2021495193, Assignment 1 PDF

2021495193
GPEV 2613
ASSIGNMENT 1
LANGELIHLE
Table of Contents
Explanation of Polonto’s poor performance…………………………………………….1
Explanation of Polonto’s social barriers………………………………………………2
My thoughts about a discussion with Polonto’s parents……….…………………...3
A drawn-up list of all the barriers to learning experienced by Polonto and how they can
affect her general school work and social adjustments................................. 4
1. First of all, the school that Polonto goes to has Afrikaans as the medium of instruction.
However, judging from her name, Polonto is not Afrikaans speaking and there is a huge
possibility that she comes from a family and/ community that does not speak Afrikaans.
This leads to an arousal of the need for Polonto to learn and master Afrikaans, as it is
somewhat a major determinant of her academic performance. However, Polonto finds
it difficult to learn and master this language mostly because she does not come from a
community and/ background which has Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. This
tampers with her willingness and/ motivation to learn Afrikaans, since it is mostly
relevant at school and only affects the academic aspect of her life. Her struggle to learn
and master this language is evident in parts of the extract which state that Polonto reads
very slow and inaccurately, misreads and muddles up sounds in a word, leaves out
words and sometimes whole lines, she finds it difficult to write words and letters evenly
and has a difficulty to understand what she has read. Consequently, Polonto suffered a
diminished self-esteem and her zeal to do her school work and participate in extra-
mural activities such as sports has drastically declined. This is evident in parts of the
extract which state that, Polonto thinks of every excuse she can use to avoid situations
where she has to read or write, as well as distracting other students during the
commencement of the work she avoided doing. All of the above-mentioned factors
contribute actively Polonto’s overall bad academic performance, with language barrier
being the underlying cause.
2. Since the language barrier Polonto is subjected to results in difficulty to learn and bad
performance, her self-esteem is lowered. Her low self-esteem results in her failing to
adjust to the learning environment and all the events surrounding it. She also struggles
to blend in well with other kids and interact with them on a personal level, hence the
impulse reactions and anger towards her peers. Her lack of confidence due to her bad
academic performance puts her in a position where she wants to distance herself from
others, and such builds up some sort of anger towards and resentment to her peers.
3. I think a discussion with Polonto’s parents is something that was supposed to be
mentioned and discussed in depth by the case study. As her parents, they deserve to be
informed about everything that concerns their daughter’s well-being, adaptability and
performance in a learning environment. In this case, I honestly think Polonto’s
teacher(MS Molefe) should arrange for a sit-down meeting with Polonto’s parents , the
head master, and other relevant stakeholders of the school, so as to make them aware
of the challenges faced by Polonto and their implications on her academic performance
thereof. This is going to help them try and evaluate possible solutions to Polonto’s
situation as a team, while at the same time awaiting feedback from the district,
pertaining Polonto’s struggles within her learning environment(school). For example:
A decision can be taken to pull Polonto out of the school she currently goes to and put
her in a school where she is not going to be faced with the same learning constraints
she is subjected to at her current school. They can also as a group evaluate other
alternatives to moving her to another school. These alternatives may include, but not
limited to hiring a private tutor to teach her how to write and read properly and also
help with her home works, assignments and preparations for tests and exams. As part
of the possible solutions to her social problems, Polonto’s parents can seek professional
help to manage their daughter’s anger and persistent impulse reactions towards her
peers and also help rebuild her self-esteem.
4.
➢ Lack of motivation- Polonto lost the motivation to learn and do her school work.
This results in bad academic performance and social adjustment difficulties at
school.
➢ Language barrier- the language used as the medium of instruction makes it
difficult for Polonto to understand what is being taught at school and to adjust
to her learning environment. As a result, the academic performance attained is
bad.
➢ Low self-esteem- Due to the fact that Polonto struggles to get right things as
simple as reading and writing, her self-esteem is negatively affected, and this
results in her not being able to trust herself enough to learn new things and
actually focus on class. As a result, her academic performance drops and social
interaction and adjustment at school becomes difficult for her to attain.
➢ Lack of interest- due to the fact that Polonto struggles academically, she lost
interest in doing her school work and tends to disturb her peers during the
commencement of the work she never did. This results in bad academic
performance and difficulty to adjust well socially.
➢ Isolation- Polonto tends to isolate herself from other kids at school. This will
result in her failing to interact academically with her fellow pupils in class and
to actually make and keep friends. As a result, her academic performance will
turn out bad, with social adjustment almost impossible to attain.
REFERENCES: Robert Bley-Vroman.(1990):the logical problem of foreign language

learning
Richard Sparks, Leonora Granschow,(1993): the modern language journal

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Explanation of Polonto’s poor performance…………………………………………….1

Explanation of Polonto’s social barriers………………………………………………2

My thoughts about a discussion with Polonto’s parents……….…………………...3

REFERENCES: Robert Bley-Vroman.(1990):the logical problem of foreign language

Richard Sparks, Leonora Granschow,(1993): the modern language journal

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