The South African Language Rights Monitor and information on language policy and planning in South Africa

Plessis, Theodorus du

doi:10.1080/10228195.2014.981571

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…Although English is emphatically preferred in most multilingual institutions of higher education in the country, the perceived hegemony of English has been questioned by various policy makers in the belief that academic performance would improve if mother-tongue (sometimes called first language, L1, or home language, HL) were to be introduced as a LoLT or medium of instruction. Some South African universities have already provided language policies that clearly affirm the importance of indigenous languages as LoLTs in higher education (Beukes, 2009;Carstens, 2015;D-HET, 2015;Du Plessis, 2014;Granville et al 2010;Kamwangamalu, 2009;Mayaba, Ralarala, & Angu, 2018;Ndhlovu, 2010;Ngcobo, 2009;Nudelman, 2015;Olivier, 2013;Probyn, 2010;Rudwick & Parmagiani, 2013;Zikode, 2017). However, many such studies, as well as various stakeholders in South African higher education, assume that students would prefer using home languages as media of instruction, despite the perceived benefits of using African languages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

English in the South African language‐in‐education policy on higher education

Ngcobo

Barnes

2020

World Englishes

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This article investigates the perceptions of students at the University of South Africa towards the languages of learning and teaching (media of instruction) at the institution. Data obtained from both individual interviews and focus groups indicated that students have an overwhelming preference for English as the primary medium of instruction at the university, even though the language poses various challenges for them. Students showed mixed views about the role of African languages as languages of learning and teaching. The issue of choice is influenced by socio‐historical factors, instrumental motivation, and concerns about the impracticality of introducing all 11 official languages as media of instruction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

English in the South African language‐in‐education policy on higher education

Ngcobo

Barnes

2020

World Englishes

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South African Englishes: A contemporary bibliography

Botha

Rooy

2020

World Englishes

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The bibliography presented here is a list of contemporary research publications that provide the details of books, research articles, as well as other research outputs that were published between 1994 and 2020. The main aim of this bibliography is to provide scholars interested in researching South African Englishes with sources of major works published internationally as well as in core journals from South Africa. Despite the problems concerning representativeness of research bibliographies, we hope that this list of references will complement existing sources in the field. We also hope that this bibliography will serve as a useful guide for those researchers and graduate students interested in contemporary issues in the study of South African Englishes.

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Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

Engelbrecht

2017

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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Based on the assumption that a struggle to protect the interests of dominant groups exists in all communities, this qualitative study investigates hegemonic favouring in two language-related speech communities. Through the perspectives of focus group participants, the article reports on the discourses in Flemish and Afrikaans communities where certain ideas are presented as a matter of course -as though no alternative exists. In the Flemish focus group discussion, silences surrounding diversity issues were revealed, indicating that a healthy, diverse society where people learn from one another was not yet part of the Flemish psyche. Flemish monolingualism serves as a vehicle for stereotyping the linguistically dissimilar, and is used to maintain hegemonic practices. Demythologisation of Afrikaans history and Standard Afrikaans as undisputed norm freed the language of its previous apartheid enclaves. The pain of coloured speakers of Afrikaans having to dissociate with their home language was foregrounded in the discussion, as well as the fact that there are still many instances where whiteness is the norm against which other ethnic positions are contrasted. Setting the stageSeeing is always cultured seeing. What we see, is simply what we (think) we know, as knowledge is the result of the socially structured world we live in (Baldwin, Longhurst, McCracken, Ogborn, and Smith 2004). What happens in that socially constructed world seems normal to its inhabitants and therefore needs not to be questioned by them (Montgomery 2005;Chandler 2014).This article departs from the assumption that communities protect the interests of the dominant group in order to maintain the social structure they desire (Blommaert 2005;Chandler 2014). Many scholars believe that language forms part of such cultural and socio-political power struggles and that emphasis on language issues is often based on hidden agendas about power and control (Blommaert and Van Avermaert 2008;Van Elst and Prinsloo 2011). Hegemonic favouring, as a result of this, then presents itself through normality thinking or common-sense knowledge (Gramsci 1971) when certain perceptions are presented as normal and matter of course, while in actual fact it is only true in some cases and in some contexts (Balwin et al. 2004;Chandler 2014). Identification of hegemonic practices reveals the ideological way in which 'we' think about 'ourselves' and about 'the other', which is the aim of this article.Another assumption that this article departs from, is the fact that communities know 'the other' only in comparison to themselves and to the extent to which others are similar or different from them as the norm (

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The South African Language Rights Monitor and information on language policy and planning in South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

English in the South African language‐in‐education policy on higher education

English in the South African language‐in‐education policy on higher education

South African Englishes: A contemporary bibliography

Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

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