Stakeholder Perspectives on the Integration of African Languages in Higher Education Learning: A South African Case Study

Wanga Gambushe

doi:10.17533/udea.ikala.356130

Autores/as

Wanga Gambushe University of Cape Town https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1627-081X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.356130

Palabras clave:

lenguas africanas, educación superior, multilingüismo, lengua materna, política lingüística

Resumen

Desde los inicios de la democracia en Sudáfrica (1994), la enseñanza superior ha experimentado cambios demográficos sustanciales. A pesar de que Sudáfrica es un país multilingüe, cuya diversidad lingüística está consagrada en la Constitución, las instituciones de educación superior no representan adecuadamente este multilingüismo. Esta deficiencia se ha identificado como una causa del bajo rendimiento de los estudiantes que hablan lenguas indígenas africanas en la educación superior. En consecuencia, se han aplicado diversas políticas para ampliar la presencia de las lenguas africanas en las instituciones de educación superior. Mediante un estudio de caso, esta investigación se propuso profundizar en las perspectivas de las distintas partes en un módulo de biología celular de una universidad sudafricana en relación con el uso de lenguas africanas como apoyo al aprendizaje. Se preguntó a estudiantes, profesores y demostradores prácticos qué pensaban sobre el uso de las lenguas africanas para ayudar a los estudiantes de habla africana. Los resultados revelaron una división de opiniones: los estudiantes se mostraron mayoritariamente a favor, los profesores expresaron opiniones diversas y los manifestantes que hablaban lenguas africanas se mostraron en general a favor, mientras que otros tenían reservas. La cuestión central que se plantea al final es la siguiente: ¿Qué opinión es más importante, la de los estudiantes o la de sus profesores?

|Resumen

= 59 veces | PDF (ENGLISH)

= 50 veces| | EPUB (ENGLISH)

= 0 veces|

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Biografía del autor/a

Wanga Gambushe, University of Cape Town

Profesor, Universidad de Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica

Citas

Alexander, N. (2000). English unassailable but unattainable. The dilemma of language policy in education in South Africa. PRAESA Occasional Papers No. 3. PRAESA.

Bamgbose, A. (1991). Language and the nation: The language question in Sub Saharan Africa. Edinburg Press.

Bangeni, B. Kapp, R. (2008). Shifting language attitudes in a linguistically diverse earning environment in South Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 28(4), 253–269. https://doi.org/10.2167/jmmd495.0

Batibo, H. M. (2010). The use of African languages for effective education at tertiary level. In P. Maseko (Ed.), Terminology development for the intellectualisation of African languages. PRAESA Occasional Papers. No. 38. PRAESA.

Bunting, I. (2004). The higher education landscape under apartheid. In N. Cloete, P. Maassen, R. Fehnel, T. Moja, H. Perold, & T. Gibbon (Eds.), Transformation in higher education: Global pressures and local realities in South Africa (2nd revised ed.; pp. 35–52). Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Cohen, L., Morrison, K., & Manion, L. (2011). Research methods in education. Routledge.

Cummins, J. (1980). The cross-lingual dimensions of language proficiency: Implications for bilingual education and the optimal age issue. TESOL Quarterly, 14(2), 175–187. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586312

Cummins, J. (2009). Fundamental psycholinguistic and sociological principles underlying educational success for linguistic minority students. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas, R., Phillipson, A. K. Mohanty & M. Panda (Eds.), Social justice through multilingual education (pp. 19–35). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847691910-005

Cummins, J. & Swain, M. (1986). Bilingualism in education: aspects of theory research and practice. Longman.

Davis, J. (1996). The State and the South African University system under Apartheid. Comparative Education, 32(3), 319–332 https://doi.org/10.1080/03050069628740

Dogamo Doda, A., & Narayana T. (2015). The benefits and challenges of mother tongue based education. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research, 2(5), e4.

Fafunwa, A. B. (1990). Using national languages in education. A challenge to African educators. In UNESCO UNICEF (Eds.), African thoughts on the prospects for education for all (pp. 97-110). unesco Regional Office for Education in Africa.

Gambushe, W., Nkomo, D., & Maseko, P. (2017). Using African languages to teach science in higher education. In R. Kaschula, E. Wolff, & P. Maseko (Eds.), Multilingualism and intercultural communication: A South Africa perspective. Wits University Press.

