In South Africa, as in many parts of postcolonial Africa, English dominates the political economy and as a result is the medium of instruction chosen by the majority of South African schools, despite the fact that most learners do not have the opportunity to acquire English to the levels necessary for effective engagement with the curriculum.…

This paper discusses an attempt to establish community literacy procedures in an Eastern Cape community school. The school hosts the Additive Bilingual Education (ABLE) project, a cooperation between UK and South African universities and the school trust. The community literacy strand of the project encourages family members to contribute oral…

Claims three of the arguments advocated by proponents of the English Language Amendment (ELA) are myths, including (1) linguistic diversity causes political conflict; (2) an official language determines national unity; and (3) bilingual education decelerates the entrance of non-English speakers into the American mainstream. Argues that the ELA is…

The theme of this book cuts across disciplines. Contributors to this volume are specialized in education and especially classroom research as well as in linguistics, most being transdisciplinary themselves. Around 65 sub-Saharan languages figure in this volume as research objects: as means of instruction, in connection with teacher training,…

Notes that until 1994, English and Afrikaans were the two official languages of South Africa, and educational policy promoted bilingualism in the country's schools. Examines the two languages historically and socially in order to make some comparisons with bilingual education in Canada. Makes reference to the future roles of the two languages in…

The Commission on International Adult Education (CIAE) of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) provides a forum for the discussion of international issues related to adult education in general, as well as adult education in various countries around the globe. The following purposes summarize the work of the…

To improve throughput rates in higher education it is important to investigate ways in which instruction can be made more effective when students have to use language(s) that are not their home or primary language. At the University of Stellenbosch, as is the case elsewhere in South Africa, a language policy and implementation plan was formulated…

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages. However, English dominates as the language of access and power and although the Language-in-Education Policy (1997) recommends school language policies that will promote additive bilingualism and the use of learners' home languages as languages of learning and teaching, there has…

Examines the position of the mother tongue in the proposed additive bilingual programs in South Africa. Sociolinguistic, cultural, and political factors are examined, language use and attitudes of South Africans to language and education are discussed, and the practical possibilities for the implementation of mother-tongue medium of instruction…

This collection of papers examines, from an international perspective, opportunities and challenges of societal bilingualism in the new millennium. The 18 papers include the following: "Introduction: Opportunities and Challenges of Bilingualism" (Li Wei, Jean-Marc Dewaele, and Alex Housen); "'Holy Languages' in the Context of…

This paper reviews the teaching of English as a second language in the secondary schools in the Transvaal, the syllabuses which have been in use since 1956-57, and the importance of an audiolingual approach. In attempting to discover the reasons for students' failure to attain a satisfactory standard of bilingualism, the author examines (1) the…

Pupils in South African Bantu schools spend one third of their time in Standards (Grades) 1 and 2 learning the official languages, English and Afrikaans. Nearly as much time is given to the learning of their own Bantu mother tongue, the language of instruction from Sub-Standard A (Preprimary) to Standard 6. In the Lower Primary schools, through…

The cases of Estonia and South Africa illustrate how a lack of coherence between a language policy and that policy's implementation plan can reduce both the policy and the implementation plan to symbolic acts of no benefit to students or communities. Comparison of these countries' language-in-education plans highlights the need to examine…

This paper reports on results of a questionnaire survey of 84 schools representing 25,928 Afrikaans-speaking pupils in the Cape Province of South Africa. The survey revealed that only 13 of the teachers were English-speaking; the rest were Afrikaans-speaking. Most of the children never hear English out of school, or hear it under conditions…

This volume contains 12 papers originally presented at the 14th Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education in 1999. The symposium explored contemporary issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identities and their influence on the social construction of identity. Papers include: (1) "Reconceptualizing Ethnicity and Educational…