Di Niu
“Permeable walls” are installed in the classroom (Pennycook, 2021). Permeability can be seen in the transmission of information between classrooms and the outside world. What is transmissible is not only information but also the consequences of these interconnections between inside and outside classrooms, particularly from the perspective of educational sociolinguistics. As a result, language policies and their implementations should be linked between the scenarios of permeable classrooms and the world outside. This “from the top down”—or, more precisely, local classroom-based vision—helps to establish effective language policy (Pennycook, 2021).
South Africa, with its multilingualism, can serve as an example. Historically speaking, Afrikaans, like English, is an imposed language spoken by millions of South Africans, and its influence can be seen in daily life. In this case, bilingualism may not be sufficient to depict the linguistic environment in South Africa because other local languages exist. That is why multilingualism helps to explain the South African language environment.
In order to gain a better understanding of South Africa’s multilingual context, it is necessary to put Afrikaans and English in a sociocultural context. There could be a special platform of daily life that reflects interactions between English and other languages (Kamwangamalu, 2007). When deciding whether to use English or Afrikaans, this model can be helpful. Local language policy, it could be argued, is also attempting to strike a delicate balance between the two, and a number of policies correspond with South Africa’s cultural background.
Classrooms, according to Pennycook (2021), are “dynamic spaces” that are linked to what happens in the outside world. From this perspective, South Africa’s social transformation resonates with the “Afrikaans-ESL” context. It means that the importance of English has been emphasized since the country’s globalization. Young people, in particular, may have discovered a new balance in South Africa’s multilingual context. Meanwhile, economic development promotes the use of English on a regular basis. As a result, there is a generation gap in the way Afrikaans and English are used. This phenomenon is miraculous because there is such harmony in the coexistence of English and its multilingual setting. The challenge for teachers, however, is to convey to students the message of “Afrikaans-ESL balance.” This task is not easy, and it is accompanied by multiple answers as well as student feedback. How can local governments in South Africa identify the key points in conflicts between English and other languages and then design a language policy to address these issues?
Furthermore, we must also mention South Africa’s ongoing racial and ethnic conflicts. Similarly, Pennycook has interpreted Canagarajah’s context in Sri Lanka to mean that classrooms should have “relative autonomy.” Despite social instability, classrooms continue to provide students with educational opportunities. This context also creates a new platform for local language policymakers to rethink how to improve existing language policies. If the language policy is successful in assisting people in finding a balance between English and other languages, it will also contribute to social and economic stability. Language is mobile, so it can integrate at different levels of society, effectively addressing language issues. Hence, I believe that South Africa is an excellent case study for studying the interactions between English and the multilingual environment. It may not be easy to address all of these issues at first, but it must eventually find a viable solution in the face of these conflicts.
In conclusion, the example of ESL and multilingual South Africa provides a new platform for rethinking the issue of English and the local multilingual context. Conflicts and beneficial interactions will continue. However, it is through this investigation that local language policymakers should be able to find better solutions, with a particular emphasis on this “from top to bottom” model—or, more precisely, this local sociolinguistics-based insight (Pennycook, 2021). The classroom is not an isolated place, but sufficiently permeable to absorb interactions from the world outside.
Question:
Can you think of any other examples similar to “multilingual South Africa and ESL”?
Reference
Barkhuizen, G. P., & Gough, D. (1996). Language curriculum development in South Africa: What place for English?. TESOL quarterly, 30(3), 453-471.
Kamwangamalu, N. M. (2007). One language, multi‐layered identities: English in a society in transition, South Africa. World Englishes, 26(3), 263-275.
Pennycook, A. (2021). The politics of language pedagogy (Chapter 6). In A. Pennycook (author). Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Re-introduction. Routledge.
