Research Articles (Linguistics)

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Learners’ perceptions of english essay writing problems in northern Namibia: towards Oshiwambo-English translanguaging discourse in english classrooms
(Routledge, 2025) Banda, Felix; Iipinge, Kristof
Literature shows that Namibian learners encounter several challenges when writing essays in English. Hence, several studies have been carried out from the teachers’ perspective to identify problems that learners encounter when writing in English. However, there are few studies that were done to explore learners’ perceptions of their writing problems. Consequently, this article is aimed at exploring learners’ perceptions of challenges in writing in English and the strategies to overcome them. In addition, the article examines prospects for translanguaging as pedagogical discourse in multilingual contexts of northern Namibia. In this regard, structured, one-on-one interviews were conducted with 21 Oshiwambo-speaking learners from seven public schools in the Omusati region. The findings suggest that while some learners were concerned about using Oshiwambo to teach forms of writing in English, the overriding finding was that Oshiwambo should be used more than is currently the case. The article concludes with a discussion of the pedagogic implications of Oshiwambo-English translanguaging discourse, the strategic grouping of learners, peer learning, collaboration and teacher mentoring, for the transformation of the classroom into an interactive space for fluid and creative multilingual resource use in task orientation, topic brainstorming, essay drafting, proofreading and editing.
The sociotechnical dynamics of virtual work-integrated learning in journalism education during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Routledge, 2025) Nkoala, Sisanda; Bulani, Gqibile John
This study explores how sociotechnical factors in a virtual work-integrated learning (WIL) environment influenced the development of practical journalism skills and professional socialisation of journalism students at a selected South African university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a university of technology as a case study, the data for this study were collected using focus group discussions with final-year journalism students and semi-structured in-depth interviews with their employers. The study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic forced WIL into a virtual format, which participants felt impacted their ability to develop essential journalism skills, including production, practical, and technological skills. The virtual nature of WIL also affected their professional socialisation, particularly in terms of interacting with colleagues and news sources and developing career management skills. As the demand for graduates with practical skills and professional socialisation increases, the importance of WIL also rises. The pandemic's impact on journalism provides an opportunity to rethink WIL's role and purpose within the curriculum, using the reflections of students and employers in this study.
Baloi, clever blacks and magogo: Language as symbolic action in online violence against South African female journalists on X
(Springer Nature, 2025) Nkoala, Sisanda
This study examines online violence against South African female journalists on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), focusing on language as a tool for mob censorship. The study analyses 600 posts directed at selected female journalists targeted because of their gender and their reporting on high-profile individuals and events. Through qualitative content analysis, the study reveals how name-calling and chastisement are used to belittle, admonish, and with the aim to ultimately silence these women. Name-calling, particularly based on race and gender, employs stereotypes and derogatory terms to try to discredit the journalists and undermine their authority. Chastisement, through sexual innuendo and the weaponisation of mental health, attempts to control and shame these women by dictating how they should behave. This study expands our understanding of name-calling as a weaponised form of digital press criticism used to delegitimise and shame journalists, particularly in a non-Western context.
Analysis of orthographic errors in grade 11 isiXhosa first language texts
(Taylor & Francis, 2024) Titi, Nonzolo; Ralarala, Monwabisi K; Botha, Rudolph
In a selected Western Cape school, Grade 11 isiXhosa First Language (L1) learners’ written language presents errors which seem to be an indication of both their poor linguistic competence and learning performance. Their writing not only reflects various orthographic errors, but also inconsistency in their isiXhosa usage. These errors tend to affect learners’ academic performance when made in written tasks which are used for assessment purposes. Tendencies towards serious violations of the standard orthographic rules are noticeable, and this observation presents concerns in terms of the fate and sustainability of the language. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study examines errors presented in the writings of Grade 11 isiXhosa L1 learners with a view to establishing the nature and scope of these errors. Findings reveal that learners commit a variety of errors and thus demonstrate significant deviation from the standard orthography. This study proposes recommendations in the form of interventions and strategies that are applicable in the teaching and learning of Grade 11 learners’ isiXhosa with a view to maintaining its standard orthography and thus improving the learners’ academic performance.
