Multilingual teaching was a challenge under emergency remote learning conditions: computer systems weren’t adapted to indigenous languages.
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Articles on Language policy
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It is important to embrace all the nation’s languages in a multilingual and multicultural society. This will ensure they are used, developed and mainstreamed.
Researchers have been calling for the extension of mother-tongue instruction beyond the current status quo in South African schools, but parents seem to prefer an even earlier transition to English.
Most of the community radio stations operate on a survivalist level, and should be seen as struggling small, medium and micro enterprises.
Schools are still not using Nigerian languages to teach students.
South African parents want their children be taught in English despite the fact that research shows that academic progress is hindered if a child is taught in a language they aren’t proficient in.
Australia has no policy designating English as the official language, but an explicit ‘English first’ policy for shop signs would treat speakers of every other language as second-class citizens.
Over the years, our understanding of how language and learning are linked has shifted and changed. There is ample evidence about the value of mother-tongue-based multilingual education.
Next year South Africa’s Stellenbosch University will celebrate its centenary. A recent conference to discuss the anniversary has reminded everyone present that knowledge is a fickle mistress.
Top contributors
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Professor of African Language Studies, University of the Western Cape
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Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria, and Visiting Professor of International Relations, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, University of Pretoria
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Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of South Australia
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Associate Professor in Literacy, Macquarie University
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Senior Research Specialist., Human Sciences Research Council
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Associate researcher, University of the Witwatersrand
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Postdoctoral research fellow (Forensic Linguistics/ Language and Law), University of the Western Cape
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Professor of Applied Linguistics, Macquarie University
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Researcher, Human Sciences Research Council
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Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Benin
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Education researcher, Stellenbosch University
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Senior Lecturer, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
