Speakers Of African Languages Research Articles

The hegemony of the English language and the plight of African languages: towards linguistic revolution

The elevation of African languages into official status with English and Afrikaans in South Africa was meant to redress linguistic imbalances of the past. The past linguistic imbalances negatively affected mother tongue speakers of African languages. This article highlights the gravity of this imbalance from a general linguistic perspective, demonstrating how the hegemony of English continues to downplay the efforts of developing African languages for African children’s epistemic access and educational success. Among the challenges in developing African languages into the same status as English are the globalisation imperatives that are set to counter the project of decolonisation. Although there has been linguistic resistance, it has not contributed to the elevation and development of African languages. The theoretical underpinnings of the arguments in this paper are located in the critical approach. The critique is mounted not only on the hegemonic presence of the English language but on the failure of resistance to depose that hegemony and to elevate the position of African languages as viable languages of intellectual pursuit. This article therefore proposes linguistic revolution as a solution to the plight of African languages.

Naming for Sustainability: Interrogating the Efficacy and Sustainability of COVID-19 Metaphor and Nomenclature

Language matters for sustainability, and diseases’ names and attendant terminology should serve language users’ extant and future needs. The currency and pandemic proportion of COVID-19, and the viral or pervasive use of its attendant vocabulary and metaphors, makes it an apt case for interrogating the sustainability of its nomenclature. This paper interrogates the efficacy and sustainability of COVID-19 related English vocabulary and metaphors among the Shona speaking people, as a microcosm of their efficacy and sustainability among Bantu African language speakers. The paper is framed by the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which posits that language filters people’s reality and colors their attitudes and actions. By implication, unstainable and inefficacious language compromises an appreciation of one’s reality. Acknowledging that any linguistic inventiveness should serve a utilitarian rather than ornamental function, the paper interrogates the sustainability and efficacy of the ‘war’ metaphor and lexical innovations replete within the COVID-19 discourse. The paper analyzes efficacy regarding the terms and metaphor engendering the desired or intended effects and sustainability of the terms’ intelligibility, pronounceability, memorability, and translatability. The paper concludes that the selected English COVID-19 related terms engendered unintended thoughts and reactions within the language users, and that, owing to them being products of English lexical innovation, they defy translatability into, and intelligibility within, African languages; rendering the COVID-19 discourse exclusive and unsustainable.

The comprehension of ellipsis in isiXhosa-speaking Grade 1 learners

Ellipsis occurs on and above sentence level, forming a part of the discourse-internal linguistic devices that children need to access and comprehend narratives and other classroom discourse for literacy and academic literacy development A dearth exists in the knowledge about the development and mastery of ellipsis in child language, specifically for speakers of African languages regarding both first and second language acquisition timetables and contexts. This study aimed to ascertain how well Grade 1 isiXhosa first language (L1) learners,with isiXhosa as their language of learning and teaching (LOLT) compared to other Grade 1 isiXhosa L1 learners with English as their LOLT; while evaluating if gaps exist in the possible mastery and development of ellipsis with regard to the LOLT. The isiXhosa LOLT group mastered both noun and verb ellipsis by time 2, while the English LOLT group showed no mastery by time 2; although statistically significant development occurred between time 1 and 2 for the English LOLT group. A statistically significant difference is apparent in the comparison between the isiXhosa and English LOLT groups for both times and ellipsis types, which points to a lack of comprehension of ellipsis in a non-mother tongue LOLT, which may impact future literacy development.

Enhancing the quality of students’ academic literacies through translanguaging

After apartheid, English became the lingua franca in South Africa and African-language speakers continued to be marginalised despite laws attesting to the equality of African languages. This article describes an attempt to rectify the effects of this marginalisation using translanguaging to improve students’ academic literacies and pass rates at an English-medium university. Bilingual tutorials were conducted in English and isiXhosa, which were the students’ languages. The translanguaging approach was based on the idea that bi/multilinguals benefit from bi/multilingual pedagogic practice. Translanguaging expanded the students’ linguistic repertoires by including in it the strategies that they needed to develop their literacies. Data were collected from a questionnaire and interviews. The students confirmed that learning was easier for them when translanguaging was used and the desired learning outcome was achieved. The findings suggested that translanguaging is crucial for bi/multilingual students. Hence, it is being maintained for non-English undergraduates at the university.

