Local and global perspectives on overcoming literacy challenges in South Africa

Abstract

This article outlines the current challenges inherent in the disjuncture between language in education policy and policy implementation in South Africa and offers some perspectives on existing opportunities for addressing these challenges. Factors alienating young people from valuable opportunities for meaningful self-expression within existing educational structures are, among others, externally imposed norms and standards, the continued low status of African languages, misapplications of the prevailing Western “culture of reading,” and failure to address linguistic diversity overtly in the classroom, at the community level, and in the wider political context. Failure to acquire literacies which may enable youth to participate meaningfully in the ever-widening neo-capitalist economic global context lays them open to exploitation. Insights into the kinds of initiatives on the ground, such as tapping multiliteracies and multimodal engagement, hold great promise for more equitable participation of the youth and go a long way toward putting structures in place to curb the downward literacy spiral. In conclusion, without radical structural transformation and opportunities for equitable recognition and exchange of resources between mainstream and currently marginal populations, “accommodations” and “add on” paradigms of diversity will be perpetuated. These lack the moral imperative for effecting meaningful change in educational practices.