In South Africa
Victor Webb
Director, Center for Research in the Politics of Language
University of Pretoria, South Africa
4:00 pm, Tuesday, February 7
1418 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive
Comments from Antonia Yétúndé Folárìn Schleicher, Department of African Languages and Literature; National African Language Resource Center (NALRC)
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Abstract
This talk will focus on three main issues, viz. the Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP) and practice in democratic South Africa, problems and consequences of the LiEP practice, and possible ways for resolving the problems involved.
The paper prefaces the discussion with a brief overview of the policies issues, in particular the constitutional (language) stipulations, the proposed national language policy and the LiEP, followed by a description of the state of language-in-education practice in the country, i.e. language study and medium of instruction.
The second part of the paper will deal with the educational, economic, political and social consequences of the LiE situation in South Africa, and thepossible reasons for it (including the non-use of mother-tongue education and the strong preference for English as language and as medium of instruction).
Finally, some possible solutions for the current unacceptable state of educational development are proposed from a language political perspective.
This lecture series is free and open to the public. It is made possible with generous support from the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science Anonymous Fund.
For more information, contact Dianna Murphy at (608) 262-1575, diannamurphy@wisc.edu. |