Applying Critical Race Theory as a Tool for Examining the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth

Background/Context There is a growing body of literature about the educational experiences of students who are African immigrants in U.S. schools. This study looks closely at a Ugandan immigrant's educational experiences in the U.S. as well as the laws and policies that preempted her education. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this study is to examine the disconnect between the rhetoric and practice of second language/bilingual laws in one school district in a Midwestern state, with regard to the experiences of an African immigrant whose has a diverse linguistic background. Research Design This study is crafted through a critical race theory lens and applies critical policy analysis to understand current practices. Using autoethnography, we provide a first-person reflection on the lived experiences of a young African immigrant student and her family. Then, drawing on critical race theory in concert with critical policy analysis, we examine the implementation and practice of second language/bilingual laws and policies in the state of Illinois. Findings/Results We find that the discourse and rhetoric surrounding second language/ bilingual laws and policies on federal, state, and local levels do not align with actual practices in school districts and classrooms. We describe how the lack of coherence between discourse and practice has contributed to delimiting an African immigrant student's access to mainstream language and linguistic education and other academic opportunities. Conclusions/Recommendations We conclude with recommendations to improve bilingual services to speakers of African languages: acknowledge that some African immigrant students possess a diverse linguistic background; address and challenge the dominant attitudes that deprive African immigrant students of a quality educational experience. We call upon administrators and policymakers to evaluate and correct the disconnect between second language/bilingual laws and policies. We recommend that cultural competence be central to second language/bilingual laws and policies throughout the planning and implementation processes.

A sociolinguistic approach to implicit language attitudes towards historically white English accents among young L1 South African indigenous language speakers

Abstract This study investigates the potential role of context-relevant sociolinguistic factors in explaining young L1 indigenous South African language speakers’ IAT (Implicit Association Test) scores towards two varieties largely associated with the white group: Standard South African English and Afrikaans accented English. To this end, a post-IAT sociolinguistic survey on participants’ linguistic background, language exposure and intergroup social distance levels (among other social factors) was used. Separate ANOVAS were performed using the IAT reaction times as a dependent variable and sociolinguistic variables as factors. Notably, the sociolinguistic approach revealed that more positive attitudes towards Afrikaans accented English are correlated with the language range of participants, the dominant languages spoken in their places of origin, and the type of school they have attended.

Pedagogical translanguaging and the construction of science knowledge in a multilingual South African classroom: challenging monoglossic/post-colonial orthodoxies

ABSTRACTThe majority of learners in South African schools are African language speakers, yet the dominance of English in the political economy has meant that schools choose to switch to English medium instruction by Grade 4, before learners have the necessary English proficiency to access the curriculum, with negative effects on learning. This paper outlines South Africa’s long engagement with such issues and documents the translanguaging practices of a teacher who breaks the post-colonial monolingual ideologies prevalent in classrooms and engages with learners’ linguistic resources to provide access to both science knowledge and English.

Insights from South African students preparing for early childhood teaching: contexts neglected in teacher preparation

ABSTRACTThe preparation of teachers for diversity within and between schools is a growing focus in teacher education worldwide, and particularly in South Africa, where the education landscape has shifted dramatically since the democratic elections of 1994. While diversity is a recurring theme in the literature, the matter of contextual diversity still offers serious challenges to teacher education. This paper focuses on the urgent need to prepare teachers for all school contexts in South Africa, particularly those where neglect carrying over from Apartheid inequalities make failure and a sense of inferiority the norm. It uses critical theory and the capabilities approach to analyse extracts from discussions with early years’ student teachers which express needs with regard to preparation for specific situations faced during field experience with young children. The analysis shows that these students are not adequately prepared to teach in the previously disadvantaged schools which cater for the majority of South Africa’s learners, and that there is a disjuncture between preparation received in the lecture room and realities encountered in the field. It argues for a shift in emphasis from teacher education models which construct middle class classrooms as ideal to those which build quality education for disadvantaged learners, rural contexts, and African language speakers.

