Language rights

Nell’elaborato viene presentata un’analisi della situazione relativa alla tutela delle lingue minoritarie in Europa e in Italia. Tale analisi si basa sulla nozione di “diritto linguistico”, derivata dal concetto di “diritto umano” e che riguarda la protezione delle minoranze linguistiche. A un’indagine sulla genesi e la definizione di “diritto linguistico” segue l’esame delle politiche linguistiche dell’Unione europea. L’Unione europea non può però agire direttamente sulle politiche linguistiche degli Stati membri, ma solo finanziare la promozione e la tutela delle lingue minoritarie tramite programmi di finanziamento gestiti dalla Commissione europea. L’ultima parte dell’elaborato è dedicata alle politiche linguistiche attuate in Italia nei confronti dell’italiano, delle lingue minoritarie e dei dialetti. L’Italia, infatti, è interessata dalla presenza di numerose lingue minoritarie a cui bisogna riconoscere una particolare serie di tutele per favorirne la promozione e la salvaguardia all’interno del panorama linguistico italiano.

Parole chiave:

Lingue minoritarie, diritti linguistici, politiche linguistiche, Unione europea, lingue minoritarie in Italia, dialetti in Italia, progetti europei.

To pay tribute to the contributions made by Wallace Lambert in the field of immersion education at an international level, this article highlights initiatives undertaken to revitalize regional languages through immersion education in France. Based on the immersion model, school-based programs have been implemented in France to teach regional languages such as Occitan, Basque, and Catalan in the south, Corsican on the island of Corsica, Breton in the northwest, and German in the eastern regions of Alsace and Moselle. This article points out many differences across these regional contexts, but concludes by emphasizing common issues that need to be addressed across the different regions with respect to pedagogical practices and professional development.

מטרתו של מאמר זה היא להאיר את תרומתו החשובה של השופט רובינשטיין בעניין נאשף לשיח בנושא מעמדה של השפה הערבית בישראל. מעמדה של השפה הערבית בישראל נתפס במשפט ובציבור הישראלי כעניין טעון פוליטית ושנוי מאוד במחלוקת. השיח בנושא נע בין שני קצוות שונים, המהווים לדעתי שני צדדים של אותו מטבע. האחד, תומך בהרחבת ההגנה על השפה הערבית במרחב הציבורי ורואה בהגנה על השפה הערבית זכות קבוצתית, המקדמת ומשמרת את תרבותו של המיעוט הערבי. הטיעונים בקצה זה מדגישים את מרכזיות השפה הערבית בתרבותם של האזרחים הערבים בישראל, ואינם מתייחסים לתועלת שיכולה לצמוח מתמיכה בשפה הערבית לציבור הישראלי כולו. הקצה השני של השיח, מתנגד להגנה על השפה הערבית ורואה בה זכות קולקטיבית מסוכנת, המחזקת שאיפות לאומיות מצד המיעוט הערבי,
הפוגעות במעמדה של השפה העברית ובדמותה היהודית של מדינת ישראל.
בעניין נאשף מציע השופט רובינשטיין דרך שלישית. לדידו, הגנה על השפה הערבית אינה מסכנת את מעמדה של השפה העברית או את דמותה היהודית של מדינת ישראל. לדעתו, עלינו לעודד את לימוד שפה הערבית בישראל ואת השימוש בה במרחב הציבורי תוך נטישת השיח המדגיש את האינטרס היהודי והאינטרס הערבי כאינטרסים מתנגשים. גישה ייחודית זו מבקשת לחזק את מעמדה של השפה הערבית מנקודת מבט מעשית של חיים משותפים בין יהודים וערבים בישראל.
גישתו של השופט רובינשטיין מבורכת בעיניי. אבקש להעמיק בה ולטעון כי היא מבוססת על הנחה חשובה הרואה בקידום השפה הערבית אמצעי חשוב ליצירת סולידאריות אזרחית בין יהודים לערבים בישראל. לנוכח העובדה שהמכנה המשותף בין יהודים לערבים בישראל מצומצם מאוד, ושאלמנטים כמו לאום ודת אינם יכולים לעזור בהרחבתו, נותרנו עם השפה העברית והערבית. יש לקוות כי כשהשפה הערבית תהיה בעלת נוכחות חזקה במרחב הציבורי, וכשיהודים וערבים ידברו בה כשם שהם מדברים בעברית, תתחזק השייכות של הערבים לחברה האזרחית בישראל, כמו גם הסולידאריות האזרחית בין יהודים וערבים.

