Multilingual pedagogies in teaching, learning, and assessment: a DHET language policy project

A multilingual approach to teaching, learning and assessment is a critical enabler for students to co-create knowledge. It allows students to tap into their own fluid linguistic repertoires to actively make sense of module content.

Multilingual pedagogies also play a significant role in creating a sense of belonging in higher education, which, in turn, could enhance academic outcomes. By acknowledging and incorporating linguistic diversity, multilingual pedagogies can also help dismantle colonial influences in the curriculum. A multilingual approach to teaching, learning and assessment nurtures inclusive learning environments where students can express ideas in any language, thus promoting openness to diverse perspectives. Therefore, this approach has the transformative potential to create spaces that value and acknowledge all forms of knowledge and students’ cultural capital. This workshop will explore multilingual pedagogies, including translanguaging, to enable lecturing staff to design practical strategies for students to engage more deeply with knowledge. In this way, students will be able to gain both epistemological and ontological access to the various academic discourses in our classrooms.

Target audience

Lecturers/lecturing staff members.