The (f)utility of additive bilingualism in South African education

Abstract

By viewing language, the first additional language (FAL) in particular as a tool to be mastered the Curriculum Assessement Policy Statement (CAPS) already begins to exclude those pupils it claims to further educationally and socially. This article discusses the philosophical tenets that inform the attitude adopted by CAPS to English as the predominant FAL, while, in the process, arguing that persisting with additive bilingualism has in itself become a barrier to the endeavour of establishing an inclusive, multilingual and multicultural system of education. An alternative approach to additional language acquisition is the process of exploring a different philosophical perspective with which to view language. In exploring this perspective I turn to philosophical hermeneutics to argue that the FAL should be included in the arena of identity formation and cultural representation in order to allow for a more dynamic and inclusive approach to facilitating additional language acquisition.

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