Computers and African Languages in Education: An ICT Tool for the Promotion of Multilingualism at a South African University. Conversations.
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: This article describes a web-based application designed to provide meaningful access to the study of Computer Science to speakers of an African language who have limited experience of
using English for academic purposes. Our research is focused upon students of Computer Skills
in the Extended Studies Programme at Rhodes University who have studied English as a second
language for the matriculation examination. The intervention involves the cooperative
production and sharing of multilingual support material in both English and the students'
home languages. The article illustrates how the use of computers has the potential to solve some
of the problems traditionally associated with the use of African languages as additional media
of instruction in tertiary education (i.e. lack of terminology and resources in the African
languages, stigma attached to their use, etc.). We maintain that learning about computers
partly in their stronger language (i.e. their home language) could give students increased and
more meaningful access to an educationally and economically empowering field of study.
Source: Perspectives in Education
Authors: Lorenzo Dalvit, Sarah Murray, Buyiswa M. Mini, Alfredo Terzoli, Xiaogeng Zhao
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $190
OpenAlex ID: W86744229