the Foundation Phase (Grades R-3), the use of mother tongue (home language)
is supported by the curriculum and the Language in Education Policy (Liep, 1997).
This Language in Education Policy (Department of Education, 1997:1) positions
learners’ home language as the bedrock of their learning: “the underlying principle is
to maintain home language (s) while providing access to and the effective acquisition
of additional languages(s)”. This policy also emphasises the need to use mother
tongue in an attempt to improve the quality of teaching, and more importantly the
quality of mathematics teaching in particular. However, having mentioned the above
policy, the institutions of higher learning continue to teach Foundation Phase
mathematics to pre-service teachers in English as a medium of instruction which
could create challenges for students when they go to schools to teach using mother
tongue language.
Given the trends and the background information provided, this research aims to
examine the preparation of Foundation Phase pre-service teachers for bilingual
mathematics teaching.
Training of pre-service teachers
Pre-service education or initial teacher education (Darling-Hammond, 1996), offers
an opportunity for new teachers to gain knowledge that next ends their professional
intellectual capacities and ensures that, what they can teach is both appropriate and
rigorous (Reid, 2017). This also serves as a bridge between a novice and a
professional in the field of teaching (Taylor, 2016). According to Deacon (2012), this
journey begins with an entry into a teacher education programme and continues into
a newly qualified teacher’s first few years of teaching in a school. An essential part of
pre-service teacher education is practicum (work-based learning). Practicum is an
opportunity for student teachers to put their academic knowledge into practice in a
real world of work, thus, during this period, they test out their skills in classroom
management, lesson planning, presentation and professional development (Mashau,
2012).
The experiences of a pre-service teacher include the confidence to deliver his or her
pedagogical content knowledge as well as to professionally approach tasks as
required. According to Cherrington (2017), for most pre-service teachers starting out;
the fear of the unknown often leads to mounting frustration. This originates from a
feeling of under preparedness in handling the socio-emotional barriers that learners
bring to the classroom (Cherrington, 2017; Darling- Hammond, 1996). On the bright
side, a student teacher who sees this challenge as an opportunity towards a good
course, may embark on a process of self-actualisation that promotes his or her own
well-being (Cherrington, 2017).
Pre-service teacher training programmes play a significant role in the preparation of
a highly qualified teaching work force, which is necessary to support the
development of a 21st century society (International Reading Association, 2003). In
South Africa, the National Teacher Education Audit of 1996 concluded that the
quality of teacher education was generally poor, inefficient and not cost-effective
(Hofmeyer and Hall, 1996). According to the DHET (2011), the quality and the
relevance of the teacher preparation programmes offered by HEIs, vary widely. In
the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and
Development in South Africa, 2011–2025, (DHET, 2011), it is stated that universities
have the responsibility for ensuring that the programmes being offered are of high
quality and lead to meaningful development for teachers. Teacher preparation
programmes often cannot meet the challenges in preparing teachers for highly
complex and increasingly diverse schools and classrooms, the challenge of keeping
abreast of current developments in research and practice, a complex knowledge
base, and the difficulty of learning many of the skills required to enact the knowledge
base (Snow et al., 1998; Ball and Forzani, 2009).