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This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

This study of a postcolonial site engages with epistemic justice from the perspective of language. It understands epistemic justice as relating to issues of knowledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. It suggests that monoglossic language-in-education policies, often colonial in origin, constitute a form of epistemic injustice by denying learners the opportunity to learn in a familiar language and removing their ability to make epistemic contributions, a capacity central to human value. It further suggests that translanguaging in formal school settings is for the most part geared towards a monolingual outcome, that is, towards accessing knowledge in an official language. This unidirectional impetus means that translanguaging remains an affirmative rather than transformative strategy, leaving underlying hierarchies of value and relations of knowing unchanged. In contrast, this study presents linguistic ethnographic data from a three-year pilot project in Cape Town where primary school learners could choose their medium of instruction to Grade 6 and use all languages in subject classrooms. It analyses how a Grade 6 learner used laminated, multilingual, affective and epistemic stances to construct others as knowers, negotiate epistemic authority, and promote solidarity. It proposes that, in so doing, she constructed new decolonial relations of knowing and being. It further proposes that the shift from a monolingual to a multilingual episteme, which substantially improved educational performance overall, also enabled the emergence of politically fragile yet institutionally robust social, epistemic, and moral orders from below, orders that could lay the basis for greater epistemic justice., Towards Epistemic Justice: Language, Identity, and Relations of Knowing in Post-colonial Schools, Multilingualism and identities in and out of school: urban youth on the Cape Flats

English: Disproportionately high pass rates and alarming discrepancies in the results of the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) external examination for Home Language (HL) subjects have undermined the credibility of the state school curriculum and its system of assessment. This has also fuelled allegations that the same standards do not apply to all HL school subjects. Studies commissioned by the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) to investigate the matter have confirmed that the levels of cognitive challenge do vary across HL examination papers. However, the reasons for this have not been identified and no alternatives have been proposed to improve the situation. In supplementation of the findings of Umalusi, this study seeks to develop a theoretical rationale for greater equivalence of standard in assessment across HLs. It has identified the historical lack of parity of esteem of the HLs and their continued inequitable treatment as academic languages as major factors that have constrained efforts to introduce comparability of standard and construct in the school-leaving examination. Other salient reasons for the varying standards pertain to the problematic design of the HL examination papers, a lack of conceptual clarity of constructs, and a lack of compliance with essential principles for the responsible and fair assessment of language abilities. In as much as initiatives by the former Department of Education to establish a unified national department and introduce common curricula and standards with centrally set examination papers may be laudable, they have failed to address the weak academic status of the indigenous Bantu HLs beyond the Foundation and Intermediate Phases of schooling. As a result hereof, the pivotal role that these languages could play in fostering epistemological access in other school subjects has been overlooked. The study argues that without comparable treatment of these langu, Afrikaans: Buitengewoon hoë slaagsyfers en sorgwekkende teenstrydighede in die uitslae van die Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Seniorsertifikaat (NSS) wat die Huistaal- (HT) eksamens betref, het die geloofwaardigheid van die staatskoolkurrikulum en die meegaande assesseringstelsel ondermyn. Dit het ook aanleiding gegee tot aantygings dat dieselfde standaarde nie op alle Huistaalvakke (HTe) van toepassing is nie. Studies in opdrag van die Raad vir Gehalteversekering in Algemene en Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding (Umalusi) om die saak te ondersoek, het bevestig dat die vlakke van kognitiewe uitdagings tussen HT-vraestelle wissel. Die redes hiervoor of voorgestelde alternatiewe om die situasie te verbeter is egter nog nie geïdentifiseer nie. Ter ondersteuning van Umalusi se bevindings, het die huidige studie ten doel om ʼn teoretiese rasionaal vir groter ekwivalensie by standaarde tussen die huistaalvraestelle te ontwikkel. Dit het die historiese gebrek aan gelykheid van aansien van die HTe, asook die voortgesette ongelyke behandeling daarvan as akademiese tale, geïdentifiseer as belangrike faktore wat pogings kniehalter om ʼn vergelykbare standaard en konstruk in die skooleindeksamen daar te stel. Ander opvallende redes vir die wisselende standaard kan toegeskryf word aan die problematiese ontwerp van die HT-vraestelle, ʼn gebrek aan konseptuele klaarheid wat konstrukte betref, en ʼn gebrek aan voldoening aan die noodsaaklike beginsels by die verantwoordelike en regverdige assessering van taalvermoë. Inisiatiewe deur die vorige Departement van Onderwys om ʼn verenigde nasionale departement te vestig en gemeenskaplike kurrikulums en standaarde daar te stel met sentraal-opgestelde vraestelle verdien lof. Ondanks hierdie noemenswaardige pogings is die swak akademiese status van die inheemse Bantoe-HTe na die Grondslag- en Intermediêre onderrigfases egter nie onder die loep geneem nie. Die deurslaggewende rol wat hierdie tale kan speel by die bevordering van epistemologiese toegang to

