The (re)making of an African language

Revisiting epistemologies for quality assessment practices

Bibliographic Data

ID21757173
AuthorsShilela Nkadimeng (Umalusi, corresponding author), Leketi Makalela (0000-0001-6375-5839, University of the Witwatersrand)
Year2023
Volume41
Issue1
Pages5-15
Publication date2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouthern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1607-3614 • E-ISSN: 1727-9461
PublisherNational Inquiry Services Center (NISC) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2989/16073614.2023.2185973
OpenAlexW4361800630
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

It is a well-established fact that languages of the world have different typological parameters despite their universality in key structures. These different typologies predict various ways of knowing, teaching and assessing. Despite the plethora of knowledge systems available in linguistics and educational research worldwide, African languages of Bantu origin have been residually neglected and versioned from Germanic languages for curriculum development, teaching and assessment. In this paper, we review key tenets of indigenous African languages and examine how these parameters have not been considered in assessment regimes broadly. We use this analysis to gauge the extent to which mother tongue-speaking learners of these languages may have experienced a disproportional disadvantage over the years and explore the challenges that were experienced in the assessment ecosystem conducted by Umalusi, as the quality assurer of assessment in national examinations. Applying deconstruction as a decolonial tool and indigenous African knowledge systems, we argue that linguistic typologies and underpinned epistemologies need to be key drivers in designing assessment taxonomies. We then present a model that offers assessment bodies alternative ways aligned with the ways of being, acting and knowing based on the nature of African languages. In the end, we offer useful recommendations for further research and a practical assessment practices modality for African languages

Bantu languages · Curriculum · Disadvantage · Epistemology · Indigenous · Languages of Africa · Linguistics · Pedagogy · Sociology · Computer Science · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Multilingual Education and Policy · Second Language Learning and Teaching · Artificial Intelligence