Reconsidering the Role of Language-in-Education Policies in Multilingual Higher Education Contexts

Abstract

As a result of transnational mobility of students and attempts to widen access to higher education, university campuses have become increasingly multilingual. Responses to this phenomenon have ranged from resistance (sticking to a local and established language) to wideranging attempts to become English-medium institutions. The fact that student populations can differ from one semester and one year to the next means that it becomes difficult to plan language-in-education strategies and practices. In the context of South African higher education, this paper argues that lecturers who teach multilingual classes cannot depend on policy makers to create circumstances in which deep learning will take place. It becomes necessary to think in terms of micro-planning (Baldauf 2006), or perhaps rather classroom strategies, to create spaces for multilingual learning.

Trends in Multilingual Higher Education in the Pre-Pandemic Decade

“…Countries of South Africa (Mayaba et al, 2018;Ndebele & Zulu, 2017;Papashane & Milondzo, 2010;van der Walt, 2016) 2010-2017…”

“…The integration of English as a language of instruction into education caused multilingual educationa phenomenon that reconceptualizes "English education so that it becomes relevant and appropriate to multilingual societies" (Martin, 2018). However, the responses to this phenomenon have ranged from resistance (commitment to the local language) to large-scale attempts to create English-medium institutions (van der Walt, 2016). On the other hand, the spread of multilingual education impacted primarily English language teaching and resulted in adopting the multilingual language policies, providing multilingual educational programmes and research.…”

Plurilingual lecturers in English medium instruction in the Netherlands: the key to plurilingual approaches in higher education?

“…Similar findings were reported by Klaassen and De Graaff (2001) for the Netherlands. However, researchers have doubted whether lecturers are willing to alter their teaching methodologies (Guarda and Helm 2016;Van der Walt 2016). These studies illustrate that teaching methodology is often perceived by EMI lecturers as a challenge, as it requires them to provide additional help and support to their students so that they are able to understand the lecture.…”

Decolonising Higher Education in the Era of Globalisation and Internationalisation

“…Through this, the journey towards linguistic decolonisation may not be considered implausible. Van der Walt (2016) intimates that if the ultimate objective of higher educational institutions is truly to work productively and creatively with knowledge, then their policies should aim at supporting this objective. He cautions that the current state of affairs in terms of the medium of instruction is an obstacle to the development of knowledge and is thus counter-productive.…”