Abstract
The global and local evolution of technology and the internet has added a new dimension to teaching and learning in the school classroom. This is an important issue, because some of the 21st-century school learners are digital natives who also bring mobile technology into the Afrikaans Home Language class.
This article deals with the use of the blended learning approach in the Afrikaans Home Language classroom to make the language teacher aware of the new teaching possibilities that exist with regard to online teaching. Research on this issue is relevant, therefore this investigation is aimed at supplementing the lack of knowledge within the Afrikaans Home Language context and finding out which Afrikaans Home Language teaching approaches together with the blended learning approach are preferred by the teachers in the classroom. The findings indicate that the implementation of the blended learning approach is workable in a well-equipped South African language classroom.
This investigation was framed by the following primary research question: How do teachers use blended learning as a teaching approach in Afrikaans Home Language? The study is theoretically grounded by different branches of constructivism and a number of models or frameworks have been used throughout as lenses to interpret the results.
In this article, we use the overarching principles of constructivism to discuss the different teaching approaches of blended learning. Finer nuances and connections are highlighted through the lenses of social and contextual constructivism, as the social context of the classroom as well as the various contextual factors associated with it are also discussed. Connectivism as a lens places the social connections that arise under the microscope and constructionism illuminates the workings of, among others, game-based learning. The use of multilevel learning within various teaching approaches is also dealt with and the lenses through which it is clarified are cognitivism and Bloom’s taxonomy, while the framework of Neumeier (2005) was used to investigate specifically the blended learning approach within the Afrikaans Home Language classroom.
A case study design was used as research methodology. The data were obtained from teachers in the Western Cape who teach Afrikaans Home Language in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase and use technology in their classrooms. The data generation through a quantitative methodology made use of a questionnaire. The case study was presented in the format of an article and deals with a research question. The findings indicate that the implementation of a blended learning approach is feasible in a suitably equipped South African language classroom.
The results of the case study indicate that technology can be the “vehicle” with which the skills needs of the 21st-century learner can be met through the Afrikaans Home Language curriculum. It was also found that technology integration does take place in the language classrooms and that the blended learning approach has been implemented to increase contact time and communication opportunities. The use of the blended learning approach in Afrikaans Home Language teaching furthermore implies that it expands the classroom space and thus increases the reach of the teacher. This means that the teacher can also expand his or her support of the learner with regard to cognitive and affective needs.
The insight gained through the case study has been transformed into a simple model with which the process of integration of learning technology within the school classroom can be started.
In the article we also reflect briefly on the lockdown period (2020) and the influence thereof on the use and integration of learning technology in the Afrikaans Home Language classroom.
Keywords: 21st-century classroom; 21st-century skills; Afrikaans Home Language teaching; assessment; blended learning; blended learning approach; communicative approach; grammar class; integration; language education; language teachers; learning technology; literacy; literature class; SAMR model; teaching approaches; teaching model; technology integration; zone of proximal development