This thesis researches language policy and planning (LPP) at a local school level. It reveals the complex dynamics at play in a case study of the issues and process involved in the attempt to introduce Chinese language into a Victorian government school. Language policy and planning has had a long history associated with the field of education. Unfortunately the academic study of this area has tended to concentrate specifically on macro level policy fields with fewer studies at a local level or over an extended time frame. Previous research has remained largely within the confines of academic discussion in which it has been principally critical in orientation, or it has focused on government language policy and has thus mostly been technocratic and top-down in orientation (Lo Bianco, 2010, p. 240). Very little research has been done on language planning at a local school level where practising teachers and administrators engage in a process of interaction with their students, the students’ parents and government policy to enact language policy and planning in a practical manner. It is unknown whether the macro level academic study of this area has even impacted on the LPP process at the school level let alone whether there are many affordances that discussion of technocratic top-down planning can offer at the local level. In order to understand language planning at school level, what is needed is a kind of LPP practice and theory which is both critical and effective, evaluative but also pragmatic. This kind of understanding of the local aligns with R. Cross (2009) who called for theories of LPP. There have recently been calls to concentrate on micro levels of language planning which can effect change in a pluralist society, where individual choice is an under-researched factor in the micro level. Such a move might help the formulation of LPP which is effective at local levels while avoiding the pitfalls of an overly mechanistic and technocratic focus. In moving towa

This 5-month ethnographic comparative case study of two culturally and linguistically diverse U.S. elementary classrooms juxtaposes restrictive educational language policies with the theoretical principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy to explore a gap in our understanding of how teachers reflect educational language policies in the range of pedagogical approaches they take. Triangulating data sources from state and local policy documents, classroom observations, and teacher interviews, we identify three salient dimensions of state and local policies that manifested in these two upper-elementary classrooms: teachers' curricular and pedagogical choices; student-teacher participation structures; and teachers' views on language. Similarities and differences between the two classrooms highlight how policy exerts influence on these dimensions while also affording degrees of instructional freedom that varied by teacher, with implications for the learning opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Overall, however, a limited range of culturally sustaining practices was observed, highlighting the need to understand the spaces in language policy where teachers can mitigate some of the effects of restrictive regulatory approaches to learning. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

This 5-month ethnographic comparative case study of two culturally and linguistically diverse U.S. elementary classrooms juxtaposes restrictive educational language policies with the theoretical principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy to explore a gap in our understanding of how teachers reflect educational language policies in the range of pedagogical approaches they take. Triangulating data sources from state and local policy documents, classroom observations, and teacher interviews, we identify three salient dimensions of state and local policies that manifested in these two upper-elementary classrooms: teachers' curricular and pedagogical choices; student-teacher participation structures; and teachers' views on language. Similarities and differences between the two classrooms highlight how policy exerts influence on these dimensions while also affording degrees of instructional freedom that varied by teacher, with implications for the learning opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Overall, however, a limited range of culturally sustaining practices was observed, highlighting the need to understand the spaces in language policy where teachers can mitigate some of the effects of restrictive regulatory approaches to learning. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

