Abstract

This study was undertaken with the purpose of identifying some of the factors that may contribute to the high failure rate of grade 12 students of English as a second language in the Qwaqwa district of the Free State province of South Africa. A second purpose of the study was to seek an explanation as to why certain schools in the Qwaqwa district perform better, on average, than other schools, given that the students often share a similar socio-economic and cultural background. The research consisted of a case study, with the investigator observing and recording events as they occurred in normal classroom situations over a period of time, followed by a reflection on these events and an analysis of the lessons in terms of teacher preparation, lesson development and closure, and the apparent impact of the lesson on the learners. Four schools were selected for this study. The criterion used in selecting the schools was based on the quality of their results obtained on the national grade 12 matriculation examinations. Two of the schools sampled had obtained good marks in these examinations, while the other two schools had not performed well. The thesis ends with some suggestions for improving the level of success in the grade 12 matriculation examinations by those schools which are currently under-performing.