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2 - Adapt or Die

Maintaining or Decolonising Language Practices?

from Part I - Mental Decolonisation and Cultural Diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Theodore Rodrigues
Edited by
Russell H. Kaschula  and
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Russell H. Kaschula
Affiliation:
Rhodes University, South Africa
H. Ekkehard Wolff
Affiliation:
Universität Leipzig
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Summary

This chapter draws attention to the Afrocentric linguistic and literacy practices of English-additional-language students in the department mechanical engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in reclaiming their rightful voice in recuperating the curriculum in the process of decolonisation. As part of a broader study, the author created a multimodal intervention for the students who were struggling to gain access to their discipline-specific language. The chapter reports on their elicited experiences in making sense of the curriculum by using these multimodal resources. From a theoretical perspective, the chapter draws on Hornberger’s continua of biliteracy model to provide us with a lens to discuss the responses and language practices of the participants. Questionnaires, focus group interviews and various excerpts gathered from texts produced by English-as-additional language students provided the data for the study. The findings point to dehegemonising practices and the restructuring of knowledge that recognises Afrocentric literacies and cultures.

Keywords

English-additional-languagehigher education institutionsdecolonisationmeaning-makingtranslanguagingcontinua of biliteracylinguistic and literacy practices
Type
Chapter
Information
The Transformative Power of Language
From Postcolonial to Knowledge Societies in Africa
 , pp. 43 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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