Workplace diversity in South Africa: Its qualities and management

This qualitative study explored diversity management strategies used by South African financial institutions. The sample included 72 employees (33.33% females; 39.08% Indigenous African language speakers). Of the participants, 44.45% were white, 28.57% were black, 22.22% were Indian, and 4.78% were from the Coloured population group. The participants completed focus-group interviews or individual interviews on their workplace diversity experiences and its management. Themes emerging from Atlas.ti and Tesch’s data analyses included the consensus view that effective diversity management proactively addressed cultural differences, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, misunderstandings, communication gaps, and conflict due to organisational hierarchical levels. Organisational competitiveness is enhanced through client focused services and an employee valuing work environment. However, some of the employees also viewed diversity initiatives as costly, time-consuming, and forced on employees.

Undergraduate medical students’ interest in specialising in Family Medicine at the University of the Free State, 2014

Background: There is a large demand for Family Medicine specialists, yet not enough medical students specialise in this field. This study investigated the interest of undergraduate medical students at the University of the Free State in pursuing a career in Family Medicine, factors associated with this interest, and their opinion of Family Medicine as a specialty.
 
 Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, anonymous, self-reporting questionnaires, available in English and Afrikaans, were distributed to first- to fifth-year undergraduates. Data were collected on demographic variables and interest in Family Medicine and other disciplines. The students had to rate the likelihood of them selecting 15 different specialties as a future career according to a five-point Likert scale. Opinions concerning Family Medicine were tested with a yes/no response as to the agreement to five statements.
 
 Results: Fifth-year students were excluded due to poor response rate (13.6%). The response rate for the first- to fourth-year groups was 86.4%. Interest in Family Medicine decreased from first to third year (22.4, 21.2 and 14.0%, respectively), but increased again in the fourth year (23.3%). Females and speakers of African languages showed the most interest in this field. Medical students, especially first years, generally had poor knowledge regarding Family Medicine.
 
 Conclusion: Family Medicine is not a preferred specialty in any of the four year groups, and students had insufficient knowledge of the field. Family Medicine should be introduced earlier into the medical curriculum. 
 
 (Full text of the research articles are available online at www.medpharm.tandfonline.com/ojfp)
 
 S Afr Fam Pract 2017; DOI: 10.1080/20786190.2017.1317977

Mathematics Teachers and Their Understanding of Multiplication: A Case of Two African Language-speakers in South Africa

KEYWORDS Translation. Interpretation. Representation. Multiplied Numbers. Language Structure ABSTRACT This paper reports on data collected from African language-speakers in South Africa whose experience of mathematics teaching takes place in a language that is not their own. The work is theoretically underpinned in the social and situated perspectives of mathematics learning. Major findings from the case of two African language- speakers reported here provide a strong argument for the consideration of the role and structure of language in the teaching and learning of multiplication to African speaking learners in the multilingual classroom. The importance of paying attention to the difference that diverse language speakers attach meaning to multiplied numbers is highlighted in order to ensure that their representation in not lost in the translation. The paper also suggest alternative ways of expressing multiplied numbers in African languages in ways that will not compromise their understanding of this operation, particularly those involving algebraic terms.

The challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity: Does length of experience affect South African speech-language therapists' management of children with language impairment?

BackgroundSouth African speech-language therapists (SLTs) currently do not reflect the country's linguistic and cultural diversity. The question arises as to who might be better equipped currently to provide services to multilingual populations: SLTs with more clinical experience in such contexts, or recently trained SLTs who are themselves linguistically and culturally diverse and whose training programmes deliberately focused on multilingualism and multiculturalism?AimsTo investigate whether length of clinical experience influenced: number of bilingual children treated, languages spoken by these children, languages in which assessment and remediation can be offered, assessment instrument(s) favoured, and languages in which therapy material is required.MethodFrom questionnaires completed by 243 Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)-registered SLTs who treat children with language problems, two groups were drawn: 71 more experienced (ME) respondents (20+ years of experience) and 79 less experienced (LE) respondents (maximum 5 years of experience).ResultsThe groups did not differ significantly with regard to (1) number of children (monolingual or bilingual) with language difficulties seen, (2) number of respondents seeing child clients who have Afrikaans or an African language as home language, (3) number of respondents who can offer intervention in Afrikaans or English and (4) number of respondents who reported needing therapy material in Afrikaans or English. However, significantly more ME than LE respondents reported seeing first language child speakers of English, whereas significantly more LE than ME respondents could provide services, and required therapy material, in African languages.ConclusionMore LE than ME SLTs could offer remediation in an African language, but there were few other significant differences between the two groups. There is still an absence of appropriate assessment and remediation material for Afrikaans and African languages, but the increased number of African language speakers entering the profession may contribute to better service delivery to the diverse South African population.

