may be at the expense of conceptual
understanding of a subject. Understanding, according to Mbananga (2004), is influenced by cultural
patterns embedded in a language, and so the use of a language that is not a home language may impact
on conceptual development. In our research, we were therefore interested in the language choices
that Gauteng primary school teachers made when teaching human reproduction to their Natural Science classes and how, in their opinion, this impacted on the development of concepts associated
with human reproduction.