AI hype through an African lens: a critical analysis of language as symbolic action in online news publications
(Routledge, 2025) Nkoala, Sisanda; Matsilele, Trust; Ndlovu, Musawenkosi
News media play a crucial role in shaping a public understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and influencing how society interacts with this technology, often contributing to AI hype. This is particularly significant in Africa, where unique socioeconomic dynamics and historical relationships with technology shape news discourse on AI. However, there is limited understanding of how African news media contribute to AI hype. To address this, this study analysed news reportage on AI in online publications (n = 724) from 26 Anglophone African countries published in national and regional outlets between 1 June 2022 and 31 December 2023. Using content analysis and drawing on the Burkean notion of language as symbolic action, we examine how these publications frame AI and contribute to its hype. Our findings reveal a bias: Western authors dominate coverage and consistently focus on AI’s technical and economic aspects, with AI-related articles predominantly appearing in technology (36%) and business (19%) sections. This emphasis on tools and solutions suggests a utilitarian view of AI, prioritising practical applications over broader societal implications. By employing a structured approach to analyse various elements of news articles, this study develops a framework for examining and understanding how African news media fuels AI hype in public discourse.
Linguistic landscapes and dominant language constellations: the multilingual behaviour of minoritised migrant populations in Lusaka, Zambia
(2025) Simungala, Gabriel
Within the broader theoretical and methodological contexts of linguistic landscapes, where language(s) displayed and used in public spaces serve as analytic lenses, this paper draws on the public spaces of Bauleni township, a peri-urban community of Lusaka, Zambia (South-Central Africa) to describe the multilingual behaviour of migrant populations. Focusing on the presence (and visibility) of Mambwe-Namwanga, two minoritised language groups in Zambia’s sociolinguistic mix, the article shows that as people migrate, it is not always the case that they lose their language(s) for they carry with them their linguistic repertoire which they blend with those found in the new space. To this end, the article uses the outlook of the linguistic landscape and connects it to the dominant language constellations of the Mambwe-Namwanga migrant populations. It argues that while adopting the languages found and used in Bauleni, Mambwe-Namwanga actors simultaneously imprint their presence on the linguistic landscape. These imprints serve as cultural expressions, markers of self-assertion, and symbols of identity, reflecting the dynamic interplay of language and migration in the construction of multilingual spaces.
For the Dutch-speaking students, i will translate it': code-switching as discretionary transformation of emi language policy
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2025) De Soete, Alexander
In the study of english-medium instruction in higher education, attention is being drawn to discrepancies between codified language policy and its enactment in classroom practice. this can be situated in a larger trend in language policy studies, in which researchers document and analyze language policy as an interactional concept, revolving around norms which guide language selection and use. in this context, i discuss how lecturers discretionarily transform institutional policy through code-switching in interactions with students, resulting in the production of a micro-level classroom language policy. the dataset consists of 23 classroom recordings which capture the interactions between six engineering lecturers and their students in two english-medium engineering programs at a belgian university. drawing on street-level bureaucracy and frame analysis, i study code-switching in lecturer-student interaction, with a specific focus on the initiation, timing, procedure, and purpose of code-switching, including whether it involves meta-pragmatic commentary and/or enactment routines which seek, grant, or presume permission. findings highlight a functional distribution of code-switching driven by pedagogical and pragmatic considerations. in conclusion, the study brings into focus how an explanation for the unfolding multilingual dynamics of the english-medium classroom necessarily appeals to both activity-specific interactional expectations and (overlaps in) individual speakers’ repertoires.
Shh, hushed multilingualism! Accounting for the discreet genre of translanguaged siding in lecture halls at a South African university
(De Gruyter Mouton, 2017) Antia, Bassey E.
Translanguaged siding is the term used here for the relatively under-researched phenomenon of student-to-student communication occurring in parallel to the teacher-talk, but using language and other semiotic resources that differ from the teacher's in order to shape understanding of the teacher's meanings or to make other meanings. This article draws on Fishman's reflections on his now famous 1965 question Who speaks What language to Whom and When?, and on Bakhtin's work on dialogicity to examine the dynamics of semiotic choice in translanguaged siding as well as its functions in the experience of multilingual students at a South African University. Data obtained from recorded interviews, a questionnaire survey and documentary evidence allow for establishing that (1) there are complex chains of correlation involving subsets of identified siding variables, and (2) translanguaged siding can be supportive of learning, contrary to associations of siding with Malinowskian small talk.