Unlocking the grid: language-in-education policy realisation in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper reflects on the state of educational language policy two decades into a post-Apartheid South Africa caught between official multilingualism and English. The focus is on the national language-in-education policy (LiEP) that advocates additive bi/multilingualism, and a provincial counterpart, the language transformation plan (LTP). Using Ricento and Hornberger's onion metaphor, the paper seeks to uncover the meanings of policy realisation in education at legislative, institutional, and interpersonal levels. The LiEP's non-realisation at institutional level is indexed by a ‘gridlock of collusion’ (Alexander, personal communication) between political elites and the majority of African-language speakers, who emulatively seek the goods that an English-medium education promises. To illustrate how teachers can become policy advocates, data are presented from a bilingual education in-service programme that supported the LTP. The paper argues that sociolinguistic insights into speakers’ heteroglossic practices should be used to counter prevailing monoglossic policy discourses and school language practices, and that all languages should be used as learning resources. Strategic essentialism would recognise the schooling system's need to separately classify language subjects and to identify the languages most productively used for teaching across the curriculum. The paper concludes with a call for the revision of the LiEP.

The (dis)ownership of English: language and identity construction among Zulu students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

This paper explores the role English and isiZulu play in the identity construction of a group of black South African university students from disadvantaged backgrounds enrolled in a bridge programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. I will discuss how, in post-apartheid South Africa, language practices continue to foster inequality, despite a constitution that grants official status to 11 languages. Attitudes towards language in South Africa are extremely complex. While native speakers of African languages tend to be highly invested in their mother tongues as markers of identities and carriers of traditional culture, they often oppose policies aimed at promoting a greater use of their mother tongue in domains of power, especially in education. I will unravel some of these complexities by adopting a theoretical framework that draws on post-modern, feminist and post-colonial conceptions of identity to examine students’ discourses about the ownership of English. These discourses reveal that while there is consensus among students that their mother tongue is a fundamental part of who they are, positions vary greatly with respect to the role English can play in the identity construction of a native isiZulu speaker. Nevertheless, even the students who strongly reject the possibility of ever owning any other language besides their mother tongue, stake a collective claim to English as ‘everybody's language’ and as agents in the nation-building process that characterises post-apartheid South Africa.

Child language assessment and intervention in multilingual and multicultural South Africa: Findings of a national survey

Research world-wide suggests that service delivery by speech-language therapists (SLTs) to bilingual children is problematic and largely unsatisfactory. In multicultural South Africa, the majority of SLTs speak either only English or only Afrikaans and English. The current state of service delivery to bilingual children, including those with first languages other than English or Afrikaans, is not known. This study was undertaken to ascertain how SLTs in South Africa adapt their assessment and intervention practices to cope with the multilingual and multicultural nature of the local child population. A questionnaire was completed by 243 practising SLTs who had children on their caseloads. 71% of respondents reported treating children with English as first language, 51% Afrikaans, and 53% an indigenous African language. Less than 2% reported not treating bilingual children. Almost all respondents could assess clients in English, three-quarters in Afrikaans, and 15% in an African language. A quarter could treat clients in one language only; 11% could do so in more than two languages. Only 7% reported that 90-100% of their bilingual clients receive intervention in their first language. 70% of respondents needed intervention material in English, 57% in Afrikaans, and 33% in an African language. 78% considered the underlying linguistic base when selecting a language assessment instrument; only 6% considered its linguistic and cultural appropriateness for use locally. The use of translations of English-medium instruments when assessing Afrikaans-speaking children was widely reported, as was dissatisfaction with standardised English- and Afrikaans-medium instruments. The findings supply essential information on the state of service delivery to bilingual children: After almost two decades of official multilingualism in South Africa, SLTs’ practices remain a poor reflection of the multilingual and multicultural realities of the population. Steps toward improving the situation would include training more multilingual SLTs, specifically speakers of African languages, and expanding research leading to linguistically and culturally appropriate assessment and intervention material.