The article investigates explicit and implicit state language policies in Dualist Hungary (1867-1918), focusing on its eastern, Romanian, Hungarian and German-speaking parts. It presents the regulation and practices, and sets them against the benchmark of the linguistic rights set forth in the 1868 Law of Nationalities Act, the earliest modern, liberal language law on the continent. This document served as a central reference for the contemporaries, an importance also bequeathed on historiographical treatments of the era. The article is divided according to the contemporary domains of the official realm, covered section by section in the law: legislation, counties, the judiciary, church autonomy, state schools, local governments, civil society and government agencies.

Summary

The overwhelming majority of the minority and other representatives consulted by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues during her visit to Ukraine described a history of harmonious inter-ethnic and interfaith relations and a legislative, policy and social environment that was generally conducive to the protection of their rights, including cultural and linguistic rights.

Nevertheless, minority issues have become highly politicized as the situation of political and social unrest has emerged in some regions since February 2014. That threatens to create and widen fractures along national, ethnic and linguistic lines and undermine peaceful coexistence if not quickly resolved. An end to violence and constructive consultations on minority rights must be primary objectives for all stakeholders.

The overall human rights and minority rights situation and the civil and political, economic, social and cultural conditions experienced by minorities cannot justify any violent action or incitement and support of such action by any party, national or international.

While there are challenges relating to minority issues, some radical elements are intent on promoting and inciting disunity. It is essential to establish a process of national and regional dialogue with the objective of understanding the concerns and issues of all minority communities and ensuring that they are addressed appropriately and rapidly through democratic mechanisms and not through recourse to force or coercion. Moderate voices must come to the fore. First and foremost, solutions to the current situation must come from the citizens of Ukraine themselves.

A historical good governance deficit and widespread corruption have contributed to a lack of trust in political institutions and actors and have significantly contributed to instability. Measures are required to reinforce the minority rights infrastructure and to build confidence that minority rights will be protected in law and in practice. Such measures should include strengthening of legal protection, enhancing institutional attention to minority issues, and instituting stronger and permanent consultation mechanisms. All measures should be adequately funded and politically supported.

This paper proposes the enactment of an ex gratia compensation scheme for loss of Indigenous languages in Australia. Although some Australian states have enacted ex gratia compensation schemes for the victims of the Stolen Generation policies, the victims of ‘linguicide’ (language killing) are largely overlooked by the Australian Government. Existing grant schemes to support Aboriginal languages are inadequate, and they should be complemented with compensation schemes, which are based on a claim of right. The proposed compensation scheme for the loss of Aboriginal languages should support the effort to reclaim and revive the lost languages. We first outline the history of linguicide during colonisation in Australia. We then put a case for reviving lost Aboriginal languages by highlighting the benefits of language revival. After evaluating the limits of existing Australian law in supporting the language revival efforts, this paper proposes a statute-based ex gratia compensation scheme, which can be colloquially called ‘Native Tongue Title’.

The linguistic conjunction regime in the Catalan education system has been subject to several controversies over the years and we can see one position in favour and another against the model. In this article we identify the main arguments in the public debate for and against the system and analyse its normative basis in accordance with contributions of political theory on linguistic justice. Ultimately, our goal is to assess to which extent there is room for rapprochement or reconciliation between the arguments of the two positions. Our main argument is that both positions, which have employed fairly stable reasoning over time with a shared tendency to avoid explicit identity arguments, may have a certain margin for rapprochement. Some interpretations of the values that underline the arguments of both position, such as ideals of equal treatment of languages, equality of individual opportunities and the guarantee of pluralism, could support a linguistic conjunction system of in schools in which Catalan has a prominent role, Spanish enjoys sufficient recognition, and equal competence in both languages is guaranteed at the end of the school period.

