Multiple voices in bilingual higher education : language choices of Afrikaans/English bilinguals at Stellenbosch University (original) (raw)
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Per Linguam
This paper uses a sociocultural theory and heteroglossic approach to investigate the bilingual learning experience of seven Afrikaans/English bilinguals at Stellenbosch University. In particular these bilinguals were asked to reflect on the language choices they make when completing various assessment tasks and when they are internalising new information. These students were also asked to reflect on the ways in which a bilingual learning context has changed their language proficiency. It is evident from the data that the language choices are made for a multiplicity of reasons, and that the participants draw on a number of different voices, some contradictory, to articulate their experience. These findings are discussed especially in connection to the implications for policy makers, showing that methodologies such as surveys and questionnaires in which participants are requested to make a choice, do not reflect the heteroglossic and ambiguous nature of bilingualism.
Cogent Education
Any language policy has crucial social implications that impact its successful implementation. The introduction of the bilingual language policy at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has spurred polemical debate and discussions especially regarding the value of African languages for teaching and learning. This article offers a socio-constructivist analysis of the issues that emerge in the implementation of the UKZN language policy. The study on which it is based employed a mixed methodology drawing on secondary as well as primary data collected by means of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires administered to staff and students at two UKZN campuses. Simple random sampling was applied to enroll 16 students while purposive sampling was used to select nine academic staff for the study. The findings reveal that although the bilingual language policy has inherent social value, uncertainty persists with regard to its short and long-term economic significance. This calls for deeper reflection on the social implications of the language preferences of the institution's staff and students who are directly affected by the policy.
Bilingual instruction at tertiary level in South Africa: what are the challenges?
Current Issues in Language Planning, 2018
The University of KwaZulu-Natal has a bilingual language policy (2006) where students may receive instruction in isiZulu as well as in English. An online survey was carried out for all academic and support staff to gauge their linguistic capacity in isiZulu. Staff profiles were created in relation to their respective Colleges, Schools and Disciplines, and included age, language group, language use, language of schooling and years of experience in the Higher Education sector. It also included modules currently taught by staff through the medium of isiZulu; communicative language proficiency; instructional language proficiency; perceptions of own capacity to teach in isiZulu and perceptions of the time required to develop adequate proficiency to teach in isiZulu. Respondents were also asked to translate a complex sentence into isiZulu, the responses to which were later analysed into three categories: fluent, semi-fluent and not fluent for purposes of comparison with staff perceptions of their own proficiency. Findings revealed a serious gap between current staff capacity to teach in isiZulu, and the implementation of the policy within the projected timeframes. This study also reveals the complexities of teaching when discipline experts and students do not share a common language.
The decline of academic bilingualism in South Africa:a case study
Language policies in South African higher education were formalized between 2000 and 2002, just prior to a major restructuring of the higher education system. During this period institutions of higher learning were expected to formulate both a language policy and a detailed language plan. National policies on language in education are intended to substantiate the constitutional commitment to using and developing the 11 official languages. Gaps between official commitments to 'multilingualism' and actual language practices are nevertheless evident at national and institutional levels. In this article I explore the concepts 'bilingual university' and 'academic bilingualism', as a prelude to a contextualized discussion of the decline of English-Afrikaans bilingualism at the University of Port Elizabeth (which after the January 2005 merger with the PE Technikon, became part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). I explore the emergence of a gap between formal policy pronouncements and actual institutional practices. I then situate this local trend within the wider context of post-1994 political and socio-economic changes and the emergence of a new official discourse on 'multilingualism.' I explain the ostensive shift from a 'dual medium' to a 'multilingual' policy at UPE in terms of broader trends and contradictions in the national field of higher education. The article employs a theoretical framework, which-drawing on the work of Bourdieu-seeks to (a) situate the case within a wider national field of higher education, and (b) theorise 'academic bilingualism' as form of cultural capital within this field. In terms of this framework, the analysis of the case raises specific questions about current institutional language policies in South Africa and more general questions about the nature of bilingualism in higher education.
