AFRIKAANS    
REVIEW OF THE LANGUAGE POLICY

Review of the Language Policy and Language Plan of SU

The following documents relate to the revision of the Language Policy. They include the recommendations by the Rector’s Management Team, as approved by Council at their meeting on 16 November 2007.

During the last Council Meeting of 2005, the Council requested that the Management of the University activate the review process and that it consider all input. The Council also noted the concerns that existed in various circles for the future of Afrikaans as language of teaching.

The review commences

Prof. Chris Brink, (see his communication here (.pdf)), informed the staff and students on 6 February 2006 that the review process had been activated and that a Language Task Group had been appointed to complete the project in 2006. In terms of structure, the process is dealt with in the line function of the Vice-Rector (Teaching), since language at SU is considered an academic matter. Prof Leon de Stadler, Director of the Language Centre, is the project leader. Prof Russel Botman is the project owner and the University’s Spokesperson on Language.

In addition to the Language Task Group, a larger Reference Group (.pdf) has been appointed to accommodate input from the University’s statutory bodies, the campus community, experts on academic functions, and the public, among others. As a preliminary step, the Task Group invited both individuals and institutions to make written submissions regarding the SU Language Policy by 31 March 2006.

Current language debate

The decision by the Faculty of Arts in May 2005 to extend the so-called T option – the use of Afrikaans and English as languages of teaching – to the third year of study rekindled the language debate. However, the Arts Faculty Board confirmed its decision unanimously, after which, in November, Senate recommended to Council that the existing recommendations regarding language specifications be upheld. These included the Arts Faculty’s proposals for the T option, although the language specifications of every faculty (with the exception of Military Science, which is managed according to a contract with the state) were discussed separately. On 15 December 2005 the University Council accepted, with a large majority, Senate’s recommendations regarding language specifications for 2006, including the extension of the T option to the third year of study in the Faculty of Arts.

At this meeting, Council also reiterated its commitment to the sustainability of Afrikaans as language of teaching within the context of the University’s Strategic Framework and Vision 2012. With this in mind, Council made a specific request to Management that it should, during the review process, obtain feedback on the implementation of the T option in 2006 and consider the continuation of the T option with other possible approaches. Management was also asked to suggest practical measures for the promotion of Afrikaans as language of science.

Please consult News from the Language Task Group regularly for the latest developments in and progress with the process.

News from the Language Task Group

Goals and deliverables

What does the Language Task Group need to complete before the end of 2006 to carry out its brief and reach its goals?

Project plan: the time scales

A revised Language Policy, should this be necessary, will be implemented in 2008. The time frame according to which the Language Task Group functions is set out in an approved project plan.

Consultation/Deliberation

Thus far, the number of submissions received by the Language Task Group or discussions held with it amounts to approximately 45. This was in reaction to the Task Group’s invitation to individuals and bodies to make written submissions on the University’s Language Policy. The closing date for submissions was 31 March 2006.

Scholarship of the process of policy formulation

As part of its aim of ensuring that the process of policy formulation is scientific, the Language Task Group has already initiated two investigations that currently in progress.


 

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