‘L’avenir de l’enseignement des langues locales : les obstacles juridiques et idéologiques dans un monde globalisant’, in L’enseignement des langues locales, institutions, méthodes idéologies : Actes des Quatrièmes journées des droits linguistiques, Giovanni Agresti & Michele de Gioia (eds), Aracne, Rome, Italie, 2012.

Giovanni AGRESTI (2015),  Migrazioni. Tra disagio linguistico e patrimoni culturali / Les migrations. Entre malaise linguistique et patrimoines culturels. Actes des Sixièmes Journées des Droits Linguistiques (Teramo-Giulianova-Fano Adriano-Pescara, 6-8 novembre 2012). (Cura del volume, insieme con Silvia Pallini). Roma: Aracne («Lingue d'Europa e del Mediterraneo / Diritti linguistici», 10). 348 pp. 
ISBN: 9788854884519

Pace, democrazia, sviluppo economico e sociale costituiscono nel contempo le motivazioni e le finalità del processo di integrazione europea. È quanto si riscontra sia dal punto di vista teorico, come emerge per esempio dagli scritti di Lord
Lothian e Luigi Einaudi, dal celebre ‘Manifesto di Ventotene’ firmato da Altiero Spinelli ed Ernesto Rossi, o dalla 'Dichiarazione’ resa pubblica il 9 maggio 1950
dall’allora Ministro francese degli Affari esteri, Robert Schuman, sia sul piano concreto, alla luce dell’attività del Consiglio d’Europa, delle Comunità europee e dell’Unione europea che a quelle è definitivamente subentrata.
Quelle stesse ragioni e quegli stessi obiettivi si trovano altresì, in particolare in Europa, a monte e a valle della tutela delle minoranze, della garanzia dei diritti linguistici e della promozione della diversità linguistica e culturale. Questo
intervento intende affrontare il rapporto tra pluralismo linguistico, tutela e integrazione europea e quindi definire il contesto in cui è stata adottata la Carta europea delle lingue regionali o minoritarie.
L’itinerario proposto unisce documenti ufficiali elaborati in seno al Consiglio d’Europa e alla CSCE-OSCE, iniziative
assunte da parte delle istituzioni comunitarie – risoluzioni approvate dal Parlamento europeo, pareri espressi dal Comitato delle Regioni, progetti finanziati dalla Commissione europea – ed alcune previsioni presenti nei più recenti
Trattati dell’Unione europea, da quello di Maastricht a quello di Lisbona.

Quello del riconoscimento della diversità linguistica e culturale, della garanzia dei diritti linguistici, che fanno parte a pieno titolo del più ampio novero dei diritti fondamentali dell’uomo, e dell’esistenza di apposite fonti normative e di specifiche politiche, rappresenta senza dubbio un terreno
in cui è possibile individuare elementi di contatto e di confronto tra Italia e Spagna.
In queste pagine ci si propone di realizzare una comparazione tra le due realtà proprio su quella che in Italia si chiama «tutela delle minoranze linguistiche» e in Spagna è invece definita «normalizzazione linguistica», individuando affinità e divergenze tra Stato italiano e Stato spagnolo ed eventuali relazioni e reciproche influenze.
In questo contesto la dimensione continentale, che comprende sia le Comunità europee e quindi l’Unione Europea, sia il Consiglio d’Europa e la CSCE-OSCE,
costituisce tanto un ulteriore termine di paragone quanto un soggetto (nella sua complessità ed effettiva pluralità) con cui Italia e Spagna a loro volta si interfacciano e si contaminano.
Il confronto tra Stato italiano, Stato spagnolo ed Europa  riguarda in generale il periodo compreso tra la fine della seconda guerra mondiale e il 1992; tuttavia i riferimenti al regno di Spagna saranno limitati, per evidenti ragioni, al periodo compreso tra l’entrata in vigore della Costituzione
del 1978 e il 1992.

