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A multilingual movement at the UFS

03 January 2023 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Anja Aucamp

Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, the Director: Academy for Multilingualism, is working through various initiatives to ensure that the UFS becomes and remains the South African leader in multilingualism.

The Academy for Multilingualism was established at the beginning of 2021, flowing from the UFS Language Policy (2016) that is currently under review, and which expresses the university’s commitment to multilingualism, with a particular emphasis on Sesotho, Afrikaans, and isiZulu, while English remains the primary medium of instruction for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

The Student Language Preference Survey continues to indicate that many students have difficulty understanding English lectures due to language differences. Multilingual models from places like South America, India and South Africa were considered in order to structure the approach at the UFS.

Promoting indigenous languages

To mitigate the English barrier, the academy is developing multilingual academic glossaries. The multilingual glossaries are also intended to drive the promotion of indigenous languages (Sesotho/Afrikaans/IsiZulu) as academic languages, and to create multilingual learning spaces that embrace diverse languages.

Academic word lists from seven departments are in the process of being translated – in conjunction with the Unit of Lexicography – to create glossaries. The team at South African Sign Languages will add videos to these glossaries to provide unique and inclusive content in the realm of multilingualism.

In 2022, the academy, in collaboration with the Library and Information Services, launched an African Languages Press with the aim of promoting and advancing publications of literature and research books using South African indigenous languages.

The Academy for Multilingualism also promotes multilingualism through the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN), a programme that encourages students to write short stories in their indigenous home languages. By incorporating student narratives into learning material, students learn about one another, from one another.

The iCAN multilingual booklets are also used to encourage extensive reading among undergraduates and among learners in the surrounding community schools.

Use of translanguaging practices

The academy is also working with the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) A_STEP programme to pilot the use of translanguaging practices in tutor sessions. UFS staff will also be trained on teaching and translanguaging practices. Voice-over translations of English lessons into Afrikaans and Sesotho in the Faculty of Theology and Religion paved the way for the academy to proceed with this practice in other subjects. The Translanguaging Seminar 2022, hosted by the academy and the CTL, was used as a platform for sharing translanguaging knowledge and practices by academics from the UFS and other institutions.

The Kovsies Multilingual Mokete has become a popular annual tradition celebrating different cultural expressions – in visual art, poetry, storytelling, drama, music, and song – by different language groups and in the different languages that are dominant at the UFS (i.e. English, Afrikaans, Sesotho, isiZulu, and Sign Language). This year’s event was held on the South Campus in October.

With its various initiatives, the Academy for Multilingualism will ensure that the UFS becomes and remains the South African leader in multilingualism.

News Archive

Open Day attracts thousands

2012-05-02

Campus was abuzz with prospective students and their parents finding out what Kovsies has to offer.
Photo: Kaleidoscope Studios
1 May 2012

“It is easier to pass Grade 12 today because we don’t have a standard. However, at the University of the Free State, standards are important.”

This was Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS’ message when he addressed a packed Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus during this year’s Open Day.

“This university is the jewel of the country. Here at Kovsies we take academic standards seriously. You must know who you are in a place where academic standards are extremely important. Anyone can obtain a degree, but here you can get more than a degree. You get an education,” he said to the more than 5 000 learners and parents from across the country.

“It is not only important that you study here in South Africa, but also in other countries. That is why our students study all over the world. You must think out of your comfort zone, have a big heart, achieve great heights and show everyone that you are a Kovsie.

But, it is not all about studying – it is also about being human and reaching out to others. When you come to this university, you will also do other things that will make you proud of being a Kovsie.

Quality looks for quality. Therefore, work hard and study hard because you need to be at a good university,” he said.

The programme consisted of, among others, a spectacular laser show, a performance by Bobby van Jaarsveld and special messages from DW Bester and Sannah Mokone, Rhodes Scholars currently studying at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

In a pre-recorded message DW, a Ph.D. student in Mathematical Statistics, encouraged prospective students to work hard and persevere. Sannah, doing a Master’s degree in African Studies, said she believes in the future of the African continent. “I believe in our future students and know you can make it.”

Prof. Jansen also introduced some of the university’s recent student achievers such as Jurie Swart, regional winner of the Corobrik Architectural Student of the Year Award; Farzana Samuel, named by the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) as the most outstanding student in quantity surveying for 2012; and Sibusiso Tshabalala, one of Google’s Top 10 Young Minds.

Richard Chemaly, President of the Central Student Representative Council (CSRC), said that, by coming to Kovsies, prospective students would become the best person they can be. “We have over 70 student organisations to help you take part in student life activities. So, make use of these opportunities,” he said.

The programme concluded with an introduction to the seven faculties by the respective deans.

The estimated 7 000 prospective students and their parents also had the opportunity to visit faculties and the stalls of residences.

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