Hope for rebuilding language foundations: HSRC evaluation report

Because this report is the first formal or official one, relevant background and other information from the provisional Semester 1 report are retained in this version. Substantive integration of literature, context and findings about any observed learner achievement gains, including further theorising about the mechanisms at work, are reserved for later in the 2015 versions of the evaluation report, if not the final report only. One key reason for holding back on intensive evaluation is that scaling up of the programme to a second local language, Tshivenda, in addition to Xitsonga, and pursuing the first cohort of Grade 1 and 4 learners into their next grades, Grades 2 and 5, only commenced earlier in 2014. The findings from this second phase are therefore still forthcoming. Publication in academic journals is also reserved for subsequent outputs.