Diagnostic assessment of academic reading: Peeping into students’ annotated texts
(MDPI, 2022) Antia, Bassey E.; Vogt, Karin
Text annotations are literacy practices that are not uncommon in the reading experience of university students. Annotations may be multilingual, monolingual, or multimodal. Despite their enormous diagnostic potentials, annotations have not been widely investigated for what they can reveal about the cognitive processes that are involved in academic reading. In other words, there has been limited exploration of the insights that signs (verbal and non-verbal) inscribed by students on texts offer for understanding and intervening in their academic reading practices. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the diagnostic assessment potentials of student-annotated texts. On the basis of text annotations obtained from teacher trainee students (n = 7) enrolled at a German university, we seek to understand what different students attend to while reading, what their problem-solving strategies are, what languages and other semiotic systems they deploy, what their level of engagement with text is, and, critically, how the foregoing provide a basis for intervening to validate, reinforce, correct, or teach certain reading skills and practices. Theoretically, the study is undergirded by the notion of text movability. Data suggestive of how students journey through text are argued to have implications for understanding and teaching how they manage attention, use dictionaries, own text meaning, and appraise text.
Researching teacher multilingual-talk and student-benefits: Rethinking knowledge blindness, diglossic cognition and its constructs
(Routledge, 2024) Antia, Bassey E.; Bassi, Madu M.
Although supported by different ideologies of language, code-switching and translanguaging are, surprisingly perhaps, united in some of the claims made in their names. In the literature on classroom practices, one shared claim is that content is simplified for students when the teacher uses features enregistered as the non-official classroom language/s in a way that overlaps with and/or complements features enregistered as the official classroom language. Functional allocation of languages/features, a corollary of this claim, arguably interpellates what may be termed diglossic cognition. The problem with this diglossic cognition is that it is largely knowledge-blind and equates cognition with the mere use of particular languages or features. This study finds that there are both language and knowledge variables in teacher multilingual-talk that explain students’ enhanced cognition, and, therefore, invites a rethink of the unnuanced connections made between language (feature) choice and cognition.
Multilingual assessment: Levelling the cognition–emotion playing field at the University of the Western Cape
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2021) Antia, Bassey E.
This article examines the relatively understudied question of how cognition and emotion (as induced by language) interact in assessment situations in higher education contexts. It does so against the backdrop of different outcomes for students with varying forms of linguistic cultural capital in South African higher education. Applying phenomenology as methodology, we unpack the ways in which students at the University of the Western Cape experience both monolingual and multilingual assessment from the standpoint of the cognition– emotion interface. The findings show that while monolingual assessment created affective barriers to cognition, a far more enabling environment was created by the provision of alternative multilingual linguistic arrangements. The article reflects on the implications of the analysis both for levelling the playing field in a context where language is a major source of inequality and for scholarship on language in assessment.
University multilingualism: A critical narrative from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
(Routledge, 2015) Antia, Bassey E.
This article offers a narrative of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, from the prism of the duality of language as a co-modality (with people, protest, policy and practices) for constituting the institution in whole or in part and as a reflection of its co-modalities. For its framing, the narrative eclectically draws on language politics and policy, a grammar of multilingual landscapes and the epistemology of linguistics. Besides contributing to a historiography of university language policies, the narrative has implications for language policy analysis.
Some methodological issues in language research: Dealing with transcribed interpreted courtroom data
(Academic Publishing Pte. Ltd., 2023) Svongoro, Paul; Kufakunesu, Patson
Transcription is a crucial tool in language research, particularly in discourse analysis, as it provides a distillation of real-time interactions. In the 21st century, researchers are increasingly interested in studying authentic data samples, such as audio-recorded court hearings, to turn evanescent speech into readable and analysable formats. However, transcription involves a complex process of theoretical or methodological issues about language, making it a rich source of examinable data. Researchers need to develop adequate methodologies to make such data available for their research endeavours. This exploratory research presents transcription as a methodology for researchers interested in language and ethnographic methods, addressing critical considerations such as the data to be transcribed, the transcriber responsible, and how to represent it. The paper explores innovations in transcription and presents the benefits and challenges of transcription as a methodology, particularly in language research.