English: In January 2002, the government of Zimbabwe officially declared six official minority languages, namely, Kalanga, Nambya, Shangani, Sotho, Tonga and Venda as languages of instruction and subjects in primary schools in the areas where they are spoken as mother tongues. The government had planned for these languages to be introduced to a grade per year until they could be taught at grade 7 level by 2005 (Secretary’s Circular Number 1 of 2002). Three of these languages (Venda, Tonga and Kalanga) under the auspices of the Venda, Tonga and Kalanga Association (VETOKA) were pioneers in advocating and lobbying for the introduction of marginalised local languages in education in the early 1980s. However, Kalanga and Venda have remained behind, despite having been the pioneers of this initiative. Long after 2005, only Tonga emerged as the first language to be examined in grade 7 in 2011. In current studies in language planning, policy and management, there have been strong suggestions that bottom-up approaches may be more successful than top-down approaches. Bottom-up approaches are said to be the most promising in terms of community commitment and sustainability (Alexander, 1992; Baldauf, 1994; 2005; 2008; Kaplan and Baldauf, 1997; Webb, 2002; 2009; 2010; Mwaniki, 2004; 2010b; Benson, 2005; Trudell, 2006; Lewis and Trudell, 2008; Liddicoat and Baldauf, 2008; Baldauf, Li & Zhao, 2008; Hatoss, 2008). The delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development and success story of Tonga raises the questions: “Why this delay? Why was Tonga first?” This study therefore examines the possible causes for the delay in the implementation of the 2002 policy development and the conditions and factors that led to the success story of Tonga. It is expected that an understanding of these causes could help explain the delay in the implementation of the other three languages and similar initiatives elsewhere. It is also hoped that this study will enhance our understanding of the, Afrikaans: Die Zimbabwiese regering het in Januarie 2002 amptelik ses minderheidstale, naamlik Kalanga, Nambya, Shangani, Sotho, Tonga en Venda, verklaar as onderrigtale en vakke in laerskole en gebiede waar hulle as moedertale gebesig word. Die regering was van plan om hierdie tale teen een graad per jaar in te faseer sodat hulle teen 2005 (Secretary’s Circular Number 1 of 2002) tot op Graad 7-vlak onderrig kon word. Drie van hierdie tale (Venda, Tonga en Kalanga) was onder beskerming van die Venda, Tonga and Kalanga Association (VETOKA) baanbrekers wat aan die begin van die 1980’s vir die ingebruikneming van gemarginaliseerde plaaslike tale in onderrig voorspraak gemaak en invloed gewerf het. Kalanga en Venda het egter agterweë gebly ten spyte van die feit dat hulle die baanbrekers vir hierdie inisiatief was. Lank na 2005 het slegs Tonga na vore getree as die eerste taal waarin eksamens in 2011 in Graad 7 afgelê is. In huidige studies in taalbeplanning, -beleid en -bestuur is daar grondige aanduidings dat opwaartse benaderings dalk suksesvoller as afwaartse benaderings is. Opwaartse benaderings word as meer belowend beskou wat samelewingsbetrokkenheid en volhoubaarheid betref (Alexander, 1992; Baldauf, 1994; 2005; 2008; Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997; Webb, 2002; 2009; 2010; Mwaniki, 2004; 2010b; Benson, 2005; Trudell, 2006; Lewis & Trudell, 2008; Liddicoat & Baldauf, 2008; Baldauf, Li & Zhao, 2008; Hatoss, 2008). Die vertraging in die implementering van 2002 se beleidsontwikkeling en Tonga se suksesverhaal opper die vrae: “Waarom hierdie vertraging? Waarom was Tonga eerste?” 639 Hierdie studie ondersoek daarom die moontlike oorsake vir die vertraging in die implementering van 2002 se beleidsontwikkeling en die omstandighede en faktore wat tot die Tonga-suksesverhaal bygedra het. Die verwagting is dat insig in hierdie oorsake die vertraging in die implementering van die drie ander tale en soortgelyke inisiatiewe elders kan help verduidelik. Die hoop word ook uitgespreek d, DAAD/ANSTI

The evolution of Rwanda's language policies since 1996 has played and continues to play a critical role in social reconstruction following war and genocide. Rwanda's new English language policy aims to drop French and install English as the only language of instruction. The policy-makers frame the change as a major factor in the success of social and education reforms aimed at promoting reconciliation and peace and increasing Rwanda's participation in global economic development. However, in Rwanda, the language one speaks is construed as an indicator of group affiliations and identity. Furthermore, Rwanda has the potential to develop a multilingual educational policy that employs its national language, Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda, Rwanda), to promote mass literacy and a literate, multilingual populace. Rwanda's situation can serve as a case study for the ongoing roles that language policy plays in the politics of power. © 2010 The Author(s).

The evolution of Rwanda’s language policies since 1996 has played and continues to play a critical role in social reconstruction following war and genocide. Rwanda’s new English language policy aims to drop French and install English as the only language of instruction. The policy-makers frame the change as a major factor in the success of social and education reforms aimed at promoting reconciliation and peace and increasing Rwanda’s participation in global economic development. However, in Rwanda, the language one speaks is construed as an indicator of group affiliations and identity. Furthermore, Rwanda has the potential to develop a multilingual educational policy that employs its national language, Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda, Rwanda), to promote mass literacy and a literate, multilingual populace. Rwanda’s situation can serve as a case study for the ongoing roles that language policy plays in the politics of power.

The evolution of Rwanda's language policies since 1996 has played and continues to play a critical role in social reconstruction following war and genocide. Rwanda's new English language policy aims to drop French and install English as the only language of instruction. The policy-makers frame the change as a major factor in the success of social and education reforms aimed at promoting reconciliation and peace and increasing Rwanda's participation in global economic development. However, in Rwanda, the language one speaks is construed as an indicator of group affiliations and identity. Furthermore, Rwanda has the potential to develop a multilingual educational policy that employs its national language, Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda, Rwanda), to promote mass literacy and a literate, multilingual populace. Rwanda's situation can serve as a case study for the ongoing roles that language policy plays in the politics of power. © 2010 The Author(s).

The evolution of Rwanda’s language policies since 1996 has played and continues to play a critical role in social reconstruction following war and genocide. Rwanda’s new English language policy aims to drop French and install English as the only language of instruction. The policy-makers frame the change as a major factor in the success of social and education reforms aimed at promoting reconciliation and peace and increasing Rwanda’s participation in global economic development. However, in Rwanda, the language one speaks is construed as an indicator of group affiliations and identity. Furthermore, Rwanda has the potential to develop a multilingual educational policy that employs its national language, Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda, Rwanda), to promote mass literacy and a literate, multilingual populace. Rwanda’s situation can serve as a case study for the ongoing roles that language policy plays in the politics of power.