Scaffolding understanding of disciplinary concepts using African Languages in Higher Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper reports on a study to implement multilingualism using African languages at a university in South Africa. We report on how scaffolds and translations were designed and used by lecturers in their implementation of multilingual pedagogies in classes. Findings revealed how the use of informal translations and explanations by lecturers using students themselves as resources, what Heugh refers to as ‘horizontal multilingualism’, encourages students’ agency and voice and how these attempts can contribute towards the development of more formal, academic terminology, what Heugh refers to as ‘vertical multilingualism’. We conclude that although lecturers are willing to embrace the ‘multilingualism as resource paradigm’, certain scaffolds need to be in place to facilitate greater use of the African languages. As a recommendation towards this goal, we present a scaffolding model which outlines the various steps in the process of moving from formal academic texts and concepts in English to formal academic texts and concepts in Setswana and Sesotho via simplified translations and translanguaging. In this way, we are extending Ruiz's original framework to include language, not just as a problem, right or resource, but also as a responsibility.