The discriminatory practice of language testing for authenticating citizenship: An analysis of operation dudula through a forensic linguistics lens
(North-West Unversity, 2024) Docrat, Zakeera
This article utilises both the theoretical and practical lenses located in the discipline of forensic linguistics to examine the practice of administering language tests to applicants for citizenship in South Africa, considering the prevailing policies and practices in an international context, and concludes that they should be avoided. In this interdisciplinary article I outline the South African constitutional and legislative provisions affecting language testing and language proficiency when applying for citizenship in multilingual South Africa. In this paper I discuss the linkages between language, citizenship, and xenophobia, building on the work by Brits, Kaschula and Docrat on the role of language in xenophobic attacks and protests. I argue that language tests for immigrants in the South African context perpetuate Apartheid-era thinking, policies and practices. This creates linguistic inequality and contributes to racial tensions and divisions in communities rather than creating social cohesion and equality for all. The article provides a case study of operation dudula, where language is being used to carry out xenophobic acts under the banner of citizenship. A brief comparison is drawn with Ryanair airlines' language tests for South African citizens.
Campus repertoires: interrogating semiotic assemblages, economy, and creativity
(De Gruyter Mouton, 2024) Simungala, Gabriel; Ndalama-Mtawali, Deborah
Framed within the broader theoretical context of social semiotics, we attempt to show how university students communicate using a variety of unique means, in particular social contexts. We privilege Pennycook and Otsuji’s semiotic assemblages, Jimaima and Simungala’s semiotic creativity, and the notion of semiotic economy as critical ingredients that conspire to give rise to the unique and complex coinages and innovations constituting students’ repertoires. We argue that, born out of creativity, the students’ repertoires are semiotically and economically charged discourses that generate extended narratives such that more is realized with less. We show that this reality undoubtedly constitutes a multi-semiotic meaning-making endeavor that enacts and sustains students’ imagined and lived experiences in real sociocultural, historical, and political spaces in the multilingual landscapes of university campuses.
Co-constructing identities and ideological positions in conversational storytelling among friends
(Taylor & Francis, 2024) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu
Research has shown that identities and ideologies result from a complex interplay between various social, cultural and psychological factors, such as socialisation, shared experiences, cultural backgrounds and institutional practices in media, education and family. However, due to this tendency to focus on macro identity categories and macro-level ideological processes, more research is needed on how these categories and ideologies are co-constructed and operationalised within micro contexts, such as between friends. In doing so, we can explore the malleability of ideologies and identities as individuals (re)negotiate their beliefs and affiliations over time, often within micro, everyday activities. Using ethnographic methods and a practice approach to narrative, this paper shows how the analysis of conversational practices, specifically storytelling, can provide a window into the granular semiotic and discursive processes through which group identities and ideologies are (re)negotiated in mundane everyday discourse. The analyses of naturally occurring conversations between friends in Cape Town, South Africa, show that, through the use of constructed dialogue and other evaluative devices, interlocutors jointly negotiate complex alignments and positions in relation to a variety of social issues and ordinary occurrences, simultaneously and implicitly (re)establishing or (re)defining their group positionalities and ideologies.
Influence of load shedding in South African higher education: a qualitative content analysis of schools of music
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2024) Yende, Sakhiseni Joseph
Load shedding in South Africa has a profound impact on various sectors, including education, and specifically, South African music education faces significant disruptions. One of the most notable effects is the interruption of music instruction, with load shedding frequently causing classes to be interrupted. This leads to gaps in learning and a disjointed educational experience for students. The aim of this article was to investigate the influence of load shedding on South African higher education, particularly in schools of music. The study utilized a qualitative research method and relied heavily on secondary data. It employed a data cleaning strategy and a triangulation approach to ensure data validity and minimized bias. Additionally, critical pedagogy theory was used to address the exacerbated socio-economic disparities resulting from load shedding. The findings of the study highlighted that before the onset of load shedding, South African music education already faced an urban-rural divide, with urban institutions having better resources and opportunities than rural schools. Load shedding exacerbates these disparities, as students from disadvantaged backgrounds face increased barriers to accessing musical instruments and supplementary resources. In conclusion, the study emphasized the urgent need for concerted efforts to mitigate the impact of load shedding on music education. It underscored the transformative potential of inclusive, uninterrupted music instruction for students in South African rural-based schools of music.