Language capital and development: the case of African language publishing for children in South Africa

In recognizing 11 official languages, the 1996 South African Constitution provides a context for the management of diversity with important implications for the redistribution of wealth and power. The development and implementation of the language-in-education policies which might be expected to flow from the Constitution, however, have been slow and ineffective. One of the casualties of government procrastination has been African language publishing. In the absence of well-resourced bilingual education, most learners continue to be taught through the medium of English as a second language. Teachers are reluctant to use more innovative pedagogies without the support of adequate African language materials and publishers are cautious about producing such materials. Nonetheless, activity in this sector offers many opportunities for African language speakers. This paper explores the challenges and constraints for African language publishing for children and argues that market forces and language policy need to work in mutually reinforcing ways. Further progress is necessarily dependent on the political will to implement language-in-education policies that promote additive bilingualism and, in the process, guarantee sales for risk-averse publishers.

The demonstrative copulative or can that lady cook: African languages, authoritarianism and servility

This paper discusses some African language materials including books for learners, phrase books as well as grammars and dictionaries. The metalanguage created to explain African languages both to learners and scholars alike is very briefly analysed. Furthermore, it is shown that some of the materials contain more than a modicum of references to conditions of subalternity and servility imposed on speakers of African languages in the past. It is suggested that historically the creation of a field of African language studies and linguistics is ultimately linked to complex local social histories that then find a more than superficial reflection in the language materials themselves. Moreover, it is shown that these materials are often reprinted without significant changes in the post-apartheid era, which perhaps indicates a great resilience in perceptions and practices related to African languages.

Calunga and the Legacy of an African Language in Brazil by Steven Byrd (review)

Reviewed by: Calunga and the Legacy of an African Language in Brazil by Steven Byrd Laura Álvarez López Calunga and the Legacy of an African Language in Brazil. Steven Byrd. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2012. Pp. x + 278. $45.00 (cloth). Calunga is an Afro-Brazilian linguistic variety spoken primarily in the rural town of Patrocínio, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, by a group of about one hundred people. The six chapters of Steven Byrd’s book present an overview of its history and its linguistic and sociolinguistic context, as well as a linguistic description of its lexicon and grammar. [End Page 98] In the first chapter, the author introduces the object of study and proposes to explore the following topics with the aim of shedding light on the African-language contribution to Brazilian Portuguese: the history and historical context of Calunga; its linguistic context; the types of scholarly literature that have been written on African languages spoken in Brazil and on the African contribution to Brazilian Portuguese; the sociolinguistic profile of the Calunga speech community; and Calunga lexicon and grammar. The first three topics are discussed in chapters 1–3, and the last two in chapters 4–6. Byrd employs empirical data collected through interviews recorded in Patrocínio over a period of two years (2003–5) as well as bibliographical resources. Chapter 2 thoroughly discusses Portugal’s motives for exploration of new territories and expansion. Chapter 3 summarizes earlier studies of varieties of Iberian languages whose speakers have lived side by side with speakers of African languages, giving examples of grammatical peculiarities in these varieties. The sociolinguistic and sociohistorical aspects of Calunga are presented in chapter 4. According to Byrd, Calunga used to be a secret language among Afro-Brazilians in Patrocínio, but at the present time it represents “friendship and working-class solidarity among men” —even “white men” (p. 106). The variety is described by its speakers as “the language of the slaves” (p. 115), and possibly evolved in maroon communities or on the colonial farms around Patrocínio. Chapter 5 presents a glossary of 307 Calunga terms in alphabetical order. All of them are glossed in English, and tentative etymologies and analyses are discussed. The terms are classified into five etymological categories: direct Africanisms (derived from Kikongo, Kimbundu, and Umbundu and having basically equivalent meanings in these languages and Calunga), metaphoric Africanisms (Bantu-derived concepts with similar but not equivalent meanings to the etymon), Portuguese (derived from Portuguese, often archaic), hybrid Portuguese-Africanisms (often with a metaphoric meaning), and Tupi-derived (or from Língua Geral—a less important category). The Calunga vocabulary overall is characterized as a “specialty vocabulary,” which means that it is “limited, specific, and exclusive to a given speech community, often with a strong sense of intergroup identity” (p. 141). The terms are grouped into the following semantic categories: verbs; concepts related to cowboy (tropeiro); food and drink; flora and fauna; people and relationships; the human body and clothing; work and money; and festivities and social life. This section would have benefited from a more comprehensive discussion of this classification (in which we find the category of “verbs,” among more specific semantic domains which include sets of words grouped by meaning referring to subjects such as “food and drink”); the reader might also have expected to find the chapter ending with conclusions about, for example, the frequency of words of different word classes or the distribution of lexical items in different semantic fields. The chapter does provide a comparison with lexical items documented in Afro-Brazilian speech communities of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Bahia, showing that Kikongo, Kimbundu, and Umbundu provided 82 percent of the African-derived vocabulary and that none of the terms correspond to the Gbe vocabulary in Minas Gerais discussed by Castro (2002). The results also show that, at the lexical level, Calunga shares part of its lexicon with other Afro-Brazilian varieties and that the words generally maintain their original African meanings. Chapter 6 describes Calunga phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax. The author concludes that Calunga and Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese show little difference at the phonetic-phonological level, although...