In 1984, Richard Ruiz set forth three orientations to language planning: language as problem, language as right, and language as resource. Since that time, the orientations have only become more powerful, rising to the level of paradigm in the field of language policy and planning (LPP). In this paper, we revisit Ruiz's orientations. By drawing upon Ruiz's own work as well as the work of other scholars who have been inspired by him, we unpack the ideas aligned with each orientation in order to reflect upon the application of the three orientations as a heuristic for LPP. In contrast to critiques that the three orientations do not map onto the political reality of policy situations, we argue that they are analytically useful as both etic concepts that can be used by researchers to guide deductive analysis about the values that emerge from messy policy debate and negotiation and as (latent) emic concepts in situations when people express their beliefs about language.

Resumo: Este artigo objetiva expor caminhos e desafios para o trabalho acadêmico-científico e/ou técnico-profissional na/da relação entre a Linguística e o Direito. Primeiramente, identificam-se e distinguem-se três caminhos principais na definição de objetos linguístico-jurídicos: Linguística Forense; fala-em-interação e análises do discurso em contexto jurídico; e Direito Linguístico. A partir dessa identificação, destacamos desafios que podem ser enfrentados e, por fim, refletimos sobre uma questão de classe: como ocupar o lugar do "linguista" nos trabalhos possíveis na/da relação entre a Linguística e o Direito.

România a trecut printr-o evoluție radicală în privința sistemului educațional. Chiar dacă această evoluție a fost inconstantă, statul român a reușit să ajungă de la un sistem asimilator și puternic discriminatoriu la un sistem oportun de păstrare și dezvoltare a identității și comunității maghiare din România. Autorii capitolului I, pe lângă faptul că au realizat o analiză detaliată a normelor legale relevante, au identificat acele puncte slabe ale sistemului educațional care în mod asumat sau neasumat perpetuează o asimetrie sistematică între situația etnicilor maghiari și a celor din societatea majoritară.

The northern Magar of Rolpo and Rukum districts of central Nepal speak a linguistically diverse set of Tibeto-Burman speech varieties collectively known as Magar Kham. This paper focuses on several related issues surrounding their ethnic identity as it relates to linguistic diversity. Specifically, I describe the local controversy of whether or not their speech varieties should be considered as a family of languages or a family of dialects. The reference to language or dialect is of particular importance in Nepal because language has come to be a proxy for ethnic identity, and in so doing brings hope of representation in the political system. Magar Kham activists are willing to listen to differing perspectives, accepting that there are several major speech varieties in Magar Kham speaking areas. This acceptance, more than anything, gives cause for hope in addressing concerns for the loss of linguistic diversity.

A century after the slaves of Saint-Domingue won their liberty, their descendants, the free peasantry of the Republic of Haiti, remained impoverished and without access to channels of recourse. Their isolation was exacerbated by the linguistic divide in Haiti, where French was the exclusive language of official and written contexts while the majority of the popula- tion spoke only Haitian Creole. At the start of the twentieth century, a movement began to dismantle this linguistic hier- archy. Haitian poets and novelists started using Creole in their works of literature in order to contest the notion that Creole was an inferior language. They believed that a linguistic revo- lution would allow Haiti’s monolingual masses to participate in public life for the first time in Haiti’s history. Georges Sylvain, Frédéric Marcelin, and their colleagues effectively opened the debate around the status of Creole, and founded a national literature in the process.

The paper argues that the human rights enshrined in international treaties are not generally absolute. They are often qualified and subject to reasonable restrictions justifiable 'in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom.'

Open education provides opportunities for the inclusion of different languages in the education context. This conceptual article approaches the concept of language rights from a sociology of language perspective where language rights can be dealt with as group or collective rights. However, in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), language rights are considered individual rights. Language rights are associated with human rights; therefore, in this article, the human rights culture in South Africa is of importance. In the Constitution, there has been a historical shift from the recognition of two official languages towards the recognition of 11 official languages. The Constitution provides a regulatory framework within which language rights can be interpreted. The approach to language rights in the context of sociology of language and the relationship between language rights and minority and cultural rights provide a background for language rights as group rights. In this article, it is argued that language rights are exercised as individual rights in particular language communities which has implication of open education and open pedagogy.

