The role of translanguaging pedagogy and practice in Sepedi language intellectualisation

Abstract

A growing body of work has gone to great lengths to map, rationalise and theorise the importance of multilingual pedagogies and how practitioners must acknowledge the diverse linguistic resources students bring into the learning space. In this study, we contribute to this body of work by investigating how translanguaging pedagogy and practice can facilitate the intellectualisation of indigenous languages such as Sepedi. Previous studies on multilingual pedagogies have largely focused on supporting English as a Second Language students to cope with learning meaningfully in second language contexts. The study uses the interpretivism approach to analyse classroom discourse from a translingual space designed by the lecturers. Data was thematically analysed to make explicit the key findings about how students navigate meaning-making, abstraction and lexicalisation of academic concepts. Various themes emerged from the data, including how students use translanguaging through exploratory talk for meaning-making and concept development. By utilising translanguaging as a pedagogical tool, the study demonstrated how multilingual classroom practices like translanguaging can serve as a powerful mechanism for developing and refining academic discourse in indigenous languages. The findings illustrate that translanguaging not only enhances students’ understanding of complex concepts but also contributes to the expansion of the academic lexicon in Sepedi. Higher learning institutions should be encouraged to adopt and internalise pedagogies of translanguaging to facilitate equal learning and African languages’ intellectualisation. Academics should be provided with extra training on multilingualism to integrate such practice systematically.