Multilingual Education Policy in South Africa Constrained by Theoretical and Historical Disconnections

Multilingual education policy has been a controversial affair in South Africa, especially over the last 60 years. Recent research conducted by government-led and independent agencies shows declining student achievement within an education system that employs 11 home languages for education in the first three grades of primary school, followed by a transition to English medium for the majority (approximately 80%) of speakers of African languages. Research that focuses on the linguistic practices of students in urban settings suggests that there is a disjuncture between the construction of multilingualism within contemporary education policy and the multilingual reality of students (e.g., Heugh, 2003; Makoni, 2003; Makoni & Pennycook, 2012; Plüddemann, 2013; Probyn, 2009; Stroud & Heugh, 2011). There is also a disjunction between constitutional and other government policies that advance, on paper, a multilingual policy, yet are implemented through an assimilatory drive towards English (Alexander & Heugh, 1999). As predicted nearly two decades ago, the ideological framing of multilingualism during the negotiations in the early 1990s was to have consequences for the way in which language policy would unfold in the education sector over the next 20 to 30 years (Heugh, 1995, 1999). While poor student achievement in school may be ascribed to a range of socioeconomic indicators, this article draws attention to contributory factors that relate to language(s) in education. These include different constructions of multilingualism in education in relation to sociolinguistic and educational linguistic considerations, contradictory interpretations of multilingual education in a series of education policy documents, pedagogical weaknesses, and recent attempts to strengthen the provision of African languages education alongside English in the first 10 years of school (Grades R and 0–9; e.g., Department of Basic Education (DBE), 2013a, 2013b).

South African University students' intentions to establish social Enterprises

<p>Stimulating social entrepreneurship in South Africa has the potential to address not only the high youth unemployment rate in the country, but also other pressing social and environmental challenges. This study was conducted as part of the 2011 Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey and focused on South African university students’ intentions to start social enterprises. The findings, based on 673 responses to an online questionnaire, reveal that the majority of respondents had such an intention. However, less than half of this group mentioned the specific type of environmental or social mission that they would like to pursue. Despite more males than females being currently engaged in social entrepreneurship activities in South Africa, no statistically significant difference was found in this study between the intentions of male and female respondents in starting a social enterprise. African language speakers and students enrolled for qualifications in the social sciences were, however, statistically more likely to start social enterprises. Education is a critical factor in achieving increased levels of social entrepreneurship activity; however, fundamental interventions in the education system are required to achieve this objective.</p><strong>KEYWORDS:</strong> Entrepreneurship education; Environmental challenges; Generation Y; HIV and AIDS; Social challenges; Social entrepreneurship; Social enterprises; South Africa; Youth unemployment