The call for a “common language” and a “shared identity that makes us Americans” not only hides a more pernicious social and cultural agenda but it is also part of the present attempt toward the ‘reorganization of a ‘cultural hegemony’ as evidenced in the conservatives on the multiplicity of languages spoken in the United States. This ultimately guarantees that these groups will remain repressed, marginalized and cut off from the wealth of resources that the dominant group has full access. As a result, the current debate over bilingual education has very little to do with language per se; the real issue that under-girds the English-Only movements in the United States is economic, social, and political control of a dominant minority over a largely subordinate majority that no longer fit the profile of what it means be part of “our common culture” and speak “our common language.” Along these lines, cultural difference is not simply the mere existence of different cultures but a particular constructed discourse at a time when something is being challenged about power or authority. It has to do with the ways economic and cultural goods are distributed, with questions of access and with maintaining power relations (Bhabha 1999). The attack on languages other than English denies immigrant children a basic human and civil right, namely the right to learn in their native language.

This article examines the extent to which the language rights regime in section 6 of the Zimbabwean Constitution affirms and accommodates linguistic diversity in Zimbabwe. The study further suggests ways in which Zimbabwe could practically implement the language rights norms in section 6 of the Constitution.

This paper deals with the state of language rights in Luxembourg in the light of immigration and the multilingualism associated with it. Although Luxembourg might appear to be an ideal case of multilingualism with three official languages (Luxembourgish, French, and German), the reality is very different because its language policies are marked by a hierarchy: while Luxembourgish has the symbolic dominance as the 'national language', French is the preferred language in the workplace and administration. The situation has become complex due to the steady influx of immigrants since the 1970s. Currently, more than 40 per cent of Luxembourg's population consists of foreigners, and this has changed the linguistic situation in the sense that Portuguese has become one of the most widely spoken languages in Luxembourg, although it does not enjoy any legal safeguards. Taking account of this multilingual scenario, this paper examines the rights of different linguistic communities in Luxembourg. On the one hand, there is the need to protect Luxembourgish, which is the majority language in Luxembourg but a minority language when compared to other national languages of Europe, while, on the other hand, the needs of its Portuguese-speaking community also have to be taken into account since the use of German as the medium of instruction at primary level disadvantages them. Finally, the paper will also consider the role and the future of the other two main languages (French and German) .

Language policies are born amidst the complex interplay of social, cultural, religious and political forces. With this in mind, Bernard Spolsky theorises that the language policy of any  independent nation is driven, at its core, by four cooccurring conditions—national ideology, English in the globalisation process, a nation’s attendant sociolinguistic situation, and the internationally growing interest in the linguistic rights of minorities. He calls for this theory to be tested (Spolsky in Language policy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004). This paper accepts the invitation by firstly considering the contributions and limitations of Spolsky’s theory vis-a-vis other contemporary research approaches and then applies the theory to the case of Iceland. Iceland is a dynamic locus for this purpose, given its remarkable monodialectism, fervent linguistic purism and protectionism, and history of overwhelming homogeneity. The study finds that all Spolsky’s factors have in some way driven Icelandic language policy, except in issues of linguistic minority rights. Instead, Icelandic language policy discourse reveals a self-reflexive interest in minority rights whereby Icelandic is discursively positioned as needing protection in the global language ecology. Accordingly, the paper examines how Spolsky’s theory may be refined to account for non-rights-based approaches to national language policies.

"Abstract:

This is an investigation about linguistic diversity, examining its decline in different societal conditions over the last century, and interrogating claims in language policy and planning to be ‘protecting linguistic diversity’, using the UK as its main example.

Chapter 1 comprises a review of variationist sociolinguistics, showing how it has never fully defined linguistic diversity. Adjustments are suggested, and a working definition of linguistic diversity offered.

