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In this paper we provide an overview of the current status as well as broad functions of Englishes in South Africa. We also provide a discussion of some of the contemporary concerns related to the complex and multivaried nature of English in the country. This paper further serves to introduce the major themes that are of concern to those researchers that are interested in the study of South African Englishes, through an introduction of the papers that form part of this Special Issue. Finally, we discuss the current state of the art with regards to researching English in the country where we suggest potential future areas of investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multilingual repertoires of African home language and bilingual Afrikaans‐English speakers in South Africa have been investigated comprehensively in the recent past. Less attention has been paid to the language repertoires of English home language speakers. Very little is known about the nature of their repertoires and their attitudes towards the languages in their repertoires. These Inner Circle users of English are immersed in a deeply multilingual Outer Circle society where most individuals know at least two languages and the majority of the citizens know more than four languages. The use of English as a home language is also expanding in this context. In this paper, the language repertoires of urban English home language students that participated in a longitudinal language repertoire survey and a group who created language portraits are examined with a view to understand the nature of their language repertoires better. The main finding is that being English in multilingual South Africa means to be at least bilingual with a multilingual mindset. English home language repertoires in South Africa therefore differ from English home language repertoires in Inner Circle contexts like the USA and Australia; and from Outer Circle contexts like Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the University of Pretoria as a point of reference and explicates that the use of a second language as language of learning and teaching (LoL/T) could be detrimental to the academic development of students as well as to the assessment of their progress, if the students concerned do not have the expected proficiency in the LoL/T, which, in the case of the University of Pretoria, is English. The argument is motivated on the basis of the role of language in academic training and on the proficiency of the students concerned in English. The article then lists the language and language-related problems at the University of Pretoria, evaluates the measures taken by the University to resolve these problems, and closes with a description of the language planning steps which are necessary if the language issue at the University is to be handled in a satisfactory way. Although directed at circumstances at one particular South African university it is hoped that the discussion may be applicable to similar institutions in the country, in particular institutions which formerly wholly or mainly used Afrikaans as LoL/T, and have had to adopt a dual-medium approach to training since the country's democratisation in 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]