1. THE EFFECTS OF MOTHER TONGUE
LITERACY ON SOUTH AFRICA ADULT’S
ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH LITERACY
Presenter: Yin Jin Apple Lin
Instructor: Dr. Pi-Ying Teresa Hsu
October 22,
2012
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2. Citation
Nurss, J.(1998).The effects of mother tongue
literacy on South African adult’s acquisition
of English literacy. Adult Basic Education,
8(2),111-119.
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3. CONTENTS
I Introduction
II Research Questions
III Literature review
IV Methodology
V Results & Discussion
VI Reflection
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4. Introduction
South Africa has 11 official languages.
The official policy is for adults to attain v
functional literacy in their mother tongue before
enrolling in English classes.
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5. Introduction
A large number adults are illiterate or have a
very low level of literacy (18.5%).
Many adults don’t live and work in a highly
literate environment.
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6. Background
Adults Basic Education and Training (ABET).
ABET assumed that one master at least level
1 and 2 to have attained sustainable literacy
(that would take minimum 2 years).
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7. Purpose
Should South African adults who need literacy
instruction be taught to read first in their
mother tongue and then in English or should
they go “straight to” English?
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8. Research Questions
How is adult’s acquisition of English literacy
affected by their level of mother tongue literacy?
How are their understanding of concepts of
print and functions of literacy?
What are their level of oral English?
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9. Literature review
Many consider South Africa’s multilingualism
“a national resource, not a national problem”.
(Luckett, 1993, p.74)
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10. Literature review
Streets suggests that using mother tongue
literacy simply as a bridge to second language
literacy may be “demeaning”.
(Streets, 1994, p.12)
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11. Literature review
The advantage is heightened when the teacher is
bilingual so the adults can acquire both mother
tongue and second language literacy
simultaneously.
(Gillespie, 1995)
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12. Methodology
Participants: 68 South
Africa men and women
Average age: 34
78% were employed
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13. Methodology
ABET Exam
Level 1
Paper & Oral test
Level 2 Those scoring
Paper & Oral test 90% or higher
Level 3, 4, 5
Paper & Oral test
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14. Methodology
Class A N=24
Meet twice a week for 1 hour each
Class B N=12
Meet once a week for 4 hours per session
Class C N=14
Meet 4 times per week for 1 hour per session
Class D N=18
Meet twice per week for 2 hours per session
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15. Results
Zulu literacy Oral English Education
(mother tongue) approached
p=0.034 p=0.471 p=0.744
 No significant difference.
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16. Results
What are their level of oral English?
Zulu literacy Oral English Education
(mother tongue) approached
p=0.034 p=0.471 p=0.744
 No significant difference.
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17. Results
Zulu literacy Oral English Education
(mother tongue) approached
p=0.034 p=0.471 p=0.744
 Subjects scored significantly higher on
Zulu literacy.
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18. Results
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19. Discussion
Many programs don’t require mother tongue
literacy in order to enroll in an English
literacy ABET class.
(1) The pressure by the adults themselves.
(2) The several programs use prior level
as an indicator of mother tongue literacy.
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20. Reflection
ABET assumed that one master that would
take minimum 2 years at least, but the
author didn’t mention how much time did
he spent for the research procedures.
This article help me to know about the
other country’s mother tongue was
related to acquired English.
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21. THANKS FOR YOUR
LISTENING.
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