Challenges that impact the teaching of isiZulu as a home language in multilingual classrooms in Gauteng townships in South Africa

The province of Gauteng has a very complex multilingual learner population. However, language policies do not cater for this complexity in their language provisions. Learners are required to pass one language at home language level and another at additional language level. Usually, schools in townships offer an indigenous African language as the Home Language and English as the First Additional Language. In the case of the home language, a typical school usually offers only one language, and learners must learn that language irrespective of whether it is their first language or not. This article explores the challenges that impact the teaching of isiZulu as a home language in a classroom where learners speak different indigenous African languages. The article follows a qualitative research approach and uses the social constructivism theory to frame the discussion. A critical review of existing research was done to determine the types of challenges that teachers experience when teaching isiZulu in multilingual classrooms in some township schools. The reported challenges include low levels of proficiency and poor reading abilities among learners and the use of inappropriate teaching approaches by teachers. Based on these findings, we propose a multilingual pedagogical approach that could help to alleviate the identified challenges and aid teaching and learning in ways that cater for the complex multilingual realities in a typical township classroom.