Multilingual students’ linguistic repertoires as a resource: a case study of assessments in journalism studies

Abstract

This mixed-methods case study develops a monolingual-multilingual continuum that depicts how multilingual students draw on their linguistic repertoire as a resource when undertaking assessments in journalism education. Guided by Hult and Hornberger’s heuristic for considering language planning and policy as a resource, the central question the study seeks to answer is this: Which languages do students use for what kind of assessment and as what kind of resource in journalism studies? Data were collected from a previously disadvantaged South African University of Technology. The paper argues that academics must move away from thinking of multilingual assessments based solely on what students submit and instead consider the processes holistically, considering that activating these linguistic competencies occurs on a continuum. Using Grosjean’s complementary principle, the study explains why multilingual students use their linguistic repertoire differently based on mode of the assessment and resources they employ in the process of completing it. Further, drawing on Ruiz’s notion of language-as-resource shows that linguistic diversity should be viewed as beneficial in higher education and multilingual repertoires of students as a means of facilitating epistemic justice in a higher education sector that currently sees multilingual speakers as an impediment.

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