The struggle to maintain identity in higher education among Zulu-speaking students

Abstract

The 2002 Language Policy for Higher Education (LPHE) identifies the currently dominant language of instruction -English -as being a possible barrier to many African students in accessing and successfully completing studies at higher education level. The LPHE thus requires that black African languages be developed at Higher Education Institutions for use as languages of teaching and learning, alongside English and Afrikaans. It is hoped that such a move would, among other things, enable South Africans to take pride in being bi/multilingual. Hence, this paper examines the relationship between language identity and bi/multilingual education. In conducting the study, the participants who are mostly isiZulu speaking in an educational institution in which their primary language (L1) dominates on campus and in the surrounding community were exposed to Zulu-English instructional material in their academic literacy and communication skills course. While the findings indicate a strong African pride among the majority of respondents about the use of their languages in education, concerns, however, are raised about the negative impact this might have on their development of proficiency in English and the practicality of bi/ multilingual instruction on campuses with a diverse racial student population. This view indicates a struggle experienced by many Africans between maintaining their languages in education and developing English that is in high demand in education, commerce and as a common language of communication across ethnic and racial lines in South Africa and elsewhere.

Translanguaging as an approach to address language inequality in South African higher education: summary writing skills development

“…Moreover, the findings are consistent with earlier studies in which it emerged that students from predominantly black African universities and communities envisaged a future in which they would use their L1 in the workplace (Parkinson and Crouch, 2011). Ngcobo's (2014) study on language identity in a South African higher education institution equally notes a strong correlation between the educational background and attitudes towards the role of L1 both in education and the workplace. These findings are also echoed by Street (2003Street ( , 2011 who argues that ideology in literacy is influenced by educational context.…”

Towards a matrix for the advancement of black working class students in South Africa's historically privileged universities

“…Although the Language Policy for Higher Education (Department of Education 2002) allows students to be educated in their mother tongue when possible. Ngcobo (2014) points out that the promotion of mother tongue in the academic domain is failing, 'due to the prestige that continues to be associated with English in the economy and society' and furthermore maintains that 'the rejection of the vernacular was apparently because of the socio-economic benefits associated with English' (Ngcobo 2014, 696). Interestingly, these problems are certainly not confined to BWC students.…”

Conceptualising Multilingual Capabilities in Anglophone Higher Degree Research Education: Challenges and Possibilities for Reconfiguring Language Practices and Policies

“…Multilingualism has been widely discussed in relation to the internationalisation of Higher Education (HE) driven by globalisation [3][4][5][6][7]. According to Australian Education International [8], 31.5% of all HDRs enrolled at Australian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were international students in 2014, the majority of whom had multilingual capabilities.…”

“…However, Mitchell's analysis of education policies found that multilingual students are characterised as "either academic failures [with an] English deficiency or invisible in policies and practice" [9] (p. 13). Research indicates that English-only monolingualism raises educational and ethical issues concerning students' struggles to maintain their multilingual capabilities at acceptable levels of proficiency in academic domains [6,10]. Using epigraphs composed in their original languages at the beginning of each chapter, Gordin [11] reminds us that the production of scientific knowledge has always been, and continues to be, undertaken in multiple languages.…”