Bilingualism Gridlocked at the University of Kwazulu-Natal
Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2009
This paper situates itself in the context of proposed bi/multilingual Higher Education policy in post-apartheid South Africa. It provides a descriptive analysis of language-user attitudes toward a bilingual (English-isiZulu) medium of education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The study postulates a dissonance between proposed bilingual policy and practice at UKZN due to resistance exhibited by the university community. Three objectives are pursued: (1) To report on the new bilingual policy currently implemented at the university, (2) To survey language attitudes prevalent among university affiliates, (3) To relate its conclusions to a re-evaluation of the implementation procedure of bilingual policy of UKZN, in line with the desirability of its constituents. A survey-questionnaire is administered to staff and students, probing the following salient factors: (a) language-use patterns (b) proficiency in isiZulu (c) language preferences (d) language attitudes and (e) awareness of language policy in Higher Education.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 2014
The dominant position of neo-liberal monolingual medium-of-instruction practices has created myths and fallacies about the utility of English as the sole language of skills development and training in South Africa (Ndhlovu 2013:33). As a result, most tertiary institutions are reluctant to implement multilingual education for purposes of teaching and learning because they want to create "globally relevant" students. This argument is based on myths and has been proven by many scholars to be delusive. Current research has proven that the use of multilingualism in higher learning contributes to the learner's conceptual and pedagogical development as well as his/her communicative competence. However, despite this evidence, the NorthWest University's (NWU) Mafikeng campus is failing to implement a language policy that promotes multilingualism. A commonly-heard argument is that the students at NWU have a negative attitude towards the use of their indigenous languages for teaching and learning purposes. It is in light of this that the researchers set out not only to interrogate the NWU language policy, but also to go a step further and investigate the students' perceptions of multilingual education as a factor contributing towards the lack of practical implementation of the university's language policy. This study will also highlight the ill-preparedness of students for an English-only teaching and learning environment. The tentative empirical data prove that the students also feel that they are at a linguistic disadvantage when entering the tertiary institution. This paper returns to the knotty question regarding language-in-education policies for multilingual societies, which is an ongoing topical issue in national and international contexts.
2009
South Africa, like many ex-colonial contexts finds itself confronting difficult decisions about multilingualism. The South Africa constitution recognizes eleven official languages and provides for education in these languages. At present, few parents opt to put their children in African language classrooms. This study explores the case of an inner-city school in Cape Town which offered limited provisions in learning in Afrikaans and isiXhosa besides the main language English. The study elicited learners' ideas and attitudes about the viability of these languages as languages of teaching and learning through the primary use of interviews. Learners' perceptions of language are discussed within a language ideological framework that distinguishes between modernist and post modernist ideas of language in a transforming postmodern context. Among the findings are ideologically loaded discourses of how these learners undermine the use of Afrikaans and isiXhosa as languages of education in order to create or enact a certain learner identity which they deem appropriate for this context. Furthermore, downgrading of their languages is largely embedded in the need to separate languages of the home and education as some languages are more than others believed to offer social and economic flexibility. iv Declaration I declare that Choice of language for learning and assessment: the role of learner identity and perceptions in informing these choices is my own work and that it has not been submitted for any degree or examination in any other institution and also, all the sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of references. Nomxolisi Jantjies June 2009 Signature…………………………. v Acknowledgements My greatest and sincerest thank you goes to Professor Christopher Stroud, my supervisor; this thesis would not have been possible without his support, patience and expertise. He has always believed in the completion of this project even when I had often been in doubt. No amount of words would ever match my gratitude. Tack! Thank you to my mother uPeti who has been a great support and always encouraging through out this journey. Thank you to my friends who were always willing to assist even at short notice and my family for the love and support. Thank you to the staff and colleagues in the Linguistics Department.
An appraisal of bilingual language policy implementation in South African higher education
South African Journal of African Languages, 2020
The demand for promoting bilingual and multilingual language policies in African universities can be regarded as a decolonial force for driving pedagogical changes in teaching and learning. In South Africa, there have been polemic debates particularly on the need to include African languages as alternatives to English. This article intervenes in the increasing tensions about language policy implementation in tertiary institutions. The study utilises a qualitative methodology that blends secondary and primary data collected from semi-structured interviews and questionnaires from two campuses (Howard and Pietermaritzburg) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Findings reveal that the UKZN academic staff and students have mixed feelings about the implementation of the bilingual language policy. The authors argue for the need to balance the use of African and non-African languages for teaching and learning. The study ends with a highlight of the challenges related to this Africanising project through language policies by emphasising key tenets for strengthening language policy implementation in South Africa.