Uncovering the universals of ubuntu translanguaging in classroom discourses

ABSTRACT

Increasing international mobility has raised awareness on the fluidity and porous nature of boundaries not only between nation states, but also between named languages. Despite the complexities of overlaps across a wider spectrum of languages and classrooms worldwide, orthodox education programmes still reflect monolingual and epistemic biases, which disproportionately put the majority of the students at an educational disadvantage. In this paper, I explore classroom data from African classrooms on how translanguaging is effective in deepening comprehension and cultivating a high sense of self. Samples of data from a primary school were analyzed to explain the nature and prevalence of translanguaging in South African classrooms. The results of the study show that there is a high prevalence of translanguaging that reflects infinite relations of dependency between various linguistic resources employed in classroom discourses. This multilingual usage is interpreted within the African value system of ubuntu (I x We): I am because you are. I then argue that this cultural competence can be leveraged for successful learning and teaching. In the end, I consider recommendations on how the universals of Ubuntu translanguaging as a regime for multilingual practices becomes transformative in enhancing epistemic access and identity positions of multilingual students.

KEYWORDS:

• Translanguaging
• ubuntu
• classroom discourses
• comprehension
• identity
• multilingualism

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leketi Makalela

Leketi Makalela is professor and founding director of the Hub for Multilingual Education and Literacies (HUMEL) at the Wits School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies journal. His latest book is Shifting lenses: multilanguaging and decolonization in the global South.