Learning through linguistic citizenship: finding the �I� of the essay
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
In recent years, the South African higher education system has seen growing calls
for broadened epistemic access, decolonised curricula and transformed institutions.
Scholars across South Africa have taken up the challenge and are working on new
theoretical approaches to teaching and learning in higher education. In this paper,
we reflect on students� experiences of a multilingual, multimodal module called Reimagining Multilingualisms, which was jointly offered by the Universities of the Western
Cape and Stellenbosch in April and May of 2018. In this paper, we provide an overview
of the module and the different types of activities it involved. We reflect on these
experiences using the theoretical lenses of decolonial scholar Mignolo (2009) on
the �locus of enunciation�, and Stroud (2018) on �Linguistic Citizenship�. We present
extracts from focus group interviews with students from both campuses to illustrate
the involvement of �the body� in �knowing� and the ways in which the module enabled
different �voices� to emerge. We focus particularly on the role played by students�
perceived �vulnerability� in the transformative benefits of the module and discuss
this by way of conclusion. In sum, we suggest how the centring of multilingualism
and diversity � not only as core pedagogic principles, but also as a methodology for
transformation � may be used to enhance access and recapture voice in the building of a
more integrated and just society.
Description
Keywords
Higher education, Teaching and learning, Framework
Citation
Bock, Abrahams, Jansen. (2019).Learning through linguistic citizenship: finding the �I� of the essay. Multilingual Margins, 6(1): 72-85