Benefits for teaching & learning, particularly for students The first phase of the project was implemented in the first semester of 2022. Thereafter the team evaluated it to establish its impact and saw fit to continue with the project. The intervention was well received by all involved parties, particularly tutors and students. Students expressed their gratitude towards the project, which they found useful in offering them an additional opportunity to catch up on concepts they were grappling with. This activity encouraged participation by all students, especially those who are mostly quiet in class. Tutors were equally enthusiastic about taking up the responsibility. According to our observations, in addition to competency in materials, fruitful discussions required that appointed tutors were individuals with good communication and facilitation skills. This is even more relevant to the multilingual project that involves code switching and providing explanations to students who might be struggling to grasp the subject. The discussions in the tutorials indicated the usefulness of engaging with concepts in a mother tongue. Lessons learnt Although South Africa has 11 official languages, it may not be practical to conduct a tutorial that encompasses all eleven languages. Moreover, limiting the tutorials to two languages seemed to affect the uptake, even though the languages might be dominant among students. Other language-intensive disciplines may adopt a similar approach with more analysis of the student language proportions and preferences. Where possible, translation of difficult glossary terms into all 11 official languages could assist students who experience difficulties, especially with modules at-risk. There could perhaps be a need to expand the number of languages and have more slots with smaller groups. 2. 3. Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2022 59
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