Abstract

VAN DYK, Tobie. Afrikaans as an academic language: The past, the present, and the future. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2025, vol.65, n.1, pp.61-85. ISSN 2224-7912.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2025/v65n1a4.

Mother tongue education offers multiple benefits in terms of academic, cognitive and social development. In this article, the focus is on Afrikaans as medium of instruction within an academic context and against the background of the promotion of multilingualism and inclusive education. Theoretical perspectives are provided regarding issues such as academic language use, mother tongue teaching, multilingualism, inclusiveness, as well as language planning and management. The contribution of Afrikaans to scientific research and publication, as well as the position of this language within the higher education sector are put under the spotlight, with specific reference to empirical data from an investigation completed in 2023. This involves a language resource audit, carried out by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) on behalf of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). All public universities in South Africa were involved in the audit in order to obtain information on the state of indigenous languages at these institutions and this information will serve as framework for the implementation of the Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions (LPHE) promulgated in 2020. The aim of this policy is to promote and strengthen the use of all official languages across all functional domains of public higher education in line with the stipulations of the South African Constitution. An educational research design and mixed methods approach to data collection were chosen for the audit. Two questionnaires were drawn up: one focused on students and one focused on staff, which were completed at all institutions. The questionnaires were followed up by semi-structured interviews with both staff and students in order to gain clarity on quantitative data and further input on questions from stakeholders at universities. Information was gathered regarding the status quo at institutions of higher learning in terms of language policy, language implementation planning, language policy monitoring, inclusion of regional languages, official languages of the institution, strengths and weaknesses, and priority areas that need attention. In addition, information on language services, teaching-learning and research, language of communication and administration, and student life was obtained. Findings include: The findings of the audit are presented and discussed with the support of visual material. : a limited knowledge of additional indigenous languages amongst personnel; that English is still the defacto language of instruction; and that neither students nor personnel are properly informed about institutional language policies, language services and available multilingual resources for teaching and learning. Surprisingly, 95.7% of students revealed that they prefer English as medium of instruction, but, on the other hand, most students would like to improve their ability in additional indigenous languages. Eight priority areas of intervention for the short term have been identified. These are: expertise and support in language planning and management; monitoring and reporting; co-ownership, co-responsibility, cooperation in funding; hegemony of English; academic language development; language ability of staff at conversational level; multilingual pedagogy; and development of terminology As far as Afrikaans is concerned, the audit revealed that the language is well represented at universities compared to other languages, but that there are still challenges, such as stigmatisation, resource allocation, and the effectiveness of the implementation of language policies. The insights gained from the investigation emphasise that much still needs to be done to realise multilingualism as a contributing factor to inclusiveness and a fair educational environment in higher education in South Africa. The rich tapestry of languages and cultures in South Africa makes it essential for the higher education environment to accommodate and promote multilingualism. Doing this is imperative to reflect demographic diversity and to promote inclusiveness and social cohesion. The audit underlines the fact that, among our indigenous languages, Afrikaans occupies a unique position, with a complex historical context and a significant speaker base. It is therefore important that appeals are continuously made, and arguments put forward for the strategic integration of Afrikaans in higher education as part of an ongoing programme for promoting a truly multilingual environment that respects all linguistic identities.

Keywords : mother tongue teaching; Afrikaans; academic language; higher education; multilingualism; inclusivity and fairness in education; language planning; language policy; language resource audit; historically Afrikaans universities; mixed-methods data collection.

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