Bridging the language gap: Exploring strategies for supporting speakers of African languages in an Open Distance e-Learning environment

Abstract

In South African universities, English predominates as the medium of instruction, despite institutional language policies advocating for the inclusion of African Indigenous languages. The Council of Higher Education observed that the student protests in 2015 and 2016 highlighted deep-rooted issues that led to student dissatisfaction, mainly because course content was delivered in the dominant language. This study examines the ongoing exclusion of African language speakers in Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) environments in South Africa. Using translanguaging concepts within a phenomenological qualitative research framework, the research aims to understand students’ lived experiences regarding language in an ODeL institution and to identify challenges faced by African language speakers, such as difficulties understanding course materials in English.
Contribution: Through reflective and dialogical methods, combined with interpretation, the study reveals how the dominance of English in ODeL, along with technological factors, creates barriers to knowledge access, whereas the use of African languages without mediation encourages positive attitudes towards learning. It recommends that ODeL institutions make better use of African languages to support student self-learning, improving accessibility, understanding, and pass rates. Because of colonial history and global power dynamics, English is often viewed as the language of opportunity and success. There is an urgent need to reflect on how globalisation continues to disempower African groups within knowledge systems.