Evaluating the Challenges Experienced by Grade Three Teachers when Teaching Reading Proficiency in Xitsonga Home Language Classrooms in Limpopo province, South Africa
Rachel Basani Mabasa-Manganyi 
, Khashane Stephen Malatji & Tozama Jane Mthembu
Issue: Vol.6 No.8 Article 4 pp.1336 – 1348
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025684 | Published online 11th July, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The aim of this study was to explore the challenges experienced by grade three teachers when teaching reading proficiency to Xitsonga Home Language learners. A qualitative approach was used with an interpretive research paradigm. A case study was employed as a research design. Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory was used as a theoretical framework. Fifteen grade three Foundation Phase teachers formed part of the sample for the study. The findings from the study revealed learners’ deficiency of willingness to learn to read, which distresses their intellectual capacity to pay attention, as they are not receiving the support they were supposed to get due to being raised by grandparents, and the unavailability of both internal and external teacher workshops. The supplementary data from classroom observations revealed that there was no consistency and emphasis on meaning during the teaching of the big five due to teaching these components implicitly out of context. The study concluded that a reconfiguration of collaborator roles should be reviewed owing to its crucial part in the improvement of the reading proficiency of learners. The study recommended that stakeholders such as teachers, learners, parents and the Department of Basic Education should work together for maximum learner performance. This study will contribute to the urgent call for stakeholders to rethink pedagogies, conceptualize the pedagogies and resuscitate the collaborations between stakeholders concerned with the delivery and teaching of reading that will promote proficiency in the Xitsonga Home language.
Keywords: Challenges, Grade Three, Home Language, Proficiency, Reading, Xitsonga
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Dr Rachel Basani Mabasa-Manganyi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Limpopo, Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, and Department of Education Studies: Foundation Phase. She holds a Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase (Wits), Bachelor of Education Honours (UNISA), Master of Education (Wits) and Doctor of Education in Language and Literacy Education ( TUT). She is an academic and a critical scholar committed to the pursuit of knowledge in African languages and literacies. Mabasa-Manganyi’s academic interests lie in the fields of African languages and decolonization of Education in the marginalized African languages. She is responsible for lecturing on the Foundation Phase Literacy in Xitsonga and English First Additional for the Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase. Mabasa-Manganyi is an emerging researcher responsible for supervising Honours and Master’s students. She was awarded the University of Limpopo Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Best Upcoming Teacher at the School Level.
Prof. Khashane Stephen Malatji Malatji is currently a Research Professor at the University of Mpumalanga, South Africa in the Faculty of Education.He holds a PhD in Education: Curriculum and Instructional Studies from the University of Fort Hare. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education for Academic Developers from Rhodes University. He is the author of over 100 articles in accredited journals. Prof Malatji has successfully supervised 31 Master’s and 26 Doctoral students to completion. He was awarded several research awards, such as Young Researcher of the Year (institutional), Senior Researcher of the Year (institutional), and Emerging Researcher of the Year by the Education Association of South Africa. Prof Malatji has delivered papers and chaired sessions at many national and international conferences. His research interest covers teaching and learning, evaluation of teaching, curriculum development, assessment, and teacher development in higher education.
Dr. Tozama Mthembu is a lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology, lecturing on Literacy to Foundation Phase pre-service teachers. She has been a lecturer of Literacy for 15 years. She has a BA Honours in Linguistics (UWC), Postgraduate Diploma in Special Education in Remedial Teaching (UWC), MA in Linguistics (UKZN), and Doctor of Education (focusing on the area of formative assessment) at TUT. She is a qualified Junior Primary Teacher who holds a Junior Primary Teacher’s Diploma. She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Special Education. She taught the Foundation Phase learners for 15 years. Tozama Mthembu has knowledge and skills in teaching reading and developing materials for English as an additional language. She was part of the European-funded project to develop materials for the advancement of teaching literacy in African languages. She has supervised Master of Education and Doctoral students to completion and has published papers.
Mabasa-Manganyi, Rachel Basani, Khashane Stephen Malatji and Tozama Jane Mthembu. “Evaluating the Challenges Experienced by Grade Three Teachers when Teaching Reading Proficiency in Xitsonga Home Language Classrooms in Limpopo province, South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no.8 (2025): 1336 – 1348. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025684
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
