The coloniality of English proficiency and EMI: Decolonization, language equity, and epistemic (in)justice.

The widely publicized 2015 #FeesMustFall student protests in South Africa (SA) have foregrounded concerns about social justice, epistemic justice, access to higher education, and decolonization of the curriculum, and language. This paper critiques the English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy and a monolingual English language proficiency (ELP) curriculum in a university and suggests strategies for epistemic decolonization. The article is based on the locus of enunciation of the author, and the analysis of language curriculum documents. It draws on epistemologies of the South and decolonial perspectives to answer two questions: What are the prospects of decolonizing EMI in Higher Education? How can English language proficiency be decolonized? The article argues that English proficiency is anchored by epistemic racism, Anglocentric ideologies and an inequitable policy of EMI, and the continued disregard for multilingualism in higher education. It proposes that decolonization strategies are necessary to enhance epistemic justice, reduce inequality and transform the EMI and ELP in South African higher education. This can be done through English as a multilingua franca and solidarity-based epistemologies, such as Ubuntu- Neplanta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]