Editorial: The centralization and racialization of language policy: implications for the ‘below
(MDPI, 2024) Khetoa, Soyiso; Mantoa Motinyane
The significance of language policies cannot be overlooked, particularly in countries where political ideologies influence perceptions about the use of various languages in various domains. Due to political influence certain languages are regarded as ‘languages of the state’ and others are perceived to be ‘languages in the state’. Language practices during apartheid in South Africa were very influential in deciding the plight of indigenous African languages
Approaches to interpreting emojis as evidence in South African courts: a forensic linguistic perspective
(Routledge, 2024) Docrat, Zakeera; Kaschula, Russell H
This article highlights the importance of emojis as evidence in courts of law. The article outlines the history of emojis from a global perspective, and how they have come to be used as a form of implicit and explicit communication. The global inconsistency of the interpretation of emojis is explored against the backdrop of multilingualism and multiculturalism. This creates complications when emojis are presented as evidence in both criminal and civil cases. All of the above is explored in relation to South African courts, and emojis are examined as part of the discipline of forensic linguistics. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002 (ECT Act) provides guidelines on the rules of admissibility pertaining to data messages and other electronic communications, and is used for the interpretation of emojis as evidence in courts. Recommendations are made regarding the use of emojis as evidence in courts of law.
dalawhatyoumust: Kaaps, translingualism and linguistic citizenship in Cape Town, South Africa
(Discourse, Context & Media, 2023) Toyer, Zaib; Peck, Amiena
In 2016 Wayde Van Niekerk, a South African athlete of mixed-race heritage won an Olympic gold medal. In South Africa, his win caused hashtags such as #proudlysouthafrican, #blackexcellence and #colouredexcellence to trend online. By and large, these hashtags index the ongoing competitive discourses regarding nationalism, race and culture in Cape Town (cf. Author, 2018). Amongst these hashtags, however, was #dalawhatyoumust, a Kaaps hashtag generally meaning to �do what needs to be done�. Unlike the aforementioned hashtags, this one seems to cross the linguistic and racial divide despite its strong associations with Coloured1 people on the Cape Flats. The seemingly effortless uptake of this hashtag by diverse South Africans suggest that it has somehow become unmoored of its ethnic and linguistic inception. We explore the use of this Kaaps hashtag as a form of translingual practice which is affect-laden and trans portable across and between diverse users online and which promotes a particular �cool Capetonian� culture. Analyzing select posts from the #dalawhatyoumust thread on Facebook, we provide a nuanced look at #dala whatyoumust as an uplifting genre which proleptically advises nameless viewers of the importance of selfactualization, determination and aspiration. Additionally, we include Goffman�s (1974) framing foundation to investigate how positivistic discourse has been rhizomatically taken up by a �realm� of implicit collective users online. This research interrogates long-held ideological boundaries between Kaaps and legitimized Standard Afrikaans and standard English. We conclude with a focus on Kaaps hashtags as semiotic acts of Linguistic Citizenship (cf. Williams and Stroud, 2013) which allows for the conjoining of Kaaps with diverse audiences, complex trajectories, and an assortment of accompanying semiotics. Following Stroud (2018:3) we argue that this Kaaps hashtag has become a form of languaging that facilitates ��the building of broad affinities of speakers that cut across�divisions and borders, and that negotiate co-existence/co-habitation outside of common ground in recognition of equivocation�. In South Africa, division was the order of the day and when we explore contemporary ordinary moments posted by heterogenous users using #dalawhatyoumust (henceforth #dwym) we aim to explore the ordinariness of languaging which brings people together despite their race, linguistic background, and ethnicity, that is to say an affinity of �cool Capetonian� style.

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