Chapter 2 presents data from two major nationwide dialect surveys, in 1889 and 1962, showing how local dialects were weakening in this period. The main focus is declining diversity, but information is presented about possible conditioning factors, primarily increases in literacy.

In the absence of such nationwide reports after 1962, Chapter 3 collates individual dialect studies from two regions of England, the northeast and southeast, describing dialect convergence across these large geographical areas. These changes are contrasted to those reported in Chapter 2. Again the main theme is declining diversity, but information is reviewed to help explain these contrasts, primarily increases in geographical mobility in the latter half of the 20th century, concentrated around these regions.

Chapter 4 examines dialect weakening that some researchers have attributed, at least in part, to the media. This also represents a change in societal conditions undergirding declining diversity. Some theoretical work is done to distinguish such changes from those observed in Chapter 3.

Chapter 5 reviews the rhetoric of minority language policy and planning, and its frequent and explicit claims to be ‘protecting linguistic diversity’. The insights developed in Chapters 1-4 are applied to two modern UK language revivals, Cornish and Welsh, to see how diversity overall is faring here.

The conclusion sums up the gaps in our thinking about linguistic diversity, and clarifies the limitations of planned interventions upon language."

The paper argues that the rule of law and multiculturalism pose a real challenge for good governance in Africa (Kasonde, 2008; 2000). Using examples from Zambia and Zimbabwe, this paper
critically examines existing policy, legislation and practice pertaining to language. It identifies certain contradictions between law and discourse in various public arenas, including law enforcement, courts of law and law-making. The paper concludes by suggesting certain possible solutions, including targeted educational and media interventions, and reforms.

This report aims at offering an interdisciplinary analytical overview of the literature on the notion of “linguistic justice” and more generally fairness in multilingual contexts. It focuses the biggest part of its attention on political philosophy, but it presents also several contributions from economics, sociolinguistics, interlinguistics and law. The purpose of this report is neither to assess the internal consistency of alternative (and often contrasting) theories, nor to try to find a common ground among them. Its goal is to emphasize the policy recommendations that derive from different approaches. The report also discusses how different theories or approaches to linguistic justice have been applied to the case of the management of multilingualism in the European Union.

Policymakers need a conception of linguistic disadvantage to supply guidance about the relative priority of inequalities with a linguistic dimension and to inform decisions about whether such inequalities require correction or compensation. A satisfactory conception of linguistic disadvantage will make it possible to compare the situations of speakers of different languages and to assess the normative significance of a range of linguistic inequalities. This paper evaluates four rival conceptions and asks whether they satisfy these criteria. Respectively, these conceptions associate linguistic disadvantage with inadequate communicative opportunities, with being unable to do the things that one cares about, with lacking (access to) important resources, and with capability deprivation. It is argued that a conception of linguistic disadvantage derived from the capabilities approach is the most promising option available to policymakers.

The newly adopted Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe ushers in a new constitutional dispensation based upon a set of key constitutional principles. Such principles include the rule of law, judiciary independence, multipartism, government transparency and accountability, respect for fundamental human rights, constitutional supremacy and the doctrine of limited government, judicial review and constitutional separation of powers. Whilst it is true that these principles were provided for under the old Constitution, this book notes that the new Constitution has widened and deepened the scope of these principles. For instance, the new Constitution introduces a constitutional dispensation based upon a wider Declaration of Rights, which unlike the previous one, provides for socio-economic and cultural rights as fundamental rights.

The first chapter of this book briefly discusses how these constitutional principles are provided for under the new Constitution of Zimbabwe and how they should shape the new constitutionalism in Zimbabwe. The book proceeds to identify the socio-economic and cultural rights provided for under the new Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe.The book also discusses the principles guiding the interpretation of the Declaration of Rights, enforcement as well as limitation of these rights and possible remedies against the limitation of these socio-economic and cultural rights.

