Communication and teaching in the home: A study of Zulu and Sotho preschoolers

Communication data drawn from an observational study of five‐year‐old Zulu and Sotho children in 80 households were supplemented with audiotaped data in a more structured learning situation in the homes of 57 of these children. The particular focus of interest was the introduction of ideas about literacy and numeracy to children in communities where experience with literacy and schooling has a short history, and the schooling has been of poor quality. The analysis was conducted on both quantitative and qualitative lines in order to identify the social rules and constraints governing the amount, style and content of the information transmitted to the child by different age#shsex classes of speech partners. The analysis revealed that quantitatively and qualitatively age#shsex categories communicated differently with the child and these differences were systematically related to seniority and gender. In the structured learning situation, adult women and older children of both sexes were the main source of information to the child, but these age categories differed in teaching style. The communication network in the home emerged as a complex system with varied influences on the child. It is argued that these need to be taken into account in planning interventions to improve children's academic achievement.