Curriculum 2005 and (post)modernising African languages : the quantum leap

Includes bibliographical references.This study examines the status of ALs in the school context. In this thesis I argue that AL syllabi and textbooks are not at the same cognitive, affective and psycho-social level as their English counterparts. The important role of the mother tongue as a powerful platform for cognitive and psycho-social development of the African child is also discussed. My argument is that the low status of the ALs is visible in the textbooks that are in schools. With the introduction of the new Curriculum, there arises a need to write new AL textbooks. As the expertise is lacking among AL speakers to write postmodern textbooks as envisaged by Curriculum 2005, I propose a collaboration between AL and English practitioners as a necessary and feasible transitory step in the development of new AL textbooks

Terminology and school books in southern African languages: aren't there any?

This chapter was written a part of research being conducted by the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) on the feasibility of the extended use of African languages in Education

Transformative Power of Language Policies in Higher Education:

There is a disjuncture between the intentions of the South African constitutional provisions as contained in Section 6, which prescribe that all eleven official languages be treated equitably, and what is happening on the ground at the institutions of higher learning. In these institutions, English remains the primary language of instruction. African languages are encouraged as support languages in certain instances, but no institution has an African language as a medium of instruction (see for example the Rhodes Language Policy, 2019). This chapter calls into question the use of language and argues for purposive interpretation and practical implementation of the constitutional provisions on language. A proper and linguistically sound understanding of multilingualism as a developmental resource–educational, legal and societal–needs to emerge (Wolff, 2016). The constitutional aspects are explicated in the legislative and policy frameworks discussed in this chapter