Ubuntu translanguaging as a systematic approach to language teaching in multilingual classrooms in South Africa

The Language in Education Policy by the Department of Education recognises the linguistically super-diverse nature of learners in South African schools and provides allowance to use more than one language in teaching and learning within the framework of promoting multi-lingualism. This policy adopted an additive approach and encouraged school governing bodies to establish how they will promote multilingualism through the use of more than one language. However, it seems there is lack of systematic approaches on how schools should promote multilingualism. This exploratory qualitative study, therefore, looked at how Ubuntu translanguaging can be applied as a systematic approach in schools to promote multilingualism. The small-scale study made use of semi-structured interviews and classroom observations to explore how teachers incorporated and understood the Policy in promoting multilingualism. It was found that teachers used more than one language to enhance learning, though they believed this was not allowed and that they were required/expected to use only one language for learning and teaching at a time. The study concludes that there is a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Policy and recommends that the policy be unpacked and clarified for teachers. It further recommends the Ubuntu trans-languaging pedagogy to be accepted as a systematic approach to promote multi-lingualism

Ubuntu translanguaging as a systematic approach to language teaching in multilingual classrooms in South Africa

The Language in Education Policy recognises the linguistically super-diverse nature of learners in South African schools and provides allowance to use more than one language in teaching and learning within the framework of promoting multilingualism. This policy adopted an additive approach and encouraged school governing bodies to establish how they will promote multilingualism through the use of more than one language. However, it seems there is lack of systematic approaches on how schools should promote multilingualism. This study, therefore, looked at how Ubuntu translanguaging can be applied as a systematic approach in schools to promote multilingualism. This small-scale exploratory qualitative study made use of semi-structured interviews and classroom observations to explore how teachers incorporated and understood the Policy in promoting multilingualism. It was found that teachers used more than one language to enhance learning, though they believed this was not allowed and that they were required/expected to use only one language for learning and teaching at a time. The study concludes that there is a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the Policy and recommends that the policy be unpacked and clarified for teachers. It further recommends the Ubuntu translanguaging pedagogy to be accepted as a systematic approach to promote multilingualism

Translanguaging and orthographic harmonisation: A cross-lingual reading literacy in a Johannesburg school

The last three years has seen increased interest in translanguaging as an alternative pedagogical strategy for multilingual classrooms in South Africa. These studies questioned the validity of language boundaries, especially in complex multilingual encounters where notions of home language or mother tongue do not apply. There is, however, a paucity of research on translingual reading performance of learners from cognate languages in complex multilingual contexts. This study investigated the reading comprehension and rate of readers of Setswana, Sesotho and Sepedi in a South African township. Sixty (n = 60) grade 4–6 elementary school children were assessed through a battery of tests that were based on Curriculum-Based Measures. The results of the assessment show that there were no statistically significant differences between learners of these three cognate languages in both the reading comprehension and reading rate measures. Using the ubuntu translanguaging framework, we argue that the readers’ performance shows the possible effects of orthographic overlap and the value system of confluence (botho), which are found among speakers of these languages. Secondly, the results challenge the perceived boundaries between these languages and support earlier claims for possible harmonisation of their orthographic systems, i.e. that there will be no negative epistemic effect on the readers of these cognate languages. In the end, we consider implications for translanguaging pedagogy and materials development, and highlight areas for future research