Some sociolinguistic aspects of second language teaching and learning of Xhosa

Abstract

During the period between March 1974 and June 1981, I was involved in the teaching of Xhosa to non-mother-tongue speakers at Rhodes University. This experience brought me face to face with problems for which my training as a teacher of Xhosa had not prepared me as my training had been in the firs t-language teaching and learning of Xhosa. It also sensitized me to some of the problems and contradictions that characterize the teaching o f Xhosa to White learners. The sensitization itself came in the form of a frustration which was two-dimensional.