This study employed a qualitative interpretative case study methodology, involving two teachers and one class of learners from two selected schools. The researcher used observation to address a critical question: How does the application of the Tshivenda scientific language register shape meaningful learning? The findings reveal that the…

Translanguaging is increasingly recognized as an essential strategy to improve epistemic access in multilingual societies, including many developing societies. This view is especially spurred by scholarly results that have confirmed that all languages are essential resources for learning beyond the language of teaching and learning. Therefore,…

This paper contributes to southern theorization of multilingualisms. Noting the predominance of northern-generated academic debates, we discuss perspectives from close engagement with southern socio-historical and political contexts, and through prioritizing community and teacher outlooks on multilingualism. Our account is illustrated with…

Background: While the concept of translanguaging has gained significant traction in education in multilingual contexts, it is also debated and contested. Claims are made about what translanguaging can and cannot do, how different it might be from code-switching, whether it arises from a single repertoire of language resources or from use of…

The call for improving students' academic achievement in science education has increased in urgency in recent years. It has also increased in complexity in the face of the growing cultural and linguistic diversity of present-day classrooms following inter- and intra-state migration. Although "translanguaging" pedagogy, where languages of…

Background: Foundation Phase teachers in the South African Department of Basic Education system daily encounter a challenge with learners struggling to read with understanding. This motive was displayed and made available to readers and authors by the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy 2021, which articulated that learners in the…

Background: Language discussions have historically focused on the power dynamics between dominant and indigenous languages. This has generated discontent and contention on which language should rule the educational sector. The national language policy of South Africa mandates the use of all languages in the educational system. Even though there…

Individual reports of language history, use, and proficiency are generally considered sufficient for language profiling. Yet, these variables alone neglect the contribution of contextual linguistic diversity to one's overall language repertoire. In this study we used the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire to evaluate whether there is a…

The practices of sorting things out and bringing things together, which I summarise under the term relanguaging, sit between fluid, situated languaging practices and the administrative standard grid in education that relies on bounded, named languages. Relanguaging, I argue, was invisible to socio- and applied linguists' analytical vision because…

Mathematics is, universally, considered the heartbeat of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) education. Accordingly, the learners must be equipped with strong mathematical proficiency very early in life. This behoves mathematics practitioners to use various impactful pedagogical strategies. The bigger action research from…

Background: Our article argues that the role of translingual instruction in mathematics classrooms is under-recognised in South Africa, as policymakers, teacher educators, teachers, learners, and parents assume that mathematics is just about numbers and calculations and not language. This is despite findings on the value of using children's…

Background: The article critiques the monoglossic ideologies that dominate current educational practices in South Africa, which often marginalise indigenous African languages and fail to facilitate the dynamic multilingual realities of learners. It examines the impact of English language pedagogies in multilingual settings, particularly in South…

This paper analyses the current state of postcolonial and decolonial science teaching, based on a systematic review of the literature, with a special focus on the European context. It shows that currently, a very narrow view on postcolonial science teaching prevails, limiting its scope to former colonies. A total of 227 articles published…

Linguistic heterogeneity and fluidity--prominently captured in the notion of 'translanguaging'-- are starting to be seen as normative and natural. In turn, homogeneity and fixity, instantiated for example in standard languages, are becoming the 'odd-ones-out.' I challenge the dichotomy between linguistic fluidity (languaging) and fixity (named…

Background: In South Africa the majority of learners are failed by school language policies that require them to switch from learning through the medium of their home language, to learning through the medium of English from Grade 4. Yet language ideologies rooted in coloniality sustain the domination of English in education and suppress the home…