Is translanguaging een duurzame strategie voor het hoger onderwijs in Zuid-Afrika?

Abstract

Abstract Is translanguaging a sustainable strategy in South African higher education?Translanguaging could potentially harness content and language learning in a second or foreign language. However, there is a paucity of research on the role of language attitudes and language repertoires in determining translanguaging spaces in higher education. The research questions that guided this study were ‘What are learners’ perceptions about translanguaging in higher education?’, ‘What are the roles of learners’ and lecturers’ language repertoires in determining translanguaging spaces?’ and ‘How do these issues influence decisions on curriculum design?’ I first outline a framework that distinguishes between learner-directed and teacher-directed translanguaging. This is followed by an overview of two case studies on eliciting students’ appreciation of translanguaging. It is concluded that students are generally appreciative of translanguaging, although students who share their L1 with the lecturer are more positive than those who do not. Evidently, however, curricula that utilise translanguaging as a teaching and learning strategy should provide equal opportunities to speakers of all L1’s to succeed in their studies.