Abstract
This article reflects on Stellenbosch University Writing Lab’s pedagogical approach to multilingualism and inclusivity within the complex and political nature of multilingual language policies at a South African university. The Writing Lab has always been promoted as a facility for all students, not just those in need of ‘remedial’ support. This was a departure from earlier academic literacies models that tended to view students from nondominant language groups in terms of deficits. Academic literacies research has pointed to the shortcomings of these earlier approaches and to the value conflicts that arise from them. We, in contrast, argue that Carter’s (2009) writing centre paradox provides a dynamic rhetorical space in which to explore issues around South African multilingualism and inclusivity in higher education, and for this reason we do not wish to resolve the paradox. Instead, we use it to critically appraise our type of equitable multilingualism and maintain and honour multivocality. We also argue that South African writing centres enjoy a somewhat different trajectory from that of many other academic literacies spaces by virtue of the one-to-one pedagogy and mutualistic approach we follow at these writing centres. This has allowed us simultaneously more agency and less agency and we need to use this paradoxical position strategically in our institutions. Using the Writing Lab as a case study, we reflect on the ways in which the Writing Lab gives life to its ethos of being a multilingual and inclusive space for academic transformation within the institution’s language policy. To support our reflections, we draw on descriptions of the organisational structure of the Lab, feedback received from strategic role players and observations of interactions performed in the various Lab spaces. We also consider the Writing Lab in terms of South African writing centre scholarship to see how the Lab’s philosophy and ethos compare with the ideals.
Highlights
Emerging from the context of apartheid education, many South African higher education writing centres began as skills centres for previously disadvantaged students
The Writing Lab at Stellenbosch University (SU) that Leon de Stadler started was a departure from existing South African models in that the Writing Lab began as a multilingual and inclusive space within higher education
We ask the following questions: How is multilingualism practised in the Writing Lab in different contexts? How do we consider inclusivity in our environment? How does language usage in the Writing Lab respond to or reflect the language policy of SU? To what extent do we collude with a system that undervalues certain parts of its student demographic, and to what extent can we escape from colluding? We draw on some of our findings from a chapter in the book Changing Spaces (Daniels and Richards 2011) in which we consider equity1 or equality2 in the Writing Lab
Summary
Emerging from the context of apartheid education, many South African higher education writing centres began as skills centres for previously disadvantaged students. The main aim of these writing centres was to support these students by developing their academic writing practices and in this way to help smooth the transition to higher education (Archer and Richards 2011). The Writing Lab at Stellenbosch University (SU) that Leon de Stadler started was a departure from existing South African models in that the Writing Lab began as a multilingual and inclusive space within higher education. The Writing Lab ethos was to acknowledge and reflect the multilingual nature of South African students in higher education by formally having a degree of language ‘equality’ in its structure and practice. We have selected three key experiences from the early years of our existence that influenced some of our thinking on the issues of multilingualism and inclusiveness and thereby shaped our theoretical approach moving forward. We ask the following questions: How is multilingualism practised in the Writing Lab in different contexts? How do we consider inclusivity in our environment? How does language usage in the Writing Lab respond to or reflect the language policy of SU? To what extent do we collude with a system that undervalues certain parts of its student demographic, and to what extent (if any) can we escape from colluding? We draw on some of our findings from a chapter in the book Changing Spaces (Daniels and Richards 2011) in which we consider equity or equality in the Writing Lab
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