Reflections on Decolonising of Medium of Instruction at South African Universities

Abstract

The 2015/6 #Rhodes Must Fall student protest reignited the debate to decolonise higher education in South Africa and many parts of the world. One way of achieving this is through decolonising the language of teaching and learning in higher education to increase access. Within this caveat, we anticipate that this article will add a crucial contribution to contemporary international and local debates on decolonising the medium of instruction by providing evidence from South African institutions’ unique challenges and prospects associated with the quest to deliver quality decolonised education. While tremendous strides have been made in expressing the constitutional right of every learner to receive primary education in a language of their choice, at the university level, the development and implementation of inclusive language policies have been dismal at best. With the demise of the apartheid regime that significantly stifled African languages in South Africa, one could have hoped for changes in attitude and language usage in universities, mainly because universities still have discernible remnants of the apartheid legacy. This article highlights the urgent need for decolonising South African higher education, particularly concerning using English as the medium of instruction. We further hope that this study will benefit practitioners and stakeholders involved in formulating language policies at their respective learning institutions and prompt them to treat the decolonisation process with befitting urgency.

Navigating the complexities of learning history in English in two South African schools

“…In most contexts, English ability, in general, was reported to be a significant factor affecting students' academic success (Devi, 2023;Millie, 2023;Soruç et al, 2022). Although the use of English as a medium of instruction has been growing as a global phenomenon in education (Macaro, 2020;Mutongoza et al, 2023;Tai and Wong, 2023), researchers have reported tension between policy and practice in its use, concerning the issue of language choice by teachers and students (Tai, 2023). This is because English is often used to teach academic subjects in contexts in which the first language of the majority of the population is not English.…”

“…In South Africa, one of the central themes in the quest to decolonise education has been the debates about the prioritisation of English as the medium of instruction in schools at the expense of Indigenous languages (Chimbunde and Kgari-Masondo, 2022;Mutongoza et al, 2023). Most learners in South Africa who have English as the LOLT are not native English speakers, and they come to learn through it while they are still learning the language (Mweli, 2018).…”

“…Most learners in South Africa who have English as the LOLT are not native English speakers, and they come to learn through it while they are still learning the language (Mweli, 2018). Yet Mutongoza et al (2023) report that there has been a wealth of evidence that shows the cognitive benefits of first-language instruction and language policies that promote additive bilingual approaches. In agreement, the late Professor Neville Alexander argued that education can only happen effectively in a language that one understands best, that is, one's first language (Alexander, 1996;Kaschula and Wolff, 2016).…”

“…The difficulties may be even worse for some learners from small towns and rural areas, because they do not learn English outside school. To address such language barriers, several studies suggest the employment of translanguaging approaches in the teaching of content subjects in English (Mutongoza et al, 2023;Tai, 2023;Wei and Garcia, 2022).…”

“…As argued by Devi (2023), there is a strong relationship between students' language ability and academic achievement, which shows that those who are more proficient in English can achieve better academic levels. Consequently, there has been a debate in South Africa that appraises translanguaging pedagogy as an approach to decolonising English-language teaching (Mutongoza et al, 2023;Rajendram, 2022;Wei and Garcia, 2022). However, these debates have concentrated on equality and social justice issues, overlooking the importance of translanguaging in helping students to learn any subject matter with understanding.…”