Rethinking Language Use in Digital Africa: Technology and Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa

215 Pages·2021·4.027 MB·

by  Leketi Makalela (editor), Goodith White (editor)

Rethinking Language Use
in Digital Africa
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
Founding Editor: Viv Edwards, University of Reading, UK
Series Editors: Phan Le Ha, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA and
Joel Windle, Monash University, Australia.
Two decades of research and development in language and literacy educa-
tion have yielded a broad, multidisciplinary focus. Yet education systems
face constant economic and technological change, with attendant issues
of identity and power, community and culture. What are the implications
for language education of new ‘semiotic economies’ and communications
technologies? Of complex blendings of cultural and linguistic diversity in
communities and institutions? Of new cultural, regional and national
identities and practices? The New Perspectives on Language and Education
series will feature critical and interpretive, disciplinary and multidisci-
plinary perspectives on teaching and learning, language and literacy in
new times. New proposals, particularly for edited volumes, are expected
to acknowledge and include perspectives from the Global South.
Contributions from scholars from the Global South will be particularly
sought out and welcomed, as well as those from marginalized communi-
ties within the Global North.
All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications
can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to
Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1
2AW, UK.
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION: 92
Rethinking
Language Use
in Digital Africa
Technology and Communication
in Sub-Saharan Africa
Edited by
Leketi Makalela and
Goodith White
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Blue Ridge Summit
DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/MAKALE2309
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Names: Makalela, Leketi, editor. | White, Goodith, editor.
Title: Rethinking Language Use in Digital Africa: Technology and Communication in
Sub-Saharan Africa/Edited by Leketi Makalela and Goodith White.
Description: Bristol, UK; Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Multilingual Matters, 2021. |
Series: New Perspectives on Language and Education: 92 | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: “This book challenges the view that digital
communication in Africa is relatively unsophisticated and questions the assumption
that digital communication has a damaging ef ect on indigenous African languages. It
of ers a paradigm of language merging that provides a blueprint for the decolonization
of African languages through digital platforms”— Provided by publisher.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2021004707 (print) | LCCN 2021004708 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781800412293 (paperback) | ISBN 9781800412309 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781800412316 (pdf) | ISBN 9781800412323 (epub) | ISBN 9781800412330
(kindle edition)
Subjects: LCSH: Multilingualism—Africa, Sub-Saharan. | Translanguaging
(Linguistics) | Digital communications—Africa, Sub-Saharan. | Digital media—Social
aspects—Africa, Sub-Saharan. | Language policy—Africa, Sub-Saharan.
Classifi cation: LCC P115.5.A357 R48 2021 (print) | LCC P115.5.A357 (ebook) |
DDC 306.4460967—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004707
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004708
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-230-9 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-229-3 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: NBN, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, USA.
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2021 Leketi Makalela, Goodith White and the authors of individual
chapters.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are
natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable
forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy,
preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certifi cation.
The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certifi cation has been
granted to the printer concerned.
Typeset by Nova Techset Private Limited, Bengaluru and Chennai, India.
Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.
Printed and bound in the US by NBN.
Contents
Contributors vii
Introduction xi
Part 1: Multilingual Practices
1 Multilingual Literacies and Technology in Africa:
Towards Ubuntu Digital Translanguaging 3
Leketi Makalela
2 Translanguaging in the Rwandan Social Media: New Meaning
Making in a Changing Society 19
Epimaque Niyibizi, Cyprien Niyomugabo and Juliet Perumal
Part 2: Linguistic and Cultural Maintenance
3 Creating Translated Interfaces: The Represen tations of African
Langua ges and Cultures in Digital Media 51
Elvis ResCue and G. Edzordzi Agbozo
4 Mdocumentation: Combining New Technologies and Language
Documentation to Promote Multilingualism in Nubian Heritage
Language Learners of the Diaspora 73
Kirsty Rowan
Part 3: The Ef ects of Communication Outside Africa
5 A Network of Anger and Hope: An Investigation of
Communication on a Feminist Activist Facebook
Website, the Network of Eritrean Women (RENEW) 99
Sarah Ogbay and Goodith White
6 Identity, Language and Literacy in an African
Digital Landscape 118
Bonny Norton
7 Networked Poetics: WhatsApp Poetry Groups and Malawian
Aesthetic Networks 137
Susanna Sacks
v
vi Rethinking Language Use in Digital Africa
Part 4: Language Change
8 Human–Agent Interaction: L1-mode Intelligent Software
Agents Instructing Nigerian L2 Speakers of English During
Assembly Tasks 157
Abdulmalik Yusuf Ofemile
Conclusion 188
Index 196
Contributors
G. Edzordzi Agbozo is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture
at Michigan Technological University, graduating in May 2021. He
received a Master of Philosophy degree from the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology (NTNU) and a Bachelors from the University of
Ghana. His research interests include Language Policy, Language
Acquisition, Critical Discourse Studies, Digital Rhetoric and Technical
Communication. His most recent publications and reviews appeared in
the Applied Linguistics Review, Current Issues in Language Planning,
African Journal of Rhetoric, Multicultural Shakespeare and
Programmatic Perspectives. His poems also appeared in Prairie Schooner,
North Dakota Quarterly, Dunes Review, and elsewhere.
Leketi Makalela is full professor and founding Director of the Hub for
Multilingual Education and Literacies (HuMEL) at the University of the
Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at
City University of New York. His research areas include translanguaging,
multilingual education and literacies. He is a rated researcher and holder
