Articles on Multilingualism

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April 3, 2017

You too could be multilingual – it’s just about unlocking the skills inside

Christopher Timothy McGuirk, University of Central Lancashire

Turns out the way you are exposed to new languages could be the key.

Teachers need support to make sure they deal well with diversity and conflict. Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters

November 3, 2016

How training can prepare teachers for diversity in their classrooms

Maureen Robinson, Stellenbosch University

Teachers need training and support to deal with increasing diversity in their classrooms.

One South African school issues ‘demerits’ if their pupils speak anything but English. David Ritchie/Cape Argus

September 6, 2016

How schools use language as a way to exclude children

Carolyn McKinney, University of Cape Town and Xolisa Guzula, University of Cape Town

Schools and universities in post-colonial contexts still operate within the logic of coloniality. This is starkly illustrated by their language policies.

European collaboration: great in theory, exclusionary in practice. www.shutterstock.com/Kingarion

May 9, 2016

The quiet battle to save multilingualism in Europe

Marco Tamburelli, Bangor University

The EU may claim it is "united in diversity" but the reality is very different.

Learning any language is difficult – even if you already speak a variation of it at home. Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly

March 28, 2016

Why it makes sense for children to learn in the language they know best

Christa van der Walt, Stellenbosch University

There are many layers of complexity at play in the way that South African schools use and teach languages.

Whether you read to your kids or they read alone, share stories from and about Africa with them. Shutterstock

December 7, 2015

African stories to get and keep kids reading during school holidays

Espen Stranger-Johannessen, University of British Columbia

Traditional African stories often tackle big, occasionally scary and serious themes. This is even true in children's stories – though there's plenty of room for silly fun, too.

Gabriel Kenny, aged five, gets to grips with Mandarin characters as part of a US school program. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

November 12, 2015

Teaching Mandarin in schools is another slap in the face for African languages

Russell H. Kaschula, Rhodes University; Bulelwa Nosilela, Rhodes University; Kathleen Heugh, University of South Australia; Monica Hendricks, Rhodes University, and Pamela Maseko, Rhodes University

There is a new potential coloniser on South Africa's linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin will be taught in schools – and this will see African languages bumped even further down the pecking order.

English is Uganda’s official language - but wouldn’t it make sense to adopt a few more along with it? Joshua Wanyama/Africa Knows

November 5, 2015

English rules in Uganda, but local languages shouldn’t be sidelined

Medadi Ssentanda, Makerere University and Judith Nakayiza, Makerere University

The stories of and attitudes to three particular languages – English, Swahili and Luganda – provide an interesting starting point for a debate around Uganda's language policy.

Translating notes into ‘deep’ or ‘high’ versions of languages isn’t very useful for young students who prefer vernacular, colloquial ways of speaking. Shutterstock

October 13, 2015

Simple, vernacular translations make the most sense for university students

Bernie Millar, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

There is little value in translating academic texts into "high" or "deep" versions of African languages. Most students read and speak their mother tongues in a far more colloquial fashion.

Ugandan children are meant to learn in local mother tongues for their first three years of primary school. EPA/Stephen Morrison

September 7, 2015

Uganda’s private schools must stop snubbing language learning policy

Medadi Ssentanda, Makerere University and Judith Nakayiza, Makerere University

In Uganda, private schools are simply ignoring a policy that calls for pupils to learn in a mother tongue rather than in English for the first three years of their education.

Being able to learn science in a number of languages helps children to develop an understanding of concepts - like the robotics used to build this dinosaur. David Mercado/Reuters

September 1, 2015

Multilingualism boosts learning - and can create new science knowledge too

Robyn Tyler, University of Cape Town; Carolyn McKinney, University of Cape Town, and Xolisa Guzula, University of Cape Town

Using more than one language when teaching and learning science in schools can greatly enhance concept development. This in fact goes to the heart of science.

Xhosa women celebrate in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. It is time for African languages and cultures to dominate at the continent’s universities. Antony Kaminju/Reuters

May 18, 2015

African languages have the power to transform universities

Russell H. Kaschula, Rhodes University

African universities need to boost local languages onto the same exalted platform as English before they can be considered truly transformed.

Fighting extremism with the English language. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

March 25, 2015

Theresa May’s hidden British value – monolingualism

Frank Monaghan, The Open University

As part of an anti-extremism strategy, the home secretary says funds for translation services will be cut, but more put into English lessons.

Thank you - for not only speaking English. Thank you via ivosar/Shutterstock

July 1, 2014

Drop the negative spin on kids who start school bilingual – they are a rich resource for the future

Frank Monaghan, The Open University

There are now more than 1.1 million children in our schools whose first language “is known or believed to be other than English” according to the latest government figures. This confirms a continuous upwards…

Top contributors

Frank Monaghan
Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics, The Open University
Russell H. Kaschula
Professor of African Language Studies, Rhodes University
Xolisa Guzula
PhD Candidate in Language and Literacy, University of Cape Town
Carolyn McKinney
Associate Professor in Language Education, University of Cape Town
Medadi Ssentanda
Lecturer, Department of African Languages, Makerere University
Judith Nakayiza
Lecturer in African Languages, Makerere University
Bernie Millar
Lecturer in Information Literacy, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Maureen Robinson
Dean, Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University
Robyn Tyler
PhD candidate in Language in Education, University of Cape Town
Monica Hendricks
Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa, Rhodes University
Kathleen Heugh
Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of South Australia
Bulelwa Nosilela
Subject Head, African Languages, Rhodes University
Pamela Maseko
Senior Lecturer in African Languages, Rhodes University
Espen Stranger-Johannessen
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia
Christa van der Walt
Professor of Curriculum Studies, Stellenbosch University