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Language, bilingualism and education. Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765_4

Heugh, K. (2015). Epistemologies in multilingual education: translanguaging and genre-companions in conversation with policy and practice. Language and Education, 29(3), 280–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2014.994529

Hurst, E., & Mona, M. (2017). Translanguaging as socially just pedagogy. Education as Change, 21(2), 126–148. https://doi.org/10.17159/1947-9417/2017/2015

Kioko, A. N., Ndung’ u, R. W., Njoroge, M. C., & Mutiga, J. (2014). Mother tongue and education in Africa: Publicising the reality. Multilingual Education, 4(18), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13616-014-0018-x

Llorah, R. (2006). The dilemma of the HBU’s. South African Journal of Higher Education, 20(3), 79–96. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v20i3.25587

Madiba, M. (2010). Towards a model of terminology modernisation in the African languages of South Africa. Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa, 32(1), 53–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228190108566172

Madiba, M. (2011). Fast-tracking concept learning to English as an additional language (EAL) students through corpus-based multilingual glossaries. Alternation, 17(1), 225–248.

Makalela, L. (2015). Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access: Case for reading comprehension and multilingual interactions. Per Linguam, 31(1), 15–29 https://doi.org/10.5785/31-1-628

Makoni, S. & Pennycook, A. (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853599255

Mamdani, M. (2017). Africa and the changing world. Lecture delivered at the 8th annual Thabo Mbeki lecture. UNISA.

Manik, S. (2015). Calibrating the barometer: Student access and success in South African public higher education institutions. Alternation, (17), 226–244.

Mesthrie, R. (2008). Necessary versus sufficient conditions for using new languages in South African higher education: A linguistic appraisal. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 29(4), 325–340. https://doi.org/10.2167/jmmd570.0

Muraina, L., Toshe-Mlambo, Y., & Cingo, S. (2024). South African higher education: Transformation or/and decolonisation? Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, 8(1), 183–205. https://doi.org/10.36615/sotls.v8i1.321

Obanya, P. (2004). Learning in, with and from the first language. PRAESA Occasional Papers, 19. PRAESA.

Okedara, J. T., & Keara, C. A. (1992). Mother tongue literacy in Nigeria. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (520), 91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716292520001011

Paxton, M. (2007). “You would be a master of a subject if taught in Xhosa…”: An investigation into the complexities of bilingual concept development in an English medium University in South Africa. The International Journal of Learning, 14(6), 61–67. https://doi.org/10.18848/1447-9494/CGP/v14i06/45374

Paxton, M. (2009). It’s easy to learn with your home language, but with English you have to learn language before you get to the concept: bilingual concept development in an English medium university in South Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 30(4), 345–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630902780731

Rhodes University. (2019). Language policy. Rhodes University.

Ridge, S. G. M. (2001). Is Afrikaans a suitable model in planning the development of African languages? Per Linguam, 17(1), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.5785/17-1-133

Schleef, E. (2014). Written questionnaires in sociolinguistics. In J. Holmes & K. Hazen (Eds.), Methods in sociolinguistics. Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394260867.ch3

Seidman, I. 1998. Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. Teachers College Press.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & Toukomaa, P. (1976). Teaching migrant children’s mother tongue and learning the language of the host country in the context of the sociocultural situation of the migrant family. A report prepared for UNESCO. University of Tampere.

South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training (2002). Language policy for higher education. Government Printers.

South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training (2003). The development of Indigenous African languages as medium of instruction in higher education. Government Printers.

South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training (2015). Report on the use of African languages as mediums of instruction in higher education. Government Printers.

South Africa Department of Higher Education and Training (2020). Language policy framework for public higher education institutions. Government Printers.

South African Council on Higher Education (2007). Higher Education Monitor No. 6: A case for improving teaching and learning in South African higher education. Council on Higher Education.

South African Council on Higher Education. (2010). Higher education monitor No. 9: Access and throughput in South African higher education: Three case studies. Council on Higher Education.

South African Council on Higher Education (2020). Vital stats: Public and private higher education data 2021. Council on Higher Education.

South African Government. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa [pdf]. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf

Statistics South Africa. (2022). National census. Government Printer.

Thomas, G. (2011). How to do your case study: a guide for students and researchers. Sage.

UNESCO (2010). Why and how Africa should invest in African languages and multilingual education: An evidence and practice based policy advocacy brief. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

Yin, R. K. (1993). The application of case study research. Sage