Second and Foreign Language Learning in South Africa
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SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING IN SOUTH AFRICA
INTRODUCTION
It must be pointed out at the outset that in South Africa (SA) the terms foreign and second language are highly contested, particularly when used with reference to black learners of English. This article reviews pedagogical issues in second/foreign language learning in South Africa against the background of the sociopolitical changes, especially the end of apartheid, that have taken place in the country since 1994. More specifically, the article seeks to determine to what extent these changes have affected foreign/second learning in schools and universities in the country. The first section of this article reviews early developments in second/foreign language learning in South Africa. The second section discusses major contributions to second/foreign language in the country, with a focus on South Africa’s past and current languagein-education policies. The third section looks at work in progress, especially the Curriculum 2005 and outcomes-based education (OBE), which has been designed to replace the educational system South Africa inherited from apartheid. This is followed by a brief look at some of the problems and difficulties that second/foreign language learners face in South Africa and the strategies that language teachers use to address these difficulties. The last section examines future directions that second/foreign language learning might take in the country’s effort to provide equitable education to all. E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T S I N S E C O N D / F O R E I G N LANGUAGE LEARNING IN SA
South Africa is known to the rest of the world mostly because of its now defunct, divide-and-rule apartheid system, on the basis of which the country was ruled from 1948 to 1994 and whose legacy continues to haunt the country’s educational system. In order to better appreciate the discussion of issues in second and foreign language learning in the post-apartheid state, one must understand South Africa’s colonial history against which the issues themselves have evolved. This history is discussed in the next section. The present section reviews early developments in second/foreign language in South Africa. South N. Van Deusen-Scholl and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 4: Second and Foreign Language Education, 183–195. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
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N K O N K O M . K A M WA N G A M A L U
African schools at all levels including primary, secondary and tertiary institutions fall into two language-based categories, much as they were during the apartheid era: There are the English-medium schools on the one hand, and the Afrikaans-medium schools on the other. In regard to the English-medium schools, in the apartheid era non-English speaking background students were required to learn English as a second language (L2). However, and as already pointed out, in South Africa the distinction between “English as a first (L1) and/or second (L2) language” has been called into question. For instance, Y
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