Enhancing visibility of local African languages in South Africa through learning to read

• Autores: Rosemary Wildsmith, Caroline Dyer, Taadi Modipa
• Localización: Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, ISSN 0143-4632, Vol. 44, Nº. 9, 2023 (Ejemplar dedicado a: African Languages in Public spaces: Opportunities and challenges), págs. 860-876
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article examines the visibility of an African language, isiZulu, in the public domain of education in South Africa. It explores synergies and disjunctures in language use and exposure for children across the continuum from home to ECD centre and early primary school, and how they affect children’s competence in reading in two languages by Grade 4. Our qualitative cross-sectional study finds isiZulu is visible in the homes, communities and at each grade level, along with other African languages; but use of, and exposure to, these African languages varies widely. In most homes, while storytelling is common, little reading is done; educational settings, in contrast, are print-rich environments, displaying isiZulu and English and making English highly visible very early on. Teaching of reading in both languages is done at a very slow pace, using restrictive pedagogies, and with little continuity across Grades, but enables Grades 3 and 4 children to read simple, connected text in both isiZulu and English. The article calls for language appropriate, specialised reading teaching that strengthens learners’ language and reading development bilingually, and increases and consolidates the visibility of the African language in the curriculum.