Towards a New Multilingual Language Policy in Education in South Africa: different approaches to meet different needs

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the issues involved in developing a multilingual language policy in education in South Africa: the influence of the historical context, the language demography and patterns of language use in South Africa, the attitudes of learners, parents and teachers towards the multilingual language policy in education, the range of multilingual education models operating in other countries and the influence of resources in the debate. It draws on two research projects carried out in KwaZulu Natal and in North West Province. The paper argues that for a multilingual language policy in education developed at government level within a national framework, there needs to be the flexibility for each province and each school and classroom to implement the policy to meet the needs of their learners within their resources.