Abstract
This paper seeks to address the ways in which ideology and literacy practices shape the responses of students to an ongoing initiative at the University of the Western Cape aimed at diversifying options for epistemological access, specifically the language varieties and the modes in which parts of the curriculum for a third year linguistics module are delivered. Students’ responses to the materials in English and in two varieties of Afrikaans and isiXhosa (as mediated in writing vs orally) are determined, and used as basis to problematize decisions on language variety and mode in language diversification initiatives in Higher Education in South Africa. The findings of the paper are juxtaposed against particular group interests in the educational use of a language as well as differences in the affordances and impact of different modes of language use. The paper suggests that beyond the euphoria of using languages other than English in South African Higher Education, several issues (such as entrenched language practices, beliefs and language management orientations) require attention if the goals of transformation in this sector are to be attained.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In the South African context, ‘parallel medium’ means that two languages are used as media of instruction in parallel (monolingual) streams in the same educational institution, while ‘dual medium’ means that lecturers alternate systematically between two languages while teaching the same class, or that some subjects are taught in one language and others in a different language to the same set of learners.
References
Absalom, M., & Rizzi, A. (2008). Comparing the outcomes of online listening versus online text-based tasks in university-level Italian L2 study. ReCALL, 20(1), 55–66.
Antia, B. E. (2015a). Language policy and terminology in South Africa. In F. Steurs & H. Kockaert (Eds.), Handbook of terminology and terminology management: Challenges in the information society (pp. 467–488). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Antia, B. E. (2015b). University multilingualism: A critical narrative from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 36(6), 571–586.
Baker, C. (1992). Attitudes and language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Blaauw, J. (2008). Towards a model for the training of interpreters. In M. Verhoef & T. Du Plessis (Eds.), Multilingual and educational interpreting—Innovation and delivery (pp. 32–46). Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Blommaert, J., Collins, J., & Slembrouck, S. (2005). Spaces of multilingualism. Language and Communication, 25(3), 197–216.
Brown, J. (2011). Foreign and second language needs analysis. In M. Long & C. Doughty (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 269–293). Hong Kong: Wiley.
Busch, B. (2012). The linguistic repertoire revisited. Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 503–523.
Chinchilla, N. (2005). Globalization, international migration, and transnationalism: Some observations based on the Central American experience. In R. Appelbaum & W. Robinson (Eds.), Critical globalization studies (pp. 167–176). New York: Routledge. (Cited in Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p. 37.)
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. (1996). Pretoria: Government Press.
Department of Education. (1997). Education white paper 3: A programme for the transformation of higher education. Notice 1196 of 1997. Pretoria: DOE.
Department of Education. (2001). National plan for higher education. Pretoria: DOE.
Department of Education. (2002). Language policy for higher education. Pretoria: DOE.
Deumert, A., & Masinyana, S. (2008). Mobile language choices—The use of English and isiXhosa in text messages (SMS): Evidence from a bilingual South African sample. English World-Wide, 29, 117–147.
du Plooy, L., & Zilindile, M. (2014). Problematising the concept epistemological access with regard to foundation phase education towards quality schooling. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 4(1), 187–201.
Dyers, C. (2008). Truncated multilingualism or language shift? An examination of language use in intimate domains in a new non-racial working class township in South Africa. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 29(2), 110–126.
Dyers, C. (2009). From ibharu to amajoin: Translocation and language in a new South African township. Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication, 9(4), 256–270.
Dyers, C., & Abongdia, J. (2010). An exploration of the relationship between language attitudes and ideologies in a study of Francophone learners of English in Cameroon. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(2), 119–134.
Dyers, C., & Abongdia, J. (2014). Ideology, policy and implementation: Comparative perspectives from two African universities. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 42, 1–16.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York: Routledge.
García, O., Zakharia, Z., & Otcu, B. (2013). Bilingual community education: Beyond heritage language education and bilingual education in New York. In O. García, Z. Zakharia, & B. Otcu (Eds.), Bilingual community education and multilingualism (pp. 3–44). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Hornberger, N. (2004). The continua of biliteracy and the bilingual educator: Educational linguistics in practice. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(2–3), 155–171.
Irvine, J. T., & Gal, S. (2000). Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In P. Kroskrity (Ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identity (pp. 35–84). Oxford: American Research Press.
Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Lund, R. (1991). A comparison of second language listening and reading comprehension. Modern Language Journal, 75(2), 196–204.
Makoni, S. (2014). Plural formations of literacy and Occam’s Razor principle: A commentary. In K. Juffermans, Y. Mesfun Asfaha, & A. Abdelhay (Eds.), African literacies: Ideologies, scripts, education (pp. 355–368). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.
Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (Eds.), Disinventing and reconstituting languages (pp. 1–41). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Malan, K. (1996). Cape Flats English. In V. De Klerk (Ed.), Varieties of English around the world (General Series), Vol. 15: Focus on South Africa (pp. 125–148). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
McCormick, K. (2000). Language in Cape Town’s district six. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mgqwashu, E. (2013). On developing academic literacy in the mother-tongue for epistemological access: The role of isiZulu as the LoLT in a South African University. Current Issues in Language Policy (on-line, 26 Nov. 2013). doi:10.1080/14664208.2014.857577.
Mohanty, A. (2009). Perpetuating inequality: Language disadvantage and capability deprivation of tribal mother tongue speakers in India. In W. Harbert (Ed.), with help from S. McConnell-Ginet, A. Miller, & J. Whitman. Language and poverty (pp. 102–124). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Muller, J. (2012). Every picture tells a story: Epistemological access and knowledge. In Keynote presentation to the Knowledge & Curriculum in Higher Education Symposium, University of Cape Town, 7 & 8 November 2012.
Nkomo, D., & Madiba, M. (2011). The compilation of multilingual concept literacy glossaries at the University of Cape Town: A lexicographical function theoretical approach. Lexicos 21(AFRILEX Series 21:2011), 144–148.
Pavlenko, A. (2004). The making of an American: Negotiation of identity at the turn of the twentieth century. In A. Pavlenko & A. Blackledge (Eds.), Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts (pp. 34–67). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Paxton, M., & Tyam, N. (2010). Xhosalising English? Negotiating meaning and identity in economics. South African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 28(3), 247–257.
Ramani, E., & Joseph, M. (2002). Breaking new ground: Introducing an African language as medium of instruction at the University of the North. Perspectives in Education, 20(1), 233–240.
Ruiz, R. (1999). Official languages and language planning. In Karen Adams & Daniel Brink (Eds.), Perspectives on official languages: The campaign for English as the official language of the USA (pp. 11–27). New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Spolsky, B. (2007). Towards a theory of language policy. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 22(1), 1–14.
University of the Western Cape. (2003). Language policy. In Adapted from the original draft discussion document of 1998 by the Board of the Iilwimi Sentrum for Multilingualism, UWC.
Van der Walt, C. (2013). Multilingual higher education. Beyond English medium orientation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Weber, J., & Horner, K. (2012). Introducing multilingualism: A social approach. London: Routledge.
Acknowledgments
Bassey E. Antia acknowledges support from the Catalytic Project on Concept Formation in African Languages, an initiative of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Council of South Africa. Charlyn Dyers carried out her part of the research with funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Both authors also acknowledge further funding received from the Senate Research Council of the University of the Western Cape.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix: The original English versions of the textboxes
Appendix: The original English versions of the textboxes
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Antia, B.E., Dyers, C. Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University. Lang Policy 15, 525–545 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-015-9389-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-015-9389-4