Exploring the challenges of information and communication technology localization in South African higher education: a language management approach

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the past decades, the language management discourse in South Africa has focused on the development and intellectualization of the functional status of indigenous African languages in high-status domains. African languages are marginalized despite the existence of various empowering and restorative legislative provisions and policies of the new democratic dispensation. Of particular interest in this paper are the challenges that affect the localization of information and communication technologies in the higher education domain. The reliance mostly on former colonial languages for the transmission of knowledge in education has had a negative impact on the development and intellectualization of these languages. It has been argued that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) localization has the potential of improving information access in indigenous languages which can further facilitate the maximum utilization and development of these languages. The promotion of African languages and their use in scientific domains is critical in addressing historical linguistic inequalities and injustices in the South African higher education sector. In this paper, I argue that the dynamics associated with the connection between macro and micro level language management, and some socio-linguistic and socio-cultural factors affect the ultimate goal of achieving language management goals associated with ICT localization.