of an Endowed Chair (South African Research Chairs Initiative) on
Multilingual Education for Social Inclusion and Access. His academic
citizenship includes being a Research Convenor for the National Reading
Coalition of South Africa and an Executive Committee member of
Umalusi Council for Quality Assurance and an Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies.
Epimaque Niyibizi is a senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda –
College of Education. He is currently the Deputy Dean in the School of
Education and Head of Nyagatare Campus. He holds a PhD in Applied
Languages and Literacy Education from the University of the
Witwatersrand (South Africa), a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, a
master’s degree in Educational and Social Research Methods and a
Postdoctoral fellowship in Educational leadership and management. He
has published journal articles and book chapters in the area of Applied
Linguistics, language policy in education, language education, language
management in multilingual settings and educational leadership.
vii
viii Rethinking Language Use in Digital Africa
Cyprien Niyomugabo was the Dean of the School of Education at
University of Rwanda-College of Education and the Chairman of the
Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture until October 2019, when he
became a Senator at the Parliament of Rwanda/the Senate representing
Public Institutions of Higher Education in Rwanda. He holds a PhD in
Linguistic Science Education and a Post Graduate Certifi cate in Teaching
and Learning in Higher Education. His area of research is mainly on
Bilingual Education, Mother Tongue and Second Language Education,
Glottopolitics in Education and Lexicography with application to the
teaching and learning of African languages.
Bonny Norton (FRSC) is a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar
in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of
British Columbia, Canada. Her primary research interests are identity and
language learning, digital storytelling and open technology. A Fellow of
the Royal Society of Canada and the American Educational Research
Association, she was given the BC CUFA 2020 Academic of the Year
Award for her work on the Global Storybooks project (https://globalsto-
rybooks.net/).
Abdulmalik Yusuf Ofemile holds a PhD (English) University of
Nottingham, UK; an MA (TESOL & ICT) University of Leeds, UK; and
a BEd in Language Arts (English) from ABU Zaria, Nigeria and Associate
Fellowship (Advanced-HE, UK). He is the Director of Quality Assurance
FCT-COE Zuba with teaching and research experience in Nigeria and the
UK. Abdulmalik’s research straddles language, linguistics, multimodality,
computer science, ELT, and contributes to the understanding of linguistic
and communicative issues surrounding Human–Computer Interaction in
real-world application and contexts. Abdulmalik’s recent article appeared
in African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities research and he
contributed a chapter to the IGI Global Handbook of Research on
Curriculum Reform Initiatives in English Education.
Sarah Ogbay completed her doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics at
Lancaster University in the UK. She taught at the University of Asmara,
Eritrea, for 26 years, both at undergraduate and post graduate levels In
addition she served as the Head of the Department of English and many
other capacities and responsibilities for the University of Asmara. Sarah
taught at the British Council Eritrea for 11 years. Currently she is working
for the University of Manchester Language Centre as a freelance English
language examiner and tutor. Sarah is co-founder of the registered
Network of Eritrean women and has served on the board of directors. She
has worked in dif erent organisations as a community worker and a pro-
fessional interpreter for a number of psychologists and medical
professionals.
Contributors ix
Juliet Perumal is Professor in the Department of Education Leadership
and Management at the University of Johannesburg. She is a Visiting
Professor at the University of Nsukka, Nigeria. Perumal has taught at
various schools and universities throughout South Africa. She has pub-
lished in the fi eld of critical, and feminist pedagogies; transformative cur-
riculum, educational leadership; and qualitative research methodologies.
Perumal is a South African National Research Foundation Rated
Researcher; and the recipient of the Joyce Cain Award Winner for out-
standing research on peoples of African descent.
Elvis ResCue (PhD) is a Lecturer at the Department of English, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He holds a PhD
and MA in Applied Linguistics from Aston University, UK, and a BA in
Linguistics with English from the University of Ghana, Legon. His
research interests lie in the area of Discourse Analysis, African and
General Linguistics, Language Contact/Sociolinguistics, Media
Language, and Language Policy and Planning. His most recent publica-
tion (co-authored) on language attitudes to language-in-education policy
in Ghana appeared in the journal Current Issues in Language Planning
and he has also published a chapter in The Routledge Handbook of
African Linguistics.
Kirsty Rowan is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Languages,
Cultures and Linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom. She is a member of the
Anthropology and Language Committee of the Royal Anthropological
Institute (RAI) and a Fellow of the RAI and the Royal Geographical
Society (RGS with IGB). She conducts endangered language documenta-
tion on Nile Nubian languages, toponymy and culture and works with
African heritage and diaspora communities towards the maintenance of
languages.
Susanna Sacks is Assistant Professor of English at the College of Wooster
in Ohio, where she has taught since receiving her PhD from Northwestern
University in 2019. Her research investigates the relationship between
transnational institutions, poetic forms and aesthetic networks in Africa.
Her current book project draws on anglophone, Chichewa and isiXhosa
literary traditions to map the interactions between embodied and digital
literary forms and institutions. Sacks has published work on hashtag
poetry, poetry spectacles and the development of slam poetry networks in
southeastern Africa.
Goodith White retired as Director of the Applied Language Centre,
University College Dublin in 2016, and is currently a Senior Research
Fellow for the University of Nottingham Malaysia. She has served as
x Rethinking Language Use in Digital Africa
Chair of the British Association for Applied Linguistics Language in
Africa SIG, and besides her interest in language use in Africa, has pub-
lished widely in the areas of sociolinguistics, language pedagogy and the
use of technology in political and educational contexts. Her most recent
books focused on technology-assisted language learning (OUP) and litera-
ture in language learning (Palgrave Macmillan).