With reference to international law, decisions of superior foreign courts, the Zimbabwean jurisprudence as well as relevant academic works, this book provides a commentary on each socio-economic right; discussing the general meaning, scope and content of each of these rights. In examining the content and scope of these rights, this book extensively relies on academic works, international and foreign law because the
Zimbabwean jurisprudence on these rights is still very young since the new Constitution is just one year old at the time of publishing this book. However, the local jurisprudence has been used as far as possible in providing these commentaries.

It is our hope as authors of this book that this will be a useful tool in guiding lawyers, government officials, students, the judiciary and citizens as they seek to engage with and enforce the Declaration of Rights, particularly the socio-economic and cultural rights enshrined therein.

Justice Alfred Mavedzenge
Douglas Coltart
26 September 2014

English summary:

Multilingualism is a reality in South African classrooms. The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) and the national language policy recognize language rights and aims at supporting, promoting and developing the official languages. However, despite the advantages of mother tongue education, English is often chosen as language of learning and teaching at the cost of the African official languages. This study proposes the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning.

Blended learning refers to the blending of traditional instruction methods, such as face-to-face instruction, with other forms of instruction such as online learning and teaching. Through a discussion of asynchronous and synchronous learning tools it was established that wikis would be used for this study. In terms of blended learning and learning theories the main emphasis in this study is on socio-constructivism as well as communal constructivism.

The empirical research in this study focused on the establishment and testing of a conceptual model for the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism through blended learning in the subject IT. The research took the form of a sequential embedded mixed methods design. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A questionnaire was used with IT teachers to investigate the language and blended learning context. This was followed up with qualitative research in the form of interviews aimed at provincial and national experts in terms of the subject IT and e-learning. Based on the literature and these two investigations, a conceptual model was developed. The conceptual model’s effectiveness was tested through a quasi-experimental study. A questionnaire was also completed by the respondents at the schools after the completion of the study. Through the testing of the effectiveness of the conceptual model it was found that multilingualism could successfully be accommodated and promoted through this conceptual model.



Afrikaans summary:

Meertaligheid is ’n werklikheid in Suid-Afrikaanse klaskamers. Die Grondwet van Suid-Afrika (Wet 108 van 1996) en die nasionale taalbeleid erken taalregte en het die ondersteuning, uitbreiding en ontwikkeling van die amptelike tale ten doel. Hierteenoor, ten spyte van die voordele van moedertaalonderwys, word Engels dikwels as taal van onderrig en leer gekies ten koste van die Afrikatale wat amptelike tale is. Hierdie studie stel die akkommodering en uitbreiding van meertaligheid deur gemengde leer voor.

Gemengde leer verwys na die mengsel van tradisionele onderrigmetodes, soos gesig-tot-gesig-onderrig, met ander vorme van onderrig soos aanlynonderrig en -leer. Deur ’n bespreking van asinchrone en sinchrone leertegnologie is bepaal dat wiki’s vir hierdie studie gebruik sal word. Met betrekking tot gemengde leer en leerteorieë was die fokus van hierdie studie op sosio-konstruktivisme sowel as gemeenskapskonstruktivisme.

Die empiriese navorsing van hierdie studie het op die daarstelling en toetsing van ’n konseptuele model vir die akkommodering en uitbreiding van meertaligheid deur gemengde leer in die vak IT gefokus. Die navorsing was in die vorm van ’n sekwensiële, insluitende gemengde metode ontwerp. Beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe benaderings is gevolg. ’n Vraelys is aan IT-onderwysers gestuur om die konteks in terme van taal en gemengde leer te bepaal. Dit is opgevolg deur kwalitatiewe navorsing in die vorm van onderhoude met die provinsiale en nasionele kenners van die vak IT en e-leer. Op grond van die literatuur en die twee ondersoeke is ’n konseptuele model ontwikkel. Die konseptuele model se effektiwiteit is gemeet deur middel van ’n kwasi-eksperimentele studie. ’n Vraelys is ook deur die respondente by die skole voltooi nadat die studie voltooi is. Daar is, na aanleiding van die toetsing van die effektiwiteit van die konseptuele model, bevind dat meertaligheid suksesvol deur die konseptuele model geakkommodeer en uitgebrei kan word.