Grammatical competence of ESL teachers

Abstract

The aim of this article is to report on a study investigating the grammatical competence of English Second Language teachers in secondary schools.  This study came about as a result of the widespread concern that these teachers may not always be competent enough in English. We determined the teachers’ familiarity with standard English grammar as well as their acceptance of Black South African English features. The findings indicate that teachers had problems with the grammatical structures tested and accepted some Black South African English grammatical features as correct usage. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om verslag te doen oor ‘n studie wat die grammatikale vermoë van onderwysers van Engels Tweedetaal-onderwysers in sekondêre skole gemeet het. Die studie is gedoen na aanleiding van ‘n wydverspreide besorgdheid dat onderwysers van Engels nie altyd vaardig genoeg in Engels is nie. Ons het die onderwysers se bekendheid met standaard-Engels grammatika vasgestel asook hul aanvaarding van Swart Suid-Afrikaanse Engelse grammatikale verskynsels. Die bevindinge dui aan dat onderwysers probleme het met die grammatikale strukture wat getoets is en dat hulle sekere Swart Suid-Afrikaanse Engelse grammatikale verskynsels as korrek aanvaar.