SADiLaR launches higher education support programme to advance multilingualism in SA’s universities

This initiative is a direct response to key findings outlined in the national language resources audit report (Van Dyk, et al., 2023), which highlighted critical challenges to the sustainable implementation of the aforementioned framework.

The audit identified eight key areas requiring urgent attention:

1. Expertise and support in language planning and management
   
2. Expertise and support in language policy monitoring and reporting
   
3. Training in multilingual pedagogies
   
4. Academic language development
   
5. Terminology development
   
6. Co-ownership and co-responsibility through collaboration and shared funding
   
7. Hegemony of English in academic settings
   
8. Improving the language ability of staff at the conversational level
   

Led by Prof Tobie van Dyk who is on a secondment appointment to SADiLaR, the higher education support programme is designed to address these issues by providing targeted support to universities in most of these areas. Through this initiative, SADiLaR plays a pivotal role in reshaping the linguistic landscape of higher education, promoting equitable access to educational resources, and improving the overall learning experience for students from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

“Multilingualism in higher education is not just a matter of policy, but a critical enabler of social and academic inclusion,” said Van Dyk, programme leader of SADiLaR’s higher education support programme. “We aim to support universities with the necessary tools, expertise and infrastructure to manage linguistic diversity effectively, thereby fostering an environment where all students can thrive academically, regardless of their linguistic background.”

Background: The Language Resources Audit

In September 2021, SADiLaR was endorsed by the Universities South Africa (USAf), through its Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages (CoPAL), to conduct a comprehensive national language resources audit across all public universities in South Africa to note resources universities require to successfully implement the new language policy framework.

SADiLaR successfully administered the audit between July 2022 and July 2023. The audit was administered at 24 of the 26 public higher education institutions in South Africa. For the audit, two questionnaires were designed – one directed at staff, and the other directed at students. Questionnaires focussed on such domains in higher education as language services, teaching and learning (including scholarship), the language of communication and administration, and student life / co-curricular activities.

The full language resources audit report is available here.

About SADiLaR

SADiLaR is a national centre supported and established by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation in 2016 as one of thirteen national research infrastructures within the broad South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). After a two-year incubation period, it was formally launched as a research infrastructure in August 2019, with the North-West University (NWU) functioning as host and hub of a network of linked research nodes based at different universities and institutions.

The centre has an enabling function, with a focus on all official languages of South Africa, supporting research and development in the domains of language technologies and language-related studies in the humanities and social sciences. It supports the creation, management and distribution of digital language resources, as well as applicable software, which are freely available for research purposes.

SADiLaR stakeholders include academic scholars and professionals in all domains of humanities and social sciences, language technologies, natural language processing, computer science, as well as potential end-users in education, business and industry.