Background: Poetry predates all other genres of literature, and it has been argued that the relationship between poetry and language is inextricable. The ability of African people to articulate their own stories was largely silenced by colonialism. Poems and lyrics have been known to create a bridge between individuals in meaningful words and…

This paper explores the relationship between language education and identity realization and the consequences of choosing either an Indigenous or a colonial language education approach. The focus is on the African postcolonial context; however, the arguments are also substantiated by examples from other parts of the world. I argue for a…

In this position paper we highlight language as a perennial factor contributing to compromised meaning-making in multilingual primary school mathematics classrooms. We note use of the term 'translanguaging' in discussions around mitigating this meaning-making challenge. The paper argues that, while much work remains to be done towards clarifying…

Pedagogical strategies intended for monolingual classes may not adequately address the educational needs and aspirations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, as multilingual and bilingual learners differ from monolinguals. This article sought to understand multilingual teachers' pedagogical approaches to helping non-speakers of the…

Teaching mathematics in primary schools using indigenous languages as the language of instruction may present a professional challenge for teachers in several ways. Whereas most studies focused on teachers' use of indigenous language in mathematics classrooms, there seems to be little done on the challenges experienced by pre-service teachers…

Background: Several isiXhosa home language (HL) learners are excluded from meaningful mathematics learning because they are taught in English. Not only do teachers lack epistemological and pedagogical confidence in using multiple languages when teaching mathematics, but there are no mathematical registers for African languages that allow for…

Despite huge investments in the educational sector, many countries in Africa have not fared well in the education indices. This study examined the effect of teaching equipment and teachers' effort on learning outcomes in 744 Nigerian primary schools using Stochastic Frontier and Ordinary Least Square regression. The mean technical efficiency was…

Introduction: Today, classes made up of learners with different linguistic backgrounds are a reality in many countries, including South Africa. Thus, this study was driven by the need to explore the various preconditions that must be met for the inclusion of home languages in an English First Additional Language context in the Further Education…

The scope of the paper is to analyse Namibian mainstream primary teachers' practices in the multilingual context they work in. As teachers have a central role in implementing language policies, their practices either support or impede learning as well as learners' multilingual identities. Multilingual practices entailing rich scaffolding and…

Classrooms across the world are becoming more diverse, forcing mainstream teachers to accept responsibility for teaching second language (L2) learners. As a result, pedagogical translanguaging has come to the fore as a potential practice to help L2 learners perform academically. In South Africa pedagogical translanguaging had not previously been…

Since the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in 2020, universities worldwide have undergone unanticipated changes in how they operate and deliver the academic programme. Chief among these changes has been a wide-scale adoption of emergency remote teaching (ERT). This phenomenological study draws on critical pedagogy to…

The language used as a medium of instruction (MOI) has implications for learning outcomes. In most African classrooms, an international language is solely or dominantly used as an MOI. There is a debate about how this practice is associated with students' learning outcomes. This study uses Zambian PISA for Development 2018 data and school fixed…

Background: South African literacy-as-social-practice theoreticians, language-in-education experts, educational linguists, and language policies advocate multilingual pedagogies to acknowledge and cater to diverse multilingual learners' literacy development. Universities purport multilingualism to provide for the multilingual norm, students'…

This participatory action research project conducted through the USAID-funded Transforming Teacher Education activity examined how two pre-service teacher education programs in Zambia prepared teachers for primary reading instruction. College and university lecturers and in-service primary grade teachers participated in focus groups and…

This paper focuses on the issue of language of instruction, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and considers the persistent preference for monolingual learning environments in multilingual societies. The perception that the use of African languages in education interferes with the acquisition of a global language is shown to be incongruous with…