Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

A. Related Literature

For communication to work, a message must be understood by the

receiver. When two people cannot understand one another, they

experience a language barrier. Language barriers occur when a breakdown

in language and communication happens at either the sender side or the

receiver side of a message. A language barrier can occur within a language

or between speakers of different languages.

Communication barriers in the classroom make it difficult for students to get

the most out of their education. Some teachers fail to create engaging lessons

and struggle to connect to their students on a one-to-one basis. Students with

unaddressed language or speech difficulties often have trouble communicating

with their teachers and classmates.

According to Helen Pinnock, Senior Education Adviser at Save the

Children UK, children are approximately 12 years old before they fully

master their native language. Before this point, children are not able to pick

up a second language as quickly as older children or adults. Children who

begin learning a new language before they completely understand their first

language have difficulty expressing abstract concepts or ideas in the

second tongue. Ultimately, it is difficult for a child to succeed as a language

minority student without having a solid foundation in his first language.

According to The Neurobiology of Affect in Language, John Schumann,

a second language acquisition professor from the UCLA Department of

Applied Linguistics, says many second language learners are afraid that

they do not have a strong enough command of the language to express

themselves and worry that they will be ridiculed if they try to communicate

with others using the new language. This situation can cause significant

emotional stress and may interfere with learning.

Parental involvement is often much lower among language minority

families. These parents may be uncomfortable about coming into the

classroom to talk with the teacher because they are not fluent themselves,

so they might not be fully aware of how their child is performing in the

classroom. Language minority parents cannot always help their children

with homework, so homework assignments may not always be completed

satisfactorily.

In 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) conducted research across 26 countries showing

that over 50 percent of students who dropped out of school did not speak

the language in which they were being educated. This applies to the United
States as well. A 2012 report by the American Psychological Association

noted that Latino students who spoke one language at home and another at

school were at increased risk of graduating late or dropping out of high

school.

Language barriers are a difficult hurdle, but they can be successfully

overcome. Classroom teachers can help by using techniques such as

highlighting and discussing academic vocabulary before introducing the

lesson, providing the same material at differentiated reading levels, and by

using clear, simple language when describing new concepts. One of the

most important things a teacher can do to help language-minority students

is to build relationships with her students and their families. This builds

trust and respect, which is a necessary foundation for learning.

B. Related Studies

Language barriers in the classroom has become a major problem due to the

growing number of minority students who do not speak English. This is such a

huge problem because these kids are not getting the same opportunities to meet

their full potential. This is not right because it is causing these kids to not

succeed in school. There are several ways to deal with this problem. The four

options are, creating equal education for all students, motivating kids through

support systems both inside and outside of the classroom, doing away with

standardized tests and lastly by using various forms of non-verbal

communication amongst diverse children. All these options are possibilities in

dealing with the dilemma of language barriers. Through much research and

observation the conclusion that has been made is that the second option is the

best. Though it seems that motivating kids through support systems both inside

and outside of the classroom seems to be the best choice, in reality the ideal

solution would be to incorporate all four options into the classroom.

Many children of poverty groups enter our schools with little or no previous

relevant language experience in the use of the formal English language - the

language of the classroom. Therefore, the distinctive low achievements in school

of the educationally deprived child are a continued extension of a reflection of

selective retardation in his intellectual development. In considering how the

learning needs of the disadvantaged differ from those of other children, when

they enter school, and what implications these have for instruction, we find it

necessary to examine the selective effects of retardation as they occur in the

classroom and the extent to which these are preventive. David P. Ausubel

recently argued rather forcefully that neither the contribution of the cultural

environment to the intellectual development nor the modifiability of the children's

relative intellectual ability as measured by intelligence tests is seriously disputed

any longer; that whatever the individual's genic potentialities are, cognitive

development occurs largely in response to a variable range of stimulation. The

more variable the environment to which individuals are exposed, the higher is the

resulting level of effective stimulation.

 The failure to achieve academic outcomes in linguistically diverse classrooms

in poor areas of the Western Cape, South Africa, is well documented. A major

contributing factor is the written language communication difficulties experienced

in these classrooms. This paper describes the views of intermediate-phase

teachers on why written language difficulties are experienced by learners and

ways in which these difficulties might be overcome. A series of interviews were

conducted with two class teachers in one urban school from which there had

been a high number of referrals for speech-language therapy. The teachers were

individually interviewed using an in-depth, semi-structured format. Teachers

reported that 50 - 70% of learners in their classes were not meeting grade level

academic outcomes. They were asked to explain the difficulties experienced with

regard to written language, and the challenges and solutions linked to these. The

findings suggest that there are barriers and opportunities at the school system,

individual learner and home/social community levels. Major challenges identified

at the school system level included limited training and lack of support for

teachers, poor foundation skills in learners and difficulties with language. The

current opportunities for the development of written language were insufficient

and teachers identified further opportunities to promote the learners’ written

language development. These included training and support for teachers, clear

and consistent assessment guidelines, remedial assistance for learners and safe,

nurturing home environments. There is a need to look beyond the learner as the

site of the problem; a systemic approach is essential. In the light of these

findings, suggestions are made for the role of the speech-language therapist.
 The impetus for this study was the high number of referrals that speech-

language therapists (SLTs) based at a newly established university clinic in the

Cape Flats area of the Western Cape had received. There were no SLT services

in this poor community prior to the establishment of the university clinic in 2004.

When teachers were informed of the service available to assist learners with

communication difficulties, they referred learners in large numbers. The majority

of learners were from intermediate-phase classrooms, and reported to be

experiencing problems with written language. The situation warranted further

investigation, and a project was therefore initiated to understand the challenges

and to explore possible intervention strategies. This paper focuses specifically on

teachers’ perspectives on written language expression in intermediate-phase

learners in an urban ordinary school in the Cape Flats area of the Western Cape,

South Africa.

The term ‘ordinary’ is used to refer to classrooms in mainstream government

schools and not to classrooms in ‘special schools’ (DoE, 2001, p.15).

Intermediate phase refers to grades 4 - 6 in these ordinary schools. Written

language may be defined as a set of phonological (sounds), syntactical (form)

and semantic (content/meaning) rules represented by orthographic features

(Nicolosi, Harryman & Krescheck, 1989, p. 142). It also refers to reading, writing

and related processes (ASHA, 2001, p. 355). Written language expression refers

to the written language texts that are generated through the writing processes as

a form of communicating meaning to the reader (ASHA, 2001, p. 169).

While the problem was highlighted at a localised site, the reading and writing

difficulties of children throughout South Africa are well documented (Centre for

Evaluation and Assessment, 2006; DoE, 2008). In 2003, the South African

Department of Education (DoE) investigated literacy levels among grade 3

learners and found that 61% of children did not have age-appropriate reading

and writing skills (Centre for Evaluation and Assessment, 2006). The Progress in

International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) reported results from South Africa

which showed the lowest reading literacy levels of all 40 countries investigated

(Mullis, Martin, Kennedy & Foy, 2007) despite the fact that the South African

grade 5 learners were compared to grade 4 learners internationally (Scherman,

van Staden, Venter & Howie, 2008). South African learners were found to be

more than two grades behind their international peers as regards reading. As

reading and written language are closely related, it is likely that their written

language skills would also be compromised. Reading and writing are important

tools in other learning areas in later grades, so it is vital that effective

interventions take place to help these children (Centre for Evaluation and

Assessment, 2006). Current research by the Western Cape Education

Department (WCED) confirms the concern about written language and reading,

which has been described as a national crisis (DoE, 2008).