**Abstract**

Cultural and linguistic diversity is a common feature across sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa is not an exception. With high levels of linguistic diversity in this context and language constituting a barrier to learning, it important to understand the instructional communicative strategies used by teachers to support students with specific learning disabilities in mainstream classrooms. The study was conducted using a survey design and semi-structured interviews to collect data on the teachers' awareness, preparation and strategies used with diverse students. The participants were 47 primary school teachers in Pretoria, South Africa. The data was analysed to identify the effective strategies used by the teachers. The findings revealed that the teachers employed cooperative learning, grouping and explicit vocabulary instruction as strategies with the students. Although the majority of the teachers indicated that they felt competent to support the students' needs in terms of curriculum and standards, cultural differences and socio-emotional development, they still believe that more focused teacher professional development programmes, support from other professional and additional resources were required for better student achievement.

**Keywords:** linguistic diversity, language of instruction, student support, teaching and learning strategies, primary school learners
